From the Ashes

[36] Born from the Fire

I don’t know what it is about this stupid year, but Mother Nature must think she’s one funny lady for kicking off the next week of our summer vacation with a straight 6 days of this cold, rainy shit. We don’t do much for the rest of the week. We pretty much sit around camp with the family, and when the rain gets to falling really hard, those grand cabins start to get pretty small. I hear a lot of Roman and Sage’s music in that week, and Sage tells me that we need to get ourselves to a drum set, so I can really hear some music. He plays a little bit of bass, but not much. He and Roman have had a band going since they were young and harbored dreams of big-stage stardom. Of course, they’ve matured out of that mindset by now, but they’re still both very talented. And I think their tweenage-boy dream is cute, when they tell me about it.

I also get to know Amy and her husband, Rob, better in this week. Amy is as sweet and kind as ever, and she tells me many stories about past summers here at camp, as well as many little-Roman stories. Which are just plain adorable. Who doesn’t love hearing stories about their boyfriend from when they were a little kid? Ah, boyfriend. I’m just waiting for that to get old.

Rob, on the other hand, is kind of a quiet guy. He’s really nice, but he keeps to himself a lot. He and Amy have only been married for a little over a year, and have known each other a few years prior to getting hitched. I think they are a sweet couple. He and Roman don’t interact much, but he has very good reasons to have father issues, so I don’t see it as a problem at all.

I also play a lot of little games with Janie throughout the week, mostly dolls, pretend, and a bit of dress-up with my clothes. I’ve never liked other people’s kids, and the thought of babysitting turns my stomach, but Janie is one heck of a sweetheart. I’d babysit her any day.

The only time any of us go out was in the middle of the week, and that was when Roman took me out on a mini-date to go eat lunch on a blanket in the bed of his truck by the Emerald Lakes. That was the only day it didn’t rain this week. It was modest, but it was the best date I’ve ever been on. Roman and I just get along so well, sometimes it slips my mind that we’re in a romantic relationship because we play-fight and horse around like bros so much. The sun actually came out when we were finished with our pick-up-picnic, when I was sitting cross-legged on the blanket with Roman’s head in my lap. The sun lit up the little valley of the small lake for about a half hour, and we got to watch the mist burn away from the surface of the water.

By kicking around the project supplies that were lying in the truck, we were reminded that we have to start that soon. We agreed on next week, after all of the excitement winds down from the next round of fights for the tournament on Saturday.

Or, rather, tonight.

After a day of slinking around camp in anticipation, we head out a few hours after a family dinner. Since it’s the weekend and all, Amy tells us to be extra careful, yet doesn’t give us a curfew this time since we were cooped up at the camp for a straight week. By the time we reach The Gazebo after the bumpy, back-road drive, the tiki torches are just being lit, and kids have already started to arrive by the throngs. We climb out of the truck and pass groups of kids hauling out picnic tables from the middle of The Gazebo to make room for the fighting mat. Roman and I get a lot of stares and a lot of greetings, now that people know who we are. It’s a new thing for me, attracting attention. It happened in those last days of school with my drastic dye-job, but that was all double-takes and stares to figure out who that new girl under the pink hair was. The kind of looks that provoke conversation like “woah, look at that,” or “Allie dyed her hair!” But these kinds of looks... Admiration, wonder, jealousy. It was strange. And I barely did anything except stand on the edge of a mat and cheer Roman on. So I guess it was all because I was The Phoenix’s pillar.