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Heidi keeps her eyes on Jenna, begging to be freed. “Jenna...”
But Jenna doesn’t give up. “Let’s go, Heidi!”
“No.”
“Oh, come on! This is the perfect place! It’s a private beach. There’s no one around. It’s nighttime. We have the owner’s permission to do whatever we want. Right, Drew?”
I nod. “I fully consent to this.”
Heidi glares at me. I smirk.
Jenna pouts with begging eyes. “Heidi, please. Live with me! What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Piranhas!”
“This far from South America?” Jenna blows a raspberry. “Doubtful.”
Heidi sighs. “I forgot how much you watch Animal Planet.”
Jenna holds her hands in prayer.
Heidi pauses, her resolve crumbling every second. She takes a breath, holds it for half a second, and then exhales hard.
“All right,” she says. “Let’s do it.”
Jenna claps excitedly and hops to her feet, pulling Heidi up with her. She takes off, yanking the strings on her bikini top as she flies down the sand and shouts for the other girls to come join them.
Just like that, Ellie and Wilder kick off their sandals and drop their shorts, prompting the guys to whistle like dogs from the porch.
I cover my mouth, obscuring my grin with a fist as I watch and see what Heidi will do.
Heidi hesitates, her gaze hovering on me and the unconscious Seth. She’s obviously nervous about stripping naked in front of people.
Or perhaps, just me.
She pulls off her flannel shirt and throws it at my head. I let it sit for a moment, giving her enough time to escape my view before dropping it onto my lap.
Heidi dives into the shallow water at the end of a trail of clothes. It’s too far and too dark to see the good details from here, but just knowing she’s there, naked and laughing, is enough to test me.
I lick my lips. I bite my cheek. I relive our first kiss with perfect clarity again, and I think...
What’s the worst that can happen?
Seth raises his head, drawn to the sounds of splashing down the beach. “Huh?” He squints around and focuses on the girls. “What’re they doing?” he asks.
“Skinny dipping in Lake Michigan,” I answer.
“Oh.” Seth’s head rests back onto the sand. After a second, he raises it again. “Wait, what?”
I chuckle and pat his shoulder. “It’s all right, buddy. Go back to sleep.”
He struggles, but his eyes lose the battle.
I struggle, too. I go back and forth between looking at the water and my own hands, hating a piece of myself no matter what I do. To look at her, to admire her, to covet her, is a betrayal to my friend, but to deny her is a betrayal to myself.
Heidi’s sketchbook rests on the ground next to my feet. I brush the sand off the cover. In silence, I open it and flip through page after page of her. Her talent. Her mind.
Portraits of me. My eyes. My nose and five o’clock shadow. The good details.
