Page 59 of Embraced at Seaside
“But Theresa is here, and she was nice enough to consider letting me use that space. I don’t want to upset her.” Jana had seen Theresa down by the pool earlier, locking the gate.
“She went to bed hours ago,” Bella said. “We’re not going to wake her, and besides, I’m done pranking. Chunky-dunking is not a prank.”
“Maybe not, but it’s definitely against the community rules,” Jessica pointed out.
“Yeah, but I guess it’s not really a prank. Besides, it’s tradition. Come on,” Amy said, carrying a bunch of towels. “The guys will watch the babies, and I’ve got…” She pulled a tube of cookie dough out from beneath the stack of towels. “Cookie dough!”
“Okay, but I’ll feel really bad if she catches us after how nice she was to me.” Jana followed them down to the pool.
It was so dark that they couldn’t see but a few feet in front of them. They clung to one another, whispering about the babies and how theyneededthis break. They huddled together as Jessica unlocked the gate, because she was deemed to have the softest touch. And she did, because she made almost no noise whatsoever as she held it open for the girls to pass through. They pulled the gate closed behind them.
Jenna began taking her clothes off right there by the gate, while the others hurried down to the other side of the pool, where the steps were, and stripped in silence.
“Here I come,” Jenna whispered loudly as she ran naked from one end of the pool to the other, making the rest of them laugh.
They descended the steps in a huddle of giggles and hushes.
“This is freezing cold!” Bella whispered.
“Shh. Just get in. You’ll get warm soon.” Amy gave Bella a little shove, sending her sprawling into the water, chest deep, earning more laughter and another round of shushes.
They formed a circle in the middle of the pool, treading water while Leanna and Jessica gathered the Styrofoam noodles and handed one to each of the girls.
“I feel so privileged to be included in your chunky-dunking, but I have to tell you. I can’t believe you do this all the time and the guys behave. Honestly, I can’t believe Hunter didn’t follow me down here.” Jana had never been chunky-dunking with them before, but Sky had told her all about their midnight jaunts into the pool.
“Speaking of Hunter,” Jenna said. “Ames, grab the cookie dough. I want to ply her with sweets so she spills her guts.”
“I’m on it!” Amy swam to the edge of the pool to retrieve the cookie dough.
“He’s my brother,” Sky reminded them. “Please be discreet with the things I definitely don’t want to know.”
“Like I’d share the yummiest parts of him with anyone?” Jana thought about the way he looked at her, like he wanted to consume her and care for her at once, and the things he said that made her heart turn inside out.
Amy handed her the cookie dough. “Yummier than this?”
“Sorry, girls, but…definitely!” Jana took a hunk of cookie dough and passed the rest to Leanna. “But don’t worry, Sky. There’s plenty of PG stuff I can share, like how in the heck we’ve come so far so fast. It seems like just yesterday we were fighting over everything, and we only fell into bed when we were arguing—”
Sky held her hand up and said in a harsh whisper, “No bed talk. Brother, brother, brother.”
“Iwasn’tgoing there,” Jana whispered. “What I mean is, your brother surprises me every single day. I never knew I could care about anyone as deeply, or as fast, as I’m falling for Hunter.”
“That’s a good thing,” Bella said quietly. “Love has a way of finding us even when we don’t want to be found.”
“You can say that again,” Leanna said. “With Kurt I feel like I’ve discovered who I really am for the first time.”
“That’s it exactly,” Jana said, forgetting to whisper.
“Shh!” Jenna and Bella said in unison. “You’ll wake Theresa.”
Jana cringed. “Sorry,” she whispered. “But that’s exactly it. He calls me on my bull, but he does it in the most wonderful ways.”
“Aww.” Amy reached for the cookie dough. “That’s so sweet.”
Theresa’s porch light went on, and all the girls gasped.
“Get to the far end of the pool,” Bella whispered.
They huddled together in the corner of the pool.
