Page 59 of Scrimmage

“You’re drunk,” I point out.

“Yup.” She drops the cup and grabs the bottle of whiskey from the sand.

“That’s how people drown,” I argue.

Amusement fills Ashland’s eyes like forest fire, and she gives me a devious grin. Grabbing the hem of her shirt, she tears it over her head. It takes everything inside of me not to look down. I’ve never seen her fully naked before.

“Sounds peaceful,” she says, before taking off into the water.

I don’t know what to do except for watch her like a fucking life guard. Her head is above water, and she’s keeping herself in place as she swims.

“Go home, Ko! We both know you’ve never been exciting in your life!” she shouts.

“Where is Penny?” I demand.

“I dunno. Doing her own shit?”

“You’re out here alone, in the middle of the night, drunk, trying to swim in the fucking lake in the thunderstorm.”

“Doesn’t scare me.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“Life is dangerous. Now leave, Golden Boy, before someone sees you with the slut.”

“Is that what this is about? You’re mad?”

“Not everything is about you. You’re ruining the vibes.”

Thunder rings out again. Every time she calls me Golden Boy I think about the game of pong, the tree, being inside of her, and that fucking all knowing attitude. I want to prove her wrong. So I yank my shirt, which is soaking wet, over my head and toss it onto the sand, following her in. She isn’t even facing me, just swimming further out with the bottle raised in the air.

“How are you like this?” I growl when I finally make it to her.

“Like what?” She takes a drink of the bottle and dips below the surface.

I grab her, pulling her up. “So careless.”

“I think you mean carefree,” she laughs. I stare at her angrily. “The world is fucking scary. Swimming in a storm is not.”

“Is your entire purpose to be dramatic? You put yourself in danger constantly, and you’re afraid of the world?”

“Aren’t you?”

“No.” I tread water. “Follow the rules and it’s fine.”

“You make it sound so simple, but it’s not. Not at all. Life is fucking messy. There aren’t any rules. It’s scary, and you don’t have a lot of time to figure that out. We’re all drowning, and people like you just haven’t realized it yet. The only choice we really have are the people we drown with. I’d drown with Penny every single day, and it would be the best time ever.”

“You’re insane.”

“Say what you will about me. Call me a slut, a bitch, a train wreck of a person, or insane, but it won’t phase me. I’ve already accepted those things about myself. Now, I can focus on what matters.”

“Yeah? What matters to a person like you?”

She laughs like it’s fucking obvious. “Penny."

“Only Penny?”

She weighs my question in her head. “I mean other shit matters, but if I didn’t have Penny it wouldn’t anymore.”

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