Page 49 of The Summer List

I fight to keep from rolling my eyes as I hover my finger over the play button.

Naomi is sitting with her legs pulled up to her chest and her chin resting on her kneecaps, her dark blonde hair falling forward to shield the sides of her face. Her lips are pressed tight together, and two little creases have formed between her eyebrows.

“All right. You two asked for it.”

I hit the button, and the very unnecessary fourth addition to the Shrek saga starts to play on the screen.

We get through enough of the movie that I wonder if Shal has ditched us to go have phone sex. I’ve even become invested enough in the story that I don’t notice she’s back until she’s standing next to my chair and demanding to know why we’re watching Shrek.

“Actually,” I say, craning my neck over my shoulder to look at her, “it’s Shrek Four, AKA Shrek Forever After. You have to give them credit for the title. They really outdid themselves with that one.”

She grimaces. “I repeat: why are you watching this?”

I sweep my arm out towards the couch. “Because these two zombies just sat there after I threatened to make us all watch it if they didn’t stop me.”

“Huh.” Shal puts her hands on her hips and takes a couple steps closer to the couch. “Are you two ready to stop being weird and tell us what the hell is going on?”

They both shift around on the couch like little kids being interrogated by their mom.

“Nothing is going on,” Priya says with a shrug. “Maybe you’re the one being weird. Why were you on the phone for so long?”

Shal scoffs. “Ha. Nice try, sister. I’m not letting you avoid my question.”

Priya groans and drops her head against the back of the couch. “I answered your question. There’s nothing going on. I don’t have to be in a chatty mood all the time, which is maybe not something you would understand, sister.”

I try to catch Naomi’s eye to share an amused look about the twin fight that is clearly about to go down, but she’s still staring at the carpet.

“Well, excuuuuse me.” Shal holds her hands up in mock surrender and makes a show out of backing away from the couch. “Whatever you say, I guess. If things are so totally normal between you and Naomi, I guess you won’t have a problem with my brilliant idea to knock another item off the list tonight.”

She tosses her hair over her shoulder before looking at me for back-up.

“Right, Andrea?”

I have no idea what she’s talking about, but I still nod. Shal is the kind of girl you just go along with.

“Right. Exactly.”

She nods. “Good. Now turn off Shrek, and let’s all get naked.”

I don’t know how Shal does it, but twenty minutes later, she’s got us all standing at the edge of the pool wrapped in towels with nothing underneath, ready to complete bucket list item number one: skinny dipping.

I shiver as I watch the water lap at the blue tiles glinting in the glow of the underwater lights. My nose is filled with the scent of chlorine and a hint of rain in the air. They’re calling for a storm tonight.

The gathering clouds have taken care of most of the remaining daylight. The property has been designed for maximum privacy, but I’m sure we’re all glad for the darkness as we stand clutching our towels around our chests. I don’t know if it’s the threat of lightning in the air or the look at Naomi’s bare shoulders I got while we filed out of the house, but the hair on my arms is standing on end and my heart is beating so fast I’m scared she’ll be able to hear it where she’s standing less a foot away on my right.

“Are we doing a countdown or something?” Priya asks from Naomi’s other side.

The two of them still haven’t said much to each other, but the fact that we’re all naked in the backyard seems to have eased some of the tension between them.

Being naked next to Naomi has the opposite effect on me. My ears strain to catch the sound of her breath as she shivers next to me. My arms are coated in goose bumps. Being this close to her feels like getting zapped by a hundred tiny static shocks shooting off her skin.

I shift my towel a little higher up my chest and suck in a breath, ordering myself to pull it together.

I’m not supposed to be into this girl. I’m supposed to be spending a few weeks at this house to clear my head before getting serious about my new life in Toronto. I already gave myself a year to find some other plan, and I came up with nothing but a few fleeting glimpses of an alternate future that always slipped away so fast I’m starting to think they were never real at all.

My stomach twists at the thought, hard enough to make me wince and ball my hands into fists around the edge of my towel. I see Naomi turn to give me a look out of the corner of my eye, but I step forward instead of looking at her and curl my toes around the edge of the pool.

“On three?” I ask.

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