Page 5 of The Dance

“I don’t know, but older than us.” Grace shrugged. “But like I was saying, Molly, Stacey, this is Blake, the bartender, Adam, and Dylan.”

“Did Grace tell you two the plan?” Adam asked.

My brow furrowed. “What plan?”

“Skinny dipping, of course,” he replied with a smile.

“Skinny dipping?” Molly questioned. “I’m not going skinny dipping.”

“Oh, come on,” Dylan probed. “It’ll be fun.”

“It will be cold,” I chimed in.

“Did you agree to this?” Molly asked Grace.

“Yeah. Don’t you think it’ll be fun?”

“During the day, yes,” I argued.

“Oh, come on.” Blake played with a piece of my dark brown hair draped over my shoulder. “Don’t be a baby.”

I grunted a sarcastic laugh. “I don’t even know you. Why would I get naked and swim in dark water with you?” Even though I’d met Blake on my twenty-first birthday, when he made me several Long Islands and I got drunk, I didn’t expect him to remember me. He probably met numerous girls every shift, and we didn’t even exchange names that night.

“We can get to know each other.” He smiledthatsmile again, and my belly fluttered.

“And you think the only way for us to do that is to take our clothes off and get into the freezing water?”

“That’s one way.” He winked.

Before I could respond, a loud crack of thunder boomed above us, and then rain poured from the black sky. We took off running, one of my flip-flops getting stuck in the sand. I stopped, bent down, and grabbed it. When I straightened, Blake was there, reaching out his hand. I took it, my half-drunk beer sloshing as we followed our friends.

“Let’s go inside. I know the people that live here,” Blake suggested. “They’ll let us wait out the storm.”

We made our way into the house while the other partygoers went toward the front to either leave or find shelter in cars. The six of us were drenched once we were inside the kitchen.

“Well, that was unexpected.” Dylan shook his shaggy blond hair.

“Blake!” I heard a guy call out.

“Jimmy,” Blake responded and moved to give Jimmy a bro hug. “Looks like the party was cut short.”

“Not for us. Let’s go down to the basement.” Jimmy waved for us to follow.

The girls and I shared a look. Somehow, we were with the right people at the right time.

“Do you have a bathroom where we could wring our clothes out?” Molly questioned.

“Four,” Jimmy deadpanned. “There’s one down in the basement, one on this floor, and two upstairs.”

“Could we use one?” Grace wondered.

“Of course. I’ll take y’all.”

“I’ll make us some drinks,” Blake offered.

I set my cup on the kitchen island, and the girls and I followed Jimmy to the bathrooms. I entered the one on the main floor. The best I could do was to shake out my tank top and use a towel that was hanging up to dry my body and hair. My shorts were damp, and there was nothing I could do to them. Even my flip-flops were soaked, and they squeaked under my bare feet.

Molly and Grace were still in the bathroom when I emerged, so I walked toward the kitchen. Blake was pouring vodka into red Solo cups as I approached. He turned and handed me a cup.