“Anything else we can do?” Christy asked.
“Decorate the bathroom, maybe. But we should probably wait till later.”
She looked at her watch. “Three thirty. You wanna hang out?”
“I have a better idea. Grab your swimming bag.”
She nodded and went to fetch it.
I rummaged in my dresser until I found my bathing suit and beach towel.
I emptied my judo bag and stuffed them into it.
Christy was waiting for me in the hall.
“Let’s go.”
Trip and Wren were still working together. They were making some kind of bean dip. A yeti would’ve felt at home in the kitchen.
“Hey,” I said, as innocuously as I could, “Christy and I finished
decorating. We’re going out for a bit. Good opportunity for some make-up sex, if you ask me.”
“No one asked you,” Wren said tersely.
I took my life into my hands and slid behind her. I whispered in her ear,
“He loves you, and you know it.” She tried to brush me away, but I persisted.
“Think about how much effort you’ve put into him. The next guy might not be so willing to share. Hmm?” I kissed her cheek and then patted her bottom just to annoy her.
She watched me out of the corner of her eye.
I actually had to stretch upward to speak into Trip’s ear. Sometimes I hated being only middling tall.
“Dude, she loves you. She’s beautiful, smart, and ambitious. Hell, she’s like me with tits.”
He compressed his lips but snorted a laugh anyway.
“She rocks your world and lets you sleep with other women. You will never, ever find another woman like her.”
Just for fun, I grabbed
If they were annoyed at me, they might forget to be annoyed with each other.
I rejoined Christy and we beat a hasty retreat.
“You should’ve seen their expressions!” she laughed as we walked down the hill toward campus. “What did you say to them?”
“Told ’em they loved each other. And if they don’t kiss and make up, I’m gonna put itching powder in their underwear drawer for a month.”
She burst out laughing. “What’d you really tell ’em?”
“That,” I said, less than convincingly.
“No, really.”
I shook my head.
“You aren’t going to tell me?”
“It’d take too long to explain.”
“It took you thirty seconds to say. How long can it take to explain?”
“Oh, a decade or two, I guess.”
“What if I stick around that long?”
I glanced at her sidelong. “That’s a good question.”
We went to the pool at the Student Aquatic Center. Christy was like an otter in the water, lithe and playful. She was a better swimmer than I was, but she didn’t rub it in like Wren did. Mostly we goofed around and let off stress.
After an hour or so, we climbed out and dried off. Christy noticed me looking at her.
“What?”
“I just realized I’d never seen you in a bathing suit.”
“So, what do you think?” She let her towel fall. “Here I am in all my glory. A hundred pounds, soaking wet.”
I made a show of looking her up and down.
She frowned. “Kinda scrawny, I know.”
“Not what I was thinking.”
“Oh?”
“Well, you know what they say… good things come in small packages.
Pretty things too.”
She turned on the sun. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, let’s get home and see what kind of carnage we have to deal with.”
We headed toward the locker rooms, and she fell into step beside me. She slipped her arm through mine and smiled up at me.
I smiled back and had to admit that I liked having her there.
Trip and Wren hadn’t killed each other. But they weren’t on the main level either. Christy and I cautiously headed up the stairs. We surprised Wren at the top. She had a towel wrapped around her and was using another to dry her hair. She was looking for something. She jumped when I cleared my throat.
“Hey, babe?” Trip called from the bedroom. “Did you find ’em?” He appeared in the doorway and quickly covered himself with his towel. “Oh.
Hey.”
“So,” I said casually, “everyone in a better mood?”
Trip grinned.
Wren summoned a glare.
“Oh, quit,” I told her.
“Where have you two been?” she said. “We have tons left to do.”
“Attention on deck!” I barked.
Christy played along and braced beside me. We saluted.
“Ensigns Hughes and Carmichael, reporting for duty.”
Christy looked at me hopefully. “Can I be a lieutenant?”
“Ensign Hughes and Lieutenant Carmichael, reporting for duty. Hold on, then you’ll outrank me.”
“You can be a commander.”
“Sounds good.” We snapped to attention again. “Attention on deck.
Commander Hughes and Lieutenant Carmichael, reporting for duty.”
“I dunno,” she said. “I kinda liked it when I outranked you.”
“You’d better be a captain, then.”
She nodded. “That works.”
“Captain Carmichael and Commander Hughes—”
“Shouldn’t you be first?”
“I thought you should. I mean, you’re the captain.”
“No, the person speaking is first.”
“Oh, right. Hadn’t thought of that.”
Wren huffed and stalked past us. “
He simply grinned.
Christy took a shower in the second-floor bathroom while I used the third.
The hot water never quite reached me. And I’d forgotten to grab my razor, toothbrush, or anything else I needed from my usual bathroom. So I wrapped a towel around my waist and headed down. I knocked on the door.
“Yes?”
