Page 47 of Just the Tipsy
“Sure, yeah.”
We take turns changing into our swim gear. When she comes out of the bathroom, I suck in a breath. She’s in a one-piece, but it’s cut high on her legs and dips just low enough to show a tiny bit of cleavage. Somehow having her body not fully exposed by a bikini makes me want to know more about what’s underneath.
“Can you help me with sunscreen on my back?” She asks, pulling a bottle out of her bag.
“Sure, yeah.” I swallow, making sure my hands aren’t too sweaty. Why am I acting as if I haven’t literally eaten her out?
I take her sunscreen and cover her back, making sure to cover every inch of exposed skin of her back and shoulders. Her skin is addictively soft. She does me next, covering me well. Her small hands feel nice against my skin, like she’s soothing it. Whenever we start on the next item on her bucket list, I hope I can feel more of her.
She slips on a beach cover up and we go out to the manmade lake, the dogs walking along in front of us. We spot Rose and Wes, along with their dog, Murphy, stretched out underneath a tree on a blanket. Rose waves to us first, before Wes realizes we’re here and waves too.
“When did y’all get here?” I ask, sitting down. Of course, Murphy, Duke, and Sadie have to greet each other right in the middle of the blanket, managing to hit us all in the face with their tails.
“Not too long ago.” Rose leans back on her hands and adjusts her sunglasses.
“We just got here too.” I pick up Sadie so Bianca has a place to sit, and she gracefully sinks down, cross-legged.
“You want to make bets on who’ll blow up at who first?” Wes asks, scanning our family drifting in the water. “Ten bucks on Aunt Kelly arguing with her husband before dinner. And fifteen on whether Darren and Brett will end up wrestling after dinner.”
“Jesus, Wes, we just got here. We can’t bet on who’s going to fight right now. This is Rose and Bianca’s first time here,” I say, even though I know that Brett will end up kicking Darren’s ass more than once and Aunt Kelly has been on a meditation kick and will hold off until after dinner.
I glance at Bianca, who thankfully looks amused.
“Bro, it’s inevitable. Why not have fun with it?” Wes asks. “Rose, are you in?”
“I’ve never even met your aunt Kelly,” Rose says with a snort. “And I haven’t spoken with Brett or Darren since high school.”
“So you’re fine with losing?” Wes gently squeezes Rose’s leg.
She narrows her eyes at him. “I know what you’re trying to do, babe.”
“What? What am I trying to do?” Wes gives her a smile that’s all innocence.
“See, this is how he roped me,” Rose says to Bianca. “We made one little dumb bet, then another, then another…and here we are.”
They grin at each other like lovesick puppies. It would be annoying if I wasn’t happy for them both and if they weren’t such a good match.
“You want to make another dumb little bet, then?” Wes asks. “C’mon, Rosie. It’ll be fun.”
“Fine!” Rose sighs. “Um…at least I know Darren and Brett, so I bet they’ll wrestle before dinner.”
“I’ll bet that they wrestle before and after dinner,” I say. “And I’m going to have faith in Aunt Kelly’s self-control and say they won’t argue at all.”
Wes writes down our bets in his phone.
“Our family’s mostly civilized, by the way,” Wes says to Bianca, craning his neck to see around Duke, who’s standing in the middle of us all for no good reason. I lightly press on the spotabove his tail and he sits. “But the family reunion brings out the worst in a solid chunk of the family.”
“I’ve never been to a family reunion, actually,” Bianca says. “I mean, my family gets along, but we aren’t super close. My dad’s parents passed away before I was born and he’s an only child, so my aunt Gloria was the only living family member I was in regular contact with. But my mom has a few sisters and my cousins are all over the place. I don’t think many of them would get in a fist fight though, but we’ve never gotten that heated before.”
I mentally tuck that information away. I haven’t asked many questions about her family at all, much less her extended family. Then again, who’s really going to ask? But also, I still want to know. I’m just even more curious about her in general.
“You know what to do when you see your cousins next,” Wes says. “Give them some moonshine and see what happens.”
“I’ll report back.” Bianca laughs, a warm and genuine one.
Jeremiah and Jada are my best friends, but Wes is my twin. If a girl I’m with doesn’t click with Wes, then it’s probably a sign that we won’t last.
Wes hated Catherine once she stopped actively trying to stay on his good side, which apparently took a lot of effort on her end. And even before that, Wes had a weird feeling about her, especially our second time around.
