“Ist das dein Ernst, Bob? Jelena Charkova? Jelena Charkova soll unsere Violinistin werden?” “Hey, ich bin auch nicht unbedingt gerne hier”, wehrte Jelena sich genervt. “Unsere Violinistin.” Peter blinzelte besorgt und Justus stöhnte genervt auf. Reinzukommen war schon eine Aufgabe an sich, aber schließlich kroch sie mit Bob durch die Luke in den Raum. Bob und seine zwei Freunde, zusammen bekannt als Die Drei ?, übten auf dem Schrottplatz von Justus’ Vater in einem alten Wohnwagen. Allerdings hatte die Band bis jetzt noch keinen Violinisten, also suchten sie jetzt einen. Es ging um ein Stück namens “Terror Castle”, für das er sich ein Geigensolo ausgedacht hatte. Bob hatte sie eingeladen, für seine Band vorzuspielen. Jelena ließ die Schlösser an ihrem Geigenkasten zuschnappen und machte sich auf den Weg.
Where memories of deep kisses and warm tan skin and idealizing the beginning of the rest of his life could all still be triggered by an old Hank Williams song chasing him on the radio. Where he’d fallen in real love a second time. He’d returned again to the camp where he’d fallen in love for the first time.
Jared, nearly forty now, blushed as he remembered his naivety. The boathouse, still a hunter green like the eyes that’d moved above him that amazing last night. Rowboats that could use a fresh coat of red paint lined the dock and a tire swing he remembered flying off of like a rocket, catching air for just a moment before gravity tossed him into the icy mountain runoff.
A strip of rocky beach, kids shrieking and playing in the dark water too cold to stay in longer than ten minutes. As his Escalade meandered down the dirt road Jared noted that the camp still looked the same.
And Jared’s first time, reflections of the full moon, the gasps and heat fumbled inside the boat house as that gorgeous man whispered the four words Jared had dreamt of since he was fourteen.Īt the end of the summer of 2019, on an afternoon of sunshine and thick humidity, Jared returned to Camp Kripke to pick up his son. He wanted to stay at Camp forever, stay with him forever. Jared couldn’t help but tremble as they explored, the summer’s new love giving him a purpose. Jared’s shy smile earning a wink as they’d pass in the dining hall, a summer secret of making out behind trees and hiding touches in empty cabins. Just the two of them, rowing to the middle of the lake at midnight and kissing for the first time under the moonlight. He fell in love with the glimmering green eyes of the senior camp counselor, the same guy Jared had loved four years before. He fell in love during moonlit evenings filled with deep chuckles and a Midwestern twang, whispered stories over banned beers and old country songs played on a guitar around a fire pit. But no matter his plan for that summer, Jared couldn’t help but fall in love for real this time. Take some kids on day hikes, supervise the boys from sneaking off to the girls’ cabins (or the nearby boys’ bunks) and take in the great outdoors before he’d leave Texas for the quiet halls of UCLA in September. He was there to supervise tweens and save up some money for college. In the summer of 2000, eighteen year old Jared returned to Camp Kripke as a camp counselor. Several phone calls and one week later, and now she’s here in Ellis Knight’s office surrounded by important-looking people, wondering if this could be the start of something big. She’d gone to bed replaying the embarrassing exchange over and over in her head, but it had been all but forgotten when she woke up to her notifications blowing up after Avery followed her on Instagram and shared one of her music videos. The only way it could have been worse would have been if she’d been wearing the store’s banana costume. Too stunned to speak, she’d been mortified when her coworker and best friend Shane gushed about Avery being Aria’s musical idol and slipped him a piece of paper with the link to her YouTube channel. However after multiple rejections and being stuck working a mall job, she’d been beginning to think her parents were right when fate stepped up to the smoothie shop counter in the form of pop-star Avery Wilshire. Singing and songwriting have always been her passion. As much as they had encouraged her to follow in their footsteps and go the practical route, it wasn’t her dream. With her parents both being music teachers, her musical talent and interest have come naturally. Aria had always dreamed of a career in music.