“You said not to go easy on you,” I call back, getting into my stance, pulling the openings of my shorts up even higher, flexing the quads for her, my tongue sliding across my lips as I focus,and then—accounting for the wind going …south? east?—I toss my last bag, watching as it lands with a smack on the board, slides up, and falls into the hole with its friends. “¿Recuerdas? What happened to that? What happened to ‘I’m going to kick your ass at this game, so I better not catch you letting me win’?”
The way her shoulders rise as she inhales and lets out a bothered groan and crosses her arms over her chest, fully over my shit, nearly makes me start laughing. And when she sees me trying my best to hold it in and whines,“Shut up,”before I even say anything, I’ve got to let that laugh out, all cackle-y. Which only gets her running over to me, throwing her beanbags at my chest, smiling now as I start telling her, “Ya basta,” and“Watch out,”when one hits me way too close to my dick, my hands held out, trying to block the rest of the bags.
“How’s that for kicking your ass?” Leana asks, our bodies now only an inch apart, her hands on my chest, rubbing up my shoulders and connecting at the back of my neck. And then she leans into what was left of that space, standing on her tiptoes so she can reach my lips. We don’t do a lot of kissing. Usually the mornings we hang out—at least, after our runs—are pretty rushed and we’re prioritizing getting our mouths at other parts of each other’s bodies. And no complaints there. I’m very happy with that.
But with the gift I’ve been handed today—Coach cancelling practice and an entirely free late afternoon—I saw the opportunity, texted herBeach after class?and, surprisingly, she said yes. So, now, with no rush at all, I get to hang out with Leana at McGee Beach. I get to kiss her out here. I got to show up to her room, see her standing there in just a bikini that, on her, had me about to bite a door to keep myself calm. And, thirty minutes later, after finding out how good her legs look on my shoulders and tossing a condom into the trash can, I got to help her put it back on before we headed out.
There’s a perfect amount of sunshine. Hot but not hellish. We’ve been spending half the time we’ve been at this game checking each other out instead of actually playing. Haven’t looked at my phone once since I dropped it when we got here. A perfect afternoon the day after acing my first college exam.
It’s really nice. Her lips are really nice. Holding on to the skin of her sides, thinking about how my hands were here earlier and how well they fit around her (and how well other parts of me fit inside her), it’s really nice.
When she pulls away, I can’t help but follow her lips, hoping for one more kiss. Smiling into her lips as she gives it to me. And then her hands come back down, pat my chest, and she looks at me, her head tilting.
“What are you thinking about?” I ask.
“I … nothing. I’m just happy.”
“I’m happy too.”
“Good.” She comes up for one more kiss and then steps back, heading to her board. “Pick up my beanbags for me.”
“Ching—I’m still not going easy on you.”
“Okay, pendejo with your good memory and shit. Remember what I told you winner gets as a prize?”
“Very much so,” I say back, handing her three sea-green bags.
“Changed my mind. Loser gets that.”
“I—” Lots of thoughts start playing in my mind about what my very near future could look like, and, yeah, unfair play by her, but, at the end of the day, I’m a simple man with simple wants. “Say less, mamita.”
I toss my bag way off to the side, getting a“You’re such a smartass”from Leana as she watches me throw another and then my third one way off mark, landing in the sand behind her. And then I take hers back, dropping each one into the hole on my side. “Damn, I get no points and you get, like, a hundred, I think. Does that mean I lose? I—I’m pretty sure I just lost.”
After my devastating defeat at cornhole (it’s cool though, whenever I’m at night training later, it’ll be with a smile on my face), I climb over a wood railing, one hand holding on to a mangonada in a Styrofoam cup and the other holding Leana’s hand, letting her grip as tight as she needs while she gets her footing. And even after, making sure I won’t let her fall as we walk down a stretch of concrete and rock that swerves and juts out into the bay. I don’t take her too far, maybe about twenty-five yards before helping her sit down and then settling next to her, looking out at the water, listening to the waves, getting a mist of salt water sprayed on my skin when a big one crashes into stone.
“I told Vale I was sorry for stealing you away from him today,” Leana says as she makes herself comfortable against me and then reaches for the mangonada.
“As much as I probably should’ve used the afternoon to get ahead on homework, got to be honest, would one thousand percent rather be here than in a library studying philosophy. And that’s saying a lot because I love spending time with Vale. And his cousins asked if he could be at the shop today anyway, so I’m glad I didn’t have to be the one to take him away from that. I’ll FaceTime him tonight.”
“Let me find out he’s your favorite,” she teases, seeing my smirk. “FaceTiming and sharing work schedules. Next time I’ll just let you two have the beach date.”
I let out a laugh as my fingertips trace the skin of her sides and slide down to the tied strings of her bikini bottom. For a second, my mind goes to that night across the street from school, sitting on the sand with Vale close by and my hand at his waist. But, with a few blinks, I’m back, here, with Leana. “He does share his boba with me, so it might be a closer call than you think.”
“And, out of the two of us, he’s going to be the one that would save you from a cave.”
“Oh, that’s low,” I say, watching her laugh as she keeps talking about how he told her that “the caves scare Gabi.”
“It’s cute seeing his face when he talks about it too. He, for real, genuinely feels sorry for you. Like this class might give you a phobia of caves by December.”
“No mames. That’s not even true,” I groan back, letting my face fall on her shoulder. “We get through one cave, and as soon as we spend a week and a half on that, we move on to another cave. I’ve never been in a cave before—never even seen one in real life—but every single philosopher makes them sound like they’re the worst possible place a person could end up. And not because there’s a bear or a dragon inside—”
“A … dragon?”
“Whatever. Point being, it’s not even some big animal they’re worried about. It’s that caves are where morals go to die.”
“I’m sure you’ll get through it.”
“Only because I’ve got Vale. For real, I don’t think I’d be surviving without him. I’d be lost to the caves.”
