I come down in a string bikini chosen with the help of Violet and Charlene on a recent shopping trip. It’s not my usual style. There isn’t much in the way of fabric, and half my bum is on display, but they both agreed it’s sexy, so I bought it. I pull a cover-up over it so I don’t feel quite so self-conscious, throw a couple extra towels in my beach bag, and join the rest of our friends.

Randy’s already getting acquainted with the Polaroid camera. I sneak up behind him as he snaps a selfie and snatch the picture from the camera.

“Hey! Gimme that!” He grabs for me, but I jump out of reach. He can’t really come after me since he’s surrounded by developing photos on his armrests and Wiener is in his lap.

“I’ll give it to you in a minute.”

He snaps a picture of me. “What’s under that cover-up?”

“What do you think?” I wave the picture around in the air like I’ve seen people do.

“That doesn’t actually make them develop any faster,” Lance says.

“It doesn’t?”

“No, but if it makes you feel good to dance around like that, far be it from me to tell you to stop.”

He grins, and Randy takes a picture. I wish he could capture Lance’s accent in that image, or the teasing in his voice. He’s a lot more relaxed today than he was when he arrived last night.

Hangover recovery is in full effect. Miller’s asleep in a lounge chair with a hat over his face. Sunny’s seated beside him with a bottle of sunblock that she sprays over him to prevent his fair skin from burning. When she sees me, she poses beside him, raising his hand in a mock wave so Randy can get another shot.

“Oh, get one of me and Sunny! We’re bathing suit boob twins today!” Violet runs over and pulls her cover-up over her head, then helps Sunny do the same.

Randy hands me the camera. “I like my teeth where they are, especially since only a couple of them aren’t mine.”

“Good call, Ballistic. You’re learning,” Alex calls from the boat. He’s setting up the water ski rope.

Sunny and Violet are wearing the same bathing suit, except Sunny has on the white version and Violet is wearing red. The Chicago logo is emblazoned as a pattern on the top, and a large logo decorates the front of the crotch. Violet turns around so I can get a picture of her backside, which reads “Mrs. Waters.” Sunny adjusts the right butt cheek, but it still isn’t doing the best job of covering Violet’s ample assets. All the guys except Alex are busy looking anywhere but at Violet’s bum.

I pass the camera back to Randy and check out his selfie now that it’s had a chance to develop. It’s probably one of the best pictures he’s ever taken. He’s wearing his signature smirk and looking directly at the camera like he’s about to get up to no good—in my pants. Or my bikini bottoms, as it were.

“Let’s see that one.” He pulls on my cover-up, trying to get me to come closer.

“You can’t have this back.” I hold it face down to my chest.

“It’s that bad?”

“No. I love it that much.”

“Well, now I need to have a look.” He reaches for it and slides his other hand under my cover-up to grab a handful of bum. His brow furrows, and he lifts the hem, peeking underneath. “Whoa. Where’s the rest of this?” He skims the edge of the bottoms with a fingertip.

“There is no rest of it.”

“Maybe you should put on the one from yesterday again.”

“I can’t. It’s dirty.” Damn it. I knew this bathing suit was too much—or too little, actually. I shouldn’t have caved when Violet and Charlene told me to buy it.

“I’ll be making sure this one’s too dirty to wear again, too,” he says.

“Who wants to go water skiing?” Alex yells.

I raise both hands in the air and wave them around. “Me!”

Randy puts his hands on my ass, like he’s pretending he’s my new bathing suit. I smack his hands away and tuck the picture he’s forgotten about into my bag, carefully storing it between the pages of a book. I’m worried about Randy’s reaction when he sees the entirety of this bathing suit. Taking a deep breath, I pull my cover-up over my head and toss it at him. His mouth drops open, and he makes these weird flailing hand gestures. They scare Wiener, who jumps to the dock and starts barking.

“I can’t—you gotta—” He shakes his head, balling my cover-up in his lap.

“Want to spot me?” I ask.

“I’m gonna need a minute.”

Lance and Darren laugh.

Randy runs a rough hand through his hair. “I feel like it’s freshman year of high school all over again.”

“What?” I cover my boobs. They haven’t grown since grade nine.

“He’s got a chubby. Like when one of the cute girls got up and sharpened her pencil and the guys couldn’t get out of their desks for ten minutes afterward,” Lance says.

“And then it was a competition to see who could get the bathroom pass,” Darren adds.

“I can totally see Romance whacking off in the boys bathroom, but I feel like you might’ve enjoyed spending the day with blue balls,” Violet says.

“No one enjoys spending the day with blue balls. Not even me,” Darren replies.

I take the skis and a lifejacket from Alex and suit up.

“You wanna drop one?” he asks.

“Let’s see how I manage on two first.”

Randy seems to feel ready now—he’s traded my cover-up for a towel in front of his junk—and he and Violet decide to be my spotters. Randy pretends like he brought the towel in case I can’t handle it out there, but that’s ridiculous because I’m more than capable of water skiing.

It doesn’t take me long to get the hang of it again. After a quick tour, I decide to drop a ski. I’m feeling rather confident, and part of me wants to show off in front of Randy.

Everything is fine at first. I drop the ski no problem, but we run right into a huge wake from a boat coming from the other direction. Alex tries to minimize the waves, but I’m unprepared. The tip of my ski dips under the wake instead of cutting through it, and my foot pops free of the binding. I let go of the rope before I’m dragged down. Instead, I do a few cartwheels across the surface before I somersault twice and go under. As soon as I break the surface, I raise my arm to signal I’m okay.