TAN SKIN // A Baxter Radic Story

-006-

"So tell me what happened" Poppy starts plopping herself on her bed. When we got back we all talked as a group, like what time practice was tomorrow. Nothing emotional, or too deep. So Manu just bluffed. "Uh you have to promise to not tell anyone" I laugh a little at her actions. I climb onto her bed, and grab a pillow. I hold the pillow close to my body, "I know Bax and Wren" I blurt out, it felt like an anvil has been lifted off my chest. "Duh we all know them" she laughs at my confession, my face blanking stares at her.

"No, Pops, I like knew them when I was in Queensland. I surfed with them." I watched as her eyebrows scrunched together, then her mouth turned into an O. She snaps then points her finger at me, "I remember seeing you" she started, then she stands up. "On a magazine or something." I was only on ever on one, and it was because Wren was on it. The thing is people barely recognize me from anything from my past surfing life. People in Queensland knew me, heck would even say loved me at a point. But once I moved here, not a single person knew me, I thought Manu for sure would, but nothing. I was a nobody.

I watch as Poppy digs through her closet, pulling out a shoe box and slides it towards the bed. I lean down from her bed and pick it up, opening the top. Poppy closes her closet, and jumps onto her bed, sitting next to me. She takes out the pile of surfing magazines. "I swear it's in here" she mumbles, she passes over a couple more. I crossed my fingers hoping she would not find anything. "Oh my gosh here!" she practically shouts, I jump a little at her voice. She pulls the magazine open and flips through pages. It does not take her long to find the page and reads Wren and I's page inside. "No wonder I didn't recognize you, you look like a baby in this."

She had a point, like I said it took me so long to grow into my body. My hair was shorter, and a light brown, almost blonde. My face was still a baby face, my cheeks were big. As I look at myself, it's crazy how fast I've grown up. It's only been a year since this article. "Holy shit" I hear Poppy mumble. "What?" I question grabbing the magazine from her grasp. It reads 'Kaia is dating my brother, and I love it. They are perfect for each other.' I forgot that was in there, I clear my throat, to begin talking but she beats me to it. "You dated Bax?" My chin falls a little, and I nod. "Yeah, and I hate him. " I whisper at her. She sets the magazine back in her shoebox, puts the cover on it, and pushes it behind her on the bed.

"Was it for sponsors?" She asks as I look back up at her. I feel my eyes become glossy as I shrug, "At first, it was for the surfer fans, you have good surfing, you have romance, boom. Suddenly the views on TV suddenly shoot up. Then, one day I was sitting in Bax and Wren's house, and Bax was the only one there. I was Wrens best friend, and she was mine. So I never thought of Bax's and I's relationship as much more of what was broadcasted on TV, or in magazines, or really in anything." I took a pause for a moment, to fiddle with my hands. Poppy is still intensely listening to my story.

"Wren bailed on me all the time for other Queensland surfers. So I was waiting for her to get home, and Bax asked me if I wanted to make sugar cookies with him. I said yes" I smile a little bit at the memory, I was one of my favorite memories of us two. "We were messing around with the frosting to put on the cookies, and he wiped some on my face." Poppy looks at me with a little smile on her face. "I remember laughing so hard, because I put some on his cheek. He grabbed a dish towel to help me clean off the frosting of my face, then we kissed. And Wren walked in. That's when I knew it was going to be real, our relationship I mean." I finish, I miss Bax, I think I have since I moved here.

"How mad was she?" Poppy questioned me moving across the room to grab nail polish. I sat up straighter than I was before, to prove to her I was not super upset. "She walked away, and slammed her room door. I felt so bad that I tried to talk to her through her door for about an hour, until I fell asleep in the hallway." Poppy shakes her head, opens her nail polish and grabs my hands. "You slept on the hallway floor?"

I shrug as she puts the purple color on my nails. "I woke up on the couch, covered in a blanket" I looked up at her with a soft smile on my face, I look back down at my nails. "Did Wren move you?" Poppy asks while dipping the nail polish brush back into the container then back out to paint my ring finger nail. "I don't know, she probably would've put me in her room, plus I don't think she would be able to lift me without waking me up. You know? So-" Poppy cut me off, "It was Baxter then." I nod my head in agreement. "Yeah" I whisper back at her.

"I miss him." Poppy looks at me with a confused expression on her tan face. "I thought you didn't like him, you know you just said you hated him." Poppy laughs softly while finishing up my right hand. I smile a little, "I don't think I could ever really hate him Pops. I really did love him."

"Was he your first?" Poppy questioned, I was taken aback from this question. Nobody has ever asked me that. Not even my old friends back in Queensland. "Poppy!" I shout while taking my left hand and hitting her softly. She was giggling nonstop at my response, because she knew that she was right. And she was.