The Hazards of Skinny Dipping

Chapter Seventeen

To: juliethegreat14@mail.com

From: amy_monroe@mail.com

Subject: The meaning of life is relative

Dear Juliet,

Are you really considering philosophy? I thought you liked history.

Your Proud Business Major Cousin,

Amy

Fifty degrees was entirely too cold for a car wash. I understood it was for charity, and the bi-annual car washes were by far the highest grossing philanthropic events, but the last thing I wanted to do was spend my morning freezing in a bikini. I'd spent entirely too much time in bikinis that semester, and for the first time in my life, I was actually looking forward to winter. At least I could bury myself under sweaters again. I wore my blue floral print bikini for washing cars. It provided slightly more coverage than the red.

"Let's go, girls!" Amanda sprayed us with a hose. I could have killed her. The icy spray made an uncomfortable morning so much worse. We all shrieked, and she laughed. I was really getting tired of her.

"Kill me," Mallory said through blue lips. A Southern girl through and through, she didn't take cold well. I didn't enjoy it, but I was pretty sure my lips hadn't changed color yet.

"Why don't we just kill her instead?" Claire nodded at Amanda. Wow, Little Miss Suck-up actually bad mouthed our pledge mom.

"How many more hours?" Cara asked. She'd been surprisingly calm through the whole thing, probably because she knew she had a date with Aaron lined up. She'd fallen for him hard. I got it. He doted on her constantly and was always doing really sweet things like buying her flowers.

"Just two. We're officially halfway done." I didn't need to look at my watch again. I'd checked every five minutes all morning.

"Oh, that's Dylan's car, right?" Mallory asked as Dylan pulled into the parking lot.

"Yup, that's him." I watched as he parked and got out. He was dressed in a light pink polo shirt, jeans, and flip flops. The only thing that could have made him look more college prep was if he'd popped his collar.

Mallory shivered. "Let's convince him he needs the inside of his car cleaned. Then we can warm up."

"The only one that would fly for would be Juliet, and he'd ask her to clean him." Cara moved closer to me, probably under the shared body heat theory.

"Clean him? Is there a sexual reference there I'm not getting?" I wrapped my arms around my chest.

"Yes...well, I don't know. It just sounded funny." Cara crouched down, trying to warm up.

"Hey, baby." Dylan walked over, kissing me carefully on the cheek so he wouldn't get wet.

"Hi, Dylan." Amanda strolled over. She was completely dry and dressed in jeans and a Delta Mu t-shirt. Funny, how only the pledges needed to do the cleaning.

"Hey, how much longer do you need the girls? I was hoping to take Juliet out for brunch." He talked to Amanda like I wasn't there. I guess I didn't actually have any say in when and where I went.

"It's going to be a few hours, but I could probably leave Jana in charge." Was she seriously trying to hit on my boyfriend in front of me?

"Oh. That's okay. I'll catch up with her later." He turned back to me. "Call me when you get home."

"Don't you want your car washed?" Amanda was unbelievable.

"Do you feel like washing my car, Juliet?"

"Oh, sure." We were wet already. It couldn't hurt.

Amanda stepped in front of me. "Sorry, Juliet's busy."

"I am?" What was she up to?

"Uh huh, take care of that car." She pointed to an old VW bus that had just pulled in. It looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in years. The driver was probably the same age as the car.

"Come on, Amanda. She's my girlfriend."

"Sorry, Dylan. She's needed." She looked at me. "Go take care of that car."

"Fine." I shrugged and started over. Cara and Mallory left with me.

"Cara, Mallory, I think Juliet can handle that alone."

Cara spun around. "Not a chance. We all know you want to wash Dylan's car anyway."

We didn't wait for her answer. Part of me expected Dylan to do something. He'd managed to get me out of sorority events on several occasions if he wanted me at something else, but evidently getting me out of my current situation wasn't high enough on his list.

I was wrong about the driver's age. It was a couple of guys I vaguely recognized from around campus. We ignored the guys and got to work. I was scrubbing the hood of the van when Dylan pulled around next to us and rolled down his window. "Try to stay warm. See you soon."

"You're not getting your car washed?"

"I only came to see you." Sometimes he sounded sweet. That thought flew out the window when I realized he wasn't saying it for my benefit. He glared at the bus' owner.

"I'll call you."

"Good. I'll enjoy warming you up." Ugh, he needed to stop.

"Bye, Dylan."

"Bye, baby." He drove away, cranking up his stereo before he was even out of the parking lot.