Then I lift myself even closer to the top, and the tree makes a weird squeaking sound. Not good. I need to hurry up. So I quickly gather a few more papayas and stuff them into the bag.
Balancing myself, papayas, and the damn tree is not an easy task. By the time I’m back to the ground, I don’t want to eat the damn things. All I want is a banana and to lie on the beach. Surviving is turning out to be exhausting.
Before I even step foot on the ground, she grabs the shirt-bag from my hands like a kid grabbing candy. Her eyes are shining, and her shoulders are up like she’s about to jump in celebration.
“Thank you, Tarzan,” she says with a wide smile while her eyes roam over my bare torso. And she seems to be liking it judging by how her eyes are glued to my middle.
She clears her throat when she notices me noticing her and says, “Let’s eat.”
I glance up at the sky. “It’s going to rain soon for sure.”
“Yeah.” She follows my gaze. “We’ve got time to get back and enjoy it before it pours.”
She pulls one papaya from her shirt and sinks her teeth into the narrow part, peeling the skin away little by little to reveal the fleshy fruit beneath. “Do you want some?”
I shake my head because I don’t think I’ll ever want to eat it again—I’ve been traumatized enough.
We walk in silence the whole way while the only sounds are our footsteps and her sinking her teeth into the juicy fruit.By the time we reach our camp, my shoulders are begging for me to itch them, so I do. Then I scratch some more. And more. I even look to see what’s happening when she starts talking.
“You’re burning.”
“What?”
“Your skin is burning.” She takes another bite, pointing her finger at my shoulder. “You had the shirt on, but once you took it off, you got burned.”
“No way.” My head whips from side to side, trying to see what she’s pointing at. “It’s too fast. We’ve been walking for only maybe fifteen minutes.”
She snorts. “Dude, you’re pretty much a vampire. Your skin has never seen the sun. All you need to get nice and crispy is ten minutes.”
“It’s seen the sun,” I contradict.
“Alright, I’ll bite.” She smiles widely, showing off her teeth with a piece of papaya stuck in them. “When was the last time you went outside for a walk?”
“I walk plenty,” I grit through my teeth.
“From a building to a car, I bet,” she mumbles and then adds louder, “And when was the last time you took off your shirt playing something outside? Or even chilling, I don’t know.” She shrugs. “Grilling meat on your back porch.”
“I don’t have a porch.”
“Of course.” Her smile grows wider. “You have a penthouse. My bad.”
Her stereotyping, no matter how annoying, is actually spot on. I haven’t been on vacation for nearly five years, and even before that I didn’t go someplace warm. The last time my full body has seen the sun was…When was it?I don’t even remember. Maybe in college when I played football? We played in uniforms. Before that? I don’t remember. But that’s because I don’t have time. I’m growing an empire, andemperors don’t take days off. Their brothers do, but not the emperors. Never them.
“You need to put some dirt on.”
“What?” I blink.
“The dirt.” She nods at our feet. “We don’t have sunscreen here, unless you want to go and dive in search of nearby shipwrecks and their sunken goodies.” Thinking aboutsunken goodiesand all the other shit that can be found at the bottom of the ocean quickly makes me choose her option.
“So what do you do with the dirt?” I ask, probably sounding like a moron.
She starts imitating putting sunscreen on herself, and she does it on her chest. “Put it all over, just like that. At least you’ll survive until rescue arrives.”
That’s what she was doing before, probably. Covering herself in natural sunscreen.
“And you need to do it pronto,” she notes, eyeing my shoulder. “Or you’ll burn to a crisp.”
Suddenly, her hand comes up to my waistband on the side of my body and pulls it away maybe an inch. I glance down too. She’s right. There’s a very definite line between the parts that were covered and exposed.
