Page 33 of Absorbed

“I hear we missed a killer game of Uno,” Chad said, ignoring Melissa. He unfolded another towel to sit beside Jessie, and began arranging the cards into a neat pile.

Desiree sat beside Stacey. “What if we played a game no one could cheat at? Like ‘Would you Rather?’”

“Absolutely! I’m going first,” Mark said.

“Of course you are.” Tiffany shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You love coming up with the foulest, most impossible choices.”

The seven lifeguards crowded onto the three towels: four girls on one side, the three boys across from them.

“Melissa,” Mark began, “would you rather step barefoot into a pile of poop or vomit?”

“Eeewww…” Desiree squealed. “Why?”

Melissa sneered. “Animal or human?”

“Think about it.” Mark tapped his temple. “Does itreallymatter?”

Melissa considered, and shook her head. Looking queasy herself, she answered, “Vomit, I guess.”

“I knew it,” Mark said.

“As if anyone would choose shit.” Melissa rolled her eyes. “My turn. Chad, would you rather lose your penis in a freak accident, or keep it but never have sex again for the rest of your life.”

Chad shielded his crotch with one hand. “Oh, I need to keep it. I can always find a way.” He motioned with his hand and nodded knowingly.

Stacey laughed nervously, checking the faces of people around them to see if anyone heard and was offended. This game always turned raunchy, but she wished it hadn’t gotten sexual so fast. She hoped her Would-You-Rather wouldn’t be too embarrassing.

Mark wobbled his head at Melissa, mimicking her high-pitched voice. “As if any guy would choose to lose it.”

Melissa’s perfectly plucked eyebrows lifted as she wobbled her head in return.

The others chuckled.

“Stacey,” Chad said. Her heart jumped into her throat. “Would you rather be a virgin forever, or have sex with a different guy every day for the rest of your life?”

Six pairs of eyes were on her. Stacy reminded herself tobe cool.Her heart was racing, but she grinned and let out an awkward, grunted exhale through her nostrils. She shrugged one shoulder like her choice was a simple one. “Different guys, for sure. I could travel the world finding worthy partners.”

Mark whistled his surprise. Chad let out a high-pitched wolf-howl. Tiffany and Desiree said “wow” in unison. Stacey caught Melissa’s furrowed brow and narrowed gaze out of the corner of her right eye, but looked directly at Jessie instead. His eyebrows were raised and lips were turned in a coy smile as he nodded.

Stacey liked the approval her mock-confidence was earning her, especially from Jessie. Now she had to one-up Chad’s challenge. Her eyes locked on Jessie’s, and before she let herself think about it, the words fell out of her mouth. “Jessie, would you rather give up God, girls, or boards.”

Stunned, the other guards’ eyes grew wide. Stacey could hear her heart beating in her ears, but kept her face relaxed. Even the crowd of strangers around them was hushed in collective astonishment, and everyone’s attention was on Jessie.

Without flinching, Jessie stared right back at Stacey. “God would have to go.”

After the movie, Stacey and Jessie dropped Tiffany and Mark back at The Plunge at 12:30 a.m. She rapidly blinked to stay awake as she pulled out of the parking lot. She’d bought a large Mountain Dew at the theater, hoping the caffeine would help since she’d opened at the pool fourteen hours earlier. But when she offered to share it and her popcorn with Jessie, she became hyper aware of each bite and sip, afraid he might think she was hogging it all. In the end, she let him have most of it, and nowStacey found it hard to keep her heavy head from bobbing. She concentrated all of her attention on the dashed yellow line in the middle of the winding road.

“That final scene was killer!” Jessie slapped the dashboard excitedly.

Stacey startled. She shook her head and tightened her grip on the steering wheel.

“The Fresh Prince and Cousin Eddie saved the world. Epic!”

“Um hmm…” She rolled the driver’s side window down, deeply inhaling the cool, dusty scent of the foothills.

“You know, there’s supposed to be a meteor shower this weekend,” Jessie said.

“Really?” Stacey yawned. “That’s cool.”

---