Camp Idol

Episode 11

Cori froze and stared at Nicky, a nervous sensation rising up her body.

"What?" her voice cracked, but Nicky only continued to look at her. Then, wordlessly, he began to slowly lean in.

Heart beating in her ears, Cori gulped, struck motionless with an odd fluttering feeling.

"What is he doing?" Cori panicked as Nicky moved closer. "This is just like my dream! Wait... Am I dreaming again? Did I fall asleep?" Cori squeezed her eyes shut tight and opened them again, but only to find that Nicky was now even closer.

Cori took a deep breath and watched dumbly as Nicky's face neared her own, for some reason unable to take her eyes off of his approaching face- especially his lips.

When he was just inches away, to her surprise, Cori found herself closing her eyes again. This time, however, she opened them to find Nicky's hand brushing her shoulder.

"Huh?" she looked at Nicky with a strange mix of relief, confusion and disappointment.

"I found the spider," he said, now eyeing the pillow behind her.

"What?!" Cori screamed, turning to see the furry arachnid crawling onto her sleeping bag. "It was on me???" she squealed, unknowingly springing from her seat and right into Nicky's lap.

Nicky gazed down at her, surprise flashing momentarily in his eyes.

"It's okay," he whispered, arms tightening protectively around her.

Staring up at him, her heart pounded harder than before. Nicky was looking at her face, a serious expression on his own. Cori's breath caught in her throat as she slowly returned to her senses, taking in the scene. Nicky's intent green eyes were flecked with gold, his pink lips were slightly parted, and although his hair was still wet, it felt extremely soft.

"Wait," Cori froze again.

Glancing upward, she nearly shouted again. In her fright, she must have grabbed Nicky's hair, because her hand was now tightly clutching his damp, brown locks.

Too bewildered to do anything, Cori could only remain paralyzed, feeling her cheeks heat up. Her hand tingled as she continued to grasp his hair and her stomach burned with an extremely anxious jolt as if she had just plummeted down the hill of a roller coaster.

Despite her inability to let go of him, Nicky also made no move to separate. Silently, intensely, he gazed down at her, and then-

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING IN THERE?!" Kole's voice was as shocking as lightning.

"Nothing!" Cori jumped away from Nicky in a flash as both Kole and JM poked their heads into the tent. As they shifted the flap, Cori caught a glimpse of Tanner standing behind them.

"We all thought you were kissing or something," Kole eyed them mischievously.

"Yeah, your silhouettes looked really weird from out there," chuckled JM.

"We weren't kissing!" Cori flusteredly glanced past the curious members to Tanner as Nicky awkwardly ruffled his hair. "There was a spider!"

"Spider?!" Kole recoiled. "Where?!"

"Relax," Nicky chuckled. "I got it," he added, crawling past Cori and scooping up the spider from the wall of the tent where it had now migrated. "Watch out," he told the guys as he squeezed past them and out of the tent.

"Ew, I hope there aren't any in our tent!" Kole frowned, making to leave, too.

"You coming, Cori?" JM paused before following. "Kole found a can of sardines. He's gonna try roasting them before we go to bed!"