Who Is Lucas Ryker O'Riley?

54. WHERE DO I FIT IN

Having smiled and waved at Jeremy, my plan to get back at Dave was a go.

I went back below the surface of the water and swam over to Jeremy.

When I stopped and popped my head up out of the water I was within three feet of him.

Oh, Gawd!

I immediately dropped back below the surface of the water and quickly adjusted my bikini top which had almost come off when I popped up.

I'm pretty sure it slipped down far enough for at least one aerola to be seen peeking out. How embarrassing.

I could feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment as I resurfacing again, more slowly this time.

"HI," I greeted Jeremy, hoping he hadn't had time to realize what was happening with my top before I was able to fix it.

"Hiii," he nervously responded, before awkward silence settled in between us.

His eyes drifted to my chest before he immediately looked away.

I could see it was going to be up to me to spark a conversation, to keep this from dying before Dave even saw it happening.

Yes, the plan was to get back at Dave for his reaction and comments earlier, but more than that I knew I had something more to prove to Dave and something I wanted to learn about myself.

Regardless of what I might have told Jeremy yesterday about not being interested in a boy right now, I couldn't stop wondering about things. There were things I needed to know. I had a metaphorical itch that needed scratching.

If I played my cards right, I could use this situation to do all those things at once.

I needed Dave to see that I was my own person and he had to accept the parts of me that were the new me. I needed Dave to understand that even though I was still the same person that had always been his younger brother, best friend, and football teammate, I was also, in other ways, a new person now; no longer his brother I was now his sister and a girl who was exploring her new body, discovering who she was, deciding where she fit in, and desperately needing his unconditional sibling support, all while still also being his best friend and football teammate.

I glanced towards the house. I didn't see Dave.

I hoped he would be back out soon.

I looked back at Jeremy, who quickly diverted his eyes back toward the water.

Obviously, he had been checking out my chest, again.

Do I really want to do this? I asked myself in a moment of almost backing out.

Yes. I knew, just like the main character in a book by Laindzy that I was currently reading on Wattpad.com, this was something I needed to do.

"So, Jeremy . . ." I began.

He looked up at me and I fearlessly went for it, "Do you find me . . . attractive? I mean, well, It's kinda obvious you do. Now that I said it out loud, I guess the better question would be, what is it about me that you find  attractive?"

His facial expression changed from nervous but excited, to scared and embarrassed and his cheeks turned beet red. Backed into a corner, I'm sure he didn't really want to answer such a direct question as this, but he really didn't have much of a choice.

I had put him on the spot.

Now Jeremy was glancing towards the house.

Did he not want Dave to know he had a thing for me and was checking to make sure Dave wasn't headed back? That would mean, after the sunblock episode, Dave had talked to him and probably told him to keep his hands off me.