Fate Interrupted

10. Blindsided

Gio

MAY 1998

Ren and I got back into town from San Francisco in the late afternoon. I planned to just drop her off at her mom's and go home, but she lured me in with an invite to the hot tub in her mom's backyard, and there was no way in hell I'd turn that down.

Her laughter rang out as I raced her up the stairs to her room, probably only then alerting her mother to our arrival. She rummaged through her drawers, throwing me my faded red swim trucks, which she had conveniently stored in there for me since summer.

She turned slightly away as we both stripped and quickly changed. Ren always acted modest while changing, even though I'd seen her up close naked hundreds of times by then. She lifted her hair out of the way, and I automatically tied the back strings of her hot pink bikini. I bit on my lip, thinking of the many times I had untied them here while her mom was away at work.

"Ready?" she smiled, and I blinked back to the present. Then we raced back down the stairs, grabbing old towels from the open linen closet, saying hi in passing to her mom in the kitchen before quickly slipping out the sliding glass patio door.

The afternoon temperature was dropping along with the day's shadows, which spread across the backyard lawn like long, dark, transparent strips. Goosebumps prickled my arms, and Ren hugged her towel closer to her chest. Our bare toes quickly tapped over the cool cement to the hot tub, and after dropping my towel, I practically threw off the cover onto the raised decking. We both scrambled in and then sank slowly into the ecstasy of the steamy water.

Ren is always complaining about feeling chilly, but weirdly, she also says hot tubs are too hot for her. Girls are so finicky with temperature. And like clockwork, even after only a few minutes, she informed me she felt like a crab cooking up in a pot and changed locations to the highest seat—the cool air lightly kissing her steaming skin.

With her legs still submerged under the water, both her hands began to dance over the surface, forming long arching ripples on the water. I watched them entranced as the waves collided. I thought they might cancel each other out, but instead... they crossed over each other.

Their energy was changed, and they became more disturbed, moving slower. But I was impressed by their constancy to keep going in their chosen direction from her disturbance of the otherwise still waters. My thoughts danced on in my head, spinning out in their own wide circles while my muscles relaxed, still fully submerged up to my traps.

"What are you thinking about over there?" Ren's giggle rippled into my ears like fish bubbles against the surface of a glassy lake, breaking me from my trance.

"Hmm? Oh, just nothing important."

Her sexy eyes sparkled, "I'm curious."

"Okay... since you want to know." I grinned widely. She will not be expecting this. Clearing my throat to create formality and anticipation, I then continued with a humorless voice, "In your opinion... what's the biggest nonphysical location."

Her eyebrows pinched together, "Non-physical location?"

"Yeah, just think about it," I smirked now—knowing she would have to work hard for this one.

"Umm... I don't know..." she stalled, probably trying to think of any non-physical location, let alone the biggest.

Suddenly, a hella smart-ass look covered her face. "Space! Ha!" she crowed, looking so fucking cute and proud of herself.

"Ok, yeah, I came up with that one first, too. Space—it's mindblowing to think how big it is... but what about... your imagination?" I said, touching my forehead for effect. "That's like also literally limitless," raising my eyebrows. "And emotions! They're bottomless too, like love... and fear—"