Even through her oversized sunglasses, I can tell she’s shooting daggers at me. “Don’t you ever say that again.” I chuckle and drag my fingertips along the top of the water. It’s gotten hot, but neither Chloe nor I want to actually get in. We settle instead for sitting on the edge and letting our legs dangle inside the cool liquid. “Favorite color?” She reads aloud. “Easy. Teal.”
I nod, though I’m not supposed to be giving her any hints on whether or not she’s right since she’s filling it out about me. While she jots down her answer, I watch Alex dive in front of Tyler and block him from making a shot, swatting the ball across the pool in an almost embarrassing display of defeat. I can hear her yell “Ha!” and it makes me smile.
“Who is their crush?” Chloe reads aloud. “Tyler,” she mumbles. “Star sign. Oh, you’re the definition of a Pisces. These are super easy. They should have one that’s like, ‘What’s their deepest darkest secret?’ ”
“I don’t have any deep or dark secrets,” I tell her and watch Alex block another shot. It’s amusing how bad Tyler is at water basketball.
“Sure you don’t,” Chloe mutters.
Tyler hangs his head to go retrieve the ball, and Alex swims over to us. “Having fun?” I ask.
“Sure am.” She gently splashes some water on my legs, and I shriek at how cold it feels. She does it a couple more times until the shock wears down and settles into something soothing, the heat of my skin cooling and making me shiver.
“Favorite season?”
Alex glances from Chloe to me. “Is she asking me or you?”
“She’s filling out a quiz about me,” I tell her.
“Your favorite season is spring,” Alex says easily and starts to float on her back. “You like it when the flowers poke out of the snow. New growth, fresh starts, all that cheesy crap.”
“Hey!” I kick at her legs, making her sink. “It’s not crap.”
“Last question,” Chloe cuts in. “What color are your bestie’s eyes?”
Alex looks at me, and I press my sunglasses to my face, making sure my eyes are totally covered. She swims closer and presses her back against the wall. “The outer parts are blue and around the iris is green. Kind of like where a deep blue ocean meets vibrant green sea grass.”
Always thinking of my eyes as just plain blue, I stare at Alex, speechless and surprised.
“Okay,” Chloe says, stretching out the word. “I’m just going to put blue.”
Alex’s description rolls around in my head. She offers me an almost shy smile, and I tilt my head as if asking: where did that come from? She responds with a shrug and watches Tyler slowly make his way over. The whistle blows, signaling the top of the hour and the end of adult-only swim, and a bunch of kids excitedly jump into the pool.
Chloe tosses the magazine and pen beside me. “Grade us.”
I’m not sure why she’s making me go through the answers—I know what she put when she called them out—but I do what I’m told and put little check marks next to each question. At least until I reach the last one. The pen hovers over the page, and I stare at the word “blue.”
Where a deep blue ocean meets vibrant green sea grass.
I put a large X next to the answer, then toss the magazine back. “You missed one.”
“What?” Outraged, Chloe snatches the magazine and scans the page of questions. “Which one?”
“My eyes are notblue,” I say matter-of-factly. “They are a blend of blue and green.”
Chloe throws the magazine back at me. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Tyler pulls himself out of the pool and sits beside me. He leans close and quickly runs his hands back and forth in his hair, and I squeal, pushing him away when water droplets splash all over me. “Another quiz?” he asks.
“They’re fun,” Chloe says, reaching for the sopping wet magazine. “Speaking of,” she flings the magazine toward our lounge chairs, “what color are your girlfriend’s eyes?”
Tyler looks a little startled and glances from me to Chloe, who gives him a daring kind of smirk. “Uh, blue?”
“Are you asking?” Chloe challenges.
Panic-stricken, Tyler stares at me, and I wait. “Blue. Definitely blue.” When no one says anything, he doesn’t seem so sure. “Right?”
I pat his leg reassuringly. “Right.” He sighs, relieved that he managed to pass Chloe’s sudden test, and I give her a disapproving look, but she’s staring at something across the pool.
