Wildfire

Aurora Roberts is late to meet her best friend, Emilia Bennett, at the hockey house party because she’s visiting her “friend with benefits,” Ryan Rothwell—the graduating captain and point guard of the Maple Hills basketball team—before he leaves for the NBA draft next month. When Ryan claims that he’ll miss her, she can’t voice anything back, not “even a simple ‘thanks’” (12), because it’s hard for her to communicate emotional vulnerability. Their relationship is purely physical, but Ryan states that he’ll be jealous of the man who will someday pull affectionate words from her. He urges her to remember what she told him about her goal for this summer: “to grow out of all [her] toxic self-sabotaging habits” (13).

Aurora meets with Emilia at the hockey house party, where she’s making the most of her last night with her friend from the LGBTQIA+ society, JJ, who is heading north to play professional hockey. Aurora is surprised by the cleanliness of the house as she searches for the kitchen to grab glasses instead of plastic cups. A guy interrupts her search through the cabinets and points her to the correct one after learning that she limits her plastic usage to save sea creatures. He introduces himself as Russ and reveals that he’s one of the inhabitants of the house. When he dutifully cleans up a soda that Aurora spills, she suspects that Russ is the occupant who keeps the house so clean. Emilia interrupts their banter to invite them to play drunk Jenga.

Russ internally obsesses over his awkwardness with women, which is worsened by Aurora, whom he finds extremely attractive. He heavily channels his artificial confidence to cover his lack thereof. Russ’s friend Robbie explains the rules of drunk Jenga: On blank Jenga blocks, they’ll play the game as usual, but if a person pulls a Jenga block with a dare written on it, they must complete the dare, do the forfeit on the back, or drink two shots. The person who topples the tower has to streak down Maple Ave.

Throughout the game, Henry and Bobby must switch clothes; Joe gives his underwear to Kris; and Russ has to remove his shirt for not kissing the nearest redhead, Robbie’s girlfriend, Lola. On another turn, Russ draws a block that dares him to show the last message he received to the person beside him. Rather than show Aurora the text message from his father—in which he begs Russ for more money—or the forfeit, which instructs him to send an “I love you” text to Coach Faulkner, Russ takes two shots. When Emilia’s block dares her to nominate two people to kiss, she chooses Russ and Aurora, who share a passionate kiss. Soon after, Aurora is dared to give the nearest hockey player a two-minute lap dance and does so for Russ, who becomes aroused.

Aurora thrives off the chaos of drunk Jenga even though it actively goes against her promise of self-improvement. She also enjoys the validation and appreciation that Russ shows her following her lap dance. When Henry loses the game and must go streaking down Maple Ave, Emilia pulls Aurora away for the bathroom and a drink. Their private conversation reveals that the shy and reserved Russ is not Aurora’s usual type.

When Emilia steps out to take a call from her long-distance girlfriend, Poppy, Aurora resorts to stalking her father’s current girlfriend, Norah, on social media. Aurora’s father is neglectful toward her but dotes on Norah’s daughter, which deeply hurts Aurora. His indifference toward her has turned her into a person desperate for attention and validation from others. Russ interrupts her sleuthing, and, as a distraction, Aurora asks him to tell her a secret. He admits that he hates parties but is glad he attended this one because he got to meet her. Aurora brazenly invites herself to Russ’s room, which is extremely clean and relatively empty of any personal items that give insight into his life.

Aurora and Russ have sex, and she’s surprised by his respectful gentleness and skill despite his shy exterior. When he goes to the bathroom afterward, Aurora assumes that it’s a subtle sign to leave based on her past hook-up experiences. She discovers that he’s neatly folded her clothes for her when she goes to redress. Henry and his latest fling witness her escape from Russ’s bedroom; Henry seems disappointed in Aurora’s behavior, telling her that Russ is a good guy. Aurora walks home to the apartment she shares with Emilia, wondering how long this latest hit of validation will last before she feels the need to get her next dose.

Aurora and Emilia attend a planned farewell breakfast with Aurora’s parents before leaving to become counselors at Honey Acres sleepaway camp for the summer. While Aurora’s mother, Sarah, shows, Aurora’s father, Chuck, does not. Instead, Norah’s latest social media posts detail how he’s helping her daughter, Isobel, move out of her college dorm instead. Seeing how fatherly he is with his girlfriend’s daughter hurts Aurora, who never received similar treatment.

Attempting to make up for Chuck’s absence, Sarah is an over-attentive helicopter parent, but her hovering is stifling for Aurora. When Sarah once again attempts to convince Aurora to move back in with her, Emilia distracts her by speaking about Honey Acres. Aurora looks forward to returning to the sleepaway camp she attended every year starting at age seven. It’s “the first place that ever felt like home” and where she formed a stable routine, made deep friendships, and built the foundations of who she is (57). Aurora hopes that by returning to Honey Acres, she can rediscover who she is because she’s been feeling lost in life lately.

Russ spends the several-hour drive to Honey Acres obsessing over his one-night stand with Aurora. When he disappeared into the bathroom the previous night, he was working up the courage to ask Aurora on a date, but by the time he emerged, she’d disappeared. When Russ arrives at Honey Acres, he locates his cabin and meets his roommate and fellow counselor, Xander Smith. Russ is thankful for the spotty cell connection, as it makes it easier to ignore and disconnect from his family—his father’s constant requests for money; his mother’s excuses for his father’s behavior; and the blissful ignorance of his older brother, Ethan, from across the country.

Russ and Xander attend the welcome meeting hosted by the camp executive director and owner, Orla Murphy, where they meet the resident fluffy golden retriever named Fish and her puppies, Salmon and Trout. Orla outlines counselor rules including a zero tolerance for alcohol and drugs as well as a zero-fraternization policy between counselors. If counselors break the rules, their contracts could be terminated. Afterward, the counselors are separated into four groups of six: Raccoons, Brown Bears, Foxes, and Hedgehogs. Each group represents a specific age range of campers. Russ is sorted into the Brown Bears (serving kids aged eight to 10) alongside Clay Cole, Xander, Maya, Emilia, and Aurora.

Russ and Aurora are shocked to discover that they’re working at the same camp and are assigned to the same group. Russ is cold with Aurora and refuses to look at her the entire evening. Jenna, a camp director and the dog mom to Fish, introduces herself to the group and takes them on a tour of the grounds. Aurora enjoys a warm reunion with the woman who was her own camp counselor as a child. Jenna acted as an older sister to Aurora throughout those formative years, creating a lasting bond between the two. After the campground tour, Clay attempts to flirt with Aurora. Despite the fact that he’s an attractive basketball player at Berkley—exactly Aurora’s usual type—she finds herself irritated by rather than attracted to him.

The next day, Aurora arrives six minutes late to team-building exercises with the other counselors. Russ finally meets her eyes while Jenna explains campfire rules, but it’s short-lived. The first team-building exercise requires each of the four counselor groups to get their entire team across a series of platforms. As the course continues, the platforms get further apart and become smaller in size, making the task more difficult. The first team to make it to the end and balance on the last platform for 30 seconds without falling wins. At the final platform jump, Aurora is the last to cross. Russ gives her an encouraging pep talk and promises to catch her, but during the 30-second hold, Aurora’s body ends up pressed against Russ’s, and he becomes aroused. After securing the win, Aurora pulls away and winks at Russ, furthering his embarrassment.