My Romance Life System

The fire kept crackling but nobody heard it anymore. Jake and Ruby sat frozen, marshmallows melting off their sticks and dripping onto their hands. They looked at each other with the same thought - 'we shouldn't be here for this.'

Thea's smile was gone. She looked from Kofi to Nina, not understanding the game but understanding that something had broken.

Nina stared at Kofi. Her brain, usually full of comebacks and plans, went completely blank. The three statements kept looping.

'Terrified of the trip ending. The best he's ever felt. In love with me.'

The first two felt true. She'd seen it in his eyes all day, that quiet happiness that was nothing like the broody guy she'd first met. But the third one...

'It's the lie. Obviously it's the lie. Has to be.'

It was a joke. Some weird Kofi-style joke that went too far. Maybe payback for all her teasing. A test to make things weird.

'But what if it's not?'

The thought hit her like ice water. If he was telling the truth about being in love with her, then he was lying about being happy. This whole trip, their whole friendship, was making him miserable. That hurt worse than anything.

She had to know.

"The lie," her voice came out strange and thin, "is number one. You're not scared of the trip ending."

Just a guess. A desperate shot.

Kofi held her gaze, giving nothing away.

"No. That one's true."

Nina's stomach dropped. 'So it's between his happiness and... me.'

"Then... then it's number two. You're not happy."

The words tasted awful.

Kofi's face finally softened, a sad little smile appearing.

"Wrong again."

The world tilted. He wasn't lying about being happy. He wasn't lying about being scared. Which meant...

Jake made a strangled noise like he'd just remembered how to breathe. Ruby stared at her hands, face bright red.

Nina couldn't speak. Couldn't move. Just sat there with the firelight on her face, mind completely empty.

Kofi stood up. "It's getting late. We should probably head back."

Nobody moved.

He walked away from the fire, disappearing into the darkness without looking back, leaving them sitting in the mess he'd created.

---

The walk back was miserable. Jake and Ruby walked ahead in thick silence, all their easy chatter gone. Nina dragged behind them, her mind spinning - 'what if' and 'did he really' and 'why would he' all tangled together. Thea walked beside her, quiet, seeming to understand better than anyone what happened when words couldn't be taken back.

They reached the girls' cabin first. Nina stopped at the door, turning to the boys standing awkwardly on the path.

"Well. Goodnight."

"Yeah, you too," Jake mumbled at the ground.

Nina and Ruby went inside, the door clicking shut. Jake and Kofi stood alone in the dark.

"Dude." Jake's voice came out in a horrified whisper. "What was that? Was that real?"

"It was a game, Jake. Don't make it a thing."

"Don't make it a thing? You just... that was like dropping a bomb in the middle of s'mores. That was the most intense campfire moment in the history of camping."

"Just drop it." Kofi turned toward his cabin. "Doesn't matter."

He left Jake standing there, confused and anxious.

Inside Cabin Seven, the air was thick. Ruby immediately climbed to her top bunk, pulling covers to her chin and faking sleep. Nina stood in the middle of the room for a long moment, then sat on her bunk with her back to everyone.

Thea watched the silent drama, then walked to her own bunk and started packing. She folded her few new clothes carefully, placing them in her duffel bag. The quiet, repetitive movements were the only thing that made sense in the room.

Nina finally turned around, her face a mess of confusion and hurt.

"Why would he say that? As a joke? That's not... that's just mean."

Thea kept packing, not looking up.

"He wasn't joking."

Nina's head snapped up. "What?"

"The lie was that he was in love with you." Thea's hands paused. "But the other two were true. He is happy. And he is scared for this to end."

She turned and looked at Nina directly, her gaze clear and somehow older than fourteen.

"He wasn't trying to be mean. He was just... telling you the truth. The only way he could figure out how."

She turned back to her bag, done talking.

Nina sat there, those simple words echoing. 'He was just telling you the truth.' The idea was terrifying and somehow beautiful at the same time. She lay back, staring at the wooden slats above her, mind spinning quietly in the dark.

"Wait," Nina sat up suddenly. "How do you know which one was the lie?"

Thea zipped her bag closed. "Because I know what being in love looks like. And that's not it."

"Then what is it?"

Thea considered this, sitting on her bunk with her packed bag beside her. "It's wanting someone to be okay even when you're not. It's being scared they'll leave but more scared they'll stay for the wrong reasons. He told you he's happy and scared. Those are both true. The lie is the easy one - saying he's in love. That's safer than what's really happening."

Ruby's voice came from the top bunk, muffled by her pillow. "Can we please not psychoanalyze this right now? Some of us are trying to pretend we didn't witness our friends emotionally implode."

"Sorry," Nina said automatically, then louder, "No, actually, not sorry. Ruby, what the hell was that? You were there. You saw his face."

"I saw a guy make things incredibly weird for no reason."

"There was a reason."

"Yeah, temporary insanity."

Nina threw her pillow at Ruby's bunk. It bounced off harmlessly. "You're not helping."

"Good! I don't want to help. I want to forget this happened and wake up tomorrow with everyone being normal again."

"That's not how things work."

"It is if we all agree to it."

Thea stood up, shouldering her bag. "I'm going to brush my teeth."

She left them arguing quietly in the dark, their voices a mix of frustration and worry. In the bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror - same face, same eyes, but something felt different. Like watching these older kids stumble through their feelings had shown her something about how complicated things could get. How even when you knew the truth, saying it out loud could break everything.

[system notice: emotional development progressing naturally. Thea learning through observation.]

She brushed her teeth methodically, listening to Nina and Ruby's muffled voices through the door. When she came back, they'd stopped arguing. Ruby was actually asleep now, soft snores coming from her bunk. Nina was lying on her side, staring at nothing.

"Thea?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you really think he meant it? About being happy?"

Thea climbed into her bunk, pulling the thin blanket up. "People don't lie about that in games like this. They lie about the big dramatic stuff because it's easier. Being happy when you're also scared and confused - that's harder to admit than being in love."

Nina was quiet for a long time. Then, "How are you fourteen and already know this stuff?"

"I pay attention."

They lay in their bunks, listening to Ruby snore and the distant sound of the lake against the shore. Somewhere in the boys' cabins, Jake was probably pestering Kofi with questions that wouldn't get answered. Tomorrow would come with its awkwardness and forced normalcy, everyone pretending nothing had changed.

But it had. They all knew it had.

"Nina?"

"Yeah?"

"He picked the game on purpose. He wanted to tell you something true but couldn't just say it."

"That's a really messed up way to communicate."

"Yeah. But sometimes messed up is all people have."

Nina rolled over, facing the wall. "Goodnight, Thea."

"Goodnight."

The cabin settled into darkness, three girls in their bunks, each carrying their own version of what had happened at the fire. Outside, the Michigan night continued on, indifferent to teenage confessions and the complicated truths that lived between happiness and fear.