As the girls all began to roll out of bed, well after twelve noon on their fifth day, three of the four had a head-pounding reason to stay in and sleep longer. The fact that lunch hour would end at 1:00 PM, and they all needed something solid and nutritious in their stomachs, it was Adelyn's motivation to get her friends up and to the cafeteria. Being in a non-attentive state, it wasn't until they were all seated and staring blankly into their blueberry muffins, coffee and orange juice, that it became obvious Courtney had fared the worst during the long night of reveling.

"Jesus, Court," Julie mumbled. "What happened to your face? And your arms? Are those bruises?"

Courtney was silent, which made the whole unfolding scenario even stranger.

"Yeah. She just fell down . . . coming in last night," Adelyn falsely explained. "You were all pretty out of it. And you're all just lucky nothing more serious happened to you. Especially with some of the animals that are staying at this place."

Her eyes caught Courtney's while there was a detectable anger in her voice.

"Come on, Ads, don't be so paranoid," Julie answered back, looking now more closely at the dark spots on Courtney's upper arm. "Wow . . . That must have been a bad fall, Court. Are you OK?"

Courtney just nodded and went on sipping her coffee.

"Well, that's it then, ladies," Cheryl announced, after also inspecting her friend's swollen face. "We jus ain't gonna have no more alcohol on this here premises.  . . It's illegal anyways!  And I can see why. I had to slap a few of them boys pretty good before the night was over. And them older guys? They jus weren't taken No for NO!"

"OK, girls," Julie tried to clarify, "They were just being rowdy guys. We can handle them."

Adelyn gave her a steely look on Courtney's behalf.

"And b'sides,"  Cheryl added, "my head  still be pound'n! Like somebody been kick'n it all morning."

The girls all smiled.

"I agree, Cheryl," Adelyn weighed in. "Let's have a rule about that. For the rest of the week. No more alcohol. At least not so much, OK girls?"

"What do you say Court?" Julie asked. She did this to take her friend's emotional temperature.

"Yeah, OK. It's a good plan," she said, silently—almost in a whisper.

As the girls slowly ate their brunch and began to come halfway back to life, Julie suggested they just stay in for the day. Sleep a bit more, and get beyond their hangovers.

"Good call, Jules," Cheryl added, yawning loudly. "I know I been miss'in my cell phone and my friends. Them guys on the outs. Got some serious calls and messages to make now. Guess we're about halfways through this crazy week now, huh?"

As the four walked back to the bungalows, there was a small sealed envelope taped to Adelyn's and Courtney's door.

Courtney quickly collected it and looked to see for whom it was intended.

"ADELYN," is how the envelope was addressed. And in a bold hand.

"It's for you," Courtney simply said, handing the small sealed note over to her.

Adelyn carefully opened it and read its single line, holding the contents close to her chest.

It read: "CALL ME TODAY BEFORE 2 PM. 8142156723—KEEPER OF THE MASCOT."

"My, my! . . ." Cheryl announced. "How's come nobody else gets mail like that? Specially delivered to their room? So . . . what's it say, girl? Come on . . ."

"Yeah," Julie confirmed. "You going to share your little message with us, Adelyn?"

They all stood motionless around her.

"Of course not," Adelyn said smiling, holding the message firmly hidden. "It's nothing really . . . Just a little congratulation."

Cheryl irresistibly chimed in again to the game at hand.

"What the! . . . Why, baby? Tell us! . . . What congratulation?"

"Maybe . . . for just being the one of us who didn't get drunk last night!" She laughed.

"Oh, whatever . . ." Julie said, half annoyed.

"So I guess it looks like it's none of our business, girls," Courtney quietly confirmed. "Just give her some privacy. Jeeze, ladies!"

With that, the girls all entered their rooms, determined to continue sleeping off the terrible state their heads and stomachs were still in—all from their endless night of Reggae bliss.

* * *

Once Adelyn was convinced Courtney was safely back in her bed, and sleeping off her own terrible ordeal, she took her smartphone and the note out to the shower facility. Though nervous, she wanted to make that critical call just before two o' clock, as Dan had asked her.

After two rings, he picked it up.

"Yeah?"

"Hello Dan?"

"Hi, Adelyn."

"Wow. It's strange talking to you by phone."

"It is kind of, I know. But listen. Today I have the afternoon off. You want to come with me? For a bike ride and swim? Over at this place down the river where I usually go to relax."

"Well . . . sure! That sounds great. What time do you want . . ."

"OK. So bring your bathing suit . . . a towel and some sturdy shoes. You'll first go over to the Rec building and check out a bicycle."

"A bike?  Cool."

"Then ride out on the path toward the river. But you'll take the first fork to the left. You follow that path for like ten minutes. OK? It eventually turns back toward the river and comes out in this thicket of tall trees. Right at the river's edge. There's a little sandy beach there where I'll be waiting for you."

"Alright, Dan. But what if someone sees me . . ."

"Don't worry. The campers don't know this place. They're always told to ride back the other way. . . into the town of Brookhaven."

"OK. So . . . Are you sure I won't be getting you into any kind of . . .?"

"No. That's sweet, Adelyn. But don't worry about that. If you leave by two-thirty, I should see you there in the trees near the river before three. OK?"

"Yeah. Got it. I'll go check out a bike right now . . ."

"Great. See you there."

"Bye."

After going back to her room to put her bathing suit on beneath a pair of cutoff jeans and tube top, she grabbed her beach towel and a colorful beach wrap. She then headed out to the recreation center to secure a bicycle the rest of the day. Walking the bike out of the camp village alone and toward the rough river path, she trusted that the road would become rideable, as Dan had described it. And sure enough, it eventually was.

As she rode through this section of the Pennsylvania countryside, Adelyn marveled at how pristine and lovely the area was, and not terribly far from a few clusters of civilization. The little bike path was smooth and easily navigable as it curved back to the right and toward the river. Soon Adelyn could see the stand of beautiful green deciduous trees, their leaves shimmering in the afternoon breeze.

Approaching the spot, she felt for the first time vulnerable and alone as the forest closed in on her. Seeing the sun reflecting off the water, she rode forward and the path led down to the edge of the river. Sure enough, her fears were allayed as she could see Dan stretched out on a towel, in his bathing suit, and reading a book.

"So these are the kind of places you Canadian's hang out," she said as she walked her bike to the edge of the sand.

"Hello beautiful," he said, smiling an putting a marker in his book. He stood up to greet her. "Welcome to my little corner of paradise."

"Yeah. I can see it really is."

He stepped forward and took her hand in his

"I brought us some of my famous iced tea," he said. "And well . . . I wish I could say I didn't finish the fruit cake already, but . . ."

Adelyn laughed and looked closely into his eyes. She loved how they looked just as she had remembered them—playful and innocent.

"But I did bring some cookies. A little stale, but . . ."

"Dan, you're the best host. Honestly."

She put her towel down beside his on the white sand and felt the sunlight flicker between shade and light as knelt next to him.

"This is an amazing place," he said pointing out toward the broad water. "It's shallow in places but great for swimming and just beating the heat in peace these days."

"Yeah, I can see it must be," Adelyn said modestly, hesitating to strip just yet down to her batting suit.

"So. How are you doing after last night," he asked in a surprisingly shy manner. "I mean with all the kissing we did. You still OK with it?"

"Yeah. Totally." She felt herself blush a little. "If you remember, I was the one who wanted to keep going."

"Yeah." He smiled. "So are you glad we didn't?"

"I don't know. Not really. I just know I like being with you . . . Whatever we do."

"Good. I feel the same."

He held his arms open to to her and Adelyn smiled, then reached out to hold his tan body in her arms.  Dan welcomed this gesture by kissing her gently on the lips.

"So come on," he said, suddenly getting up. "You have to check out the water here for swimming."

He took her hand and led her to the edge of the water. Adelyn paused, then felt confident it was finally time to remove her over clothes and allow Dan to see her in her tasteful light blue bikini. She was grateful his eyes did not linger on her trim body, but instead he just smiled and pulled her playfully waist-deep into the refreshing water. As they waded out hand in hand deeper into the river, Dan suddenly dove beneath the surface and swam a considerable distance from her. When he surfaced, he wiped his eyes and smiled back broadly.

"Come on," he coaxed. "Let's swim down to another little beach."

"Adelyn felt very liberated and dove under the water herself and re-surfaced quickly. She swam over to him and they began to drift downstream together. After several minutes of treading steadily in the current, another little cove amid large boulders came into view.

Dan led her over to the rocks and the two of them got a footing on the bottom. They sat on a large submerged stone with the water up to their shoulders.

"OK, Adelyn," he said playfully. "Let's see how brave you are."

"What? Like how?

He put both hands under the surface and brought them back up with his bathing suit, now out of the river and exposed to the warm air.

"Dan, what are you doing?" she laughed.

"Haven't you ever swam in the nude?"

"No. Actually I haven't."

"Well. today's the perfect day to try it," he said smiling back.

"Come on. Are you kidding?"

"Nope. You'll find it completely amazing. It's an totally free sensation to be out here in nature. Just yourself. Your naked self under the water."

Adelyn did notice the water was considerably warmer in the shallows. "Well I'm not really by myself, you know. There is this handsome male  . . . fairly close by. . .and . . ."

Dan gently put his arms around her and kissed her again. This time longer and more passionately. In mid kiss she felt him reach around and untie the top of her bathing suit, yet she strangely had no desire to stop him. As he held her top up above her head and smiled, she smiled too and held him tightly in her arms, giggling.

"You are one crazy Canadian," she said breathlessly.

This time it was Adelyn herself who reached down and removed the remaining portion of her bathing suit under the water. And she then held it up above the surface triumphantly. Dan took both parts of her suit, along with his own, and threw them up onto an exposed dry rock. He then returned close to her and held her tightly is in his arms, pressing his naked body against her own in the circulating water.

Adelyn returned this bold gesture with her own initiated kiss, exploring his lips with the tip of her tongue. As Dan proceeded to kiss her on the neck she began to feel a rush of heat come over her nakedness below the surface. It seemed as if they were both laying out in the radiant sun.

At that moment there could be heard voices somewhere in the forest, sounding like small children. Dan put his finger to his lips and reached back to the rock to fetch their bathing suits. Suddenly they witnessed a family---father, mother, and two young boys, out for a day's hike skirting the bank of the river.

Adelyn could not refrain from giggling again as she hurriedly put back on her scant coverings. Dan did the same only not quite as frantically. Yet he laughed too with her at the narrow escape of being seen by the unaware family of hikers.

For the rest of the afternoon, in their bathing suits and back on Dan's safe white beach, the two stayed wary of hikers while that ate stale cookies, drank iced tea, and never tired of the romantic hugs and kisses which Adelyn had now grown so accustomed to.

"Will you come back to my place tonight?" he asked her as the sun was then lower in the trees.

"Yes Dan. I will," she said in a soft seductive voice. But on one condition."

"What? No more stale cookies, or curious little boys with their parents?"

"Well for starters, yes," Adelyn said, smiling and running her slender fingers though Dan's now dry hair.

"And?"

"And . . . that you'll teach me something . . . new . . . about lovemaking. Something I've not yet experienced."

"Well, I don't know," he said playfully. Maybe . . . I suppose if you insist."

"You really love to tease me, don't you?"

"Well, put it this way, Adelyn . . . I'll be in my bed after midnight . . . waiting for you." He then smiled his boyish smile and began folding his towel.

The two kissed again as a promise and prepared to ride back to camp on their bicycles separately—Adelyn leaving first and Dan at a safe, but watchful distance behind.

* * *