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“Evening. Not sleeping tight while the bugs bite?”

Dee ignored the question and asked one of his own. “What are you doing?”

“Swimming.”

“In your clothes?”

“I’m spontaneous like that.”

His gaze shifted towards the massive pile I’d been working on for hours. His water-logged wardrobe. And his expression softened.

But I turned away before I had to look at it. “Still missing a sock. Bye.”

“Alvy...”

“What?”

“How long have you been out here? Why are you getting my clothes?”

I shrugged. “Because apparently throwing clothes in a lake is considered immature.”

“Apparently?”

“Opinions may vary.” I reached beneath the dock, looking for the lost sock. It wasn’t there.

Darius sat on the edge for a while but he didn’t say anything. Finally, he sighed. “You feel bad at all? You know some of those damn clothes… I spent months saving for them.”

I didn’t know that. I knew Darius struggled when it came to money, but I didn’t know he gave a shit about clothes.

Now I did feel bad. I shrugged anyway. “No.”

“You’re standing waist-deep in a lake at 4:30 in the morning...”

Holy fuck, it was morning already?

“I care about the environment.”

“Bullshit.”

I looked at him and his mouth almost smiled. I hated how easily I recognized it. “Fine,” I said. “Maybe I felt a little bad.”

“A little?”

“Don’t push your luck, twat-waffle.”

“You threw everything I brought in here,” he reminded me.

“You were being a massive asshole,” I reminded him.

“So you drowned my underwear as punishment?”

“It seemed proportional at the time, and your face wasn’t in punching distance.”

Dee shook his head, and I went back to searching for the lone ranger of the sock variety. Then he said, “I deserved some of it.”

My hand stopped beneath the water. That wasn’t what I’d expected from him. To admit it. I straightened. Darius was looking across the lake. Not at me. Of course not.

“What?” I asked him.