“I know,” she said. “It’s perfect.”
He watched her gaze all around, taking in every sight, sound, every breath like it was the first time she’d ever been someplace like this. It was hard to imagine, she seemed so comfortable here, and navigated through the crowds and buildings like she’d been here since the days of the settlers. She gazed up at the darkening sky, nodded, and added, “Perfect. Just like tonight.”
While she got lost in the beauty of his town, he stared at her. Her smooth neck, her chin, and he even managed to be a gentleman only taking a quick glance at the way her boobs pressed against the fabric of her t-shirt. Luke and Han were two of the luckiest guys on Earth right now and they didn’t even know it.
He snapped his eyes back up to meet hers as she smiled.
“So,” she said. “What else do you do around here for kicks, beside playing arcade games and chasing girls you don’t know?”
“Ahh…swim?”
She nodded. “Okay, that sounds like fun. Let’s go.”
“What? You mean like, right now?”
The thought of her seeing his back brace and yucking out like Becky Colby made his chest tight. He wished he’d taken it off before he came out, but he hadn’t thought to. Hell, he didn’t really think he’d see her again.
“Sure,” she said. “Why not. The water’s probably still warm and—” Her eyes dropped to his jeans. “I bet you left your trunks at home, huh?”
My way out.
“Yeah,” he said. “I was just coming out for a walk—”
“No problem.” She nodded back toward the square and shoved off in that direction.
“What are we doing?” Rocky said, his stomach turning on him again.
“Getting you some swimwear. Unless you wanna chance going in in your tighty-whities.”
His face flushed with warmth.
“Here,” she said.
He followed her into a tourist trap he’d never been in before. It was one of many little shops with Hawaiian shirts and vibrant-coloured shorts and swimsuits in the window.
She snatched green trunks from a rack, placing them against his waist.
He pulled his hips away from her before her hands could make contact and bumped a large woman behind him with his butt.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he said to the woman. She harrumphed at him and moved along.
“Sorry,” November said, her gaze drifting to the floor. She looked slightly wounded.
“No, it’s okay,” he said. “I didn’t know what you were doing is all.”
She looked up, her lips making a slight upturn.
“Well, I think these should work. What do you think?”
“I think they should be fine,” he said.
“Good. Are you ready then?”
Before he could answer, she took them to the lady behind the counter and paid for them.
“Here you go, Heatstroke,” she said, slapping the green shorts to his chest. “Now we can get wet.”
He stopped panicking about his brace enough to wonder what she was going to wear. She probably had something on under her clothes.
He had to think of a way out of this without looking like a wimp or a weirdo.
The beach was just a couple minutes ahead of them. All the way his body filled with dread. How the hell could this be happening? She wasn’t even supposed to be here. He should still be at home in his bedroom playing video games or listening to music.
As they reached the sand, he remembered the bathrooms.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t go sneaking off on me,” she replied. “I’ll be waiting right here.”
He hurried to the bathroom, fished a quarter from his jeans, placed it in the coin slot on the door, and entered.
What the hell was he thinking? His original thought had been to come in here and take off his brace, but then what? He couldn’t just leave it in here. Could he? And if he walked out with it, she’d see him and ask about the ugly thing.
“Fuck it,” he said. Nobody ever used the quarter potties. They smelled awful and like this one, were a mess. There was still someone’s shit on the lid of the toilet seat and pissy toilet paper on the floor. He looked at the lock. Maybe he could lock it and step out. No one could get in, and he could find someone to open it for him after November left.
It was a terrible plan, but he wasn’t about to let her see him in this damn thing.
He undid the Velcro straps and placed the brace down in the cleanest corner.
“I hate you,” he said, talking to the brace. “But for the love of god, please be here when I come back.”
He stepped out, hit the lock button and shut the door. He plunked another coin in the slot and pulled. It wouldn’t open.
Good.
She was people watching as he joined her.
“All set?” she asked.
“Yep.”
They were on the sand, heading toward the water – he hadn’t warned her that despite her assumption that the water was still warm, they’d be lucky if it was fifty-four degrees. The Atlantic didn’t get ‘warm’ until late July, early August at best. The tide was in, which meant they had some pretty big waves – big, like warm, being a relative term when it comes to this slice of the ocean. You wouldn’t see anyone hanging ten out there tonight or any other night.
The sun was dropping at a steady rate behind them. Twilight had a firm grasp on the sky, a bruising purple, and would sooner than later turn them into a couple of shadows.
There were plenty of people still sitting on blankets and walking where the water met the land, but it was dwindling down for the day.
November pulled her shirt over her head, revealing a black bikini top. His eyes betrayed the noble knight within him and took her in. Without turning to him, she bent over and slipped her skirt down her legs to her feet. She might as well have shot him with a hormone dart. He felt his dick come to life and had to turn away and try to get myself under control before it became blatantly obvious and totally embarrassing.
“You gonna hold those all night or put ’em on?” she asked.
“I, uh….” He remembered the green trunks in his hand.
“No one’s gonna look. Just take your pants off and throw ’em on real quick.”
Under normal circumstances he would have excused himself and gone to the pay-to-piss restrooms again, but this was no normal circumstance. He didn’t want to leave her again. He dropped his jeans, grateful that his chubby had vacated the premises, and pulled on the trunks.