Miss Missing You - ImmortalAnex

I Know I'm The One You Want To Forget (2)

"Do I have to go?" Kevin asks as they approach the camp's entrance.

Neither of his parents reply. Of course they don't because of course he has to go. They don't bother questioning why he suddenly doesn't want to go this year. They drop him off with his stuff and leave with a pathetic excuse for a goodbye. Not even a hug or a wave. They're glad to be rid of him, they always are. God, he hates summer. The only good thing about it is there is no school.

The camp smells the same as it did last year. It doesn't look much different, either. The trees, the cabins, the clubhouse behind which lives the infamous pool.

Chlorine kissed summer skin is a vivid memory, one Kevin has retained from all his years coming here. Last year, too, only chlorine wasn't the only thing kissing his skin last year. Kevin blinks and he sees Aleks's face in front of him, the hot whiskey eyes staring into his own, looking into his soul and reading his secrets. There's a look of something else, too, hidden behind the affection, and it looks like a dragon. Fierce, unforgiving and certain death.  

Kevin opens his eyes, shaking himself mentally. The dragon has moved, and now it resides within Kevin. The fire that killed him consumed him, became part of him, brought him back to life. It hurt when he took the matches to his skin two months ago, but it also woke him up. The burns on his skin that are now carefully hidden away by his clothes are reminders that Aleks was wrong and Aleks was bad and just because Kevin was hurt it doesn't mean he was the weak one because at least he felt something.  And now, he's back home, and he can feel the fire inside him again and he is ready and he is going to win.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

That night, he's sitting in his friend's cabin with his usual group and they're having a great reunion. Everything is as it should be and to make things better, Aleks isn't even there. In Kevin's mind, Christmas has arrived early. He gets up and tells everyone he'll be right back because he's got to get something from his cabin.

He tries not to think about the fact that he has to walk past Aleks's cabin to get to his own. That fact proved rather difficult when he saw none other than Aleks himself, walking the same direction as Kevin. Towards...

'No,' Kevin thought. 'He can't be going to my cabin, he can't.' His confidence withered almost instantly. Kevin had been 100% prepared to verbally flay Aleks within an inch of his life, but now faced with the prospect of actually having to speak to him was weighing on him and he was terrified.

However, he made it to his empty cabin without incident. He grabbed his phone, which was what he came to retrieve, and turned to go back outside and back to his friends.

And who would be standing outside the door but Aleks himself?

Kevin stopped short, all words failing him as he saw, face to face, he who had once been the love of his life. Still was, not that he would admit it to anyone.

Aleks looked just as surprised as Kevin felt, and soon their surprised silence turned into an awkward one. Kevin couldn't bring himself to yell, he just couldn't. Not when Aleks was finally standing in front of him again, and looking too innocent and cute and ... Had he gotten even MORE attractive? Kevin hadn't thought it possble.

"Uh," Aleks said, and his voice was everything Kevin remembered it to be. It was what he had missed. "Hi."

"Hi," Kevin said slowly. "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Aleks asked, smiling a bit, scratching the back of his neck. "I came to see you."

Kevin said nothing. "Why?" He was determined not to fall for it, for Aleks, not this time. He was different now, and he knew better.