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“Why, you jealous?” I say, only half joking
“Maybe a little”
“Well, I don’t have a boyfriend But there is someone I’ve had my eye on for a while”
I suddenly becoirlfriend?”
I chew on the inside of my cheek as I wait for hi to be with someone? I don’t knoould handle that kind of news Of course I would be crushed, and I don’t know if I ever really thought we could be together, but as long as he’s single, there’s hope
When he simply says, “No,” my breath leaves ht has been lifted off
He asksOur conversation cootten how effortless it has always been to talk to hi up I was always an aard girl without friends; taller than nearly everyone elsepuberty before everyone else And yet, with Paul, I never felt weird or out of place He’s always made me feel special
We’re interrupted when soht The pool is full and people areteams Paul says, “How about we show these rookies how it’s done”
“Let’s do it” I slip into the water and the cold is perfect on this sweltering day I feel weightless—and not because I’ in water It’s such a relief that Paul and I are back to our nor over and the drunk text
He ducks under the water, and when he comes back up, I’m lifted onto his shoulders Water cascades down ers through his salt and pepper hair, pulling it back away from his eyes When he looks in either direction, the stubble of his face tickles the insides ofis against the back of his neck, if he’s as conscious about how close his mouth is to it as I am
He caresses oosebuh ertips, and there’s so much sexual tension between us I’e in the air
When the ga on his shoulders than I have in a long tiet about school and bills and all the other grown-up stuff that bogs ular basis
We ht stand are the only ones who co hting and are the victors every time When we’re done and everyone else starts to leave the pool, he ducks back under the water, no longer between s and I miss him there
I et out of the sun It’s quiet and dark, away fro eyes of everyone else Paul ducks beneath the water, and when he comes back up for air, he’s in the cave withSuperman when you were a kid?” he asks
“Don’t do it!” I say, laughing, but I’ tossed in the air before I’e splash when I land Co out of the water, h for the pinks ofmy breasts
Paul coing on by les of fabric to coverhter
“Oops,” he says with a wraith of a smile
“They keep trying to escape,” I say about my breasts
“Maybe you should let them off the leash once in a while” His ss It wants out It wants to devour Paul
“Maybe I will” I act like I’m about to take off o
When I dropoff my top, he says, “Tease,” and splashes me
We take turns dunking each other under the water, which for me—and probably hi in a way he never has before, a hand brushing slyly against my breasts, rabbing betweenthat I don’t scream or make a noise when he tosses me When I come out of the water I wipe ht and wanting
I’o up to him and tell him how much I want him, but then my mom calls out, “Everyone out of the pool Time to cut the cake”
The little water world Paul and I had been in, where only the two of us existed, starts to break up and scatter The noise of the party and the fact that my parents are here slips into my reality and kills the mood
Disappointed by the intrusion, I start to get out I’ “Aren’t you getting out?” I ask
“No, I’m not Thanks to you and that bikini”