Page 5 of A Little’s Campervan (Pride Camp 2025 #3)
Emmie
O nce Wren was done with all the security things she needed to check up on, they slowly made their way back to the main campsite, but Emmie was kind of done with the campfire for now. It was loud over there and she was still enjoying their little bubble of quiet, crickets not withstanding.
“I might go get settled in Luna.”
“Luna?”
Emmie felt herself flush. “My campervan.”
“Oh, of course.” Wren wasn’t being sarcastic; she just accepted it, the same way she’d accepted Emmie’s autism diagnosis and her dislike of potato salad. No arguments, no trying to change her or get her to do things ‘properly’. Just gentle acceptance.
“Well, how about I walk you to your camper? Maybe tuck you in, if that’s not too presumptuous?”
“It’s not too presumptuous.” Emmie wanted to wriggle, to do a happy stim to let out all the positive energy that felt like it was building. “I’d very much like that.”
Unlocking the van, Wren helped her set up the reflectors on the front and side windows, and then turn on the fairy lights that lit the inside.
“I gotta get ready for bed,” Emmie said.
“Where’s your washbag?” asked Wren.
Emmie pulled it out from where she’d stashed it.
“And your pjs?”
Those were tucked neatly under her pillows. They had Lilo and Stitch patterns on them that made Wren chuckle when she saw them. “Excellent choice, petal. Want me to come with you to the bathrooms?”
Emmie nodded vigorously. She wasn’t sure what was wrong with her, but all of a sudden she felt all small and vulnerable. That seemed ridiculous, especially as she was so much taller than Wren, but there was an authoritative confidence to her that had Emmie just following on like a good girl.
It had gotten so much darker, and she almost tripped over twice, both times Wren catching her arm before she splayed on the floor. “I got you, petal,” she said.
By the time they got to the bathrooms, Emmie was so flustered that the overhead lights had her blinking and flinching away from them, and the loud sound of the hand dryer made her jump so suddenly that her washbag and all its contents went everywhere.
She managed to hold in her tears until the other people in the bathroom had left, and even then she managed to cry very quietly indeed. She might have gotten away with it too, if Wren hadn’t gotten down on her hands and knees to help gather up all of Emmie’s toiletries.
“Hey, baby girl, what’s the matter?”
“I… I… threw my washbag everywhere… and the lights are loud… and the hand dryer is too too loud.” Emmie knew that she sounded like she was having a tantrum, and that wasn’t quite it. She was just so overstimulated and everything was feeling too big.
Staying away from home wasn’t usually this big of a problem, but the campsite was so far out of her comfort zone.
“Oh baby girl, that sounds really rough.” Wren didn’t make her get up off the floor.
She just shuffled closer so that Emmie could rest her head on Wren’s shoulder.
“Why don’t you go and get changed in one of the cubicles?
That’ll help with the lights, and will be a bit quieter, and I’ll sort out all of this and prep your toothbrush for you. ”
Emmie felt so embarrassed, but the idea of hiding in a stall felt like a very good plan right now.
Wren helped her to her feet, and then she slipped into a stall and pulled it shut behind her.
She sat on the seat for a minute and tried not to sob her eyes out.
The last thing she wanted to do was ruin whatever this fresh new thing was with Wren.
It’s not like she had any idea what it was, or even what it could be, but she didn’t want to scare Wren off before it even had a chance to percolate.
Her breathing was panicked, and she was struggling to get it under control, and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears, blood pounding and Emmie closed her eyes to try and self-regulate.
There was a quiet tap on the door.
“Yes?” she said, the word coming out far louder than she’d intended.
“You okay in there, baby girl?”
“I’m fine!”
There was a long pause, and then Wren said carefully, “I think that might not have entirely been the truth there, petal.”
Emmie wanted the world to swallow her up. “You’re right, it wasn’t.”
“No one else is in here right now. It’s just the two of us. You’re totally safe.”
She tried her square breathing exercise, breathing in for four, holding for four, out for four, and in for four. That helped get her settled enough to get changed, and so she took the opportunity to try again with Wren whilst pulling on her pjs.
“I got a bit overwhelmed.” Her voice sounded strange, and she almost didn’t recognise it.
“I guessed so.”
“Do you think I’m weird?”
Wren’s voice was very firm. “Absolutely not, and you’re not to think that about yourself either, petal, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy,” Emmie said, and then froze. Fuck. That was not supposed to happen. What on earth must Wren think. If she’d wanted to the earth to swallow her up earlier, now she was actively looking for methods of escape. No window in her cubicle, damn it. And Wren wasn’t saying anything .