- Brian woke before Justin as usual and took some time to simply sit and breathe. He watched his roommate for a short while as he slept. The sun hit him in a way that made his hair look…golden. Just as Ethan had suggested it would at the previous evening’s dinner. His blond eyelashes looked like little golden flecks. Brian almost wanted to reach out and touch them. Almost. Instead, he stood up and went outside for a quick morning smoke. Of all the things he was being deprived of, he was eternally grateful that he didn’t have to give up cigarettes for the duration of the camp. It hadn’t even been a full week and Brian was already missing his usual exploit of alcohol, coffee, illicit drugs, dancing and sex. Sure, he could do without the drugs and alcohol. He wasn’t actually addicted to either of those things. But he did miss being able to use them to his heart’s content in the real world. Just knowing that if he wanted to, he could. Going four whole days without a fuck, not even a lousy one, was plain wrong. He now understood how evil his friends really were. They knew it would be difficult for him to be without his favourite things in life.
While Brian got lost in all his thought on this, Justin came outside to stand next to him. He also had a cigarette in his mouth. “I really should quit these”, he said, pulling Brian from his thoughts.
The Brunet looked at him and asked jokingly, “Why? You sick or something, Sunshine?”
Justin huffed a soft laugh and shook his head. The motion made his golden hair shimmer even more. Brian would never admit how breathtaking the sight was. “No, I’m not sick”, he responded, poking his tongue out at Brian. The man would have liked to have touched that as well. “I just can’t really afford it. Spending a gross amount on a bad habit doesn’t make a lot of sense anyway.”
It was Brian’s turn to huff a laugh. “Is that Justin Taylor’s morning dose of wisdom.”
“Sure”, the blond said with a shrug. “It’s about time to be heading over to breakfast”, he told the man beside him as he took one last puff before putting out the cigarette. Brian nodded and followed the man back in their cabin after putting out his own cigarette.
Right on 9 o’clock, The Rangers gathered in their designated spot for their morning activities. “You worked amazingly together yesterday”, Justin told the group again. He had told them the same thing nearly a hundred times; he was just so pleased with them. Brian found it quite hilarious. “Luckily for you, we have some more really fun activities today.”
This made the kids sit up taller, eager to be told what they were doing. “We’re all going to be making mandalas”, Brian told them when he noticed Justin looking at him expectantly.
“What’s that?” Tyler asked, voicing what most of the other kids were thinking. It was clear by their expressions that they had no idea what they were in for.
Justin noticed Yu-Jin shift and realised that she knew the answer to that. Wanting to celebrate her intelligence and encourage her to speak up, Justin said, “Yu-Jin. Why don’t you tell us what a mandala is?” The girl seemed reluctant before Justin said to her with surprising gentleness, “Go on.”
Yu-Jin cleared her throat and began to explain. “A mandala is a spiritual symbol in Hindu that represents the universe. People make artwork mandalas. They’re shaped like circles.”
Everyone nodded, understanding that simple, yet completely explanatory answer. “That’s right. Great job, Yu-Jin”, Justin said. The girl gave him a shy and proud smile. “So. We are going to be making some beautiful mandalas that symbolise the universe.” Again, the kids all nodded. Some of them looked really excited already, others looked unimpressed and others still looked unsure. Justin pulled a drawing out of his back pack and held it up to show the campers. “This is a mandala I drew yesterday when we had our break.” This impressed everyone around, including Brian. Justin was obviously a talented artist. The mandala he drew feathered curves that looked like lace and feathers. It was beautiful. “It’s about how pleasant the wind is. Because the wind was in my face when I did it.”
This made the kids chuckle. Justin was glad to be the one making them laugh for once. Usually, it was Brian, Mister Cool that he was. “Well, it’s our mission to make one of those”, Brian said, gesturing to Justin’s picture. Everyone was handed paper, a clipboard and coloured markers.
“Remember to make it mean something”, Justin reminded the campers.
“And to make it circular”, Brian added.
“You can use whatever colours and patterns you want”, Justin quickly added, ignoring Brian’s silliness. The kids got to it and Justin asked his co-counsellor, “What about you, huh? Aren’t you going to make one?”
Brian shrugged and bit back a laugh. “I’ll leave the artsy stuff to you, Sunshine.”
Justin tried to get Brian to participate the entire time the campers made their own mandalas. When everyone was done, they all showed the group their mandala and explained what theirs represented. A few of the campers were very talented and very in to the activity. Of course, there were some others that weren’t as keen on it and made it into a bit of a joke. Justin lightly reprimanded them, but understood that art, even if it was simple, wasn’t meant for everyone. “Well, guys, I hope you had fun doing that because we’re all going to make another one!”
The less enthusiastic kids groaned. “Don’t worry”, Brian said to them. “It’ll be over soon.” This ws of course followed by giggles from the preteens.
“This one is going to be a lot more fun, I promise you”, Justin said.
“Yeah, this time we’re doing group mandalas”, Brian told them.
“We’ll split the patrol in half and use materials and items that we find in nature to create great big mandalas on the ground”, Justin explained. This gained the interest of at least one of the less eager campers. The boys split the patrol into two smaller groups and took the lead of one each. “Good luck”, Justin told the other group before getting a start with his group. Everyone ran around, gathering different kinds of sticks, bark, flowers, leaves and moss to create their mandala with.
After a while, both groups were done and gathered in their midpoint. “Alright, let’s see what we got”, Brian said, leading the other group over to his group’s work. It was a rather large mandala with blue flowers down the centre axis. “Feast your eyes”, he told everyone.
Alexa took it upon herself to explain their work. “It represents the lake at Peatree. How it’s really pretty.” Everyone was impressed with the group’s effort.
Brian gestured to Justin. “Lead the way”, he said. Justin did just that and led everybody over to his group’s mandala. It was not quite as large as Brian’s group’s, but it was certainly more colourful. It was decorated with countless flowers and moss.
The other campers gasped in amazement. “Wow”, they all said.
“Nina, tell us what our mandala means”, Justin said to the camper closest to him.
“It’s a symbol of the beauty in nature. How the earth grows wonders.”
Again, the other campers expressed their astonishment with a “Wow.”
Brian nodded, his arms folded. One hand was at his chin. The pose made him look like a snobby art critic. “Not bad. Not bad at all”, he said, making everyone chuckle and snicker.
“I’m really happy with how this turned out”, Justin said to everyone. “Thanks for giving it a try.”
*****
The afternoon came and The Rangers were out in the sports field after lunch. “Since we did a pretty docile activity in the morning, this afternoon we’re going to get moving”, Brian told the patrol. This was good news to the Rangers. All of the kids, even the less athletically skilled ones were itching to move about. “As you can probably guess, since we’re at the sports field, we are going to playing a sport. And what we’re playing is…soccer!”
“Yeah!” exclaimed Marcus, his fist rasing into the air in triumph.
“That’s right, gold old fashioned soccer”, Justin said. The counsellors quickly explained the rules to their campers and led them through a full body warm up. By the time the warm up was complete, they were all buzzing with anticipation.
Brian sorted them into teams and gave each camper a position. He and Justin would be the referees. Everyone got into position and Brian gave them the signal to begin. They were off like rockets! The game was on! Both teams gave each other some light-hearted smack talk. “We’re gonna make you eat dirt”, Sam said to the other team.
“Not if we make you eat your words”, Troian said back to him. It was all fun and games between them. The game was a very fun one, but still competitive. It was a ranked game of soccer after all. Each camper tried their hardest to participate to their full potential, and the game ended 3-1, with Troian’s team living up to their smack talk.
Her team celebrated by cheering and giving each other high fives and hugs. “Woooohoooo!” Brian and Justin laughed at this display, as well as the smack that was given as the two teams shook hands. “You may have won this time, but keep your eyes open. We’ll come back to get you one day”, Sam told them, making everyone laugh.
The silly banter was reminiscent of the soccer game Brian and Justin’s Waterloo patrol had played in the summer of 2000…
FLASHBACK- Summer, 2000
“10 seconds left!” Charlotte called, excitement in her voice. It had been a fun and vigorous game of soccer, leaving all the campers drenched in sweat. They were grateful that it was not as hot as it had been the day they pitched tents.
It was Justin’s ball. He was nervous as he was not the sporty type. All things considering, he wasn’t bad at soccer. He charged toward their goal, his team backing him. “I’m open!” Logan*, a lanky boy shouted. Justin made the kick of his life to pass the ball over to his team mate. It was a happy success and the rest of them team cheered them on.
The other team, the team Brian was on, worked as hard as they could. It was not over yet. The score at on 1-1; neck and neck. If they could intercept Logan, the game would be tied instead of lost. “Come on!’ Curtis shouted, charging for the ball. He was not quick enough, which is saying something, as the boy was an excellent runner.
Logan got the ball from Justin’s kick and made a swift kick of his own that went right into his goal. Elliot**, the girl who was the goalie at this end was not quick enough to stop the flying object. She dove over and hit the ground as the ball hit the net. “YEAAAAAH!” Logan’s team yelled.
Carl blew the horn to signal the end of the game and called out “That’s game!”
“Ah crap”, Max said, reacting to losing.
The winning team all gathered around Logan and cheered together. “Woohoo! We did it! Yeah! Go Logan!” they sang and chanted.
“They’re still nerds”, Brian joked to his team.
The losing campers had a good laugh at this and huddled together. “Just because we lost the game doesn’t make us losers”, Carla**, a short Hispanic girl said to the team.
“Yeah, we still kicked ass out there”, Elliot said, her voice a little wonky.
Her team looked at her and noticed her wobbling. “Are you okay there?” Brian asked the clumsy girl.
Elliot gave them a shaky thumbs up. “I’m rad”, she answered, although it was clear that she had not yet recovered form her giant fall.
The team high-fived each other for their effort and began chattering away as they shook hands with the winning team. When Brian came to shake Justin’s hand, they hesitated for a split second. Brian then stuck his hand out and Justin accepted it with a smirk. His eyes were shining with what looked to be mischief as they shook hands. He loved the fact that he beat Brian at something. “Nice work out there Sunshine”, Brian said to the boy.
Justin scrunched up his face, keeping his smile in place. “Sunshine?” he asked his nemesis.
Brian shrugged. “Because you’re always such a delight”, he teased.
The blond chuckled and rolled his eyes. Realising that he was still holding Brian’s hand, Justin quickly moved back. Both boys felt awkward about that. And the fact that it took them several seconds to notice. “So, uh…good game”, Justin said to his fellow camper. Brian nodded before walking away to talk to his friends. Justin watched Brian as he left him, taking notice of how nice his butt and legs looked in his soccer shorts. He reflected that when the boy wasn’t being a total pain, he was actually alright. What he didn’t know was that Brian was thinking exactly the same thing…
TO BE CONTINUED…