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June snorted. “I miss when you weren’t married and happy and would engage in my cynical spirals.”
“What can I say,” Kevin said, waggling his wedding ring in June’s face. “When you’re in love, it somehow makes everything a little bit easier.” June scoffed again, then pushed her granola bar wrapper into her backpack and stood up.
“C’mon, you goon,” she said, helping Kevin up. “We need to get back down to camp so we can get lunch. Not having to cook is secretly my favorite thing about this week.”
“June, it is not a secret that you hate to cook. Furthermore, you’re bad at it.” Kevin said, clapping June on the shoulder.
June followed in Kevin’s footsteps, trudging down behind him as they descended the gradually sloping mountain. While not near the 14,000 foot mountains that surrounded them on their drive up, the camp was around 9,000 feet elevation, so it wasn’t an easy hike by any means. June’s thighs and ass burned as she took step after step. She used to hike all the time, used to spend her weekends driving out to the mountains to tackle a new hike or go skiing. That had all fallen by the wayside over the past two years - June was more likely to watch fourteen episodes of Law & Order: SVU than she was to climb at 14er. Cursing her lack of discipline and lack of direction in her life, June was lost in her thoughts when Kevin stopped at the base of the mountain, so sudden that June almost ran into him.
“What the hell, dude?” June said.
“Who’s that at the climbing wall?” Kevin said, pointing to a figure in the distance. June followed his finger and caught the outline of a lanky man hooked up to the climbing wall. A flash of recognition flared in her belly when she realized exactly who it was.
“That’s the new director,” June replied, trying to keep her voice calm. A sly smile spread over Kevin’s face, which June knew meant that he was up to something. She had seen that face a few times - when he would dare June to do a shot at the bar the night before a field trip, when he had admitted to helping a group of students for the annual class prank, when he was about to ask his husband to do something ridiculous for him.
“I’d love to meet him,” Kevin said, starting to walk determinedly towards the climbing wall. Though Kevin was a few inches shorter than June, he was quick, and she found herself scrambling to catch up to him.
“I don’t know if we need to do that,” June said. “It looks like he’s working and you can meet him at dinner and like, you don’t want to disturb someone, that feels wrong.”
“Okay, so I know he’s hot now,” Kevin replied as they approached the climbing tower. “You wouldn’t act this weird if he was just okay looking.” June shielded her eyes with her hand as she looked up at Colin on the tower, hanging from a thick climbing rope with some kind of wrench in his hand. He was in the same dark brown t-shirt she had met him in, only this time, as he used the tool to tighten the climbing hold into the wall, June saw how his biceps bulged as he worked. His hair was still pulled back, but a piece had fallen in front of his eyes, and something about the way he absentmindedly brushed it away from his forehead with the back of his palm was strangely sexy to June.
Good god, she needed to get laid.
A shorter woman - another staff member? - was on the ground, belaying Colin and pointing out which holds needed fixing. June and Kevin watched from a distance as Colin and the woman worked together in a smooth, practiced manner, calling back and forth to each other with a familiarity that made June’s stomach twist in an uncomfortable way.
Finally, Colin was lowered to the ground. As he unclipped, he turned around and noticed June and Kevin standing there, watching. June felt caught, creepy, and awkward all at the same time.
Kevin, apparently, didn’t feel the same way.
“Hey there!” Kevin said, waving, his characteristic gregarious personality shining out of him. “Whatcha working on?” June noticed Colin’s eyes skip over Kevin and shoot directly to her, holding her gaze for a moment before he looked back at the climbing wall. His eyes were a lighter shade of brown in the afternoon sun, a chestnut color with tiny flecks of green. She shrugged her shoulders, ignoring the urge to cover her rapidly flushing face. She hoped that she could blame it on the hike or sun if anyone asked.
“We’re just keeping tabs on the climbing holds. We like to go up every week and just make sure they’re stable before the kids climb them,” Colin answered, pulling his fingers back towards his upper arm to stretch his forearms. June’s eyes widened as she saw the cords of muscle and sinew stretch and she tried to ignore the effect those taught muscles had on her lower body. Maybe she just had a super sweaty crotch from hiking. Yep, that had to be it.
“Plus, Col likes to see if he can still maintain his time record for climbing the tower,” said the girl, rolling her eyes and pulling her shiny brown hair pulled back in a bun that looked similar to Colin’s.
“Shut up, Phoebe,” he said, pulling her hair out of her bun the second after her hands had left her hair. “And, for the record, I am still the staff record holder as of last month, so I’d say the weekly practice pays off.” Despite his bragging, June felt the lack of weight behind it, instinctively knew that Colin wasn’t the type of guy to boast about his accomplishments in any way.
“Impressive,” Kevin said, raising his eyebrows and cutting a quick glance to June.
“This is Kevin,” June said, pointedly. “He’s the science teacher who teaches in our grade. He’s also been coming up to camp for awhile with the school.”
“Nice to meet you,” Colin said, walking over and shaking hands with Kevin. June tried - and failed - to not notice the way the climbing harness tugged tightly around Colin’s crotch and the small webbing at the back hugged his surprisingly muscular ass. The woman who had been belaying Colin cleared her throat, and Colin rolled his eyes again.
“June, Kevin, this is Phoebe. She works at the museum down at Vanberg University but helps out here from time to time as well. And she’s an absolutely annoying pain in the ass when she does it.” June cocked her head in surprise. Nothing in her limited interactions with Colin suggested he was the type of person to speak this way to an employee or - god forbid - a girlfriend.
“I’m also his younger sister,” Phoebe clarified, stepping over to shake June and Kevin’s hand. A wave of realization washed over June, followed by relief. That explained their easy going connection, the way that they needled and teased each other. June had the same relationship with her brother, though he lived states away now.
“Did you go to VU?” June said, realizing she hadn’t spoken in some time. “I went there! I studied English, but I’m not sure if I ever went to the museum. Or knew we had a museum.”
Phoebe gave a defeated laugh, “Yeah, no one really knows we exist. Which is great for our financial situation as a museum and also my own personal bank account - hence the second job out here at camp.” Phoebe made an over dramatic sigh, and June lifted her mouth in a half smile. She liked Phoebe within seconds. “Nah, we grew up in town, but both left it for college. I ended up in the midwest but missed the mountains, so came back after school. Colin ended up back here right before the world went to shit, so it’s been nice to reconnect with his dumb ass.”
“Are you hanging around tonight?” June asked Phoebe. “We’re headed out to the Tavern for a drink after dinner if you would like to commiserate about making poor career choices.” She grimaced, immediately regretting her choice in words. “I mean, I don’t want to make assumptions. I’m sure you love your job - I meant the pay.” June knew she had a habit of putting her foot in her mouth, and she really hated that Colin was here, staring at her as she said stupid shit to his sister. Fuck.
“I understand - you remind me of my best friend down at the museum, she’s always talking before she thinks.” Phoebe gave a supportive smile and June felt slightly better and shoved down the urge to continue apologizing.
“That’s our June!” Kevin interjected. June resisted the urge to punch him in the arm. “If you just pause in a conversation, she’ll ramble and fill that space with whatever pops into her head. It’s fun!” June felt her face warm, though she knew that every word Kevin was saying was completely true.
“Anyway,” Phoebe continued, “I have to head back down to Vanberg tonight, but I’ll give you my number so we can hang out when you get back to the city.” The two women pulled out their phones and swapped numbers while Kevin and Colin made small talk behind them.
