The Bet

Chapter 5

"Emma?" I was very inelegantly eating ice cream, because it was burning hot outside and this was the only proper way to end a day such as this one. It was melting on all sides and my hand was sticky. I felt like a toddler and of course that was the moment I ran into Emma.

I was walking towards my apartment through the park and Emma had taken off her shoes and was standing in the lake, to cool off, probably. I assumed this wasn't the best time for her to run into me either.

"'Gina, hey," she said, enthusiastically. "Sorry, I'm burning hot. Had to get my sweating feet to get colder somehow." I approached her and chuckled softly.

"I don't blame you. The thing I want to do most in this weather is take off all my clothes and jump in the water. Any water," I said and sighed. It was past dinner time, why was it still this hot outside?

"Well.. why don't you?" Emma defiantly asked and I merely grinned, not replying to her, because there was no way I'd continue on this topic.

"You still haven't told me about your date," I changed the topic, though I'd heard all the details from Killian already, yesterday. I wasn't too content with what I'd heard, because if I were to believe him, it'd gone pretty well.

He'd seemed upset that Emma and I had slept in the same bed, though, so I guessed we were about even. For now. Eventually, Killian would break her heart and she'd turn to her friend and then she'd tell me she loved me.

But that was for the future. Right now, I was holding an ice cream cone that was fully melting and Emma was standing beside me, her feet wet in the pond.

"It was pretty great. Our date really helped. I felt much more relaxed. The dress is being cleaned now, I'll give it back as soon as possible. Thank you for lending it," she said and got out of the water. "I'm really feeling your whole taking off all your clothes thing. If it weren't for all the people in the park, I'd most definitely have done it."

Suddenly, I got an idea. I planned on getting more out of her on what she thought of Killian later, but first, I grabbed her hand and started walking. She'd only half put on her shoes and thus waggled uncomfortably behind me.

"What are you doing? Where are we going?"

"I just got an idea," I said.

"Is it dumb?" she bluntly asked and I looked behind me to shot her an offended glare. She simply smiled and caught up with me. I tugged her closer to my side and felt her arm bumping against mine as we walked.

"Yes. Very. That's why we're doing it."

"You're walking way too fast, it's a thousand degrees. I was already sweating."

"Don't worry. You'll feel cold in no time."

"Are you murdering me?"

I slowed my pace and laughed as I shook my head. "No. Much better. I know where we can cool off without anyone seeing us."

"You actually wanna go skinny-dipping?"

She looked at me, but she didn't seem disgusted and I took that as a good sign. I nodded slightly and she grinned. "I've been wondering what you look like naked," was her reply and I couldn't really believe she'd actually said that and when I saw her face, I figured she couldn't quite believe it either.

"Sorry, I.. I didn't mean in that sense. I just.. am curious about the human body and.."

I interrupted her with laughter. "Don't bother trying to talk yourself out of it. I wonder what people look like naked constantly. Usually, that ends with me fucking them, but you know, that's where our differences lie," I said, hoping to have planted the idea of me in a sexual context in her mind. I was evil like that.