Discipline

“No,” I answered, realizing how foolish I’d been to think that I could ever go a month without hearing from Ben.

“That’s good.” Adriana pulled out the matching panties to the bra she held. “Did he buy you these?” she asked, biting back a devious smile. I glanced at the La Perla set, tilting my head a bit.

“Huh. I left all the things he bought me at his apartment… but that might be from him.” I stared, not even realizing it until that second.

“Is it weird that I’m taking a lot of pleasure in the fact that you’re going to fuck Aaron in this when Ben bought it for you?” Adriana asked.

“I’m not fazed by anything you do or say at this point, Ade.”

She threw her head back and laughed. “Good, because I was just about to tell you that this,” she dangled the lingerie set, “just got me crazy excited because I brought something that looks almost exactly the same. And now I’m turned on by either you or me or both.”

I snorted, trying to change the subject from Ben. “Who were you going to wear it for? Harry?”

“I don’t know.” Adriana tossed the set aside. “We’ll see. I kind of want to wear it for you so we can be twinsies,” she giggled, taking a swig of her beer. “Anyway, hurry up and put a bikini on. I want to get in that pool.” She paused. “What are you staring at, silly?”

I blinked. I hadn’t even realized I’d been staring at the triangle bikini that I had purchased for my vacation with Ben, Dane and Dane’s girlfriend. I’d packed it knowing that it’d been purchased with my own money and that I’d yet to wear it, but looking at it gave me that dirty, crawling feeling on my skin again. Get over it, I scolded myself. Get him out of your head.

But I couldn’t. A clear image of Ben was searing my mind along with the text filled with all of Aaron’s personal information. Desperately, I wanted to know what Ben was up to at that very second. Whether or not he was making good on his stupid, annoying passive threats. I felt a sudden itch to run to the Jeep, retrieve my phone and see if he’d sent me any other messages.

But I didn’t.

“Sourpuss. Stop it.”

At Adriana’s insistence, I put on my swimsuit and let her bring me out to the terrace, where Aaron gravitated to me within a half second of spotting me. His eyes were a crystal clear blue as he took me in, his lips soft and sweet as they brushed against my forehead and then my mouth, his arm wrapping loosely around my waist. He was relaxed, happy. And he had his own issues to think about regarding a crazy ex. The least you can do for him is forget yours for a second.

That was at least what I told myself. Because more than anything, ignoring Ben was selfish. Aaron deserved to know about his text. But out of guilt for having brought all this trouble upon him, I let it go. Just for now, I told myself. Let everyone have fun and tell him when the trip is over.

~

All it took were a few hours on the beach for my skin to tan to a bronzed glow, practically matching the dark beige of my bikini. Through my shades, I watched Em bury Harry’s entire body in the s

and as Adriana formed a set of breasts and a mermaid’s tail.

Farther down from the rest of us were Mike and Linh who sat right where the water was coming up on the beach, the picture of ease as they dug their toes in the sand and watched the waves. I smiled at the way Linh took a few minutes before responding to whatever things Mike murmured in her ear. They were in no rush at all, the absolute definition of peace and tranquility. It was hard to believe that they had only just met the night that Aaron and I had run into each other. They seemed every bit like a content and longtime couple in love.

They can relax, I noted with a bit of envy while observing them. They have all the time in the world.

“How do you know Mike?” I asked as I turned to rest my on my stomach beside Aaron, who lay on his back with a paperback he’d stopped reading. His own deepening tan gave his muscles all the more definition, as if they needed it.

He gazed at me, watching with a smile as I got comfortable next to him. “We grew up together.”

“Where? Not Woodhill right?” In some way, Aaron just seemed synonymous with Woodhill, but I remembered his family stories about Red Hook.

“No, my family couldn’t afford that. We grew up in Rutledge.”

“Thirty minutes from Woodhill,” I murmured.

“Yeah.” A little smirk slid across his lips as he recalled his memories. “He and I were the two big kids — always three, four inches taller than anyone else our age — so teachers always picked us to be captains for gym if we were playing basketball or kickball. And we hated each other throughout elementary and middle school because we were under the impression that we were supposed to be mortal enemies or something,” Aaron laughed, glancing down the beach at Mike. “It took till high school for us to realize that we could just join forces and be friends.”

“And then you two became co-captains of all the Rutledge High sports teams, I’m guessing?” I asked, charmed as Aaron nodded. “So, considering you did everything together, how did you end up working in Woodhill instead of moving to the city with Mike?”

Aaron squinted in the sun, sitting up to grab a water bottle. For the sake of the people around us, I gave myself only a second to stare at the gorgeous lines of his body, the way his abs contracted, his shoulder muscles expanding as he rested his arms on the tops of his knees. “After teaching there for a few years, my dad had this idea of Woodhill — that it was the perfect place to work, live, raise a family. He taught at other schools throughout his career but he still thought about those few years in Woodhill, always talked about how beautiful the town was and how if he could do it again, he’d have found a way to raise us there. I figure it was less catty a place when he taught there because I trust my dad’s taste,” Aaron said with a little smile as he twisted open a water bottle before handing it to me. “Anyway, right after graduation, I went to teach at Woodhill. That was the plan since college. And Mike ended up moving to the city because that was always his plan — whatever his job ended up being, all he knew was that he wanted to be in the city, around different people, different things. So we both went our separate ways to fulfill our dreams and we did our best to keep in touch along the way.”

“What does Mike do now?”

“He and a friend own a bar in Brooklyn. He’s opening a second location soon.”

“So one of the captains grew up to be a party animal and the other one grew up to be a schoolteacher?”