Page 26 of Happily Ever After
Not what I expected.
"Lex, this stuff hasn't washed off," Ade says, baffled, letting go of me.
"Yeah, I can see that," Lex scoffs, heading back to the edge of the waterfall to give his body a scrub under the water.
"This shit is stuck fast. You can sort of get the crust off, but it leaves the color underneath. It's like tattooed into my skin."
Ade tries to remove the mud with his fingernails, but it's terribly slow.
"Shit, now what? I'm getting married tomorrow. I don't want to look like I've got full body camo for a mission on the moon."
"Don't worry guys, we'll get it off," Rhia says chirpily.
What does she base this on?
"There must be a way. I mean, Tiero obviously used this pool and there was never a trace of mud on him," she jokes.
"That's right," I add, trying to mask my rising doubts. "Tiero told me about it when I was here with him. He wasn't gray, so it must come off."
It's been two hours, and we still haven't gotten all the gray mud off our hunk-o'-spunk men, or had a proper lunch.
Two hours!
It's insta karma.
The low point was when Lex noticed Rhia's gray elbow underneath her towel. We tried to deny we knew the mud would stick, but there's no fooling them. So we told them we thought it would wash off in water, but they just raised their eyebrows, not believing us.
Anyway, we found that scrubbing the mud with sand and water mostly works, but it leaves their skin raw and tender.
We work a tiny area at a time; the guys on their arms and legs, and Rhi and I on their backs. It's very slow going and we're all grumpy.
"El, my fingers are all red and irritated from all this scrubbing."
"Mine too. They're all dry and itchy."
"We're so sorry guys," Rhia adds for the umpteenth time. "If we had any idea…"
"We know you wouldn't have tried to prank us if you were aware this would happen," Ade says, tempering down his annoyance. "Plus, Tiero used that mud bath, so there must be an easy way to get this stuff off. We'll probably discover it as soon as we're finished," he jokes.
"It is what it is, so let's just finish the job and then head back for some dinner," Lex chimes in from beside us. "Now it's clear why Tiero called it 'The Pool of Eternity'," he mutters.
"It is?"
"Yep, it takes an eternity to get this shit off."
We all burst into laughter.
God, we needed that.
My arms are about to fall off as we keep scrubbing. This is a workout they're not used to.
"I don't think I can keep going. My fingers have had enough," Rhia whines. "I need something to moisturize them. That oil I found earlier might help. It might also soothe the boys' skin. It's so red."
I don't reply. It was her idea. She shouldn't be complaining. And nor should I… I agreed to it.
"El, are you listening?"
Nope.
