A long GM that made an awful weekend very nice.

If you've heard of my family, my uncle in particular, you might be able to imagine what nearly a week with my mother, father, brother, uncle and aunt in a tent would be like. For those that don't know, my family is very unnaccepting of difference, even down to different people speaking different languages. My uncle works as one of the heads of a particular (unnamed for my own privacy) internet anti-pedo vigilante. I'm the lone deviant of the stern, military-cadet attitude that the rest of my family possesses, excused because I'm the 'artistic' one.
Six days in a tent with five family members that would likely kill me if they knew what I was. I was pretty miserable.

Just yesterday, another family moved into the campground. This family has a Mom, a Dad with a bad leg, a fifteen year old, the fifteen year old's friend, and a 14 year old daughter. The two fifteen year olds were very nice, and the 14 year old was decidedly quirky. Our two families ate at the picnic benches without many words being exchanged. I was just about to go back to the tent to write, when I got this offer to go looking for bears. Their Dad had put up bait in a tree and under a log.
So I was "uncomfortably" cramped in between the 14 year old and her sister in the car while we went to go check out the bears. It's been a long time since I had such a free conversation with a large group of people, and I hit it off with the entire family. The bears reached the bait before we got there, but the girls extended an invitation to go star gazing. Even if they hadn't been young (3 and 4 years younger than me), cute girls, I'd have taken any chance to get away from my family.
Picture the 1 kilometer walk away from the campground in the forest. A goth 14 year old is clinging to your arm afraid of the dark. She's arguably the best looking of the three (cute, not gorgeous), dressed in flannel pyjama bottoms, a sweatshirt and wearing one of those cute dog collars that are becoming fashionable. Her older sister was sort of the mood killer of the three; putting her sister down for the littlest things- she was fairly nice looking, but her bad attitude ruined the charm her looks gave her. The older sister's friend was very good looking, but she was at that awkward point where she'd lost the little girl innocence, but lacked the maturity of a woman- intelligent, a great conversationalist and fun. I definitely liked the 14 year old the most.
So I'm happy as a pig in the mud when we're sitting on a beach, watching the stars. The 14 year old is sharing her blanket with me (which requires huddling together, of course) and we talked for ages. The older sister's best friend and I would talk about school, drugs(the peer pressure and stuff), and little talk about sex. The 14 year old had this talent, if not for conversation, but for helping the conversation flow; the little comments that makes you go "oh yeah, that reminds me..." and the other sister didn't do much except insult the 14 year old.
I headed off to stretch my legs, and the 14 year old joined me. At that point I was 80% certain that she liked me, and was flirting with me in a fairly obvious way. She adds another 10% to my certainty with "There's something I want to tell you, but I don't want it to create any tension..." She doesn't manage to say it, but after we went back to the beach, we held hands covertly under the blanket and she rested her head on my shoulder. It was two in the morning before their dad called for them to come home. (we left at 10:00, so we were out for a while). Amazingly, the parents aren't mad we were gone so long, and I headed back to my own cabin. If I hadn't been uncomfortable with my family's observations, I would have accepted the girls' offer to sleep under the stars with them back on the beach.
There wasn't a goodbye kiss from the 14 year old or anything more than comfortable conversation and casual contact with two very nice young women. Still, it was a badly needed boost for my spirit, and I think I'll be a bit more cheery in the weeks to come.