butterflies // stenbrough

- Bill -

    "Okay all you little gremlins, listen up!" Stan shouted over the giggles and loud conversations of the pre-teen crowd. "We're going to miss you all so very much, in fact, we're going to miss you so much that we're going to play one last awesome game so we all have great memories of each other!"
"Shhhh." Bill attempted to calm down the loud campers, to some avail "Okay the g-g-game is castaways." As he explained, the kids only got more excited and couldn't keep their cheers and shouts in. "So guys... what s-s-should our cabin n-name be?"
    "Purple pandas!"
    "Your mom!"
    "Cabin hot people!"
    "The cabin eight extraordinaries!"
"The cabin eight extraordinaries?" Stan repeated the only plausible name option. "The cabin eight extraordinaries! Great idea Noah. We are the cabin eight extraordinaries and in... right now we need to head to cabin five for the bean bag toss! Let's kick some ass!"
    Cheers and claps roared as the tweens and Stan left to cabin five, while Bill stayed to run the escape room of cabin eight. It was easy to set up, three clues hidden in plain sight. Still would take most cabins like ten minutes, they weren't the brightest of kids.
Cabins came and go, for the most part it was boring. Bill lit up when he saw the kids of cabin one walking towards him, followed by two very appealing counsellors.
"Hey!" June smiled at him.
"Hey June! Hey Bev!" Bill exclaimed, happy to be around people he actually liked.
"How's escape room-ing?" Beverly said, happy to see him as well.
"Uneventful m-m-mostly." He answered.
"So how does this work? Do we go in with them, or stay here, or....?" Beverly asked.
"Your c-c-choice. Some counsellors s-stayed here, others had one g-g-go in." Bill explained.
"I do not trust our kids by themselves so I'll go in and June.. you good to stay here?" Beverly said.
"Yeah of course." June replied.
"Perfect. Have fun and try not to kill each other." Beverly commented before leading the kids into the cabin.
    "I'll try." June mimicked stabbing the boy next to her.
    "No!" Bill put his hand over his heart dramatically before falling to the ground, taking a seat on the step while using his hands to 'spew blood'.
    "I'm so sorry!" June giggled while taking a seat next to him.
    "Ah, don't w-w-worry about it." He returned her smile. Beams of moonlight shone into her face, illuminating her face in a way that was beautiful but fake. You only saw the outline of her stunning features, you didn't see her acne or her bruises. Nothing that turned her from a doll into a real person. Bill didn't like it very much, he preferred her as she was, though he had to admit that she was always a sight to behold.
    "Is it just me or does night feel like it's coming so much faster now?" June remarked at the fully set sun at only 21:00.
    "I g-g-get what you mean."
    "You can feel it too. It's awfully cold right now." June commented, eyeing Bill's black windbreaker.
    "Would you l-l-like my j-jacket?" Bill offered.
    "Sure." June smiled. Bill couldn't see much because of the dim light but June sure did look like she was blushing under the black hood. "Thank you, this windbreaker is perfect."
    "No problem, I w-w-wasn't that cold." Bill said.
    "This windbreaker fits me perfectly, I think it's a woman's brand? Did you girlfriend give it to you?" June asked.
    "G-G-Girlfriend?" Now it was Bill's turn to blush "I don't have a g-girlfriend. It's my mom's jacket."
    "Hmm." June smiled to herself for a moment "Why are you wearing your moms jacket?"
    "I'm g-growing too fast." Bill explained. "I outgrew all my j-j-jackets and didn't have time to get a new one b-before camp."
    "Well it's a very nice jacket!" June replied, moving closer to Bill, but only by a little bit.
"Are you fr-fr-fr-from Derry?" Bill asked, pretending not to notice.
"I'm from Rhode Island originally, but I moved to Derry with my family when I was seven." She answered "But you don't want to hear about that!"
"I d-do."
"Sure you do." June rolled her eyes playfully "None of the campers are around, we don't have to suffer through smalltalk. You can ask me anything."
"I d-d-don't really have anything to as-s-s-sk you; S-Sorry." Bill said, both curious and nervous about where this conversation is headed.
"Well can I ask you anything?"
"Sure."
"Do you think I'm pretty?"
"Yes." Bill replied, honestly. She was stunning, it was objective fact. She was almost like a Disney Princess in the moonlight, but with less talking birds and glass slippers.
"What about Bev?"
"She's one of my best fr-fr-friends, and yes she is v-very attractive." Bill fidgeted with his hands.
    "And Stan?"
    "W-W-What?" Bill practically jumped out of his skin.
    "Kidding!" June laughed "Calm down soldier."
    "Oh." Bill calmed.
    "I think Stan is pretty." June stated "Not as pretty as you though."
    "Thank you." Bill blushed, involuntarily. It wasn't attraction or lust, instead a mix of nervousness and compliments.
    "Has a girl ever called you pretty before?" June asked the blushing boy, while staring at his cheeks. The moonlight couldn't cover everything.
    "Um...." Bill couldn't answer out loud, but the answer was no. Never once in his entire life. This whole situation was a lot for him, he'd never had a girl talk to him like June did. It was kinda nice? But also awkward and sorta uncomfortable. Not to mention the nagging sense in the back of his head  that she wasn't just being nice, that she wanted something Bill couldn't give her. But he wanted to.
    "Has a girl ever kissed you?"
    "Uhhhh.....n-no." Bill responded, his words catching in his throat and struggling to come out.
    "There's a first time for everything, right?" June smiled before moving even closer to him, her face only inches from his. It didn't take her lips long to find Bill's. Her lips were soft and she was beautiful, she was also kind and honest and a good person. But Bill just wasn't attracted to her. God did he want to be, but he just wasn't. So when her lips met his, there was no music. No strings on the violin, no keys on the piano. It was like the entire symphony orchestra packed up and went home. Bill's lips kissed back on impulse but there was no real desire behind it.
    "Wow..." June said, pulling back. Excitement and happiness apparent on her expression.
    "June, I-" Bill started, but was quickly interrupted by a wave of preteen girls.
    "We did it!!!" A short blonde yelled before high-fiving her much taller fellow camper.
    "Good job girls!" Beverly followed after them. "Nice to see you loser! Hate to head back."
    "See you Bev." Bill said, timidly.
   "See you Billiam." Bev reached out her fist. He smiled awkwardly and returned her fist bump.
    "June?" Bev helped her up.
   "Gotta head back to our cabin. See you Bill." She said with a loving smile before they started heading back to cabin one.
    "Bye." Bill said quietly, waving at them slowly as they walked away.  He just stood there until Stan came back, not talking, not moving. Just standing there, thinking about what the hell just happened.
    "Are you okay?" Stan inspected the taller boy "You seem quiet."
    "I'm f-f-fine."

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the queen of england just died ??? this is so weird