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I hold on to her hips, knitting her body into mine and doing my best to keep her steady.
“We’re fucking surfing, Nico. Can you be—” Lily turns to me, but the jolt causes us to lose our footing, and we tumble into the water.
We wash up on the shore. Lily runs straight for me to jump into my arms.
“That was so much fun,” she squeals. I hold on to her thighs, spinning her around in circles. “I did it.”
“You were incredible, a total natural.”
Lily’s fingers get lost in the damp strands of hair at the back of my neck. Time feels sluggish as the beach fades into the background. The beat of my heart slows with it.
She whispers into the tempting space between us. “Thank you for encouraging me.”
“I got you, remember?”
She nods. Her eyes reflect the softness mine must be echoing. We’re becoming something more. I’m not sure what exactly, but I know that my feelings for her refuse to stop growing.
I trace my gaze over the curve of her smile. The familiar scent of her namesake mixes with the salt air and practically tangos along my senses. Her forehead collapses to mine, and I can almost taste her lips.
“Nico, I—”
“So cool, guys,” Marcelo interrupts.
Lily slides away from me, tucking her hair behind her ears.
For fuck’s sake.What was she going to say?
“Lily, you didn’t tell us you were practicing,” João chimes in, only a few steps behind Marcelo. “We could’ve gone with you.”
I look at him and hope to clearly communicate that she’s mine.
Lily bats her hand in front of her. “I don’t know if I could’ve been your plus-one. That was enough for me.”
“What?” Marcelo asks.
“Your surf partner.” Lily tries to jog their memory. “To graduate.”
I shoot death stares at my friends, trying to get them to play along. Instead, Marcelo and João send me a let’s-fuck-with-Nico look.
Her gaze skips between their faces. “Who did you tandem surf with?”
Marcelo snorts. “You don’t have to tandem surf to graduate.”
She spins toward me. If we were in a cartoon, a grand piano would be falling on my head right now. I glance up at the pale-blue sky.
All clear.
But boy, oh boy, Lily’s fucking mad.
“Nico—” Lily punches my bicep as though she’s a WWE wrestler closing out the show.
“Ouch.” I run my hand over the blister of pain. Marcelo and João both grin widely.
“You’re the worst,” she says.
“But you looked so cool.”
Lily stands between them and loops her arms through theirs. “Come on, guys, help me figure out how I can get revenge on Nico.” They shrug at me and happily follow her to join our group farther up the beach, where music drifts from a speaker.
