After a lot of frolicking around the pool, we decided to go for lunch at a pizzeria close by. None of us bothered changing into clothes, only to cover ourselves slightly. In other words, we only put on a t-shirt and shoes. This is important because, after we were finished stuffing ourselves, Violet excused herself to go wash her hands. She had her bare legs showing, catching my eye, but also of the sisters.

“Should I go grab my axe?” I asked them jokingly.

They looked at me, holding the same thoughtful expression as when they ogled my girlfriend and shook their heads with uncanny synchronisation. “Just thinking she really has long legs,” Mathilda stated.

And all our walks also made them more defined, although only I could know about that. A nice extra from being allowed to play with them on an almost daily basis. With how full I was, I wouldn’t mind curling up between them and taking a nap hugging one of the legs. With air conditioning and her low body temperature, there weren’t any spots I’d rather nap, except perhaps spooning with her, hugging her, being on top of her, or under her.

Lots of words to simply say “sleep tight with her”, huh?

My self-minded tangent aside, Claire joined in, agreeing with her sister, and asking if that was what drew me to Violet initially.

“Don’t ask her that type of question,” Paul intervened.

“Aren’t you the least bit curious about how Abby and Violet got together?”

“I already know how they got together. I played a part in it.”

How did he…?

A good question, but I had the suspicion I could arrive to an answer by asking Papa Stan about talking stuff he shouldn’t be to others about me and her.

As for what attracted me to her at the beginning, that was hardly it, because the first time we met, I could only see her from the waist up. My initial approach was out of boredom, to be honest. I saw someone all nervous-looking staring at me, I went to mess with them, that was all.

That’s so not romantic at all though…

We stopped that conversation because Violet got out of the bathroom. While the others chatted amongst them, I took another eyeful of Violet’s legs-for-days.

“…What?” Violet asked, giving me the side-eye after she came back and sat by me.

I was still thinking about and admiring her legs, even as she sat by me, but I played innocent.

“Have you considered a carrier as a model?”

Violet looked at Claire, not answering right away, but I already knew what she was thinking: if anyone on that table could pull it off, it would be her. That lead me to thinking how Paul managed to score such a fine lady. Not that I thought in the slightest that she was out of his league—well, maybe a little bit, but it was still quite the surprise. He had a nice masculine face and was looking fitter than what I remembered, so he was working out now, and despite him barely speaking, when he did, he made his words count. “Silence is gold” they say, but in his case, it also applied to the opposite.

In conclusion, they both got lucky in the partner they got, him more on her looks, and her more on his character.

“hat Violet told her was “I don’t like being the centre of attention”, a good answer that satisfied Claire. I’d later let Violet know that she had gotten better at talking with other people.

“Babe? Do you want to go back to the pool, or should we head home?” I asked as we hanged back from the group as we left the restaurant.

We’ve been at it for more than three hours, so I was wondering if she had already exhausted her hit points regarding socialising. There was also the matter of the sun getting really intense at that time of day, and she was already turning red.

“Erm… would you mind if we stayed a bit longer?” she asked me after thinking about it for a bit as she watched our friends walking ahead, her cheeks gaining an extra bit of red.

I was happy to hear that, and if she said she was willing, I’d give her my full approval.

“This is paradise,” I sighed.

The pool was now mostly empty, people having gone back home for lunch and/or seek refuge from the sun. Not us five fools, we were splashing about.

Violet and I got ourselves a floating donut and were both sat inside, me on top, leisurely bobbing on the water surface. Mathilda had her arms crossed on our donut, using it to lazily float around. As for the other couple, well, they were sitting under a parasol, Claire seemingly pestering Paul. How well was that going? I’d say very well. On more than one occasion I saw Paul tell Claire something that got her all flustered, be it in embarrassment, annoyance, or pure laughter. But going back to Mathilda, I was feeling a bit bad for her. She was the only one who was single in the group.

“I don’t mind it at all. I enjoy watching couples.”

“Isn’t there someone you like?”

We both looked at Violet. She was practically nodding off when she spoke, but our silence woke her up. Turning red, she mumbled “what? Abby was going to ask about it anyway”.

Of course I was, I was just amused she asked before I could while Mathilda was surprised she asked at all. She still had to learn about Violet’s “talking her mind when not fully awake” habit.

“As a matter of fact, there is! Wanna talk about it?” she asked enthusiastically.

By the way Violet was hugging my waist and burrowing her face on my hair, I’d say she was more interested in napping, but I’d like to hear Mathilda out.

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The boy she liked was a long-time friend. They know each other for more than a decade now, and she has been crushing over him ever since then. She didn’t name him, but I had a suspicion: it was most likely Stephen.

“Must have been hard having him asking Violet out, huh?”

She blinked at me, not having expected me figuring it out.

Violet, having heard her name, lifted her head, and asked if I had called her. I told her to go back to sleep and got back to talking with Mathilda.

“You were supposed to ask me a few times who it was before I told you his name,” Mathilda told me with a pout. Cute, not as cute as Violet.

“Have you thought about confessing?”

“Haah, unfortunately, us knowing each other for so long makes things complicated,” she lamented.

I bet it did. I was scared witless about telling Violet how I felt and ruining our friendship, and we had only known each other for a few months then. Still, they were a boy and a girl, it’d be way easier for her to catch his attention. For example, she could come to Stephen, ask for his help, and guide him while holding hands.

“That does sound like a nice idea…” her voice drifted as she propped her head up. “But wouldn’t it be too obvious?”

“Trust me, it’s better to make things as clear as possible for the other person,” I told her while pointing at the girl lightly snoring behind me. “If you play it too safe they’ll never get it if they are thick-headed at best, and at worst, someone might come along and snatch them away.”

“Surely, it wasn’t that hard for Violet to get a hint.”

“Oh, but it was. We’ve been very clingy from the start, so I had that going against me. Violet is also someone who overthinks stuff, so even when I was being obvious about it, she’d tell herself she was looking too deep into it.”

Mathilda hummed and shifted her gaze to Violet, who was fast asleep. We had been under the sun for far too long, and I’d have to wake her up so we could go under the shade, but it was always a pain to do so for many reasons. Right now, the fact she might get frisky in public was a big one.

As long as I keep her hands under control it should be fine.

Except Violet could also be a veritable smoocher when half-awake. She started by kissing me behind the ear, going down to my neck and finishing by kissing my face. I even got a smooch over an eye I had to close. Finally, Violet opened her eyes as her tongue came in my mouth to play with mine and noticed Mathilda staring at us. It really was a good thing that I was firmly holding her hands in place, otherwise I’d have been groped everywhere.

“Please, by the love of God, pretend that I’m not here,” Mathilda told her with a wide grin and handwave, looking a bit flushed.

Violet hid her face in my hair and tried to put some distance between us and Mathilda by flailing her legs in the water. We were being propelled surprisingly fast, but she was unaware that we were dragging Mathilda’s laughing self along for the ride.

There came a sharp whistle from where the others were. It was Claire trying to catch our attention and reminding me that Violet needed another layer of sunblock. I wasn’t expecting that, and I hadn’t forgotten, but it was still very nice of her.

Again, we joined them and I told Violet to lie down when it was time to take care of her back. We undid the back strap and I couldn’t help but grin as a very visible tan line was revealed. She was going to look great once the redness was replaced by the true tan.

“All right, all…”

I quieted when I realised Violet was lightly snoring. Just like that, she was out again.

Is she that tired?

She slept the whole night, but even so, she was having difficulty staying awake.

“Asleep again?” Mathilda asked as she leaned in closer to Violet’s sleeping face. She was clearly up to something.

I saw her reach out and comb a strand of hair away from Violet’s face, mimicking my voice and calling her babe, asking her to wake up.

Without opening her eyes, Violet slapped Mathilda’s hand away with a violence that surprised us all.

“Not… Abby…” she mumbled before turning her face to the other side.

“Fiercely loyal even in her sleep, huh?” Claire snickered.

“I’ll say. And here I thought I was spot on,” Mathilda whined as she rubbed her hurt hand.

“Maybe you two should head home,” Claire told me as she took her sister’s hand to comfort her. “Poor thing must be exhausted from the heat.”

Yeah, that was a pretty spot-on diagnostic from someone who just met her. Violet always sucked at dealing with the weather.

“Babe? Babe, wake up. It’s time to go home,” I softly called while gently shaking her.

She groaned and pushed her torso up, almost flashing the rest of the group because we hadn’t tied the back of her top. Fortunately, she was as sluggish as she could get, and I had all the time of the world to take care of that. We were all girls and Paul was still immersed in his magazine, but Violet would die of shame if she had showed her girls to others than me.

“Mmh… Abby…” she moaned before she wrapped her arms around my neck.

“It’s amazing she can tell the difference without even opening her eyes.”

I too was surprised by it. I was sure she’d have fallen for Mathilda’s trick and that now I too would be swatted away but was proven wrong on both assumptions.

“Yup, yup, it’s me. Come on you big sloth, let’s go home.”

I got her up, but she was still hanging on my shoulders. That was likely for the best. I turned around, placed my hands over her arms and guided her to the changing room. After washing her face with some cool water and putting her jeans and wide-brimmed hat on, we’d come to pick up the rest of our stuff.

There were no people to speak of in sight as we walked inside the small white building. Awkwardly walking, I took her to the sinks and turned the faucet. I waited for a few seconds until the water that came out was actually cool. It’s amazing how warm it was coming out despite it being turned all the way to the cold water.

“Pfwah! It’s so cold!” she cried out when I splashed her face.

“You awake now?”

“How could I not…” she admonished before closing her mouth and started looking around. “Erm… when did we get here?”

Typical Violet, being completely unaware of her surroundings when half-asleep. No matter how long I’ve known her, it was just as scary a realisation as the first time.

“I’m sorry honey…” she said after I told her we were going home.

“What for?”

“…Paul is going to university after this summer, but we are going home early because of me…”

It was a sad reality, what she reminded me, but Claire and his family would still be here, so it’s not like he was gone for good. Not that we met Claire, I’m sure she’ll tell us when he’s coming for a visit and we could all hangout.

“Besides, he’s a lot like you regarding the way he prefers to socialise. Having us all gathered was more than enough, even if we all were doing our thing.”

“Hmm… I guess… if you were into boys, he could…”

“…Eww, no! Even if I were into boys, he’s like a… well, not like a brother, but something between that and… a cousin? Anyway, don’t be gross!”

She was kinda right, in a way. Even so, I don’t think things could work between us. There was a lot of stuff different between them that made him great for a friend, but not boyfriend material for me, and that was taking into account my latest personal growth.

It did give me something to think about while Violet changed clothes with the speed of a drunk snail: how someone could have the characteristics that made them a good potential partner, but the occasion could heavily influence whether it happened or not.

Had I not realised my sexual preference before, could I have ever developed a crush over him? Who knows? Also, who cares? What I knew and cared was, I got a bit lonely—and as a result, needy—over the thought that my long-time friend was going away.

“Did you enjoy your first time at the pool?”

“Yeah… I had fun. Much more than I had expected.”

“…Babe? Turn around for a sec.”

“Hmm? Mmh!”

But now I wasn’t alone. I had the girl I loved so much beside me all the time. It was an astronomical case of chance that we crossed paths and interacted. To think that, had I stayed sat on my chair on that exam day, none of the things I have now would have come into being… Truly, how wonderful it is to be alive.

“W-we are in public,” she staggered, looking redder than before and away from me.

“You say that, but there’s no one around,” I teased.

“…”

“…Hehe.”

This time, it was her turn to initiate the kissing.