Girl Out of Water(7)

“Yeah,” someone says. “Pretty sure that was their first and only distress call to help save a saltwater fish.”

Everyone laughs, including Cassie.

“Yes, but now we’re older and wiser,” Tess says. “Come on. It’ll be fun. One last hurrah and all that.”

I eye her. “If you’re so into the idea, you go first. Truth or dare?” I ask. I’m not really into Truth or Dare, but Tess wants to play, and as she nestles deeper into the blanket we’re sharing, I realize I’m not the only one who’ll be spending the summer without my best friend.

“Turning the tables, very nice,” Tess says. “Okay, truth.”

“What did you tell your parents you were doing out this late?”

Tess’s parents are notoriously strict. Most of our parents are thoroughbred hippies and beach bums and keep us on loose leashes, but Tess’s older sister was rebellious, to say the least, and it made her parents extra wary Tess would turn out the same way. “Volunteering at the women’s shelter downtown,” she says.

“God, you’re shameless.” I laugh. “You know you’re going to Hell, right?”

She grins and squeezes my hand. “I’ll take you with me. Besides, I am volunteering there. I just confused tonight with tomorrow morning.”

The game continues for another half hour, secrets slipping out from friends I didn’t think had any secrets left to share. When it’s Tess’s turn again, she faces me. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” I say.

“Shocker.” Eric grins and nudges my shoulder. “Have you ever picked truth?”

I shake my head. I’m a strong believer in actions over words.

But as I look at Tess’s face, I know I’ve made a big mistake. She tricked me. My pulse quickens as I realize there’s a 95 percent chance she’s about to dare me to kiss Eric.

Instead she says, “Go catch a wave.”

“What kind of dare is that?”

“Naked.”

I stare at her. Then I stare at her some more. Then I stare around the circle to make sure everyone else is staring at her too. Growing up on the beach, we’ve all skinny-dipped more than our fair share of times, but there’s a big difference between stripping down and jumping in the water and stripping down and getting on your surfboard. It’s dangerous. My wet suit saves me from a lot of potentially nasty cuts and burns. Whenever I go out in just a bikini, I always come back littered with scratches.

“Come on,” Tess says. “Memories and all that.”

“I don’t know…” I say slowly, but I’m already giving into the idea.

Because I’m not one to turn down a dare.

Because why the fuck not?

Because I need something to remember this summer by.

“Actually,” Tess continues. “I’m going to modify that dare. I dare you all to surf naked.”

Laughter erupts around the campfire, people shouting, “nice try” and “not happening.”

Marie cuts in among the fray. “Umm, the rules of truth and dare do not work that way. You can only dare one person at a time. The only way more than one person can be involved is if you are daring the intended party to do something with a different party.”

“How legalese of you,” Cassie teases and leans over to give Marie a quick kiss.

“Which is exactly what I’m doing,” Tess continues. “Daring Anise to do something, i.e., surf naked with all of you.”

“I’m down,” Eric says.

I whip my head in his direction. “What?”

He shrugs. “Sounds like fun.” And then he stands and strips off his hoodie. The firelight ghosts off the shadows of his defined abs. I’m supposed to fly two thousand miles away from those?

Tess smiles and claps slowly. “And here we have discovered one brave soul. Shall others join him, or shall I subject them to horribly embarrassing truths?”

I bite my lip. I look at Eric’s abs. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

I stand up and Eric smiles at me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me into his bare chest, his body giving off more heat than the warmth of the fire. I ignore the flush rising to my face and turn to everyone else. “Marie? Cassie?”

They look at each other without speaking, the way couples who have been together for half of forever can do. After a few moments of silent communication, they both nod and stand, faces bright in the curling firelight.

“We’re in,” Marie says.

“So in,” Cassie agrees.

“Excellent,” Tess says. “Anyone else?”

There’s a long pause as I glance around at my circle of friends. This is an all or nothing situation. Either they join us, or the dare will fizzle to smoke.

Finally, Spinner stands, shaking out his long hair from its constraint. “Let’s do this.”

Everyone else echoes his words and climbs to their feet.

“Now if you don’t mind,” Tess continues, “I’ll just get my camera out and—”

“No!” The objection comes from all of us at once, followed by laughter. The last thing I need is to wake up tomorrow to photos of my bare ass.

“Fine, fine.” Tess waves her hand. “It was worth a shot.”