safe as life.

" are you — . . " cal squinted , patting around for his glasses . when the universe was busy dealing him a hand of cards that included a charming smile , baby blues , and a family lineage with an obscene bank account , it also dealt the wild card of vision so horrid , nothing but thick rimmed glasses could help . he couldn't see shit . so the blurry silver gleam in her hands . . . " are those scissors ? are you holding scissors right now ? " a slight panic leaked into his voice , causing his sweet virginia accent to become thicker and lose all of its articulated , prep school air , " now , cierra , when i said my hair was botherin' me , i didn't mean it as a . . . a . . . invitation . " failing to find his glasses , he rolled up his paperback instead , holding it up as though it made any sort of sense as a means of defense . " it's gettin' long , but i mean . . . maybe miss brandy could — " oh if his father could see him now . all sense of decorum had long since exited the room . " cierra , come any closer with those before answerin' some questions , and i swear to god , i'm taking every damn hair product you brought with you and throwin' it into the lake ! "

" right , so . . . " cal's fingers adjusted around the weighty wrench in his hands . he stared up at the rusty shower heads , methodically working out exactly what process would be best to remove and replace them without getting tetanus and without somehow wrecking the whole system . unfortunately for , well , everyone , though , he was working that equation out based on little - to - no prior knowledge of plumbing . a fact that he'd tried to make perfectly clear when they handed him a toolbox . " do you think if we just get up there and . . . " he gestured with the wrench , pointing it towards the corroded metal and then mimicking a twist before thinking better of it . he handed the wrench off to mads , a telltale wrinkle forming between his brows as he stepped towards the first in a line of showers , giving the water stream a wide berth . " i thought they'd renovated the whole place after . . . " he yanked at the handle . sputtering . gurgling . then a harsh stream of brownish - reddish water shot out from above . " jesus . christ . " more sputtering , more gurgling . the stream softened until it was barely more than a trickle . the water cleared up . . . mostly . a wide eyed gaze turned towards mads , " i'm sorry , was that just running red ? "

the only slight relief on a goddamn sweltering day like this was the fact that the sun was finally starting to set over the horizon . north carolina sunsets , especially in the summer months , were usually a golden beacon of hope . something he'd found himself longing for during the winters in boston . but this one looked more like a doomsday countdown clock , which likely had to do with the wretched noise coming from under the hood of his car . " alright , take the key out , " he sighed , shutting the hood and rounding the car . his precious car . bright red and beautifully loud , stranded on the side of the road just a mile or so from camp's entrance . the back seat was full of last - minute restocks and a few less than necessary requests from counselors . and in the driver's seat . . . thalia rojas . gentle brown eyes achingly familiar to him and tattoos etched across tanned skin that were , well , less familiar . callum would be a bold - faced liar if he said he'd expected her to ever come back to camp , and he wasn't quite sure what to be around her . it was just a summer , he told himself , and it ended . . . okay ? but there were summers of friendship before that . and ' okay ' was twice as confusing as bad , probably . all he knew in that moment was that seeing her behind the wheel of his camaro ? brought up feelings just as unexpected and familiar as seeing her back at camp . " i believe it's overheated , " he said , swallowing the feeling as he leaned against the door in the open window space , " then again , there's a long list of other things it could be , too . so our options are : wait a few , try again when she cools down , or . . . " he took off his glasses , pushing blonde locks from his glistening forehead , " start the trek back and hope the lady greta doesn't kill me where i stand when she finds out her eggs are a mile and a half up the road . "

Sunset and a we are so back feeling then it gets ruined by a it feels like someone is watching our back feeling.