“Hmm.” He looks around as he assesses the damage. “Good night.” He stands and looks down at me. “Let’s go, Grumps.”
“Can you stop calling me Grumps?”
“It’s a term of endearment.”
I roll my eyes. “I have to get changed.” He takes my hands and pulls me up to my feet.
“I’m coming,” Bernadette says.
“Me too,” Bodie chips in. He gets up and hits Basil. “Wake up, we’re going to the beach.”
“Oh fuck.” Basil whimpers as he puts the back of his arm over his face. “I can’t face peopling today.”
“Tough. You’ll feel better once you eat.”
I pull my T-shirt down over my boxer shorts, suddenly feeling exposed. “I need to get my things from my locker.”
“Yeah, me too. Come on.”
I look down at myself. “I can’t walk out into the corridor like this.”
“Nobody’s eyeballs can even focus today. You’re safe.”
“Good point.”
We walk out to the corridor and down to the lockers. “How come our room doesn’t have our lockers in it?”
“Fossils don’t need clothes, apparently,” he mutters dryly as he undoes his bag and rummages through it. “I’m buying a big towel today. I don’t care if I have to throw it out tonight-I am not taking that pissant towel to the beach. I hate the fucker.”
I smirk. “If you hate that damn towel so much, why did you buy it?”
“The wanker from the outdoor store said it was a must-have.”
“I have one, too, although it doesn’t bother me like yours does,” I reply.
“Yeah, well . . .” He keeps looking through his bag. “My particulars are bigger than yours. I need more material.”
I smile. Particulars . . . Where does he come up with this stuff?
Two guys walk down the corridor, and one turns to face me as he walks past, doing a full circle.
“Keep walking,” Christopher mutters dryly.
“Be nice,” I whisper. “My particulars need attention, too, you know.”
He fakes a smile, and then his face drops instantly as he throws a T-shirt back in his bag. “Get dressed.”
I exhale heavily and lean up against my locker. “I really don’t have the energy to even get my bag out.”
“Fuck’s sake, woman, where’s your bag?”
I point to my locker.
“Open it.”
I press in my code, and he drags my backpack out and unzips it. “What are you wearing?” He begins to look through my things. “Why is this bag so messy?”
“I don’t know.” I bend and push him out of the way. “I’m a backpacker. It’s supposed to be messy. Move.”
He stands and leans his head back onto my locker. “I’m fucking dehydrated.” He holds his arms out to look at his veins. They are in full glory and popping out everywhere.
“I wonder why.” I roll my eyes. “Where’s my swimsuit?” I keep looking.
“Seriously,” he whispers angrily. “Hurry the fuck up.”
“You don’t have to wait for me, you know?”
“I actually do. You’re wearing nana pajamas, and they are probably going to kick you out of here.”
“Probably a good thing,” I huff. “Seriously, I’m going to kill Monica.”
“Who’s Monica?”
“My best friend back home. She took some of my clothes out of my packed suitcase and snuck in ho wear.” I hold up the tiny black bikini. “Seriously, what would this even cover?”
He shrugs. “Works for me.”
I screw up my face. “Shut up.” I push my bag back in and march past him into the bathroom, too tired to look for a decent swimming costume for one minute longer.
I put the bikini on and look down at myself.
What the fuck?
This is obscene. I can’t wear this in public.
I hear Kimberly’s voice as she talks to someone. I like her; we clicked last night. I open the cubicle door.
“Hey, Hazy.” She smiles.
“Does this look ridiculous?” I whisper.
“What?”
I hold my arms out. “This bikini, it’s . . .” I widen my eyes as I search for the right word.
“Hot.” She looks me up and down. “Turn around.”
I do a 360.
“Perfect, you could eat cheese off your ass.”
I screw up my face. “That’s not a saying.”
“Yeah, it is. You know, you could eat cheese off her ass.”
“I’ve never heard of that in my life.” I frown. “You want to come to the beach?”
“You going now?”
“Yeah.” I peer down at my boobs as they nearly fall out. I try to stretch the fabric to cover more.
“Okay. Give me five minutes.”
“Meet by the front doors?” I ask her.
“Okay.”
I walk out to see Christopher walking out of the bathrooms at the same time. He looks me up and down, and his eyebrows flick up as if he’s surprised. “Hot . . . Grumps.” He readjusts his dick. “You’ve given me a semi in that bikini.”
I curl my lip in disgust. We begin to walk back to our room. “What is it with you and semi anyway?” I ask.
“What do you mean?” He frowns.
“Semikissed me, semidick . . . you seem to have a lot of semi going on.”
“You couldn’t handle the lot.”
“I wouldn’t want to.” I widen my eyes.
“Good.” He squares his shoulders. “Because you’ll never have the chance.”
“I wouldn’t want it.”
“Good.” We walk into the room, and everyone is ready to go.
“Let’s go.”
The beach is hot, and the ocean is cold.
Perfection.
We lie on our towels, the six of us. We’ve eaten lunch and spent nearly the entire day here. It’s weird. I don’t know these people, but I feel super comfortable already.
“What are everyone’s travel plans?” Bernadette asks.
“Well . . .” I shrug. “My plan is to stay at a central base in each country for a month. That way, I can get a job for a few days a week and travel around for the rest of the time. If I don’t work at least two shifts a week somewhere, I won’t have enough money to stay for the entire twelve months that I want to.”
Christopher sits up, his interest piqued. “Where do you want to go?”
“Well, I started in Spain,” I tell them. “I think I’ll go to Italy next. I want to do Prague. Greece. Switzerland. Germany, maybe?”
“Hmm.” He thinks for a moment. “That sounds like a plan. I’m coming.”
“What?” I frown.
“That actually is a good plan,” Kimberly says. “I need to start working a few days a week too. Mind if I come along?”
I shrug. “I . . . no. Guess not.”
“Yeah, I’m in,” Basil says.
“I’m not being left out,” Bernadette says.
We all look to Bodie. He shrugs. “Can we go to Portugal?”
“I guess.” I shrug. “I’m not set where I go. I just need to work a few days. That’s why I need a base. Totally flexible with where we go.”
Christopher looks between us. “Twelve months . . . twelve countries?”
Everyone smiles as a weird kind of excitement runs between us.
“Deal.”