Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“Warm enough?” Ethan asks, setting his beer down and wrapping an arm around me.
I nod, liking the feel of him this close. It’s almost nine at night but it’s August, so the temperature is perfect for swimming lessons. Today is my fifteenth birthday, and this is Ethan’s birthday gift to me. I have a feeling he came up with this idea at the last minute when he forgot it was my birthday, but he’s seventeen now and getting ready for college so I get it.
“Good. Cute suit, by the way.”
His green eyes skim over me, and I feel myself blush a little. I know Ethan’s reputation at school. There is no shortage of older, prettier girls with actual boobs that flirt with him any chance they get. Flirt and more. I’ve heard the stories.
“Thanks,” I say. “Your mom took me shopping to get it for my birthday. I am not sure my dad was too pleased, to be honest.” It’s a two-piece crocheted suit in a rainbow of colors, but it’s skimpy. I think seeing me in it this afternoon, Dad realized I’m not a little girl anymore.
Ethan’s grin widens. “I get why.” He waggles his eyebrows, and my blush deepens. “You better watch the boys, Phee. I see how they look at you.” He drinks a sip of his beer and slides into the pool, the water coming to his stomach here.
“No boys look at me, Ethan.”
He faces me, then pushes my knees apart and stands between them, flexing his muscles. He’s been working out, and you can really see it.
“All you have to do is lose these.” He reaches to slip my glasses off my face and sets them aside. “There. That’s better. You have pretty eyes, Phee. You should get contacts.”
“Maybe,” I say, squinting a little. I’m not blind, but there’s a lot of blurring without my glasses, and contacts irritate my eyes.
He sets his hands on my hips, thumbs coming to my hip creases, his face dimpling as he licks his lips. Then, without breaking eye-contact, he reaches for his beer and drains the bottle. “Ready for your lesson?”
“I think so,” I say, yelping and setting my hands on his shoulders as he lifts me up, muscles bulging, and draws me down into the pool. My breath catches when cool water reaches my belly, and when he wraps his arms around my waist as my feet touch down, I hug him.
Ethan and I have been getting closer—not close, but he’s definitely taken more notice of me these last few months. We’re just friends, of course. I’m too young in his eyes. But the few times we do get to hang out together when he doesn’t have friends over, I feel like he gives me all his attention, and it feels nice.
Admittedly, I’m at his house more often than he is, especially with Dad and Mr. Fox doing so much business together and Tonia helping out her sister. I don’t mind it. Esmerelda, Silas’s mom, is a lot like Tonia, and I sit in the kitchen with her doing homework mostly and just talking.
“Okay, here we go, Phee,” Ethan starts, walking backwards across the pool.
I keep my arms around his neck as the water gets deeper. He’s smiling, hands hooked behind my back. I’m smiling too, but I’m also a little nervous.
“Not bad, right?” he says.
I’m standing on tiptoe to keep my head above water. “Can we go back to the shallow end?”
“You’ll never learn how to swim if you stay in the shallows, Phee.” He takes another step back, and I hug him tighter when I can’t touch the bottom anymore. “It’s all right. I got you, baby.”
Baby.
That’s new.
I nod, trying to smile, trying to be a little more grown up like the girls he’s used to hanging out with.
“Here, I’m going to lift you up, so you just float on your back.”
“Don’t let me go!” I say, catching my breath as he puts his hands at my back and stands there while I float.
“That’s it. Not too hard, right? Just relax. Don’t forget to breathe.”
“We never look up at the sky,” I say.
“Mhm,” he says absently and traces my belly button.
“It’s weird, right? Human beings, I mean. We’re always looking down or ahead, and it’s so pretty up there. There’s a whole beautiful world right over our heads.”
He looks at me, but I don’t dare turn my head. I focus on breathing, trying to relax.
“Ever been kissed, Phee?” he asks, his hands coming to my hips to pull me upright. We’re at the deepest part of the pool now and I gasp, hugging his neck, trying not to look down at how far the bottom is.
“What?”
He swims us toward the wall, and I feel a little better with its solidity at my back.
“Just a sec,” he says and dashes a little way away.