Dear Creepypasta [#Wattys2016]

Young love

She's perfect.

That's all Matt could think as he sat on the bus throughout the entire, bumpy trip to the campground. He was thinking of Emily. Emily had dirty brown hair, kind eyes, a sharp wit and a dazzling smile- and Matt was going to spend the last weekend before freshmen year of college, camping with her and three other friends in the mountains, two hours away from his high school, at some place called Camp Babbenke. He couldn't believe his luck.

Matt had been in love with Emily for two years now; of course, she had no idea. But Emily seemed to like Matt, as a friend at least, as did the rest of his camping buddies. Honestly, Matt couldn't understand why; he thought he was terribly awkward and boring, compared to everyone else. When they asked him to join them on the camping trip, he was almost too anxious to agree. But his sister had yelled at him to nut up and go, so here he was, and now he was determined not to screw the trip up and reveal to everyone how big a loser he deep down was sure that he was.

Matt felt someone poke his head, and he snapped out of his daydream. It was Ron, his best friend, who'd introduced him to the rest two years ago. Thank God for Ron: without him, Matt was sure he'd have no friends at all.

"Dude, say something," said Ron. "You've been sitting there for the past two hours, practically drooling."

Matt nervously looked down at his shirt, but it was dry. "Practically, dude, I said practically," continued Ron. "Look, we're gonna be there in a few minutes, and if you wanna have a good time, you gotta talk to people. Be chill. Relax. Trust me, you just gotta rip off the band-aid, loosen up a little, and you'll be fine." Now, Ron smirked and leaned in. "So, how are you gonna make your move with Emily?"

Matt turned red, his eyes grew huge, and he scanned the bus, making sure nobody was listening. "Relax, Matt, she can't hear you," Ron assured him. "She's up front having a conversation with Ben. Do you know what conversations are? You should try one some time, they're pretty fun." Matt glared at him. "Seriously, though dude, you've wanted this since you were fifteen," Ron continued, a little more seriously. "This is your last shot before college. What do you have to lose? It's not like you're gonna be seeing her around much longer anyway." Ron glanced past Matt, out the window. "Shit, looks like we're here. Ok, well, grab your bags, pull the stick out of your ass, and let's have ourselves a weekend, alright?"

God, the lake is buggy, thought Matt, as he swatted the umpteenth mosquito from his arm. He was happy that the campsite was further up the mountain; there were almost no bugs where they had pitched the tents. But here, by the water, they were eating him alive.

He looked around the fire pit and saw that his friends were all just as red, sweaty, and uncomfortable as he was. Ron was as sunburned as Matt had ever seen him. Anna's hair, which she normally kept meticulously straight, was a frizzy mess. Ben had taken off his shirt a few hours before, probably to impress Anna, and he now had mosquito bites in the small of his back, which he could just barely scratch. Emily, of course, looked perfect, but Matt was probably just biased.

"Ok guys, I think it's time to break out the beer," shouted Ron. He opened the cooler behind him and pulled out cans, two at a time, lobbing them at everyone around the fire. Matt had to catch his with two hands, but was just happy he didn't drop it. He'd never had a beer before, but he figured now was as good a time as any to start.

They all sat in their fold-up chairs around the camp fire, just barely able to see each other's faces over the crackling flame. They drank and they laughed as the sun slowly set, forgetting their earlier exhaustion and itchy bodies. Eventually, it was dark, they were all full of s'mores and Budlight, and the conversation began to lull. At this point, Ben leaned in.