My Best Friend's Brother OneShot Collection Bunk'd

Hero

The camp mess hall was mostly empty after the lunch rush. Only a few campers had stayed behind, finishing off expired pudding or checking the tables for abandoned spirit beads for their lanyards. Ravi sat across from Lou at one of the tables.

"Now, remember, I want your honest opinion," Ravi said to his girlfriend.

Lou peeked over the edges of the manuscript and hummed her response before shifting her focus back to the last paragraph. After thirty more seconds of holding his breath, Ravi exhaled when he saw her put the stack of papers down on the mess hall table.

"It was..." Lou began.

"Riveting? Compelling? The next great piece of American literature!"

"Long."

He sat there beaming at her. He motioned for her to continue with the praise he anticipated, but she sighed and shifted uncomfortably on the bench. He deflated, his shoulders sagging and the corners of his mouth tugging down.

Lou perked up, "But..."

Ravi straightened his back a bit and prodded hopefully, "But?"

She put her hands over her face and groaned. "Aw peanuts, Ravi! I can't lie to you." She settled her arms on the table and reached out to him. "But it was awful, pumpkin. Terrible. It kind of sucked."

Ravi pulled his hands from hers and stuck his nose in the air. He said in an offended tone, "Well, thank you for that."

"No, don't be mad," she said scooting out of her seat and moving to share a bench with him. "You said you wanted my honest opinion."

"Don't you know people never mean that when they say it, especially a writer." He crossed his arms and slid to the far end of the bench.

Lou pulled the heavy pages of his manuscript toward her. "You spend the first fifty pages describing the dietary habits of the hero's sidekick. Who cares what a robot-lizard hybrid eats with her afternoon tea?"

Ravi slapped his palm on the table and faced her. "It's called world building."

"I believe the 'b' word you were looking for is 'boring,'" Lou teased. She flipped through the pages, seeing flashes of color every few chapters from food stains they'd gathered from her lunchtime readings. "And the hero doesn't even solve a real crime."

"Excuse me, but exaggerated findings in an environmental study are most certainly a crime."

"Not if nobody's impacted by it."

He slid back over, bumping into her side, and scooped the pile of papers over to himself in a haughty motion. "Excuse me, but several of his love interests were very concerned about the June beetle."

"And that's another thing. Why does he have so many girlfriends?"

"Because he's a ladies man," he stopped stacking the manuscript and added quickly, "But that was before you and me and us."

Lou smirked and leaned closer to her boyfriend. "I knew it! This guy's supposed to be you!"

Ravi turned away in embarrassment and stared up at the high ceiling of the mess hall. "Is not," he argued weakly.

She nudged him with her elbow and said good-naturedly, "Aw, don't be embarrassed."

Ravi looked down at his hands. "I suppose you think that I kind of suck now too."

"Never."

He looked up to see her smiling at him affectionately. She held out her hand for him to hold. He laced his fingers with hers and leaned closer so that their shoulders touched.

"I like you," she said sweetly.

"And my book?"

"No. Your book is terrible. But you, you're not."

He rolled his eyes and chuckled at his honest girlfriend.