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I dive into the water, shivering as I take a couple of strokes and swim into the lake. Once I’m away from the water line, I float on my back, treading water. The sun shines down on my face, but the water runs over my chest and keeps me cool. I stay out for as long as possible, feeling like a kid playing in the water. As I head back to the shore, I notice a family has moved into the chairs next to mine.
As I take a stroke, something snaps. I'm close to the shore and kneel on the lake bed, wanting to cry as both of my swimsuit straps break. Oh, fuck, what am I going to do? The mother of the family is busy changing the diaper for her baby while simultaneously trying to keep her young sons from running away.
I look around, wild anxiety running through me. If the family next to me hadn't shown up, I could run to my bag and pull a shirt over my swimming suit, but my boobs are far too large to cover with my hands and pretend I'm not having a massive wardrobe crisis.
As I'm contemplating how on earth I’m going to get out of this without flashing this family, I see another woman walking along the tree line. I wave to her, and she pauses as if uncertain I’m waving at her.
She walks toward me. "Hey," she calls as she reaches the water’s edge, "is everything okay? "
I pause for a moment. If I had my way, I’d keep this to myself, but unless I want to spend the next however long in the water waiting for this family to leave, I need help.
"I have a bit of a situation. Both of my straps broke. Can you help me? I have a towel in my bag, on the chair by that family. Could you grab my bag?” I try to laugh it off, but even I hear the stress in my voice.
The woman smiles and laughs a little, holding up her hand as if to say wait a minute. I watch with gratitude as she grabs my bag and walks over to me. "Here you go.”
I quickly wrap the towel around my chest and knot it under my arm as I come out of the water. “I can’t overstate how thankful I am you came along!”
“If you want, we can go over to the tree line, and I'll hold the towel up so you can change."
"Oh, my God, you are a lifesaver. Thank you so much."
It’s strange to walk along the lake with my breasts barely covered by the towel, and I start giggling.
"I'm Lucy, by the way," the woman says, giving me a big smile.
"Edie."
After I've pulled on a bra and t-shirt, we head back and grab a couple of chairs, watching some teens on paddleboards.
"How come you're out here all alone?" Lucy asks. “It seems like everyone is here with someone else. I saw you with a big group of people at the bar last night."
“I needed some air. It’s good being with my friends, but I wanted a little space. How about you?”
"I understand. I guess you could say I came with somebody, but… I don't know. It's a weird situation."
“It can't be any weirder than my situation." I laugh.
"What's going on with you? No, wait, let me guess. Boy problems, right?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Yeah." She smiles. "You're at this amazing resort with a bunch of friends, but you're out here alone. Something has to be wrong."
"I was dating a guy and thought it was going somewhere. He was supposed to be my date for my friend’s wedding, but the bastard dumped me a few weeks ago. So, I invited my best friend to come with me."
"Okay. Then what’s the problem?"
"My best friend is a guy, and I'm starting to think I'm in love with him, but it scares me."
"Why is it scary?"
"It's…" I pause, trying to find the words, "…scary. He's my best friend in the world. I love him dearly, but the things I'm starting to feel, especially here, it's confusing. It's like I see the possibility of something, but then I think, no, he's my best friend. I'm scared if we start something, it won't work out, and I’ll lose the most important person in my life. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah," she says, pushing her hair out of her eyes, "it does. But I think it's always best when a relationship starts as a friendship. You already know each other, and you don't have to go through the whole ‘on my best behavior’ bullshit song and dance of those first months of dating."
I think about Lucy's words and can see sense in them. I know a lot of people who’ve said they were friends first before dating somebody, or they call their husband their best friend in the world.
"Yeah," I tell Lucy, "Maybe you're right. I'll have to think about things."
