I gave her a long look as she swam back towards the shore. How was it that everything she said felt like the most interesting and poignant thing I’d ever heard?
“Wait,” I called after her.
She stood up now, nearly back. The bikini left little to the imagination from behind.
I gulped and mistakenly took in some water. Coughing, I swam back, feeling anything but smooth as she turned to check on me.
“Are you okay?”
With water splashing everywhere, I felt somewhat off balance, but better than I had in a long time, being in her company. “Swallowed some water. I’m fine, thanks.”
Back on the towels, I sipped some unsalted water and took a few deep breaths. It really was a beautiful beach. A beautiful day. I was so lucky and so happy to be here.
Rona was sitting with her knees up, resting her elbows on her knees. I tried not to notice the curve of her thighs and how tiny droplets of water glistened on her skin.
“Going back to what you were saying about what you’re going to do now after your football career, you kind ofchanged the subject. I’m curious though. Do you have some plans?”
“Move to Greece and spend every day just like this for the rest of my life?”
Rona gave me a gently disparaging look. We hardly knew each other, yet I had the feeling we were already past small talk.
“Sorry. No, I mean, I need to figure it out. I don’t know what I want to do with the rest of my life. I’m scared shitless about it, to be honest.”
“Why?”
I was quiet for a moment. I didn’t want to think about this. Not the one thing I’d been dreading for years. Not about the fact that my best days were surely behind me. Not about the fact that nothing interested me as much as playing football did and I felt lost. “I don’t know if I can do anything besides football. I guess I just want to forget about it for now. That’s why I’m here.”
Rona nodded, as if finally beginning to understand something about me.
“I want to do something wild, you know? Take my mind off it.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. But hitting the fuck-it button feels very appealing right now.”
“Well, we are on holiday. It’s the perfect place for what you need, by the sounds of it. I’ve been feeling kind of similar, actually. I want to let my hair down. I need to replenish my creative juices or something. I do this from time to time then I go back to being a hermit making music in the safety of my recording studio.”
“We’re on the same wavelength.”
“Right then. I’ve got a proposition for you.” Rona turned to face me, one knee falling down.
“Whatever it is, I love it already.”
“How about we make a deal? This week, we do something new or crazy every day. It has to be new to at least one of us. Crazy can be loosely defined. Like to me, crazy could be eating ice cream with no spoon in public.”
“I think we have very different definitions of what crazy is.”
“That will keep it tame enough, which suits me.”
“What, you never just lick it?”
“No. I get really self-conscious about getting it all over my face.”
“Even if it’s on a cone?”
“I never eat ice cream off a cone.”
“What? Seriously?”
