Sweeter Than Summer

3 | chocolate triple cookie crumble

After some investigating, I discovered that Martha was trapped working at MaxMart until nine, and that Poppy had already been soaking in the sun for hours. I replied to Poppy's text just as Rosa's bedroom door opened and she stepped out, her only noticeable difference the straps of her bathing suit tied behind her neck.

"So?" she asked.

"Martha can't come, but Poppy's already there."

"You think she has sunscreen?"

I nodded. "Almost definitely."

"Good, because I can't find mine anywhere."

We had already stopped at my house, so I could grab a swimsuit and leave a note for my dad. I probably wouldn't be home for dinner, so I made sure to instruct him on how to reheat the leftover lasagna. I drew a little arrow to towards the back, where the note continued, reminding him to feed Puddle.

Rosa had insisted on coming in, just so she could pet her. "What's the point of having an adorable poodle if I don't get to see it?"

"You have a dog," I had pointed out. "And a cat."

"Draco doesn't like me. And you know Feliz does whatever the heck he wants. He's a cat, it's what they do."

"Maybe Draco doesn't like you because you named him after a villain."

"Draco Malfoy is not a villain," she'd said, sounding hurt, "how many times have I explained this, he's misunderstood."

I stuck the note to the fridge with a couple of magnets, and Rosa, reluctantly, gave Puddle's head a final pat.

Later, in her kitchen, she stroked her own pet's head with similar sadness. "I know you won't miss me, Draco. But I'll miss you," she told the tiny pug.

"He just shows it differently."

"Sure."

"He does. Probably."

She straightened up, and Draco happily padded away. Rosa's house was empty; earlier, she had mentioned that they were all on a daytrip to the nearest Six Flags.

"Do we have everything?" she asked, shooting a glance into her bag. "Sunglasses? Towel? Beach ball? Umbrella?"

"We have everything," I assured her.

"Alright," she shoved her feet into her flip flops, "let's go."

It was only a five minute walk to the beach, but it was another ten minutes of struggling against the dunes before we found Poppy, spread out across her towel, reading a book. As soon as we spotted her, a few yards away from some teenage guys assembling a volleyball net, I dropped my sandals, running sluggishly through the sand. Even though I couldn't see Rosa somewhere behind me, I knew she was rolling her eyes, and scooping up my shoes.

I flopped down onto the bare sand beside her, sighing in the salt and the wind. I dug my hands into the ground, filling them with sand, and poured both handfuls onto my bare stomach. "Isn't this the best feeling in the world?" I asked no one in particular.

"You look ridiculous," came Poppy's voice from beside me.

I exhaled happily. "I don't care."

"Would you care if you knew that guy was over there?"

My eyelids had fluttered shut contently, but as soon as I heard this, I opened them again. "What? What guy?"

"Yeah," Rosa had finally made her way over, dropping her bag unceremoniously, letting my sandals fall beside it, "what guy?"