On Sturdy Legs

Among Neighbors

"So are there a lot of these?" I asked a bit nervously as I dug through my dresser to find my swim suit. For the life of me, I couldn't remember where I put it despite having only unpacked it the day before.

Izzy was already wearing her bathing suit--a bright, salmon colored one that was technically a one piece but left her sides and back bare.

"Just a few over the summer," she explained and began to tie a dyed blue wrap around her waist like a skirt.

She had just been informing me of the need to wear a swimsuit since these neighborhood social gatherings had a tendency to get very wet apparently. I caught sight of the camouflage fabric in with my shorts and was glad to find that it was, in fact, my bikini. Without the large number of other various people wearing camouflage too, I was really starting to realize how much I owned.

"Bikini?" Izzy realized when she saw that I had found it. She had already pulled a cropped tank top over the top part of her suit.

I gave the cloth a wave in the air to confirm that. "Yeah."

Maybe bikinis were one of those things that was considered indecent here. Either way, I really didn't care. I grabbed a pair of black board shorts to go over it and something of a high cut tank top with an American flag on it; I guess I had a lot of flag clothes too.

"Sorry," Izzy apologized quickly, "it's just I never pegged you as the bikini type."

"Bikini type?" I repeated slowly.

I was not aware that there was such thing. I turned away from my wardrobe to look at Izzy as she began pulled her hair up into a bun on the top of her head.

"Yeah," she answered a little slowly and awkwardly. "You know."

"I do?"

She sighed loudly and took her hands out of her hair to draw a shape resembling an hourglass in the air but with no context. "Bikini type." She repeated a little lamely.

I suddenly got the gist of what she was saying, well, trying not to say, "You mean skinny?" I asked, "the whole flat stomach, small thighs, big boobs, and butt?"

Of course, base or no base all the teenage girl magazines found their way to me some how. I never got past the first three or so pages no matter how bored I was because the number of ads pissed me off and it wasn't like I would be caught dead in any of the fashion choices even if the PX carried any of them. Somewhere in those three or four pages there was at least one mention of dressing to one's body type or toning for bikini season. I understood Izzy's surprise; I didn't have the body type that bikinis were recommended for in such magazines; I had the boobs and the butt and the toned everything, but my thighs were big since running was all quads and hamstrings so they certainly did touch; however, how that was a bad thing was beyond me. My stomach wasn't flat but showed the enlarged muscles within it--the muscles that I worked my ass off building up and was able to make a better time because of.

"Yeah," she answered with her cheeks turning a shade very similar to her swim suit.

Izzy didn't exactly know what to say to that and was fast to turn away; I smiled and pulled off my tank top over my head in the crossed arm by the hem sort of way.

"Problem?" I asked and gestured to all of me. Her eyes went wide and she was blushing brighter than before.

"You're, like, ripped," she said after a moment and looked away suddenly.

I shrugged, "Yeah, running means big thighs and sprinting requires a strong core. Allison worked at a gym so I figured I might as well get some big arms too. Because who wants to need a guy to help you move heavy things around?" I grinned at her, "it isn't all having a flat stomach."