“We should stay here for the night,” I say.
“Smashing. I’m getting in.” Henry toes off his shoes and flips into the water. When he springs back up, he flings his hair out of his eyes, showering me with water drops. “What’s everyone waiting for? Get in! It feels amazing.”
Brooke, Victoria, and Theo waste no time stripping down and sinking into the warm water, but I drag my feet, avoiding the inevitable.
After a moment of soaking in the hot spring, Theo turns and rests his chin on the back of his hands. His eyes glint in the golden light. “Forget how to swim?” he teases, a sharp contrast to his wistful expression.
The memory of us skinny-dipping under a midnight Grecian sky is dizzying. I swallow a painful lump in my throat and spin my finger in a circle.
“I already know you’re wearing princess knickers; I heard Naomi yelling about it after she was stung,” he says. My mouth falls open as he laughs and turns around.
“No one will be seeing my knickers!” I unbutton my shirt and hang it on a tree branch, keeping my pants on, and make my way over to the hot spring.
“You shouldn’t get in,” Brooke says.
“Why not?”
“This water is probably teeming with bacteria. Your cut could get infected.”
I glance at my arm and am startled to see that the skin around my sutures is growing redder and puffier by the hour. “It’s not that bad!” I protest.
“It looks a bit minging,” Henry agrees.
“You’re the one who did the stitching,” I point out, before my eyes stray longingly to the water.
“I wouldn’t risk it,” Theo says regretfully.
My heart sinks. The idea of not getting in makes me want to cry.
I glance at Victoria for a fourth opinion. “What do you think?”
She shrugs. “It’s your life.”
I sigh heavily. Ifshethinks I should do it, it’s probably a bad idea.
I blink back tears, embarrassed to be getting so emotional over a hot spring. “Fine. I’ll keep the stitches dry, even though I’m pretty sure rich people would pay thousands of dollars at a wellness spa for this kind of shit and call it a healing soak,” I grumble.
I sink in until the water hits my waist, but the bottom is steep and slick, and gravity drags me deeper. I grit my teeth and hold my arm nearly straight in the air. Only a few seconds later, the muscles are burning, then shaking, then screaming in pain.
I’ve never been a quitter, but not even my pride can keep my arm in the air for another painful second. I drop it with a frustrated whimper.
“Come here. I’ll do it for you,” Henry says.
“You’ll hold my arm in the air?” I ask doubtfully.
“Sure. Or you can put it around my shoulders. I’d be honored.”
“No thanks.” I pull myself out of the hot spring and into the chilly air, my wet pants plastered to my legs. Goose bumps travel across my skin. “Enjoy your bacteria bath,” I say dryly as I pull my blouse over my wet skin.
“You can start a fire if you’re cold,” Brooke offers.
“Reggie let us take the lighter?” Henry asks in surprise.
“WinstonandNaomilet us take the lighter. I was going to steal it if they didn’t,” Victoria says with a satisfied smirk.
“Do you think they’ll be okay without it?”
“The fire was pretty big by the time we left. Reggie would be an idiot if he let it die,” she says.
