Secrets In The Garden / l.h ✔️

22

~Ophelia's POV~

Saniya giggled as we all piled out the back door later that night, heading into her backyard. "Let's go swimming!" She cheered, spinning around to look at us all.

I closed the back door and cocked my head to the side, frowning. "Swimming?" I echoed, furrowing my brows in confusion. "But none of us brought swimsuits or anything." I said, peering at her as she grinned at me widely. "Well, I know that, silly!" She chuckled, playfully rolling her eyes. "But it's not like you guys don't have your underwear. We can just go in those. I mean, it's practically the same thing." She suggested, making my eyes widen as I looked at her.

She expected me to take off my clothes? And in front of everyone?

Luke grinned widely from where he stood next to me and nodded his head excitedly, being the pervert that he is. "Sounds good to me." He shrugged, and everyone else voiced their agreement—every single one of them.

"What about you, Phe?" Saniya asked, her gaze flicking back to me again. She smiled, her eyes kind and encouraging, just like they always were. I wrung my fingers together and hesitated, thinking it over. "I-I guess that t-that's okay." I whispered, nodding feebly. I'd never been in front of anyone in my underwear before so I was feeling a little bit uneasy about it, but I kept reminding myself that there was no reason to be scared. We were all friends here, after all. It'd be perfectly fine.

Although I convinced myself of this, I still found myself feeling a little embarrassed when I began to join everyone else in taking their clothes off. I was easily the heaviest person here and I was feeling incredibly insecure when I saw the other girls' figures. They were so different from mine. For a minute, I wondered why my body couldn't look like any of theirs. Mine was far curvier and I certainly didn't have a flat stomach like they all seemed to.

"Phe!" I heard Saniya and Kimberly yell from where they all were already in the pool, just waiting for me to get in. I hadn't noticed, but I was now the only one left standing up on the porch, and I was still fully clothed. "Come on in, slow poke!" Noah chimed in, choking when Idris swiped his arm through the water and swung a bunch of water into Noah's mouth.

Feeling exposed and embarrassed, I fiddled anxiously with the tied straps on my dress, pulling one of them loose so it'd come undone. I wished I'd gotten undressed with all of them so I didn't feel like I was being watched, which I knew I was.

My fingertips shaking, I untied my straps and hesitantly shimmied out of my dress, letting it fall around my feet. I could feel the intense blush in my face as Saniya cheered from the pool, way too excited that I was now out of my clothes. This felt so embarrassing.

It was clear to me that I was being eyed by Luke and Blade, only one of who had a slight blush in his cheeks when I caught him staring. Obviously, it was Blade. Luke was just shameless and smirked at me a little when he met my gaze briefly, which I wasn't surprised by.

Embarrassed, I got into the deep end of the pool, away from the boy who I didn't trust to not ogle me if I was within two feet of him. Blade gave me a little smile as he swam next to a floating Judah, who looked really comfortable on his back in the water with his eyes shut peacefully. "Thought you were never gonna get in." Blade teased me, a glint in his eyes.

Judah cracked open an eye. "More like you were hoping she'd take off her clothes a little slower." He muttered, making my eyes widen and Blade and I both blushed brightly.

"Shut the hell up, you idiot." Blade grumbled, just as embarrassed as me. I sank a little more beneath the water, still blushing as I peered over at him. "J-Just ignore Judah. He's stupid." Blade murmured to me, pushing his friend away when he tried to ruffle the hair on his head. "I don't mind. I know he's just teasing you." I assured, sending him a little smile. That was just how Judah was.