I bite my lip and make a noncommittal noise. As much as I enjoyed the evening with Micah, it's good to remind myself that our little experiment is temporary.
An arrangement that my mother, who met my father the old-fashioned way, wouldn’t approve of, I'm sure. Even if my parents handled my coming out perfectly.
“I’ll…uh…definitely let you know when that happens,” I stammer. Now that she brought it up, all the thoughts I had banished while studying start swirling around in my head again; about Micah, about the date I’m supposed to plan, about what to try out next, what I can do to hear his husky moans again, feel his hands on—
“Hey, uhm, Mom, I should probably…”
“Oh, of course, I didn’t mean to keep you from anything. Goodness, has it been forty minutes already?”
I hum, feeling terrible for cutting our conversation short. But my cheeks are burning with the thoughts I'm desperately trying to push back down—and the guilt about keeping up my lie.
“And don’t worry, Linden,” Mom adds, sweet as can be. “You just focus on your classes. We’re fine over here.”
My shoulders drop when I hang up and put my phone down on my desk. I hate to keep up the lie to my family, but my parents’ stance was clear: their support hinges on my studies helping me run the business.
I plan to tell them after my junior year. By then, I’ll be up to speed with all the mandatory classes. It’ll be tough to completely support myself during the last year, but by then, I can hopefully take on a better position as a temp at the pond while preparing for the labs and technical exams.
I don’t feel like opening my books again after the conversation with my mom. Instead, I get up, shake myself, and go looking for a snack downstairs.
Olli and Sasha are arguing in the living room, but I walk past, aiming for the kitchen.
“I’m sure Linden agrees with me!” Olli confidently drags me into their discussion, slinging his arm over my shoulder.
“Absolutely not,” I mutter, shrugging him off.
Sasha grins and raises her arms with a triumphantWhoop. “See? Told you the beachsucks. Let’s just do a movie marathon!”
“Oh.” I perk up, blinking. “Much as I hate to go back on my word, but, uhm…”
“Boo! C’mon, Lind!”
“Two to one for the beach.” Olli’s smug smile almost makes me reconsider, but a visit to the beach sounds nice. At Lake Champlain, there’s more than enough space to spread out and walk away from crowds. And everyone will be distracted, playing different sports, sunbathing, or just floating in the gentle waves—sounds like a perfect setting for a second date.
Linden, June 22nd
Agroup of bare-chested, sunglasses-wearing, and loudly boasting frat guys walks past us. They’re all in neon-colored Speedos with patches of Greek letters pinned to their front. Several others with the same Greek letters stitched on their polo shirts follow them, all holding their phones up to record.
“Come on, guys, strut your stuff! We need this to go viral!” one of them calls out.
“Did you know this was happening today?” I grumble at Olli as my eyebrows continue to climb higher, the more bright pink Speedos I see.
He’s unperturbed, though, dumping our towels onto the sand right next to the immaculate setup consisting of beach chairs, coolers, and kegs—all marked with the same cutout and neon-painted Greek letters; Kappa Nu.
“Oh, look, there are the volleyball nets. We could have a game!”
I don't let Olli’s carefree grin fool me. “You wanted to go to the beach to ogle some fratboys, huh?”
“What accusations!” Olli clasps a hand over his mouth in a move that every drama student would envy.
I merely roll my eyes, but Sasha snorts at his antics.
“Oh well, at least there are other nice things to look at,” she hums as she sets down our own cooler with drinks. She sweeps her sunglasses up into her hair to better survey the spectacle that’s stretching all the way from our spot to the waterfront. Several other colors and more of the Greek alphabet pop up here and there.
Where the frats are, the sororities aren't far behind.
My eyes skip over all these people and only stop once I've found Micah, who’s last to come over from the parking lot, carrying a second cooler with our food, as well as the few folding chairs we found in the basement. He, too, is looking around, nodding at some of the frat guys.
“Didn’t think it’d be this busy,” he comments once he’s made it to our spot, glancing at the stuff next to us. “Huh, is this Kappa Nu?”
