Page 6 of Tourist Trap

“Isn’t it freezing?” I ask as I step closer to the water, already coming to terms with the fact that I’m going into the water to get her and drag her to dry land. I reach behind me, grabbing my T-shirt and tugging it off before throwing it on the sand, my wallet, phone, and keys following.

“It’s not warm,” she says with a smile, leaning back and flipping her legs up into the air as if she has not a care in the world.

“So why are you in there?” I take a step closer, and the tide comes up, lapping at my feet, making me shiver. The water is fuckingfreezing.

“You ever do anything just…to feel alive?”

I shake my head and watch her swimming as if she’s in a heated pool.

“No.”

“No?” she asks with a laugh.

I feel idiotic, yelling back and forth over the ocean like this.

“No, I just live, and then I feel alive. Like a normal person.”

“You’re a bucket of fun, aren’t you?”

“At least I’m warm. You’re going to freeze to death out there.”

“Warm and boring,” she taunts.

I let out a deep sigh and cross my arms on my chest. My toes have started to get used to the cold, though I very much do not want to test it on my entire body.

“Come on, Claire, Get out of the water.”

She shakes her head. “You’re going to have to come in and get me if you want me to come out.”

“Claire, get out of there so I don’t have to tell your family you drowned on my watch.”

“I’m not going to drown, Miles. I’m a strong swimmer.”

I groan aloud, looking to the night sky. “That’s what everyone says in the movies right before they drown.”

“Then come save me, oh, knight in shining armor,” she says with a tease in her voice, then dips under the water again.

Once she’s out of sight completely, I wait.

And I wait.

And I wait for what feels like an eternity, though it’s probably just a few moments before panic starts to sink in. Without even looking at our friends on the boardwalk, I move on a mission, making my way into the water toward where Claire disappeared. The water isn’t too deep, but I know where she was standing. The sand drops off a bit, making it so she probably can’t touch the sand. Freezing cold water sloshes around me as I move to where I think she could be, panic blocking out the cold as I frantically search for her, a dozen worst-case scenarios running through my mind.

I’m into my ribs when blonde hair pops up, a bright smile greeting me.

“What the hell, Claire?” I ask, staring at the woman in front of me. Relief tinged with irritation rushes through me as my eyes move over her, assessing to make sure she’s okay.

“Were you scared?” she asks, beaming at me as she drifts to her back, staring at the stars as she floats in the water.

The sea is relatively calm tonight, and we’re past where the waves break, so she bobs up and down as gentle waves pass us. She has a bra on, thank fuck, because I already got a good look at her ass: I don’t need to remember what her tits look like, too, every time I see her wandering around with June.

“I don’t want to watch you die in front of me. You were underwater and drunk. That’s a terrible combo.”

She turns her head to me with a smile, her hair fanning out around her in the water before she shifts her body until she’s upright again.

“I’m not drunk.”

“Claire,” I say, giving her adon’t bullshit melook, and she lets out a small laugh in response.

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