New Girl in Town

Chapter 23

      Xx_RubyJane: come over
      Lalalalisa_97: right now?
      Xx_RubyJane: we can swim. pool just got cleaned.

I look down at my arm, where the tiny patch of poison oak has mostly faded, thanks to Jennie's quick treatment. The chlorine is probably not going to help, but I'm not going to turn down an invitation from her. Especially after that party.

      Lalalalisa_97: on my way

***

It's been a week. We've talked and she stopped by once, but apparently her mom was pissed about her breaking curfew and made her babysit Suzy all week, so we've mostly been chatting on Messenger.

Biking over there is like flying down the roads, every light turning green just for me, urging me on. I get there in record time, and when she opens the door, she's smiling like seeing me is just what she needed.

"Oh my God, finally." She grabs my arm and pulls me inside. "Mom took Suzy to get frozen yogurt, and I wasn't allowed to go."

"Still being punished, huh?"

"In her mind. But she never lets us get good toppings. Only healthy ones."

I make a face. "No sprinkles?"

"Sprinkles are a birthday thing."

"Sprinkles should be an everyday thing," I say, thinking about my mom and her love of Funfetti cake. She'd always add extra sprinkles.

I follow Jennie through the house, trying not to react this time when she tosses her shirt off before we even get outside to the pool. Her red bikini is all strings and strategically placed triangles, and all I can think about is how her shoulders felt under my hands. How her legs tangled with mine as we slept, her toes tickling the arches of my feet as she breathed against my neck. Her arm held me so tight, it was like even in sleep, she was afraid of what would happen if she let go. Like I'd run.

But the truth is, the second I slipped into her bed, wrapped in her clothes, I was gone.

She dives into the pool, so smooth she barely makes a splash, and I'm still catching up, watching her instead of stripping down to my own suit. I undress, but I don't jump in. I use the steps, letting my body get used to the water, cool against my heated skin. I swim toward her.

She spits water at me as soon as I get close, and I laugh, dodging backward, splashing her in turn, and she flips over like a mermaid, shimmying off. Her dark hair's a blur that I follow beneath the water.

Floating around, just the two of us, is like catching starlight. Like she's bottled it up and spilled it out for us to play in. I drink it in, swirling around her, splashing and laughing. The longer it goes on, the closer we get, until our bodies aren't just brushing by each other, but twisting around each other, and then my back's pressed against the pool edge and her hands are on either side, so close.

"What are you looking at?" I ask her.

"You," she says.

I blink, not knowing how to answer. We're in the deep end; the only thing that's keeping me up is the sloped wall of the pool and my treading feet. But every time I move my feet, I bob forward. Close enough to touch but never quite getting there.

All I can think about is the press of her body against my back—how her knees fit into the crooks of my legs, two peas in a pod of our own making. That secret shelter of her bed, where no one could touch us.

"I wish we had some weed," she says. "I haven't gotten high since the night of the party."

"I think I read that if you look someone in the eye for a few minutes, you can get high," I say.