Anna turns to him and glares. “Something funny?”
He looks at her. “I think it’s funny that you’re telling me to chill when you’re the one drinking water.”
He holds up his can of beer before downing the rest, then setting the empty can on the edge. He nods at Leo, who tosses him another beer can. He cracks it open and takes a swig.
Anna wrinkles her nose in disgust. “I don’t need alcohol to wind down, you lush.”
Leo and Blake frown. “What’s a lush?” Blake asks.
“Someone who drinks too much,” Poppy says.
Both Blake and Leo go, “Ohhh!” then sip their beers.
“Lush. That’s a nice little old-fashioned insult,” Travis says, unfazed.
Anna smiles at him. “Isn’t it? It suits you really well, I think, given the way you’re in the middle of pounding two beers in a row.”
Travis’s jaw tenses. “I don’t drink alcohol a lot. This is the first time I’ve had a beer in almost a month,” he says defensively.
“Wow. A whole month, huh? You should get a gold star,” she says.
Leo and Blake laugh again. Poppy winces like she’s uncomfortable. I just sigh. Anna and Travis almost always argue when they’re around each other. I know they don’t like each other, but I wish they wouldn’t fight so much.
“Okay, you two, that’s enough,” I say.
Travis steps out of the hot tub. “Screw this,” he mutters. He walks over to the small pool on the other side of the patio and jumps in.
Poppy gasps. “That must be so cold. Is he okay?”
“He’ll be fine,” I say. “We do cold plunges sometimes after working out.”
Travis stays in the pool.
“Is it cold?” Blake asks him.
“Yeah,” Travis says.
Anna chuckles. “Don’t tell me you buy into that cold plunge crap.”
Travis glowers at her. “It’s not crap. It helps with muscle recovery and helps me focus.”
Anna flashes a thumbs-up at him, still laughing. “Whatever you say.”
“Wait, cold plunging is bad for you?” Blake asks Anna.
“It’s not that it’s necessarily bad for you,” she says. “It’s just that some people who do it make all these insane claims. Like how it helps their body get rid of toxins or regulate their hormones. There’s no scientific proof of that. And there are actually some risks associated with it, like hypothermia and putting stress on your cardiovascular system.”
I raise my beer can up at her. “And that’s my twin sister taking the fun out of cold plunging.”
She rolls her eyes at me.
“She’s right, though,” Poppy says. “That’s what the research says.”
“It’s fine to do it if you enjoy it,” Anna says to Blake and Leo. “But don’t expect it to be some magical cure-all.”
“Thank you, Dr. Anna, for that assessment,” Travis says.
She spins to him. “Shut up.”
