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STEVE LOOKED UP AT VALENTINA where she was lounging in her chair, knees pulled to her chest so she could prop her book up. Her sunglasses were placed over her eyes so he couldn't tell if she was looking at him, or if she'd noticed him staring at her for the past ten minutes. He was standing in the outskirts of the pool, arms crossed on the concrete outside with his head laying sideways.
When Valentina flipped the page of her book and nudged her face a little closer to it, he realized that she must be pretty invested into it. He took this opportunity.
Water dripped to the floor in Steve's shadow, following his bare feet as he crept out of the pool and toward Valentina. He realized quickly that he didn't have to be super inconspicuous as the girl was seriously focused on whatever book she was reading. She wasn't paying any attention to him.
Steve walked normally over to her the last few steps until he was standing at the foot of her lounge chair. He knelt down and placed one finger over the top of her book, pulling it down so they could see each others eyes.
"Excuse you?" Valentina asked, annoyed he'd interrupted her reading. In all fairness, she wasn't actually that interested in it. She was just forcing herself to read so that she would stop staring at Steve's shirtless, wet body.
Steve smiled sweetly. "It's been like an hour. I'm bored."
Valentina sighed, but her eyes widened slightly. She hadn't realized how long she'd made the boy keep himself busy in the pool alone. She almost felt bad.
"Fine," she said, standing up. "But only because I'm hot."
Steve grinned giddily, standing up to his full height. Valentina took off her sunglasses and placed them on top of her book on the table. Steve almost turned around to go back into the pool and wait for her, but he paused when her hands went to her shorts.
Even though it'd been years since they swam together, Steve felt like he was still a little boy as he watched Valentina pull her shorts off her body. They were made of thin material, already leaving little to the imagination, but seeing Valentina's skin-tight bikini bottoms made his mouth go dry. It was the same reaction he had when she took the shirt off, but her back was at least turned to him that time.
Valentina noticed him staring, smirking to herself. She chose not to comment on it though, because that would allow him to make a comment about her own obvious staring.
She wished she wasn't so terrified of ruining their friendship, because Steve just looked too good without a shirt on. She cursed Coach Brick for always putting him on the 'shirts' team in gym class and not 'skins.'
Steve gulped as Valentina stepped over her shorts, taking her feet out of the holes. He felt his face blistering under the sun.
"Shall we?" she said, pulling him out of his thoughts. Steve nodded, following the girl toward the pool. He stopped when she walked toward the steps.
