The Summer We Believed (Denim Days #1)

Day 7 -- Duncan

After our run, Mel and I sat on her porch arguing about what to do on our last day together.

"C'mon. Everyone I'll meet in Florida will be perfectly bronzed. I need to lose some of my Yeti look. Besides, after a day with my relatives, I crave sunlight." I was in hard sell mode. Mel wanted to drive down the lake to play a round of mini-golf, mostly because she always beat my butt, but I'd spent a lot of time in cars the past two days and had just come back from Duluth.

"Are they still cave-dwellers?" she asked.

"My eyes hurt when we left their house for the car. It was like when you've had your eyes dilated at the doctor's office. And it was already dusk, so you know how bad it had to be." I laid both hands on her shoulders and tugged to pull her a little closer. She gazed up at my face. "Please don't deny me," I teased. "I need a tan."

"All right. I'll change."

Finally. "You won't regret this," I yelled as she retreated to her bedroom to put her suit on.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She laughed at my b.s., and closed her bedroom door behind her.

When she came out her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail instead of her usual braid, but that wasn't the most surprising thing. I couldn't believe how much skin was showing. Mel's swimsuits were usually as modest as her Wubbie, and this one... wasn't.

"Whoa! Good thing my sunscreen is SPF 70." I waved the tube in her general direction. "You're showing parts of you that have never seen the sun." That wasn't absolutely true. My mom had a picture of us at two in a yellow, inflatable wading pool and Mel was topless. She was so chunky back then, her boobs might've been bigger than they were now.

Mel moved her beach towel in front of her waist and slipped into her flips. I stood up and grabbed my towel, then reached for hers. "Here, let me carry that for you." It was the least I could do for her.

And me.