Knox:While my ass will be soaking up the rays today, what are you guys up to?
Whit:I’m deejaying a bat mitzvah this weekend, so I’m working on my playlist. Something tells me I need to deviate slightly from the tunes list I had for the bachelor party last weekend.
Booker:Solid plan, Whit. I’m at the gym and Ty’s taking a class. Victorian Literature, I think? He was crazy excited. You know how he gets.
I’m about to text back, but I see Willa walking toward me in a black bikini and damn near lose my mind. She’s gorgeous. Every inch of creamy, exposed skin makes it harder to breathe. Mustering all my composure, I pocket my phone and stand. “You ready to be lazy?”
“Not just yet. Do you mind putting lotion on me?”
“Of course not,” I tell her as I squirt some sunscreen into my palm and apply it on her back. Her skin is warm already from the heat of the day. And it’s soft, supple under my fingers. I could do this all day, but that might verge on creepy, so I finish up and hand the bottle back. She thanks me and we make our way down to the entrance of the lazy river. I wade into the water and grab us some tubes, and soon we’re floating along. Her tube catches a current and she starts to drift away from me, so I hook my foot onto the handle and drag her back.
“Not letting me escape, huh? Afraid I’ll float down the river and leave you all alone?”
“Nope,” I say, grasping her hand in mine. “You couldn’t stay away from me for that long.”
“We barely know each other,” she laughs.
She’s right, but I feel a deeper connection to her than I do to most people in my life, aside from my guys. I can’t explain it, I just feel at ease, I guess? Relaxed? Like I can be exactly who I am when she’s around. Willa’s so open and honest, and I don’t feel the need for pretense when we’re together. Whatever this connection is between us? I want more of it. “Maybe we should change that.”
“Ok,” she smiles. “But you do realize we graduate in two days, right? Just how do you propose we’re going to become besties before then?”
“Easy,” I tell her, ducking to avoid the spray of water spewing from a fake plastic canopy of trees. “Twenty questions.”
She looks at me like I’m crazy. “The kid’s game? Like,Is it bigger than a breadbox?That game?”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to make a dirty joke about the size of a breadbox, but I’m trying to impress this girl, so I restrain myself. “Nah. That one’s fancy. I propose we ask each other twenty questions about anything. Nothing’s off-limits to ask, but you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. You in?”
She taps her feet against the edge of her tube and I notice her toes are painted a bright blue. Like the rest of her, they’re adorable.
“So... I could ask you if you’re planning to get any other piercings. Not that I don’t love the lip ring. I’m just curious.”
“You can totally ask that. You’re a genius at this game already because you didn’t ask if it hurt. I can’t tell you how often I get that question.”
“Um...of course it hurt? They put a needle through your lip.”
“Exactly,” I tell her, smiling. “But it wasn’t bad. It only stung for a moment, and, I don’t know... I guess I have a high pain tolerance because that kind of stuff never bothers me. But to answer your question...yea. I definitely want to get more piercings. I’ve been thinking about nipple rings.”
Instinctively, she winces. “Ooh, yea. Not sure I could do that. I like to think of myself as a tough cookie, but hmmm...no. No one’s putting a piercing gun anywhere near my girls.”
I need to steer the conversation far away from her “girls” because I’m an eighteen-year-old guy. My brain is always wired for sex, especially when I’m near Willa. So...new topic… “Alright...next question...hmmm. What’s the most useless talent you have?”
She laughs. “That’s tough… All of my many talents are so useful...Ummmm...I can roll my tongue. That’s pretty useless right?”
Christ. I school my thoughts not to think about her tongue or ask any more questions that remotely involve body parts. “Good one. I can recite the alphabet backwards.”
“Seriously?”
“Yup. I had a lot of time on my hands as a kid,” I laugh. “Ok, you’re up.”
“Hmmmmm.... If you could date any celebrity, who would it be? I’m picking Tom Holland.”
“BigSpidermanfan?” I ask.
“Nope. Big fan of lean muscles and a killer smile.”
“Noted,” I say, cheesing a grin and flexing my arms. “Ok...let me think. I mean, if we’re going into the Spideyverse, I’m picking Zendaya, because, hell yes. But, if that movie is now off-limits because you’ve seduced the male lead? Hmmm...Margot Robbie. I’ve got a thing for gorgeous blondes.”
She blushes and we float along in silence for a while, until I come up with my next question. “Ok, I’ll go easy on you…favorite food?”
