>>
Charlotte's words were echoing in my head as I sat under the thatched cabana on top of the picnic table. I poured myself a mimosa and sipped at it thoughtfully until I caught myself hiding inside of my own head like Andy always did in social situations with someone else's friends. Andrea was extroverted, purposeful and... aware of her pale complexion.
I took the sunblock sitting on the bench and untied the scarf Charlotte had tied around my shoulders. I began slowly applying it to myself, getting beneath my hair and looking at myself with my hands. I closed my eyes and felt like I could see every new contour that I touched. My shoulders were slimmer and narrower, my neck was too and a little longer. My jaw line was more trim, my nose smaller, my ears more delicate. I was enjoying this now.
My thighs were slim now instead of just skinny for a guy's, my wide hips made more sense for a girl's butt than a guy's. I even lotioned my little feet. It was a shame everyone showed up so abruptly. I'd have loved to paint my toenails and fingernails to accessorize further.
Two holes were burning into me, and instinctively I looked up to see Kevin watching from the deep end of the pool. He was leaning on the wall with his arms, his tan shoulders soaking up the sun like they probably had all summer long.
Andrea isn't shy, I reminded myself.
"Can I help you?" I said, just loud enough for the two of us to hear.
God, Andrea loved sounding like a bitch.
"Sorry" he said and looked over his shoulder at Alice and Leanne who were both standing on the same fun noodle on the other end of the pool, lost in their own conversation.
He just stayed there, kicking his feet lazily in the water and leaning on his arms and for a moment I was disappointed and was afraid I had been too harsh.
"So, you and the sun are old enemies?" he said, leaning his head to the side.
I fought the smirk, but the smirk won, "Yeah, kinda. I always get burned, and it's usually just a little spot I missed, so I get a red triangle randomly."
"You didn't miss much yet, not that I was staring or anything" he smiled a big dumb grin and I smiled back.
He had been watching me, but more than that, he was observing me. Trying to figure out how to talk to me. My confidence was slowly building and I used it to make a bolder move.
"I'm not a contortionist, though, so I couldn't get my own back."
He lifted himself, his shoulders flexing as he lifted his body up out of the water and walked over to where I was hiding from the sun under the canopy.
"If that's all you need to get in, then I have to help you out. The water's perfect right now, but in a few weeks it'll be too cold to swim again. Cant miss out on one of the last swims of the summer, right?"
I nodded and handed him the bottle, then turned sideways on the table, putting my feet on top and crossing my arms over my knees. I heard him rubbing the lotion on his palms instead of just squirting it straight onto my back. He was good at this.
His hands touched in the middle of my back and spread slowly toward the edges. He did that all the way down my spine. His big palms pressed in slow and kneaded me and it turned into more of a massage than him just putting on sunblock on me. I rested my head forward on my arms to give him more of my back.
Once my back was thoroughly lotioned I figured we'd be done, but he took one of my arms in his hands and began stroking it like they do in professional massages. His hands were big enough to close around my whole arm almost and the pressure they were making felt amazing. I lost track of time and a couple minutes later I heard giggling from the pool and saw the other two girls doing a bad job concealing the fact that they were talking about us.
Alice had a scowl on that made me want to stop the massage for a split second, but I reconsidered and when I had her eyes I gave her a smile and closed my eyes again. I let Kevin go until his hands were beginning to linger a bit too long and then I abruptly raised my head and turned to get up.
"Thanks, I should be good to go now, don't you think?"
His eyes went from glazed over, focused on the task at hand to blinking in an attempt to think of something clever.
"Y-yeah, sure" he said and I picked up my mimosa and walked over to the stairs.
He didn't follow right away, and I knew his pain from all the times I got called on in class while I had an erection.
I sat on the top step and dipped my legs into the water, noting that it did actually feel perfect. And the concrete was too hot to sit on with only a bikini bottom to protect me. I stood and reached over to unclasp the scarf around my waist and saw that it was pinned with a button. I tilted it away from the sun so I could read past the glare.
Bad Bitch, it said, with a girly skull and crossbones on it.
I smiled. Charlotte was the bad bitch, but I could pretend, right?"
I unclasped the scarf and set it out on the side of the pool. Wading in, Alice rolled her eyes and mumbled "great". She leaned back and let her feet float up from the bottom, drifting away from Leanne and I rather gracefully. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since she's a lifeguard and sporty in general.
Leanne pushed her hair out of her face shyly with the back of one hand and giggled nervously, "Don't mind her, she's just like that with new people sometimes. But she'll get over it. I've known her forever."
"It's okay" I shrugged, "So, you and Kevin are brother and sister?"
"Cousins, but we might as well be brother and sister. How'd you know? I bet Charlotte told you about us."
"Yup" I lied, "She said she was really excited and told me a little about you."
I had gone to school with them, but Andrea hadn't. Anyone would have guessed they were related though. They moved similarly, they talked the same way. Somehow that inflection came off as a little naive coming from Leanne though, and had more of an earthy quality coming from Kevin. Was he actually a sharper crayon, or was I letting the weird chemistry from the cabana color my perception?
No telling.
"So, you two were both in gymnastics huh?" Leanne asked me.
"Yeah, we kind of ended up bumping into eachother a lot at meets", I lied again.
A shadow passed across her face, "But I usually go to Charlotte's meets."
"We just reconnected the other day. We saw eachother a lot as kids" Jesus this girl was nosy.
"Oh, that's cool" she smiled and I wondered what she was thinking, whether she was buying it or not. Her smile didn't betray anything, and I took it at face value.
I retreated back into my own head again, unaware that someone was standing right behind me on the edge of the pool. Her toe dipped down into the water and flicked upward, sending an arc of water across my back. I turned around, surprised.
"How is it?" she asked me.
"It's perfect. You coming in?"
She looked behind the cabana, "They still have the volleyball net put together. Anyone wanna play?"
Alice sat forward in the water, "Yeah! Let's play volleyball."
The bitch. She was just pretending not to listen.
Leanne clapped, "Yess! I call Alice's team!"
Alice groaned, "But you always miss it".
She argued, "So then we should get Kevin too."
He shook his head, "Too uneven, I'll referee."
We played, and the match quickly became a heated one. Alice was dominating, but was offset by Leanne's clumsiness. A couple snippy remarks between them and Leanne went from sunny to aloof. She started trying even less, and that left the door open for Charlotte and I to lay the smack down.
Being short was killing me when I went to jump for it, and the slenderness of my arms always made my hits turn out sort of weak. For a guy who had never worked out a single day, I couldn't believe how much weaker being Andrea felt in comparison. All the same, it felt good to use my muscles and as the game ended in victory, I claimed the fun noodle and straddled it.
Doggy paddling into the deep end, I lay back on the noodle and watched the few lazy clouds overhead as Leanne dried off and went inside gloomily and Alice sulkily followed her. Charlotte's phone rang and she dried her hands and answered.
"What? I thought you said you didn't want to this weekend?" she snapped into the receiver and stepped through the side gate rolling her eyes.
Kevin floated up next to me, impressively stable for not having a foam noodle to lay on.
"You never learned to float?" he asked reproachfully.
"I can't swim" I admitted. It was honestly never one of my priorities, being mostly lazy.
"Come into the shallow. I can show you how to float". He waited a moment and then got impatient, "Hurry up".
"Pull my noodle" I said.
"Phrasing" he said, and grabbed the noodle between my knees, slowly towing me into the shallow where I could stand.