Our Summer

Finally

Andrew's POV

I could barely hear splashing in the distance as I carried Esmeralda to her cabin.

"Cabin 17, right?" I asked her. She weakly nodded her head, nuzzling closer to me. God, she's freezing...

People were giving us odd looks; some were confused, others gave me a thumbs up. Some even got nosebleeds. Creeps...

When we got to the door, I panicked, "Shit, I don't have a key and I doubt that you still have yours on y–"

 "Itz already unlocked, dumbass." Esmeralda mumbled. My ears went red as I just nudged the door open with my foot.

 "Which bed is yours?" I asked. She just gave me a look.

 "Any of them work. The girls won't be mad." She then went limp. I laid her on the nearest bed, covering her with two blankets (it's summer after all).

 She was whimpering in her sleep. Without really thinking about it, I gently grabbed her hand and stroked my thumb over her knuckles repeatedly.

Slowly she began to faintly snore, reassuring me that her mind was at ease. Well, nearly was anyways.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. How am I supposed to tell her? I did basically just save her life... Isn't that how the stories usually go? The guy saves the girl and they instantly fall in love, right?

No, you idiot. That'd never happen in real life, it's way too simple.

 "A-andrew?" Esmeralda whimpered, sitting up. I shot up and off the bed, standing up.

 "Hm?" I asked, trying to play it off. She smiled faintly.

 "Just checking to see if you're still here. Also can I have some water?" She asked, laying back down and... smirking?

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you need Angel." I smiled, genuinely smiled, as she looked at me with shock.

 "That's the best you've got?!? What is wrong with you?" I muttered to myself as I walked away. After some scouring, I found a plastic water bottle, "This okay?" 

"Yeah, that's fine. Oh and Andrew?" Esmeralda called out.

I handed her the water bottle, "What?"

"Sammy told you that if I fell asleep, you had to leave." She mentioned, smirking. I gulped. Dammit, forgot about that rule.

"Well to be fair you passed out, not fell asleep. But please don't tell her." I begged. She began to laugh.

"You're fine. I won't tell." She reassured me. I let out a breath that I didn't even know I was holding.

"Ok, thank y—"

"You do owe me though." She cut me off. I raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me, but I just saved your life and we could consider this your favor to me. Unless you want to be in my debt..." I trailed off, letting her think about it. She nodded.

"Fine. Anything else you wanna say before they get back? The girls need to change for the team building." She stated, twisting a piece of the blanket. I shakily sighed.

"Yeah actually. Do you... Okay, I know that we haven't known each other for very long, but I like you a lot and I was wondering if you'd... If you'd like to go out with me? I completely understand if you don't, I just wanted to ask before I lost my courage. " I rambled out, looking at the ground because I didn't want to see those piercing green eyes judging me. A long silence followed.

"ESMÉ! Thank God that you're okay!" Mila cried out, yanking open the door and running to her bedside. I silently thanked her for interrupting the silence.

"Yeah, good to see you too Mila. Hey, hey, don't cry. It's not your fault that my mouth was open. " Esmeralda pat Mila's back as she sobbed into her shoulder. Mila sniffled and stood up, facing me with tears running down her face. It was a good 20 seconds of staring before she hugged me.

"H-hey. It's ok." I awkwardly pat her head before gently pushed her off.

 "Arigato gozaimasu." She bowed. What?

"She said thank you." Sammy called from the doorway. In what way was I supposed to know that? 

"Sorry... My family usually speaks Japanese at home, it's sorta a habit." Mila scratched her neck awkwardly. I merely smiled.

"It's alright, don't apologize for being who you are. Now I'll leave you ladies to it." I did a one foot 180 twist and walked out.

"ANDREW!" Esmeralda shouted. I paused.

"Yeah?"

"The answer is hai."

What type of cryptic bull–

Why would she say high? That's she's so high above me that I don't have a chance?

I pondered this all the way to the cabin.

"What's troubling you Drew? Hey, that rhymed... " Ted asked as I walked though the door. I groaned and plopped onto my bed.

"I asked her and all she said was 'high'. Why Drew? " I asked, realizing that he didn't call me by my name. He shrugged.

"Andrew sounds too formal for you, and calling you Andy is out of the question, so that leaves Drew. I thought of it. " Noel commented. I nodded, my brain confused with everything happening.

"Wait, what did she reply with?" Daevd pipped in.

"High," I looked at him with a sliver of hope in my heart, "Do you know what the hell that means?" 

He smiled, "It's Japanese. 'Hai' translates to 'yes', I think. I could be wrong."

"So she..." I couldn't believe it enough to finish the simple sentence.

She said yes...