“No?”
“You’ve seen my girlfriend.”
“Yes.” Lacey chuckled.
“She’s gorgeous.”
“Yes, she is.”
“I don’t… We don’t touch each other much these days. I don’t know that I want to, either. That’s really bad, right? I should want to touch my gorgeous girlfriend; the woman I love.”
“Think it’s the dreaded lesbian bed death thing? I hate even bringing it up, but maybe it’s a rut or something and you can pull out of it. It happens to all couples, right? Even the gorgeous ones.”
Cameron smiled over at her and said, “It’s been a really long rut, then, Lace, and I’m ready to get out of it. I think Kennedy is, too, but it’s like we can’t find our way back to one another; to whom we used to be. She suggested we just take time off and go on a trip, Italy and Florence specifically, and all I could do was picture us arriving at the airport, sitting in the lounge not talking to each other because I have my headphones on and she’s checking her notifications. Then, we’re on the plane not talking to one another. We get to Florence, one of the most beautiful places in the world, and we have this really nice rental or something, where we can just be by ourselves and get away from everything and everyone, but it makes things worse because the world isn’t the problem. I mean, the world’s not great; don’t get me wrong. But it’s us. We’re the problem, so we just bring it with us, and we end up fighting, bored, and miserable until we come back home.”
“But what if you two need a break from the stress of being here and dealing with this whole fight thing? Maybe itcouldhelp, and instead of being miserable, you could grow back together. Anything could happen, right?”
“Yeah, maybe,” Cameron said. “Now, I’m going to go run into that water and make a total ass out of myself on this boogie board before I come right back out, because I need to do something other than talk about my relationship with my girlfriend. Are you coming with me or not?”
“I thought you didn’t want to take a midday shower.”
“I’ll air-dry and shower later.” Cameron stood quickly, grabbed both of the boogie boards, and held out one. “Come on, Lace. Let’s make asses out of ourselves.”
Lacey laughed, but then she stood up, stripped off her shirt and shorts again, and took the offered boogie board.
“Now, these were made for children, so we’re going to immediately fall off of them. Make sure to keep hold of those bikini strings or your top might fall off, too,” Cameron told her and took off running.
“What? Cam!” Lacey yelled after her.
But Cameron didn’t stop running. Her feet hit water, and she kept going, trying to wade as it got deeper, until she could climb onto the board. Then, she started paddling and turned back to see Lacey about ten feet behind her, doing the same thing. Lacey had her eyes in slits, either because of the sun or the salt water, but she looked focused at the same time when Cameron stopped paddling to wait for her.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
“To lose my top? No. Not really.”
Cameron laughed and paddled until she turned herself around. Lacey did the same. They waited for the small wave and let it carry them back toward the shore. Cameron yelled. Lacey screamed. Then, Lacey fell into the water, and Cameron jumped off her board, letting it head in the rest of the way, carried by the waves. She spotted Lacey’s head sticking up and swam toward her. Lacey was laughing, and Cameron watched her wipe her face free of water and smile at her. She was beautiful, and Cameron knew she needed to stop spending time alone with her because she never wanted to be the person that Kennedy thought she was at that party.
“You didn’t fall,” Lacey said when Cameron got to her.
“Nope. I would’ve made it, but I stopped to check on you, becauseyoudid.”
“It scratched my stomach or something, and I fell off.”
“Come on. Let’s go in and check.”
“I’m okay,” Lacey replied. “Want to go again?”
“Are you planning on staying on the thing this time?”
“Nope,” Lacey said and swam toward shore.
Cameron followed her, and when they got there, she saw that Lacey had a little scratch on her stomach.
“Hey, hold on a second,” she said and turned her to face her before they were out of the water. “Youdidget scratched.”
“It’s fine. I’ve been scratched worse by a cat.”
“How big was that cat? You’re bleeding a little.” Cameron’s fingertips grazed Lacey’s stomach next to the scratch. “And what the hell did they put in that boogie board? Razor blades?”
