Towards The Man

Sam turned right towards the man's voice, which was louder and presumably closer than the woman's. He moved toward the direction of the man's voice, calling out, "I'm here!" every couple of minutes. It took a good 20 minutes, but the voice got louder and louder until he eventually came upon a pair of men in counsellor attire, flashlights in hand. One was tan, short and stocky, with spiked jet black hair. The second man was tall and stringy, with dark skin and large, kind eyes.

"There he is!" The short man exclaimed. A smile beamed across both men's faces the moment they saw him. "You had everybody worried, bro!"

Sam smiled sheepishly at the two men. "Yeah sorry, I got lost looking for Arts and Crafts. I was getting directions from my Yoga teacher, but we got distracted and..." The tall man smirked. "Oh I see," he said. "Did she leave you out here?"

"No, she's further in," Sam explained. "She fell asleep and I couldn't get her up." Before he could offer to help them find her, they burst out laughing.

"Damn bro!" the short one said, still half-laughing. "You must have some game! C'mon we'll get you back." He turned and stepped away from the group to use his radio.

"Don't worry about Claudia," the tall man said. "I'm positive she can find her own way. Though she might be a bit freaked that you bailed on her. This is not the first time she's been caught red-handed in the woods... Though it might be the first time it happened because she passed out at her post!" He laughed again and wiped away a tear.

When the short man did his thing, the counsellors led Sam back to camp. On the way, they got around to introducing themselves as the male counselors for . The short man was Pete Coletta, a 36-year-old Philadelphian. The tall man was Thomas--"_not _Tom or Tommy"--from Arizona. They were two of the three male counsellors for bunk 3. Apparently the whole camp freaked out Sam failed to check in for three consecutive activities. Normally, that would grounds for discipline, but they said they'd explain the situation and he wouldn't get in trouble.

Back at the bunk, Sam was shocked to find a warm and fairly large reception waiting for him. Veronica and Lizzie were there, along with a good portion of what he assumed were his bunkmates. "Welcome back!" Lizzie ran up to greet him and gave him a big hug, pressing his face into her chest. Veronica followed up and did the same.

"We were so worried about you!" Veronica said. "I told you to stick to your schedule! What happened?"

"It's not his fault," Thomas interjected. "Claudia was teaching yoga and got him all turned around after class."

"Oh I see..." Veronica looked sternly at Sam. "Well I guess I can't blame for you for that. Everybody ends up there once in awhile." Sam blushed and looked away. It felt like he was getting scolded by his own mom, which was surprisingly hot. Veronica turned and hugged Pete and Thomas, "Thank you guys for bringing Sam back! We don't what we would've done if he'd disappeared on us." Veronica lingered as she withdrew from hugging Pete. "Petey, looking strong as ever I see." Through her glasses, Sam recognized a sultry glance. "You know, I wish there was something I could do to thank you both for this. Why don't you come in the bunk so we can fill out the incident paperwork."

"Lizzie," she turned quickly, "can you handle the introductions while I take care them?"

Lizzie smirked. "Of course, Veronica. I've got this!" She turned to Sam. "I know it's a bit late, but it's time for you to meet your bunkmates! It's a lot of names and faces, so we aren't going to stand around in a circle or anything. We'll have a little mixer out here with some bug juice and snacks. Walk around, talk to people, and have fun!" She leaned in to whisper, "please don't sneak off again though. We don't anyone getting in t-r-o-u-b-l-e. Privacy is overrated, anyway!" And with that, she gave him a pinch and a pat on the ass and sent him out into the warm embrace of his bunk.