Camp Idol

Episode 9

"What was he talking about?" Cori continued to replay Nicky's words in her head as the boys pitched the tents outside of the cabin. "Did Tanner really lose on purpose because of... me?" she glanced at Tanner, who was sitting in one of the lawn chairs, instructing the others on what to do, but otherwise not helping with assembly.

"Kole, that's upside down," he rolled his eyes as Kole struggled with a tent peg. "Guys! Make sure you leave room for the fire!" Tanner finally jumped up to assist his band mates, who were, clearly, not setting up the camp to his tastes.

"The fire?" Nicky dropped the poles he was holding. "I almost forgot! We still need firewood!" he chuckled and shot Cori a little grin.

"Oh, yeah!" Cori remembered her experience in the shed with Nicky all too well.

"Do you wanna try for round two?" he asked her laughingly.

"Sure," said Cori, but just as Nicky took a step towards her, Tanner cut him off.

"I'll go," he said simply. "You keep working on the tent. I think you're the only one who knows what he's doing," he added, giving Kole and the others an unimpressed glance.

"Oh. Alright," Nicky agreed, but he looked slightly let down.

"Let's go," Tanner turned to Cori and they started for the trees.

"Hey! I'm coming too!" Kole shouted suddenly, hurrying to catch up with them. "I'm sick of putting that tent together!"

"How can you be sick of something you weren't even doing?" Tanner stared at him irritatedly.

"What? Didn't you see how many pegs I hammered into the ground?" Kole dropped his jaw.

"Yeah, in the wrong spots," smirked Tanner. "Oh, well. If you're coming, keep up," he added, giving Cori a slight tap on the back and trekking off through the trees.

Being at the woodshed this time was quite a different experience. For one it wasn't raining- and for two, Cori did not find herself trapped inside with a member of Miracle 10. Not that she hadn't been hoping for a repeat with Tanner, but the presence of Kole eliminated that possibility. In fact, with the addition of Miracle 10's most hyper member, Cori never even had to set foot in the shed.

"How much do we need?" Kole had rushed inside of the shed and was piling log after log on the ground.

"I think that's plenty," Tanner said, when Kole's mound of firewood had grown quite large.

"Okay," Kole jumped out of the shed and picked up a handful of the wood. "You guys can get the rest, right?"

"What? That little bit?" Tanner scoffed at the pile of firewood. "I bet I can carry twice as much as you."

"No way!" Kole yelled, scrambling to load his arms even more with the chopped logs. "Beat that!" he mocked, rushing away with his arms full of the ridiculously-stacked, weighty wood.

"I knew he'd fall for it," Tanner turned to Cori and grinned. "Like I was gonna carry all that."

Cori giggled as Tanner divided the remaining firewood between them and they, too, made their way back to the camp.

"You guys are slow," Kole stuck out his tongue when Cori and Tanner finally returned. He had already dropped his pile of wood in the space between the tents, which were now nearly constructed.

"Just in time," Nicky smiled up from where he was hammering in the last tent peg. In the heat of the day, he had taken off his shirt again and tied it around his head.

Cori stared, momentarily blinded by the sun beaming off of his biceps as he hammered the peg into the ground.

"Ah! Stop it!" she caught herself. "Why do I keep looking??? It's all because of that weird dream!" She quickly turned to look at Tanner, as if to make sure she still liked him.

Throwing down his handful of firewood, he flipped his blonde bangs out of his beautiful eyes and reclaimed his seat from before. Then, with a little nod towards the chair beside him, he gestured for Cori to join him. Cori's heart backflipped. Yep. She still liked him.

"Ta-dah!" Nicky stood up and presented the finished tents.

"They're done?" Kole stared at the campsite. "Sweet! I'll go get the air mattress!" he grinned and disappeared inside the cabin.

"Wanna test it out?" Nicky turned to Cori and Tanner.

"Go ahead," Tanner gestured Cori in first and she carefully crawled into the tent.

"Wow, it's bigger than I thought it would be," Cori sat on the floor and looked around.

"It needs some work, but it'll do," Tanner shrugged when he had joined her. "Hey! Toss in that blanket!" he called out of the flap.

"This one?" Nicky appeared in the opening with the quilt Tanner had taken from the closet.

"Yeah, we need to spread this out for extra padding to sleep on," Tanner nodded.

"Good idea. Here you go," Nicky handed him the blanket, but then to Cori's surprise, shooting them a small smile, he left them alone in the tent.

"Here, take a corner," Tanner unfolded the quilt and passed one end to Cori. "I think it's big enough to cover the whole floor."

Cori pulled the blanket to one side of the tent as Tanner tugged from the other.

"Okay, it just needs some of the wrinkles smoothed out," he said when they had stretched it across the tent.

"Right," Cori made her way around the edge, gently flattening out any lumps in the quilt, when suddenly something scurried across her hand. "AHHH!" Cori screamed, springing frightfully into Tanner's arms.

He looked down at her in surprise, but just then, the tent flap opened and Nicky's voice met their ears.

"Is everything oka-" he began, but when he had poked his head inside of the tent and saw Cori embracing Tanner closely, he quickly looked away.

"I-it was a s-spider," Cori hastily explained, embarrassedly breaking away from Tanner.

"A spider?" Tanner sneered. "Gross," he added, getting up and crawling past Nicky out of the tent.

"A spider?" Nicky's awkward expression morphed into a grin. "Where?"

"It was on my hand, but I flung it off," Cori pointed across the quilt.

Climbing inside, Nicky looked around the tent.

"I can't find it," he frowned after a few minutes. "It probably got scared when you screamed. I know I did," he added.

"Sorry," Cori apologized, a small shiver running up her back due to the missing creepy crawly.

"It's okay," said Nicky. "So, other than the spider, how do you like the tent?" he looked at her earnestly.

"I like it," Cori told him.

"Good," Nicky smiled. "Thanks for agreeing to camp with me."

"Sure," Cori shrugged awkwardly.

For a moment, Nicky looked at her strangely, as though there was something he wanted to say, and Cori was strangely reminded of her dream. Her eyes moved up his arms to his serious face as his lips parted to speak. Just then, however, Kole shouted from outside.

"Hey, guys! Help me get this inside!" he called.

"What the? Kole, you dork! You weren't supposed to blow up the mattress until after it's in the tent!" Axel yelled.

Throwing a hand to his forehead, Nicky turned from Cori and left the tent.

"Come on, let's deflate it," Cori heard him say, following him back outside, too. The giant air mattress was completely blown up and stuck in the opening of the other tent, much like JM's mattress had been stuck in the doorway earlier.

"How was I supposed to know?" Kole frowned as Nicky let out the air.

"Common sense?" teased JM.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kole punched him on the arm.

"And I have to share a tent with these guys tonight," sighed Axel.

"Hey, at least you can finally have your s'mores!" Nicky tried to lighten the mood as he flattened the air mattress.

"Finally!" Axel gasped happily. "Let's get the fire going!"

~~~

By the time the air mattress was finally inflated inside of the tent, the campfire was crackling strongly, and the log benches were positioned around the flames, the sun was already beginning to set.

"Okay! Here're the roasting sticks and graham crackers," JM brought the s'mores necessities from the cabin.

"And what about the rest of the stuff?" Axel demanded.

"I couldn't find the chocolate or marshmallows," answered JM, turning to Nicky. "Have you seen 'em?"

"Last I saw the chocolate was when Kole was eating it," Nicky shrugged.

"Please tell me you didn't eat it all," Axel looked at Kole in horror.

"It was raining!" Kole yelled. "I didn't think we'd get to make s'mores!"

"You've got to be kidding!" moaned Axel.

"But what about the marshmallows?" wondered JM.

"Heh," Kole scratched his head.

"You ate those too???" Nicky couldn't help but laugh.

"So, you're telling me that all we have for s'mores is a box of crackers?" Axel pouted.

"Um, not exactly," JM turned the box upside down and nothing but a few crumbs fell out.

"KOLE! You are so dead!" Axel pounced on Kole, tackling him to the ground.

"There's gotta be something we can roast over the fire," said Nicky, ignoring their tussle. "I'll go see what I can find."

"Idiots," Tanner whispered, taking Nicky's seat on the log next to Cori.

"Alright, guys!" Nicky returned shortly. "I found something we can toast!"

"What?" Axel paused from his scuffle with Kole to look up.

"Toast!" Nicky grinned, holding up a loaf of bread.

"UGHHH!" Axel cried, returning to his battle with Kole.

"Come on, it's something to eat!" Nicky sat down across from Tanner and Cori and skewered a slice of bread onto the roasting stick. "Here, have some!" he passed the bag to easygoing JM who speared a slice himself.

"This trip is a joke," Axel gave Kole another playful punch and joined everyone around the fire. "What are we supposed to do if we can't roast marshmallows?"

"I don't know. What do people usually do around a campfire?" Kole plopped down beside him and began toasting some bread too.

"We could always sing campfire songs," said Nicky. "I mean, we are singers after all," he laughed.

"Hey, that's actually a good idea," JM twisted his stick to heat the toast evenly.

"Yeah, don't you keep a guitar in your room here, Nicky?" asked Kole, accidentally lighting his slice of bread on fire.

"Give me that!" Axel confiscated the skewer from Kole and blew out the flaming toast before passing it back to him.

"Sweet! I love burnt toast!" Kole ripped the toast from the stick, but instantly dropped it on the ground. "Ooh! Hot!"

"Anyways," Tanner rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I do have an acoustic guitar here," said Nicky. "I'll go get it," he added, handing his toasting bread to Axel and returning to the cabin.

"You're in for a real treat," JM smiled at Cori.

"Yeah, your own personal Miracle 10 concert!" grinned Kole.