Page 77 of Wildfire
Emilia looks like her usual, perfectly normal self, but Xander looks as pissed as Aurora.
“Do you have something to tell the group?” Aurora says dramatically, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms across her chest. I’ve hated getting into trouble my whole life, but the way she’s staring at me is kind of sexy.
“No? Am I supposed to have something to tell the group?” There’s so many fucking traditions in this place that it’s perfectly plausible I’ve forgotten something ridiculous.
“Your birthday, Russ,” Aurora snaps, “is tomorrow.”
I concentrate on my eggs, but Aurora kicks me under the table soI look back up. If I stare at her for too long she’ll pout or smile and I’ll agree to something that makes me the center of attention when I don’t want to. “Is it?”
“Did you ask him?” Jenna asks no one in particular as she walks up to our table.
“Oh God, ask me what?” I groan.
“What type of cake you want for your birthday,” Jenna says.
“I don’t need a cake. I’m not really into birthdays, so please don’t feel the need to do anything.”
Jenna sits beside Aurora and steals a piece of toast from her plate. Aurora is too busy glaring at me to notice. Jenna takes a bite and turns her attention back to me. “Aw, don’t be like that when it’s your twenty-first.”
“Your twenty-first?” Aurora squeaks. “And you want to spend it here with no birthday cake and no party? I love this place, but that sucks, Russ.”
Jenna scowls at her. “Uh, family legacy? Rude.”
“You’re the farmer equivalent of a nepo baby, calm down,” Aurora grumbles. “Can we all have time off to go to Vegas?”
“You’re not even old enough to enjoy Las Vegas,” Emilia tells Aurora, only to be met with an unimpressed glare.
“I don’t want to go to Vegas,” I add, even though I don’t think anybody in this conversation cares about what I want.
Aurora looks appalled. “Why not? We can take our camp counselor riches and put it all on red.”
I’m back to studying my eggs, wondering how I can say I don’t gamble without it creating more questions I’d rather not answer. Thankfully, Jenna saves me. “Can someone tell me what cake I’m buying? Ideally the birthday boy himself.”
Xander is the first to reply. “Chocolate.”
Followed by Emilia. “Lemon.”
And finally Aurora. “Ice cream.”
They’re all looking at me again. “No cake.”
“Y’all are impossible,” Jenna moans as she stands from our table. “I’ll be at the cabin in twenty minutes to do the inspection. Who’s not working today?”
“Me and Russ,” Aurora says casually.
“I’m so glad I work so hard on all your programs for you to all switch it around whenever you feel like it,” Jenna drawls, rolling her eyes. Jenna has been nice about us switching, even though it ruins her spreadsheet and she has to reprint it. Aurora told her we’re the only ones who like hiking and that’s why we’re spending so much time together. “I’m just going to put you two on the same day off from now on. I’m wasting so much paper.”
I don’t know how people sneaking around at other camps do it considering so many of them offer hardly any time off. Aurora and I struggle for privacy, but we’re lucky Emilia and Xander are flexible and like each other enough to swap with us so we can be alone.
I feel like I’m sweating beneath the pressure of being around Jenna, but Aurora looks perfectly cool as she changes the topic. “Do you want anything from the ice cream shop in Meadow Springs?”
“I thought you were hiking,” Jenna asks, and I’m definitely sweating.
“Jen, how do you feel about having a huge food fight tonight instead of a pajama party?” Xander says, quickly changing the topic.
“I do not feel good about it,” she replies, instantly turning her attention to my roommate.
I take the attention being elsewhere as an opportunity to inhale the rest of my breakfast, while Aurora has already made a quick exit, saying she needed to do something.
