It was the annual camp for children and we were having our counselor free time as the kids took naps or swam at the creek. We sat in a group of ten laughing as we talked and that’s when Kai shrieked and swatted at the back of his leg. He smacked the bee on the floor after he screamed. It turned out; the bee had stung him at the crevice of his leg, which is the back of the knee area.

“Squeeze the stinger out!” One of our friends said and he did as told as someone ran to get the camp nurse. She hurried over and when she noticed him wincing at the stinging pain, she bent down to check on it as he turned his leg around.

“You got the stinger out, but how?” She asked. He said that he squeezed it out and that’s when she shook her head. Supposedly, you should never squeeze it because it may release more venom into your body. That’s what happened to Kai, sadly. She cleaned it with a disinfectant wipe and he bit his lip so that he wouldn’t scream. She sealed his sting with a SpongeBob bandage after putting a sting cream on his sting. She told him to ice it, so I volunteered to get it from the cafeteria.

“I’m coming with.” He called, but he couldn’t really walk because it hurt and it would rub whenever he had to hop over the hurdles of the campfire benches. I helped him across and held the door open for him to catch up. I went to the cooking staff in the kitchen and asked for a zip-lock bag for the ice. I went to the ice machine to scoop up some ice and seal the bag. I went towards him who was sitting on one of the tables and handed him the bag of ice. He sat there and iced it. I figured he was good hands, so I decided to leave.

He called out again, “Stay with me.” I obliged and sat down next to him and played with hands as the silence continued. He broke the silence by making things awkward.

“So do you still like me?” He asked. I shrugged. It wasn’t a big deal, I liked him the other years, but not much has changed. It didn’t matter now. He then put his ice cold hand, that was first holding onto the ice bag, on my hands and that’s when I looked him in the eye.

“So you don’t like me?” He asked. I then answered, “It’s not a big deal now. I figured you weren’t going to like me when I told you two years ago and since then, nothing has changed in our relationship. So I kind of gave up.” I said timidly as my eyes began to wander. My cheeks turned red when his warming hand touched my cheek. I looked him in the eyes, his beautiful hazel eyes.

“What if I told you that I like you?” He said as he tucked a hair behind my ear. I shrugged awkwardly again.

“It’s not like you do, so it doesn’t matter.” I said to him as I stuttered a bit. He chuckled as he held my chi and pulled it closer to his face as he slowly came closer. I grew hesitant and that’s when my lips met his soft, plump, pink lips. My eyes slowly closed as I noticed his were shut and his other hand make its way to my burning right cheek. We shared a kiss in the empty cafeteria and it happened to be my first.

He said, “It matters when we like each other. Everything matters like how you matter to me.”