Like Bees to Honey | gxg

23. A Skinny Dip

The road that wound down the hillside to Pebble Beach was empty. Right at the bottom, one car shimmered in the heat. Sabina pulled up beside it under the lengthening shadows of the cliff.

"Now will you tell me what we're doing here?" she asked, looking at Mel as the engine faded.

"Not yet." Even though the sun was sinking into the mountain peaks, Mel slipped on a pair of sunglasses she had found in the glove box, plastic wayfarers with a rainbow frame. Printed in white on the arm was the name of a bank; Sabina had got the glasses for free last summer, when she and Riley had driven into the city for the Pride parade. The memory pinched, and she pushed it away.

Sabina grabbed her hat out of the back seat, and they stepped out into the scorching evening. Pulling the elastic out of her ponytail, she combed her hair out with her fingers and settled the hat on her head. "You do remember I've been to Pebble Beach before?"

Mel wriggled her eyebrows. "Of course. You were the most miserable person at that whole party."

"And you were being a jerk. So what? When you said you were gonna show me how to live, I thought you were gonna show me something interesting."

"Relax. Chill. Be calm. You asked, so let me deliver. Consider this Mel's lesson on life. Rule one: just go with it."

"You couldn't think of anywhere else to go, could you?"

"I mean, I could have asked Otis to hook us up with some shrooms, but I didn't think that would be your thing." She dropped a wink, or Sabina thought she did by the way her eyebrow spasmed behind the sunglasses.

"Is that your thing?"

"Not really, but sometimes it can be fun. Man, it's hot as balls."

They rounded the point and crunched out onto the beach. Despite the blush of evening in the air it was, in fact, hot as balls. Sabina's skin glistened with pearly beads of sweat mixed with sunscreen. At the water's edge, a small family played with their dog, throwing a ball into the waves for it to fetch. Beyond them, the gravelly beach stretched out. Today there was no music and no rowdy teenagers, just the quiet charcoal remains of old bonfires.

Their shoulders brushed, and for a wild moment Sabina thought about reaching for Mel's hand. But she didn't think Mel was the hand-holding type, and anyway it would probably be more sweaty than romantic.

"This place is dead." Mel fanned her face with her hand. "If you really wanted to win that award, this is where you'd bring me to murder me."

"It would be insane to murder someone for the Best Vendor Award." The corner of Sabina's mouth twitched. "Which is why it would be the perfect crime. No one would suspect me."

"You know that Otis would come for you if I was murdered."

"Well, yeah, probably. But think how proud my ancestors would be."

Behind them, the murmur of the family's voices faded. The gentle wash of waves sounded loud in the quiet as the smoke closed in. They could have been the only people in the world if not for the distant drone of a boat down the lake and the occasional gleeful bark.

Sabina glanced at Mel and found those ridiculous sunglasses turned her way. She wished Mel had left them in the car. They were armour, hiding Mel's feelings from her. It was impossible to tell whether she was stalling, or if she didn't know that Sabina could have grabbed her and kissed her right there if she had any clue what she was doing.

"Is rule two of Mel's life lesson just hang out until inspiration strikes?"

Mel slanted a smile at her. "Rule two is: enjoy the moment. Look at how round these pebbles are. Smell that nice fresh smoke in the air. Don't you think a long walk on the beach in an apocalyptic sunset is just super romantic?"