Page 125 of The Naughty List

I laugh. “Yeah, they’re favorite thing to do is tell fart jokes. It’s gross. Please tell me at some point, you boys grow out of that.”

He laughs. “Some of us,” he says, stopping at the creek. He kicks his shoes off and throws down his towel. Then he removes his shirt and my, oh my… Carson is nothing like the boys in my school. The boys I go to school with are skinny and don’t have any meat on their bones. But Carson, Carson has been working out and he has muscles! Real muscles. His pecs are toned, probably bigger than my practically nonexistent boobs. His stomach is covered in abs, two, four, six of them! His biceps are probably the size of my thigh! I’ve never been shy or embarrassed in front of him before, but now, I don’t want to take my clothes off even though there is a bathing suit underneath.

He jumps into the water, not even noticing my sudden panic to strip down. When his head breaks the surface, he looks around for me, still finding me on the creek bank. “What are you doing? Get in here.” He waves me on.

I wave him off. “Nah, I think I’m good.”

His eyes level on me. “Felicity, get in the water,” he orders.

“No, I’m okay. I’ll just watch.” Watch? What a weird thing to say and such a bad choice of words considering the way I’m staring at him and checking him out.

“Why did we walk all the way down here if you didn’t want to swim?”

I don’t have an answer.

“Felicity, get in this water right now or I’ll carry you in.”

God, no. “Okay, okay. Turn around,” I say.

He laughs. “What?”

“Turn around, okay?”

“Why? We’ve swam in this creek for years. Why do I have to turn around now?”

“Because I don’t want you to see me in my bathing suit.”

He scoffs and rolls his eyes but turns his back to me. I move behind a tree and pull my t-shirt over my head, dropping it onto the ground. Then I slide out of my shorts. I look down at my skinny body. I have no ass, no hips, and no boobs. In fact, the only part I’m proud of is my stomach. It’s nice and flat. But no curves at all? Come on! The pink bikini fits me well. Mom just purchased it this summer. I tried it on and everything and loved it until now.

I step out from behind the tree and start making my way toward the water. That’s when Carson turns around, catching me. I swear I see his lips turn up into a pleasant smile, but then he wipes the look away and runs for me. Before I know it, I’m in his arms as he carries me into the water. Once we’re deep enough, he throws me and I fly through the air, landing in the water. I pop up, probably looking like a drowned cat.

“You asshole!” I say, wiping water out of my face.

That only makes him laugh. “What? You were being weird and I fixed it.”

“I wasn’t being weird,” I argue.

“We’ve swam together a million times, Felicity. Why are you suddenly so worried about me seeing you in your bathing suit?”

I get quiet which is the wrong thing to do around Carson. He lunges for me. He pulls me against his chest so my back is pressing against it. He starts tickling me and I start fighting and wiggling, trying to get away.

“Tell me,” he demands, refusing to let me go.

“It’s because you have a nice body and I look like a little girl,” I say all at once, hoping he didn’t understand a word of it.

That’s when he stops with his torture. He spins me around in his arms but refuses to let go of me. There’s only a small space between us as our eyes meet. “That’s why? You think you don’t look good in a bikini?”

I nod. “I mean, I look fine if I was swimming with a bunch of little girls, but I don’t look like the girls you date. They have boobs, and hips, and—”

He cuts me off, shaking his head. “You’re only thirteen, Felicity. You’re not supposed to have that stuff yet. When I was thirteen, you remember how I looked?”

I smile and nod. He was tall and skinny and lanky. Plus, he had that weird thing going on with his voice.

“You’ll grow and change. And you’re already beautiful, so when you do, you’ll knock their socks off.”

I smile even though my face heats up. “You think so?”

“I know so.”

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