Down by the river.

The secret was out. I have no idea how they hid it, but somehow none of us noticed until now. Then again, the back of the van was full with our backpacks and suitcases, so it wasn’t THAT hard to hide, I suppose.

Once we were ready, we all got changed into our swimsuits with other clothes over them and we were getting ready to swim in the river. I suppose I should’ve seen it coming considering whose idea the whole thing was.

We were waiting for Sarah and Grace outside the cabin when they came out carrying a long nylon bag together. That’s where it hit me.

“Oh, come on. Seriously? You’d buy a tent for this?” I asked them.

“Yes,” they both answered.

“Ooooh,” Alice and Diana exclaimed.

“How big is it?” Alice asked.

“Not too big. Enough for 4 people,” Sarah said.

“Should’ve told us,” Diana told them. “I would’ve chipped in for a bigger one.” Alice nodded in agreement.

“Hey, it’s a cool idea,” Noelle said, looking up at the sky. “The sun really is kinda strong today.”

“Yeah, but still, a beach umbrella would’ve been enough, right?” Mila asked.

“It’s not for the sun, girls,” Grace told them as she walked by.

“...”

“...”

Noelle and Mila both slapped their own foreheads.

“We’re dumb,” Noelle said.

“We are,” Mila agreed.

“But wait, are you sure it’ll work? Oliver didn’t know, so it’s untested, isn’t it?” Noelle asked.

“Oh, good point.”

“Gonna have to test it right now,” Grace said.

“Unless you really want to just lay down and rest away from the sun, babe,” Sarah told me.

“...” I sighed. I really just wanted to swim, but if they put this possibility in front of me, it was pretty damn hard to say no. “We’ll test it.”

Sarah and Grace high-fived.

“Alright, give that to me.” I took the tent from them and carried it under my arm. It was light, but even so.

We went to the river and found a good spot for the tent suspiciously quickly. So they came here early in the morning to check for this? Can’t say these girls aren’t thorough.

There were more people around, but not many. Some women were laying on their towels, sunbathing. Other people were in the river, swimming and playing. From the looks of it, it wasn’t very deep, thankfully. All in all, there were around 10 people or so plus the lifeguard. Well, our group made it 18 in total, but there was ample space.

“Have you ever set up a tent, though?” Mila asked Grace and Sarah as we set things down. The girls spread their towels on the grass and began to take off their T-shirts, revealing their bikinis underneath.

The two girls looked at each other, then turned back to Mila and shook their heads.

“But the instructions have to be in there, so it’s fine.”

“Need some help?” Diana offered, smiling at the girls.

“No, don’t worry. Go have fun,” Grace said. “This was our idea. We’ll handle it.”

Diana nodded. “If you’re sure.”

Alice and Noelle followed Diana to the river, giving us peace signs.

“Mmm… Hey, Oliver?” Mila came close to me and showed me two bottles. One was sunscreen, the other was tanning lotion. “I was thinking of getting a tan, but… Now I’m not so sure. What do you think? Should I?”

“...”

I had to thank Frey for giving me the powers she had. More importantly, I had to thank her for the connection between me and the girls. Normally, this would’ve been a tricky question. Do I tell her to go through with it, do I tell her not to do it or do I tell her to do whatever she feels like? Did she want to hear a specific answer from me? Was there a wrong answer? Well, thanks to our connection, I could tell that Mila genuinely couldn’t decide and simply wanted my opinion. I smiled.

“Well, I admit I think tan lines are… really damn sexy,” I told her, tracing my finger along the strap of her bikini. “But you know, you have really unique, pretty skin. Not quite pale, but healthy and creamy,” I said, now brushing her bare shoulder. “It’s up to you, but I like the way you look now.”

Mila blushed, giggled and kissed my cheek before turning around. “Hey, Alice! Put some sunscreen on me?”

“Didn’t you want to do that?” Sarah asked me as she and Grace began to take out the tent out of its bag. “You know, pour sunscreen all over her?”

“Sure, but I’m not letting you set this thing up alone.”

“I said it was our idea, right? Don’t worry about it,” Grace said. However, I already saw her struggling a bit with the tent poles.

I shook my head and picked up the other set of poles, putting them together. “Are you okay, Grace? I get the feeling you’re… pushing yourself somehow. What happened earlier? You said you’d tell me.”

Grace frowned and pouted cutely.

Sarah chuckled. “You know her. She’s good at overthinking stuff. We had a short heart to heart in the morning, but it seems it’s still bothering her a bit. She needs the love of her life to reassure her.”

“Okay, Sarah, shut up.”

“And now she’s getting all shy,” Sarah teased. “Cute, isn’t she?”

“Very,” I agreed, laughing and moving to stand behind Grace, wrapping my arms around her waist. She was wearing a white sundress over her bikini, which made her look even cuter. “So? What happened?”

“What? Can’t you read my mind and find out?” she asked, pouting.

“Maybe.” I kissed her cheek from behind. “But I don’t really like doing that.”

“...” Grace dropped the tent poles and placed her hands on my forearms. “I’m an unempathetic bitch. Do you hate me for it?”

“...” I frowned and held her closer. I think I could follow the train of thought, considering they had spent the morning with Fernanda. Grace didn’t care about what she was going through, did she? And that made her believe I would think less of her for it. I still hadn’t spent a full year with these girls, but I was pretty confident I was right on the money.

“Do you remember what I told you that day I asked you, Sarah and Mila to be my girlfriends? When we were in your bedroom?” I began. “I told you I used to have a huge crush on you, before we ever talked to each other. I thought you were beautiful, kind, polite, cheerful… My ideal girl. But then I found out you were anything but. Ruthless, maybe even cruel, a liar… That was all wrong, too.”

“Maybe not the ruthless part,” Sarah said.

I chuckled. “Yeah, maybe.”

Grace grumbled incoherently.

“When we finally got to know each other, I finally got to see the real you. Maybe not my ideal woman, because that ideal was flawed from the get go, but instead my ideal… Grace. Someone once told me you can’t wait for flawless people to enter your life and befriend them. We all have our baggage, don’t we?”

I caught Sarah blushing and looking away. She was the one who said that to me.

“I know you have a hard time empathizing with people you don’t know. I’ve always known. That doesn’t mean I hate you. Far from it.” I chuckled and kissed her head. “Thank you for giving me a chance. I know I frustrated you a lot when things started, but you still stuck with me. And… I’m sorry. Have I been paying too much attention to Fernanda?”

Grace turned around, hugged me firmly and hid her face in my chest. She shook her head. “I love you. And… Thank you for loving me.”

We stayed like that for a long moment, for as long as it took for Grace to gather herself. She finally took a step back and smiled at me. We shared a short kiss that said more than any words could before Sarah kicked us in our butts to make us start helping her with the tent again.

It worked wonders to lighten the mood.

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