“Seriously, Scott,” I begged him, my hand gripping his wrist to push him away. “Not ‘never’, just not ‘now’.”
He reluctantly moved his hand away and kissed me again, softly this time.
“I would never force you, gorgeous girl,” he murmured, his lips against my neck under my ear. “You should just know I’m desperate for you.”
“You said yourself, we have all summer,” I said, nuzzling against his neck.
“Daddy will be at work all day tomorrow,” I told him.
“Unfortunately, I will be too.
“Tomorrow night?” he asked, kissing my lips again.
“I have my class,” I moaned.
“After that? You can text me…”
“That might work…”
We kissed some more and were so lost in each other that I let out a startled screech when I heard the sliding door open.
“Are you coming in, kiddo?”
“Yeah, dad. I was just enjoying the quiet.”
I pushed off from the side of the pool and swam towards the steps at the shallow end and away from Scott.
***
Scott: Did you think of me?
Eileen: What?
Scott: While you touched yourself last night.
Scott: Did you think of me?
Eileen: As a matter of fact…
Scott: Send nudes.
Eileen: Hell no!
Scott: But I’m stuck in a boring meeting. I need something to get me through.
Eileen: Nope.
I was still laughing to myself as I took a selfie of me lounging by the pool in my shiny blue bikini, sunglasses obscuring my face, my pink nose peeling, a sexy pout on my parted lips. I made sure to capture ample cleavage in the picture and sent it to him.
Eileen: Maybe this will help.
Scott: Fuck, yeah!
***
My first English class of the semester was great. The professor was a tiny woman with short gray hair, thick round glasses, and a wild flower-print dress. She assigned us to read Arthur C. Clark’s “Childhood’s End” and told us we could get ahead by reading “The Wizard of Earthsea” by Ursula K. LeGuin and “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut. She also suggested we catch up on as much Star Trek: The Next Generation as we could since we would be discussing a lot of overlapping themes. I honestly sighed with happiness knowing I’d get to spend the summer getting credit for reading and talking about books I’d only ever read for pleasure.
I biked home from campus at a leisurely pace, enjoying the lingering heat of the day as the sun went down. When I got home, dad was waiting for me in the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn.
“We were assigned to watch Star Trek to get into the themes of Science Fiction,” I told him causing him to break out into a huge smile.
“It’s on Netflix. Can I join you?” he asked.
“Of course,” I said, matching his smile. “I knew you’d enjoy having the chance to rewatch it with me.”
We made our way down to the basement entertainment room. Dad got himself a beer and me a Redpop and we settled down on the sectional with the bowl of popcorn between us to watch the first episode of ST:TNG, cringing, groaning, and laughing together.
“Want to start the next episode,” Dad asked.
“Nah. I’m tired. I’m going to head up and read a bit before going to bed,” I told him
“Goodnight, then, kiddo.”
“‘Night, dad.”
My phone buzzed indicating a new text as I was on my way up the stairs to my bedroom. I didn’t read it until I plopped down on my bed, but I knew exactly who it was from.