“Go on,” she said.
“I’ll go in the water,” I said, “but I’m gonna stay away from her.”
Billie shrugged. “Well, it’s up to you.”
“It’s up to me?”
“Sure.”
“In that case,” I said, “why don’t I stay here and keep you company? You’re not as likely to dump on me. And you’re better to look at.”
She smiled. “Is that so?”
“Yeah. And you know it.”
“She’s the naked one.”
“Big deal,” I said.
Which brought a quick, soft laugh from Billie. “A big deal, all right. You’d better get over there, or she’ll really hate you.”
“Oh, she really hates me now.”
“Only it’ll be more so if you stick around with me while she’s doing everything in her power to drive you nuts.”
“Think so?” I set the ax aside, and stood up. “Hey, Connie!” I called.
She looked over her shoulder at me. She did not turn around. She scowled. “What?” she snapped.
“Is that waterfall big enough to share with a friend?” I asked.
“Fuck you!” she yelled.
I smiled down at Billie, who still stood in the waist-deep water in front of my rock. She shook her head. “You like to piss her off,” she said.
At the other side of the lagoon, Connie was now sidestepping toward the place where she’d left her bikini.
She didn’t plan to take any chances.
“I’m coming for you!” I called.
“Just try it, and see what happens!”
Billie grinned. “Clearly an invitation.”
“Should I take off my shorts?” I asked Billie.
“That might be pushing your luck.”
“I wouldn’t, anyway.”
“I know. Now quit wasting rime and jump in.”
Across the lagoon, Connie was bending over. On the nearby rock, her bikini had been replaced by the sodden wad of her T-shirt.
She straightened, pulling up her bikini pants. (To tell the truth, the addition of the thong didn’t make much of a change to her rearview appearance.)
“What are you waiting for?” Billie asked.
“Nothing,” I said.
A few moments later, Connie finished putting on her top. Only then did she turn around. She gave me a smug little smile, and a wave.
Not wanting to look like a jerk in front of Billie, I refrained from giving Connie the finger. I just shook my head. Then I waited for Kimberly to swim by. When she was out of the way, I dived in.
The water felt great—cool enough to be refreshing, but not chilly. It slid against my skin like satin. No wonder Billie had rolled and wallowed in the luxury of it.
When I came up for air, I couldn’t find the bottom with my feet. So I trod water, blinked my eyes clear and spotted Connie straight ahead. She was on her way back to the falls.
“Do you mind if I come over?” I asked.
“It’s a free country,” she said, sounding like a six-year-old.
“You sure of that?” I asked. I started to paddle toward her with a modified breast-stroke that kept my face above the water. “I mean, what country is this?”
“Don’t be such a wise-ass.” She turned her back to me and stepped into the gleaming curtain of water. Her body seemed to cut its own likeness into the fells. She spread out her arms and tipped back her head.
“I bet that feels good,” I said.
She didn’t answer.
About six feet away from her, I was able to stand up. The water reached the middle of my chest.
“That was a nice show you put on,” I said.
She lowered her head and arms, then turned around. The turning around, I’m sure, was to give me a good look at her snotty smirk. “Glad you liked it,” she said.
“Your mother was very impressed.” I hoped that Billie couldn’t hear us. We were probably safe—at least if we kept our voices down.
“Good for Mom.”
“She’s the one who sent me over here.”
“No kidding. Why did she do that?”
“She thinks you want me.”
Connie blew out a big puff of air. “That’s how much Mom knows. I want you like I want a hole in the head.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
“Yeah, right,” she said. “Like you weren’t aching for me to turn around.”
“Yeah, right,” I said. Two can play that game.
“Fuck off,” she said, and shut her eyes.
Instead, I stood there. If she’d really wanted me to fuck off, she wouldn’t have shut her eyes.
Anyway, I couldn’t just leave. Not with Billie watching. Besides, the view was too good.
The waterfall was splashing Connie behind her shoulders, but missing her head completely. After a few seconds, she leaned backward. Her head made a hole in the liquid sheet. Water spilled down over her ears and face, splattered the tops of her shoulders, ran down her chest.
Maybe she really did want me to leave, and now she was trying to shut me out. Or maybe this was part of the game: her way of letting me look her over, unobserved—possibly to gain a full appreciation of what I would never be allowed to see naked, or touch.
Unless, as Billie might see it, this was Connie’s bizarre method of trying to seduce me. Fat chance of that, in my opinion.
Since Connie had her eyes shut, I moved closer to her.
I watched how the water slid down her chest and the tops of her breasts. Her breasts were about half the size of Billie’s. Each was partly covered by a clinging orange triangle, pulled taut by thin strips of elastic.
Her nipples were sticking out big and hard against the flimsy triangles.
Maybe Billie was right about her motives.
After all, Connie knew I hadn’t gone away, knew I was standing close enough to touch her, knew I must be giving her a close-up inspection, knew what I was seeing and the effect it would have on me.
I suddenly wondered if she wanted me to touch her.
Maybe pull her against me and kiss her.
Prove to her that she’s the one I care about—not Billie or Kimberly.
We used to kiss, back before we embarked on this excursion that somehow turned her into a monster. Kissing was all we used to do in the sex department. Hug and kiss, but no feelies below the waist, front or back, and her chest area was totally off limits. It got to be enormously frustrating and annoying.
I’d been all set to dump her, but then she’d invited me on the trip.
Now, she seemed to be waiting for me to do something.
Frankly, I didn’t much want to kiss her.
You have to like somebody for that to be any good.
What I wanted to do was hook my fingertips under each of her breasts and give the elastic strip a big tug toward the sky so they’d leap out like they did by the campfire the night of the ambush.
