69 Day Warranty // h.s

69 Day Warranty | 18

H a r r y

“My butt will be literally be hanging out of that one,” Elliot pointed at my hands that awkwardly held the least skimpiest bathing suit that I could find. My first reaction was to look it over once myself then proceed to tell Elliot that her “butt isn’t anywhere near saggy.” So I did.

It was a dark blue one piece that could have easily passed as black. Admittedly it seemed to have a very generous amount of cutoff around the bottom… also on the top, which I – again, admittedly – didn’t really mind. However, despite the excitement I was feeling to see Elliot in a swimsuit, this one wasn’t anywhere near as revealing as the other ones we had seen.

We were in the Wally Wood Gift Shop trying to find a bathing suit for the two of us since ours were left in the cab. When I told Elliot that I wasn’t fast enough to catch up with the embarrassingly slow taxi, she didn’t falter one bit. Instead, a smile as bright as day appeared onto her flawless complexion as she led the way to find us our gear with our fingers interlocked. 

“Well,” Elliot sighed and touched the waterproof maroon fabric to her dainty fingers. “There’s only one way to find out if it’ll make me look like a wrinkled raisin or not, and that includes me trying it on… but there’s no dressing rooms here, is there?”

“If there was, we probably would have tried on my shorts to see if they’d make me look bloated.” I pointed out and grinned as Elliot furrowed her eyebrows together.

“Hmm, you’ve juts reminded me of something very important. I eat. I eat a lot,” she started pacing between the display of wooden sea creatures and a rack of bikini tops.

“I, uhh… I don’t remember having mentioned eating.”

“But you did mention getting bloated.” Elliot awkwardly slapped her stomach. “The thing is, Harry. I can’t wear a one piece if I know for a fact that I’ll have a muffin top.”

I really appreciated her being open with me about these things, I really did. Her words were sometimes entangled in a web and I had grown to feel like it was my job to know where the strings led. And Elliot telling me these things, whether it be through her actions or her words, really made me trust her for trusting me.

“Fuck that Elliot, eat as much as you want.” With all the bravery I had in me, I rubbed the bottom of her back soothingly, gulping down the fact that we were achingly close. “I love muffins.”

***

After waiting ten minutes in line to go change in the washrooms, Elliot and I found ourselves standing in the middle of the park holding a map in the form of a pamphlet.

I tried my best to feel comfortable in front of everyone’s eyes with nothing covering my top half, and the only thing helping me not falter was the fact that Elliot must be feeling the same way in her swimsuit and yet she looked as confident as the Queen… despite a bag we bought from the gift shop – filled with all of our things – that was holding her down.

I took it quickly out of her arms and wondered how she was the one who was holding it in the first place. As an apology, I stroked her shoulder. She smiled at me gratefully.

“It says we’re here,” Elliot pointed to the center of the rectangular piece of paper. “But honestly, that doesn’t make any sense…”

I looked over the map quickly and realized that I didn’t like the idea of following any layout whatsoever. My neck swiveled around in a motion that – I envisioned – looked like I belonged in a music video. (However when I got a slight cramp, I realized otherwise.) Echoes of screams mixed with delight and excitement led me a sight that made me grin. I probably looked like I belonged in a psych ward… I probably do.