“Don’t be like that. It’s late, the beach won’t be as crowded, and we’ll stay close to the shore so we don’t drift off and get stung by a jellyfish or have a toe eaten by a fish.”
“You’re not allowed to swim in the ocean at night,” she says.
“Says who?”
“The town.”
“What do they know?” I ask.
“A lot actually.”
Grumbling, I stuff my suit back into the bag. “Fine, but that just ruined my night. I wanted to show you my skimpy swimsuit.”
Her teeth pull on the corner of her lip.
“What?” I ask. “I can see you want to say something.”
“Just that…there’s a lake behind the house that I’ll swim in, maybe…Maybe you want to go swim in there.”
I blink a few times, because…is she serious?
“There is a secret lake you didn’t tell me about? Does it have a rope swing? Please tell me it has a rope swing.”
“It has a rope swing.”
“Well, Jesus fuck, what are we doing here?” I grab her hand and yank her toward the back door. “Come on, take me to the sacred lake.”
“It’s more like a pond.”
“I don’t care. It’s water and I want in it.”
Chuckling, she locks up, and then together we walk toward our street, and make our way toward the back of her house.
“I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on me. Have you…have you been swimming in the pond while I’ve been here?”
“Yes.”
I pause and turn to her. “You know, Gossy, you’ve said some things to me that could be considered hurtful, but I’ve let them all roll off me, but this…this is inexcusable.”
“Please, the dramatics, not right now.”
Then she grabs my hand this time and guides me to the back of her woods, down a worn path, through some bushes, and then to a clearing where we find a peaceful pond. It’s untouched, and the water’s almost like glass, reflecting the moon off its shimmery surface.
It’s surrounded by trees, while a rope swing dangles off a thick branch to the right.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
She shakes her head. “Nope, this is all real.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been hiding this from me.”
“Because it’s my sacred spot. No one else goes here, so you better not ruin it for me.”
“Gossy, love, I’m only going to make it better.” I reach behind my head and pull my shirt off, then I bring my hands to my zipper, and she quickly turns around.
“Uh, what are you doing?”
“Getting undressed. What does it look like?”
