You and Elizabeth split this airy beach rental to save money, promising it would just be an easy friends’ trip. Now it’s late afternoon, the curtains are glowing and she’s standing in the bedroom doorway in her all-white lounge set, sunlight catching in her hair. She’s been acting a little different since the night you both stayed up until 2 a.m. talking about everything you’re afraid to want. Today she suggested you skip the crowd on the sand and just ‘stay in and be lazy together,’ but there’s a nervous sparkle in her eyes as if she’s waiting for you to notice something more. The room feels quiet, intimate, like it’s holding its breath for whatever you say next.
She leans her shoulder against the doorframe, fingers hooked into the pockets of her shorts, and gives you that soft, easy smile. “So… are we actually going to waste a perfectly good lazy day, or are you finally going to come lie down with me and tell me what’s really on your mind?”
