Tea- Chapter 6

Chapter 6

February coldly bled into March with only the calendar on the wall denoting any discrepancy. Time brought a further segregation of the staff as far as Miles could tell. He went over the cliques as he walked to the dining hall on the second Saturday of the month to eat a breakfast he had eaten over a dozen times before. Sophie had been assigned to the Tubing Hill for that morning. The days Miles walked alone were always worse than the days they could both sleep in until breakfast.

At the most obvious end of the fragmentation was Paul. He stood alone as the eternal slacker frat boy, not only not contributing but making everyone else’s lives more difficult for being a part of them. The thing with Paul was that he brown-nosed constantly so the administrative staff thought he was the greatest yes-man in the arsenal. Jabari, Gerri, Emma, Sergio and Christopher made up the sporty, peppy bunch which ran in close circles with Scott, Kyra, Sophie, and Miles. The latter four were mostly bunched because of the common ground of relationship status but in all honesty even the four of them did not hang out nearly as much as they said they would like to.

Scott and Miles were probably the most closely knitted because they had to have someone to drink with when girls got to be too much of a hassle and Miles imagined that Sophie and Kyra shared the same sort of bond. All in all Miles wished that everyone were closer as a group like they had been in the beginning.

That wasn’t to say that he couldn’t walk up to Jabari or Sergio and strike up a conversation. Everyone got along and would consider anyone else a friend and fellow conspirator in the camp life, but Miles had not actually gone out of his way to catch up with anyone besides his four main contacts in quite some time. He noticed that it was the same way throughout the group.

But there was cold French toast and dry sausage patties to be eaten so Miles turned his attention towards the first meal of the day. He brushed Sophie’s shoulders with the back of his hand as he passed the staff table on his way to the buffet, which was all he could get away with as far as a public display of affection went when they were in the presence of paying campers. He felt her smile follow him as he picked up a plate and started decorating it from tin pans set atop flaming cans of redi-heat.

Sophie had saved him a seat which Miles was always flattered by no matter how regular the ritual had become. They exchanged hellos and held hands under the table as they ate.

“How was tubing, or should I even ask?” Miles knew that Sophie had been assigned to the duty with Paul that particular morning.

“You should not ask. But I’m on the Trading Post the whole morning, so it almost balances out.”

“Hmm. I wish they would put us together more.” Miles was on guard at the BB gun range for the morning.

“They know better, my love,” Sophie smiled. That smile warmed Miles more than the hot shower he had decided to pass on in favor of fifteen more minutes of sleep that morning.

When the time came to pull parkas off the rack behind the staff table and split off for different points around the camp Miles lingered just a bit the same as Sophie like a carefully planned ballet routine.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” He asked.

“Of course. I love you, Miles.”

“I love you too, Sophie.” They kissed clandestinely and walked in opposite directions.

Some mornings lasted longer than others. The BB gun range was one such morning. Saturday mornings seemed to last longer than other anyways as far as Miles was concerned because he had just come off of a fantastic stint of free time with the woman he loved and they both had three days of exhaustion to suffer through before they could get back together again. Miles was starting to feel guilty about the fact that his life was geared around his days off and the English girl that had him by the heart rather than the job he had traveled all the way to the east coast to secure. It was especially amusing because Miles had originally thought that coming to New Hampshire for six months would be a break from the real world including being on the lookout for girls.

That Saturday might have seemed unfairly long because he and Sophie had decided to take a trip for and by themselves the next week. They had been to great places together but always as part of a group and had decided that they needed to experience something like that on their own time. The mansions of Newport, Rhode Island had caught their fancy some time ago and they had finally decided to travel alone together and marvel at historical American lavishness.

Nonetheless Miles smiled and instructed patrons in the proper use of the least dangerous weapons in the history of the world all the while daydreaming of the day he could take Sophie’s hand and stroll with her through an extravagant garden of their own.

How was it that the more comfortable and the more attuned Miles became to Sophie being in his life, the more he wanted her? They met again at lunch (chicken strips; per usual) and he almost couldn’t stop himself from picking her up and running out of the dining hall’s double doors with her. Shouldn’t Miles be growing bored with the monotony of the same woman? That was what he would have thought but seeing her, even sitting at a collapsible bench table sticky with breakfast beverages and gritty with crumbs, made him helplessly grin with nervousness the way he had when he saw her for the first time in the waning days of the previous year.

Miles behaved himself and quietly ate his chicken strips. He was smiling on the inside whenever he looked toward Sophie and couldn’t keep his grin from the rest of the table when her eyes matched hers. It was just a lost cause.

“You’re so smiley today,” Sophie whispered during a quick lean toward Miles as they pulled their jackets from the coat hooks.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know why.”

“Same as always?” She slyly smiled.

Miles continued beaming. “Same as always.”

“Well, kiss me. Just don’t make it obvious.” He did. “I’ll see you at dinner. What are you on?”

“Dishes.” That meant a wrap-up at seven in the evening for Miles as well as Kyra, who was also on that particular duty that night.

“Eh. I’ve got to run the campfire tonight. I won’t see you until nine or so.”

“Well, that’s how it always goes, hey?” Miles’ grin was replaced with a more thoughtful gaze. “Love you, my darling girl,” he finally sighed.

She answered his breath with one of her own. “I love you, too.” They took their chances with a second embrace and parted for the second time that day.

“I swear, no matter how cold it gets outside, this room stays at a steady ninety-three degrees,” Miles muttered, exasperated and perspiring in the dish room with Kyra later that evening.

“At least we have some music,” Kyra responded, beating on the ancient boom box (you could tell it was old because it still said ‘boom box’ on the unit) that was spitting more static that song at them from the top of the enormous grey and gassy factory of a dish conveyer belt/washer that took up most of the space they were occupying. She breathed heavily and leaned against the sinks across from the Hobart.

“You all right?”

“Yeah. Just hot. Let’s just get this done and get out of here.” Miles nodded agreement.

They continued pushing racks of cutlery and serving platters through the metal caterpillar until it became obvious to Miles that Kyra was not feeling sound at all.

“Hey. Kyra.” Miles stopped rinsing overly-zealous gobs of ketchup from the plates in front of him. “I can handle this. You should get back.”

“No, I’m-“

“Hey, I don’t feel like beating around the bush. You look like shit. Go home. I’ve got it. It’s no big deal.”

She rolled her eyes. “Thanks, coach. Ok. You’re sure?” Miles didn’t have to speak. “Ok, ok.” She shuffled toward the door ad was almost out before turning around with one hand inside left inside the sill of the dish room door. ‘Thanks, Miles.” He waved her away with smile and a spatula pock-marked with mashed potatoes.

Miles finished about a half an hour later than usual, which just highlighted the efficiency of big organizations sometimes. One good thing about doing dishes all night in the winter months was that the walk home was actually comfortably refreshing.

Miles flipped the lights on in his cabin thinking that he was the only one in residence for an hour or so since Scott was running the campfire with Sophie and Gerri.

“Scott?”

“Oh, Jesus, I’m sorry, Kyra. I didn’t think anyone was in here.” Miles turned off the main light once he turned on the lamp beside his bed. How are you feeling?”

“Could you do me a huge favor and get me some water?”

“Yeah, sure thing.” Miles went into the bathroom with the biggest clean (?) cup he could find and brought it to her.

“Not feeling to well huh?” Kyra shook her head. Miles put the back of his hand to her forehead like he had seen on TV. “Wow. You’re really warm, Kyra.”

“Mmm. Feels like someone threw a brick at my back.” Miles pressed. “Ow. No, lower.” He felt down to Kyra’s lumbar. “Ow…No, that’s nice. Oh. Thank you.” Miles continued kneading.

“Don’t get exited or anything, but I’m going to get behind you because it’s easier, ok?” Kyra mumbled something incoherently. Miles swung around over Kyra’s thighs and continued massaging.

“Hmm. That’s…Thanks, Miles…Ow…Uhn…Ooh-“

Light flashed on, blinding both Miles and Kyra.

“What the Hell?”

“Miles?”

Miles recognized Sophie’s voice at once and when his eyes adjusted he saw her glowering at the front door with Scott.

“Whoa, Hey… we weren’t… Sophie’s not… I mean Kyra’s not feeling well. I was just…”

“Scott? I think I’m sick.”

Sophie and Scott were still standing in the doorway staring at the two other occupants of the cabin, both of whom were still on Scott’s bed, though no longer touching.

“Kyra?”

“Scott, I really don’t feel good.”

“Honestly, Guys. I told Kyra to go home early,” Miles started, moving to his own bed. “I came back and Kyra was half asleep but she was really warm and she said her back hurt too, so I tried to help her…”

‘He got me some water too,” Kyra added, maybe realizing what Sophie and Scott thought they had seen. Scott’s caring side one out and he went to Kyra’s side. He was still glaring into space.

“You’re really warm, babe.”

“See?” Miles asked. Sophie glared at him. “Sophie…”

“Miles…never mind. I’m going to bed.” Sophie walked out of the room and into the night. Miles stood agape for only a second before bolting through the door himself.

“Sophie!” Miles ran the short distance to her. They were standing in the middle of the road. The lights that pervaded every corner of the camp made the crusty snow all around them look like quartz. “Sophie, wait. Where are you going?”

“I told you. I’m going to bed.”

“But…Come on. Come back with me. It’s freezing out here.” Something Miles could also see in the night lights was the anger in Sophie’s eyes. “Sophie, come on. She was sick. I was just trying to help her.”

“You just don’t do that, Miles! Do you know what that looks like? Like you were bloody fucking mounting her!” She socked his shoulder with all the force she could muster. “What else would I think? The light were off, no one was around…I didn’t know she was bloody sick! Jesus!” Out of the corner of his eye Miles saw Jabari peek out his window across the street from them. “I’m still fucking shaking, Miles. Sorry for hitting you. But I’m fucking mad at you!”

“I’m sorry, Sophie. I was just trying to help Kyra out. If I thought-If either of us had thought that it would look like something it wasn’t…”

“That’s it then. You didn’t think.”

“No, Sophie. I didn’t think of that. I didn’t think of that because I’m so fucking in love with you that something like that would have never even crossed my mind if you hadn’t brought it up. Now I’m fucking pissed off!”

“Well, we’re in the shit then, aren’t we? I’m pissed off because you were dry humping Kyra and you’re pissed off because I caught you.”

“Sophie, I’m going to be real calm about this, but it might be all the calmness I have in me. Why do you think that I was doing something with Kyra?”

“Because…You…you just were.” Miles waited. “That’s something you do with me. And you were doing it with Kyra. And who knows what else.”

“Nothing else. What I was ‘doing’ with Kyra was trying to make her feel a little better, because I care about her. I care about her the same way I care about you, I just happen to also care about you in a lot of other and much more personal ways as well. But yes, Sophie, yes. You caught me. You caught me caring about someone who wasn’t you. That’s just the kind of asshole I am. Remind me never to invite you to meet my family because you’ll really hate me then.”

Miles turned and kept walking past his cabin and up to the lounge. He flipped the lights on and was glad that there was no one inside. He rooted around in the fridge until he found the Jack Daniels he knew Jabari had in a juice bottle and mixed half whiskey and half coke in a pint glass. He plopped onto the couch without much of a game plan. There was nothing on TV but he didn’t feel like watching anything anyways. He felt like being asleep with Sophie, if the truth were to be told. Miles had begun the episode on the defensive but had found himself becoming more and more irate at Sophie’s accusations. He could see no reason for them. Miles was not even the kind of guy to rubberneck at girls passing by let alone attempt the things she was convinced he had done.

Where he stood at that moment was as upset as she was. He was mostly upset because he could not convince Sophie of his innocence. What could have gotten into her mind to make her think that he would be unfaithful to her? They adored one another and spent every spare moment they had together. For goodness’ sake they had just talked about marriage not that long ago, if in an abstract fashion.

The last thing to traipse across Miles’ mind before he fell asleep was how, and if, the vacation to Rhode Island they had planned would go off.

“Hey.” Miles was shaken awake. The windows were still dark and he hoped it wasn’t what passed for morning in March already. He turned his head to find Scott staring down at him. “Time to get up, man. You got an hour before breakfast. You should go talk to Sophie. She’s pretty upset.”

Miles sighed. “Are we straight?” Scott nodded.

“Kyra told me what happened. It was just a bit of a surprise, is all. But that’s the thing. We’ve been together for years, her and I. For all your trying, you and Sophie just haven’t. But that’s not for me too sort out.” Scott glanced away and picked up the nearly full glass Miles had poured the other night. He held it to his nose as though it were a beaker from a chemistry lab. His nostrils flared and he set it back down. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t finish this one off.” Miles shrugged and took Scott’s offered hand to come to a sitting position on the couch.

“Well, I should probably jump in the shower and see what I’m on this morning.” The two roommates shuffled out of the room and into their cabin. Miles continued shuffling into the bathroom and took a quick shower.

He stepped out into the crisp dry winter air for the second time that morning and hoped Sophie was in her cabin. He did not know where else she would be but there was still a less-than-settled feeling in his stomach. He knocked on her door but heard nothing. Miles figured the English girls were probably both still asleep so he quietly turned the knob and crept through the dark to Sophie’s bed. He felt her all too familiar form under the covers. Sophie stirred as soon as his hand glided over her shoulder.

“Hey. What are you doing? It’s early.”

“I know. Scott got me up so I could see you before work.”

“So now you’re all in on it. Did you sleep in the lounge?”

“Yeah.”

“Well. Serves you right.”

“Sophie…”

“I’m not done being mad at you yet.”

“Come on. Kyra told Scott what happened and we’re all all right now. Except you. And you’re the one that matters to me.”

Sophie harrumphed. “I guess I just don’t know you that well.”

“That’s what Scott said.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, like I said, Kyra explained everything to Scott and he took it in stride once he knew what was going on. He said it was easy for him to understand because he and Kyra have been together for so long and maybe the reason the two of us didn’t shrug it off is because we really don’t know one another that well.”

“And what do you propose we do about the situation then?”

“I propose…” Miles started and quickly slid under the covers beside Sophie’s warm and sleepy body, “That we spend every bloody second of every bloody day together until we know so much about each other that we can pass as the other one.” Miles wrapped his arms around Sophie as she tried vainly to struggle.

“You’re accent is still atrocious, Miles, really. And I’m still mad at you.”

“Will you at least kiss me good morning? These nights without you are really awful. Jokes aside, I’m crazy about you. You know that.” Sophie sighed and gave him the kind of kiss little boys give to over-loving aunts when they are told to do so by angry parents. “Okay, that was seriously the worst ever. Was that my horrible English accent reincarnated into a display of affection?” Miles took the liberty of kissing her back and after a second of feigned resistance Sophie relaxed and matched his effort.

“Hmm.”

“What?”

“Don’t stop,” she said, “Just keep kissing me.” Miles did as he was told. When he finally had to he felt her arms still pressed into his hips. “You scared me.” Miles bent to kiss her cheek and felt a tear. He pulled his arms tighter around her ribs.

“Oh, sweetheart. You don’t have to worry about that at all. I told you that I love you and I would never leave you, didn’t I?” He felt her nod under his chin. “I made you a promise, Sophie. I will never break that. Ever. That’s what a promise is.” He brought her eyes up to meet his. “I will never leave you, Sophie. I love you. I promise.” She smiled genuinely.

“No one has ever…even come close to saying something like that to me. I don’t know how to take it, I guess.”

“I know it’s only been a couple of months and that’s really strange, believe me. But I know how I feel. I know my love for you changes every day because every day there’s something different about you I hadn’t seen. But it’s always good and I’m always grateful for it. But you have it, Sophie. You have me.” She nodded.

“I’m yours, too, you know. I’m a little scared saying that even now, but I guess being scared is where this all got started.”

Miles nodded and kissed her again. “We have to get up, my love.”

“We have fifteen minutes. Stay for five.” He could not say no.

Time was up too soon and Miles watched Sophie shrug into a pair of jeans and pull on a pink jumper. They pushed the door open and walked into a new day together.

Sunday afternoons were always good. Everyone felt as though they had just come off a stint of making a difference in kids’ lives and had earned their respite, but weren’t bored with a lack of activity that so often hit about Wednesday afternoons. The program staffers were gathered in their tragic commons playing the same games over again and having the same conversations about the shifts they had just completed.

Miles was watching Sophie passively as she interacted with Kyra; almost as though it were a social science field study. There did not seem to be any differences in either off the girls. He and Scott were fine because, well, men are much less complex than women are.

Everyone was eating the leftover lasagna that had been griped about when it was first served the night before but was now hailed as a four star feast since it meant that no one had to cook on the first night off. A lot of people had also fallen into the habit of watching more TV than anything else. The fifty-some channel digital package the camp had splurged on the year before didn’t help the situation. At the moment a bunch of people were gathered around the thing watching an episode of ‘The Real World’ on MTV. Miles could not blame Christopher and Sergio; they were trying to come to a conclusion about American culture. But add Paul, Emma, and sometimes Gerri to the mix and you had a pretty un-interactive chunk of staff in the lounge.

Jabari, Scott, and Kyra were playing foosball and Miles and Sophie were sharing pint of Haagen-Dazs at the kitchen table to round out the group. It was actually becoming increasingly rare that everyone on the payroll was gathered in one place on their time off. It made the lounge seem…crowded.

“Hey. You want to…?” Sophie nodded, reading his thoughts. She put the lid on the carton of cookies and cream and stashed it in the freezer before they left with only a two-fingered wave from Miles to Scott.

“Well, what now, my love? Movie?”

“I’d rather do something a little more interactive than that.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Not that,” she shot back. “One track mind. I mean, well, we have to pack for one thing. I don’t know. I don’t care. I just really need to be with you, alone, right now. Especially after-“

“Ok, ok. We can. So you’re saying we should run away, huh? I’m thinking someplace warm, tropical-“

“Oh, shut up, you.” Miles smiled. Actually, Miles kept smiling. He realized he never stopped when he was with Sophie for the most part.

“Do you know how badly you make my cheeks hurt sometimes?” He wondered aloud.

“What do you mean?” He turned his smile toward her. “Oh bloody hell. You’re so damned cheesy sometimes.” Miles shrugged and put his arm around her.

“You bring it out in me.”

“Really. Has it worked on other girls? Because it’s not doing anything for me.” Miles just shook his head and let it go but he swore he could feel her smile matching his as she pressed her cheek into his sleeve.

They stopped at Miles’ cabin first. “Ok. We’re touring mansions, so you need to wear something nice. We should look like aficionados, not tourists. Like we decided to swing through after a wine-tasting or something. Do you have anything like that?”

“Sweetie, you’ve seen every piece of clothing I brought.”

“Hmm. I thought maybe you holding onto something special.”

“Hon, I wore my best stuff the first night we slept together in Boston. It worked then.”

“Yeah, well, I was horny. You got lucky.” Miles laughed out loud and shoved Sophie over onto his bed.

“So the blue shirt and the black pants, then. Check. Anything else her majesty requests?”

“No.”

“Do I get to pick what you wear to Newport?”

“I should thing not. I don’t want to get arrested.”
“Oh, you’re so sure you know what I’ll pick?”

“Is it apricot?”

“Well, except for the gauzy bits. That’s really more like a peach color.”

“One-track mind.”

“Well, do you have anything you’ve been saving away for a special occasion?”

“I’m a little better at keeping secrets than you are, maybe, but I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Then I’ll just throw a few thing in here…” Miles tossed some socks and boxers into his suitcase along with a couple of polo shirts, a sweater, and an extra pair of pants and clicked the latches closed on his suitcase. “Finished. Onto the Lady Sophie’s wardrobe.”

They went to Sophie’s cabin where the clothing choices were a little more deliberate that Miles’ had been. After almost an hour Sophie was packed as well and Miles pulled his car up to the cabin so they could leave straight away in the morning. They technically were not allowed to park on staff row because of the plow truck’s need for access but they would be able to slip one night under the radar especially since there were no groups in camp for a few days.

“Well I feel like we accomplished a lot today,” Miles concluded, kissing the side of Sophie’s head as they stood in his cabin.

“I think there’s something more we haven’t thought of.” Sophie countered.

“What’s that?” She stretched up to kiss him softly and let her hand stray across the front of his pants. “One-track mind,” Miles sighed.