Page 72 of Orc Me, Maybe
Julie’s down near the creek, surrounded by a swirl of campers, one of whom—an orange-skinned goblin with a voice like a foghorn—is currently mid-meltdown over a stolen satchel.
“No one’s listening!” he howls. Julie doesn’t flinch. She crouches to his level, eyes sharp and soft all at once.
“Alright, buddy,” she says. “Let’s untangle this. You tell me what happened, and we’ll make sure your satchel’s safe, yeah?”
He sniffs. “They took it!”
“Who’s ‘they’?”
He points dramatically at a trio of laughing dryads. Julie glances over, then back at him with the calm of someone who’s survived budget meetings with trolls and sleepovers with Lillian.
“Let’s go ask them together. But no yelling this time. You got it?” The goblin nods.
Julie takes his hand. And I feel something shift in my chest. Not new, exactly. Just… clearer. I’ve loved her for a long time. But watching her here, in it, doing the work with that ridiculous clipboard and that unbreakable heart—I feel proud in a way I can’t describe. Like I’m watching someone become what they were always meant to be.
“You’re staring again,” Groth says, stepping up beside me with a plate full of skewered eel and roasted turnips.
“I’m watching.”
“Uh-huh.”
“She’s got the goblin handled.”
“She always does.” I grunt.
Groth elbows me gently. “You gonna tell her again?”
“I already proposed.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t say I love you. Out loud.”
I shake my head.
“What? Don’t get shy now. You’re engaged. Use your words.”
“I’m not shy.”
“You are in love, my guy.”
We linger near the fire after the kids drift off toward their cabins. Julie tugs her sweatshirt sleeves down over her hands, standing close to the flames.
“You know,” she says, “I never thought I’d end up here.”
“At this camp?”
She chuckles. “No, in this world. Surrounded by spell-happy kids, wearing pine-sap in my hair, engaged to a grumpy orc who makes my knees go weak.”
I smirk. “I’m not that grumpy.”
“You glared at a cookie for five full minutes earlier.”
“It was a suspicious cookie.”
“You make me feel… seen,” she says. “Like I can be messy and loud and still worth something.”
“You’re worth everything.”
She turns, eyes shining. “You’re not just saying that because I fixed the enchanted plumbing, right?”
