“So,” Solar asked, sliding into her spot at the table beside Moonbyul. “What do you guys usually do on the first real day of camp?”

Her three companions thought it over for a second then, in unison, replied, “Sports.”

“Sports? Just sports?”

“What else do you need but sports?” Wheein spoke in monotone, staring off into the distance. Whasa giggled and elbowed her, which broke Wheein out of character with a bright laugh. Soon Solar was laughing along with them. Moonbyul just shook her head and took a sip from her coffee cup.

 “What’s wrong, Moonbyul,” Solar met her bleary, still sleepy eyes, her own full of concern. Moonbyul blushed and cleared , putting the mug down.

“I’m just, uh-”

“Moonbyul’s not much of a morning person. She’ll probably fall asleep during the morning song session and team assignments.” Whasa smirked at Moonbyul who simply yawned and took another sip from her mug.

“Oh! Well if you need a shoulder to fall asleep on, I’ve got two of them!” Solar smiled at Moonbyul. Moonbyul swallowed quickly and ended up coughing on the scalding liquid. It took her a moment to regain her breath, and when she looked back up, there were tears in her eyes from the force of the coughing and her face was bright red

“I uh, I appreciate the offer. I’ll uh- I might take you up on that.” Moonbyul rasped, her voice hoarse. Solar nodded slowly and touched her shoulder, a silent gesture of concern and then went back to her breakfast. Moonbyul stared pointedly at her cup of coffee and brought her hands up to rest her chin upon them. It was only day 2 and she was making herself look like the biggest idiot ever. She sighed quietly.

The clanging of the camp bell brought their breakfast to an end, each of them standing at different speeds. Wheein and Solar sprang to action, those token morning people who probably praised Satan in their free time and got up at 4 in the morning to go on “jogs” or do “yoga”. Moonbyul shook her head. You can’t trust someone who is that energetic in the morning. Whasa stood at a more reasonable pace, collecting her shoulder bag and empty tray to go put away before looking back at Moonbyul and stifling a laugh.

Moonbyul, of course, was almost glued to her coffee cup. When it registered to her that her friends were all gone and most of the campers were already at the amphitheater, she let out a pained groan and slowly stood, ambling in a zombie-like trance to the long bench where her friends had already gathered. But not before ducking inside to top off her coffee. Obviously.

Moonbyul ducked in beside Solar on the end of the bench, gulping down the last dregs of the hot liquid. “All of the girls get in here?”

“Yep, I just did a headcount. Everyone’s here.” Solar whispered back. She sniffed and giggled softly. “You smell like the inside of a Starbucks.”

Moonbyul repressed a stupid grin. “It’s my natural musk.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes. I don’t bleed blood, just coffee.”

“That sounds like something you should see a doctor about.”

“I’ve been like this my whole life. The doctors call me a medical miracle. Think of all the things I can do for science.”

“You are a regular Stephen Hawking.”

“No Solar- Stephen Hawking does space stuff, not medical stuff.”

“He’s still a scientist though!”

“You’re confusing your fields. It is crucial not to cross the wires.”

“How are you working a Ghostbusters reference into this discussion of the impact your coffee blood has on science?”

“I have my ways.”

“Would you two lovebirds shut up?” Whasa shushed them. Neither Moonbyul nor Solar had realized the first song was almost over and the people around them were shooting them dirty looks. They looked back at each other and smiled, bashful.

The two of them settled back into the bench, quieting down. Moonbyul realized after the second song had ended and the third song had begun that Solar didn’t sing outright, just under her breath. She would store that information to ask about later. For right now? Moonbyul was dead tired.

Remembering Solar’s earlier offer, she decided to rest her head on Solar’s shoulder and she felt her go very still beneath her. Moonbyul lifted her head and looked up at Solar. “Is this okay? I’m still really tired, and you said earlier…”

Solar blinked and laughed, her breath shaky. “N-no of course it’s fine! I’m just wondering how you’re so tired after all that coffee.”

Moonbyul frowned. “If this makes you uncomfortable I can just stay awake.”

“No!” Solar’s eyes were wide. “I mean. No, it’s fine. I’m alright with it.”

Now it was Moonbyul’s turn to nod slowly before returning to her position on Solar’s shoulder. It was like she hadn’t consumed almost an entire pot of coffee earlier because when Solar looked down at her, she was already asleep.

Solar did her best to make Moonbyul as comfortable as possible, trying to make her shoulders less tense and kept her breathing down to a minimum. Of course, in doing this, she found that she was more nervous than before.

She really hoped Moonbyul couldn’t hear how loudly her heart was pounding.

Eventually, Solar relaxed under Moonbyul and sang quietly with the other campers, looking down shyly ever so often to watch Moonbyul sleep. She found herself smiling softly as she watched, pursing her lips to suppress a nervous giggle whenever she looked away.

All the while, Wheein and Whasa were watching on with victorious smirks. Wheein bet ten dollars that Solar would confess first, and Whasa bet twenty on Moonbyul. They knew that the two of them had only just met each other yesterday, but there was a chemistry there that was hard to ignore. Plus, the two of them had gotten together after meeting one another at camp, why couldn’t Moonbyul and Solar?

“Oh, Moonbyul,” Solar touched Moonbyul’s cheek lightly, delicately. “They’re announcing teams. Do we need to listen to that?”

Moonbyul screwed her face up before blinking open her eyes. It took her a second to register how close her face and Solar’s were, and that Solar’s fingertips still rested on her cheek. Her eyes widened.

“Uh, uhm. Yes. Yes we should probably listen to that. I think. I don’t know.” Moonbyul was fighting through the thick cobwebs of sleep still clouding her brain as well as the closeness to Solar effectively tongue tying her.

Whasa mentally fist bumped. At the same time, so did Wheein. The bet was honestly kind of ambiguous in its leaning at this point.

“Actually, counselors can play the sports without a team. If you get enough counselors together, we can just play as a counselor team against some of the kids’ teams. But you can just join alongside one of the camper’s teams. Or you can do what we do and just hang out around the camp.” Whasa leaned over to fill Solar in where Moonbyul was lacking.

“Oh yea,” Moonbyul rubbed the back of her neck and looked away.

“Oh! So, are you just gonna go back to the cabin and sleep?” Solar asked Moonbyul.

Moonbyul considered it for a moment. But really, what was there to consider.

“Yea probably. The kids play sports until noon, so I’ll get in an hour or so more and then go hiking a little.” Moonbyul stretched. She was glad she remembered at least something about the camp schedule.

“Mind if I join you?” Solar asked sheepishly.

Moonbyul blinked. “Oh, uhm, absolutely! I mean- No. I, uhm. I don’t mind and you can absolutely come.” Behind Solar, Moonbyul noticed Whasa facepalm out of second hand embarrassment. Okay, Moonbyul knew she was awful at flirting and general conversing with people she was interested in, but she couldn’t help it!

“Oh, thank you. I don’t know what to do around here yet.”

“Are you gonna hike to Low Falls?” Wheein asked from behind Whasa.

“Low Falls? What’s that?” Solar quirked an eyebrow.

“It’s a waterfall not so far from here. It’s where the junior campers hike to on Wednesday while the senior campers hike to High Falls up on the mountain.” Moonbyul explained. “And, y’know what, it’s a nice morning, I think I will go.”

“Can we come?” Her three companions harmonized. Moonbyul let out a laugh that had people around them shooting them more dirty looks. This time, Moonbyul couldn’t care less.

“Sure!”

And so the counselors sent their campers off to the sports field where they would spend their morning and then broke off into sprints down the path parallel to the lake, racing each other and giggling brightly. Moonbyul had abandoned her plan to go back to sleep, because who could refuse the bright eyes of Whasa, Wheein, and especially Solar, whose eyes shone brighter than stars.

When the four of them slowed down, Moonbyul took the lead, ducking behind the pool house (which was a glorified tool shed that housed life vest for boaters and protected the “swimming pool”, which was just a protected dock around a small part of the lake) and proceeded onto a trail sheltered by trees.

Moonbyul was quiet. She loved this camp and everything about it, but she revered the nature that she was surrounded by. She had been coming here for the better part of her life, but the landscape never ceased to take her breath away. Peering through the thin shield of trees she looked down at the bank of the lake, and on the horizon she saw the tips of the mountain peaks that surrounded them. Dragonflies flew around her, and in her mind’s eye she saw them as fairies playing in and guarding over this natural wonderland.

Solar, too, was quiet. Similar to earlier in the morning, she stole glances at Moonbyul. She was still in awe of how beautiful the woman was, lost in her own personal thoughts, her eyes large and observant. Solar could only dream of the things Moonbyul thought of. Wheein explained to her that Moonbyul was a starving author, writing poems and fantastic short stories that only made it as far as her trash bin. Wheein said that Moonbyul noticed everything but, at the same time, seemed to be oblivious to the most obvious things.

To Solar, Moonbyul was a beautiful mystery.

To Moonbyul, Solar belonged among the stars.

To Wheein and Whasa, Moonbyul and Solar were even gayer than they were, and they were pretty gay.

It was hard to keep their snickering to a minimum when they saw the lovesick glances they threw at each other when they weren’t watching. Wheein was still sure that she was going to be 20 dollars richer, and Whasa bet her life that Wheein would be coughing up her money quicker than she could make it. They felt nostalgic though. Moonbyul and Solar were nothing like Wheein and Whasa were, coming right out and saying it early on and being open about their budding romantic attraction. But, still, it was nice to watch a pair of their friends fall for each other like they had the summer before.

Moonbyul lead them along the path, a quiet journey (except for the whispering Wheesa pair) and a quick one too, if the sound of rushing water had anything to say about it. They picked up their pace in excitement.

Moonbyul bound through the thicket of trees to where the sounds of the water originated and laughed, blissful.

This was home for her. This place, this carving in the earth made by centuries of rushing water over rock, was more familiar to her than her own apartment. This is where she belonged.

Solar, Wheein, and Whasa followed along behind her.

Solar gasped.

“This is beautiful,” She breathed, too afraid to disturb the scene. Her eyes flashed over to Moonbyul and she felt her heart skip a beat. “Beautiful.”

The next thing they knew, Wheein let out a screech and went falling into one of the pools of water only to look back up to see a chortling Whasa standing on the bank, clutching her stomach as she howled with laughter. Moonbyul smirked and shoved Whasa into the water, grinning triumphantly as she landed right beside her girlfriend.

“What the hell Moonbyul?!” Whasa spluttered.

“I’ll let your girlfriend explain!” Moonbyul laughed. Her laugh was cut short when she felt fingertips graze her shoulders lightly. She whipped around and stared Solar in the eye. “You wouldn’t.”

“Oh,” Solar’s mouth quirked up.

“No,” Moonbyul warned.

Solar raised her eyebrows, brushing her fingertips over Moonbyul’s shoulder blades.

“Solar no,” Moonbyul shivered under her touch.

“Solar,” She her lips. “Yes.”

It all happened faster than either one of them could register. Solar shoved and, instinctually, Moonbyul struggled to grab onto something. That something, in this case, was Solar.

The two tumbled backwards, landing with a splash into the water, arms wound tightly around each other and eyes screwed shut. The water flowed around them, whipping their hair around in the current. It was still icy cold from its mountainous origins and when both of them came up for air, they noticed that they were both pale with pink tipped noses.

After a moment of staring at each other in shock, they erupted into laughter.

Whasa and Wheein said nothing but smiled to each other in silent agreement- Their two friends were falling for each other quickly, both romantically and literally.

Eventually, they climbed out of the icy pools of water and trudged back to camp, parting ways to change into warm clothes and setting their wet ones out to dry. Moonbyul and Solar didn’t speak of the fall, though it remained on the forefront of each of both of their minds.

Even during free time, when each of the four girls split up to enjoy specific camp activities, no one forgot the fall.

Dinner was eaten together in comfortable silence aside from casual chatter and laughter when someone would steal food off of someone else’s plate.

The evening songs were similar to the morning, and Moonbyul continued to note that Solar whispered the words under her breath.

When the songs were over, the junior campers were sent to sleep, their young voices protesting the injustice but the sleepy yawns escaping from their mouths betrayed them. Solar and Moonbyul said goodnight to Wheein and Whasa who had to go to bed early too, since their campers were all juniors. Moonbyul rejoiced in the fact that her campers were all first year seniors and pulled Solar to the deck of the older girls’ cabin where a few other counselors had gathered to watch the older campers organize their own volleyball tournament. Moonbyul hopped up on the top of the bench attached to the decking of the cabin, patting to the wood beside her for Solar to join.

Solar smiled and shook her head, but joined her on the bench.

“So this is the senior only free time?” Solar asked.

“Yep. From 9 to 11 the seniors get to hang out here by the lake in the moonlight or in the amphitheater’s game rooms. The younger seniors usually go to the game rooms to play pool and ping pong, but the older seniors have always come out here to play volleyball.” They both laughed when the volleyball rolled out of bounds and into the lake with a sploosh. Groans and shouts of “why didn’t you hit it” and “alright Sungjun you go get it from the lake” were heard and they laughed even harder.

Moonbyul watched on as a teenage boy, intent on making everyone laugh all the time, bowed and made his way to the lake, slipping into the mud and flailing before grabbing the ball from the shallow water and climbing back up to the volleyball court. His return was met with copious amounts of clapping and sarcastic shouts such as “what a hero, that Sungjun”. Moonbyul shook her head, chuckling. She was reminded of herself at that age.

“Hey Moonbyul,” Solar’s voice was soft and slow. Moonbyul whipped her head around to focus on her. “About that fall earlier…”

Moonbyul’s cheeks reddened, and in the dim light she could almost make out that Solar’s did as well. “Yes?”

“I didn’t hurt you or anything, right?”

Moonbyul softened. She placed her hand on top of Solar’s. “You’ll have to do a lot more to bring me harm, Solar.”

“I didn’t want to harm you or anything, I was just trying to be funny!”

Moonbyul smiled. “I’m joking Solar. I’m fine.” She paused and frowned. “Are you?”

Solar looked up and met her eyes. “I-I’m fine. I think I landed primarily on top of you.”

Solar grasped Moonbyul’s hand and squeezed. They smiled and the reassurance that passed through their eyes ensured that neither one was lying to protect the other’s feelings.

Moonbyul’s hand didn’t leave Solar’s until they were dismissed for bed time.

Solar didn’t want to release it, even then.