Late to the Party - Kelly Quindlen Page 0,54

it. My parents had one job and they fucked it up.”

We spread out beneath the trees, safe from the boys’ eyes. Natalie dropped her shorts and peed without fuss.

“Jane’s a lovely name,” she said thoughtfully, like she wasn’t pissing in front of us.

“Yeah, it’s a classic,” Lydia cut in. “And it’s got an amazing legacy. Jane Austen, Jane Goodall—”

“GI Jane,” Terrica chimed in, squatting a few feet from Natalie.

“Yeah, see?” Lydia said. Even in the darkness, I could feel her eyes on me. “It’s worthy of you.”

“Are y’all gonna pee, or what?” Natalie said.

Lydia took her place near where Natalie had just peed. She started to unzip her shorts, and I looked hastily away, my body heating up at the thought of her bare thighs, her bare everything. I stepped several feet to the side and did my business near a protruding tree root, trying to focus enough to get the job done.

“Are we good, ladies?” Terrica asked.

She crunched back toward the field, but Natalie called to stop her.

“Yeah?” Terrica said.

Natalie laughed. Her voice was mischievous in the dark.

“Let’s go skinny-dipping.”

* * *

We wrangled the boys into going with us. We doused the fire and left our quilts, empty beer cans, and backpacks in the field. Our party of eight crashed through the woods again, heading toward the river, everyone yelling at Natalie about what a dumbass idea this was, though our abuse was gleeful rather than mad. We were reckless and giddy. The moon was bright and the river had never seemed so enchanting.

We reached it within five minutes, and before any of us could do more than tug off our sneakers, Leo had stripped completely and gone tearing off into the water, hollering like a cowboy. All I could see was a flash of pale, naked skin.

Samuel and Cliff went racing after him, Samuel stripping off everything except his bandana. Terrica and Natalie watched them unabashedly, laughing as they started to tug off their own clothes. Ricky hesitated for only the briefest of seconds before he went tearing in after the guys, his back a wide swath of deep brown skin shining in the moonlight.

I was inebriated enough not to panic, and I knew it was dark enough that nobody would really be able to see me, but I couldn’t help my pounding heart as I began to pull off my clothes. I’d never been naked in front of any of my peers, at least not since I was little. Maritza had seen me in my bra and underwear, but that was it.

I hastened to pull off my shorts and T-shirt, then hesitated. “Are y’all taking off—everything?” I asked the girls.

“Already did!” Natalie yelled, tossing her clothes as she went running off to the water. Terrica followed close behind her, nothing more than a flash of dark, gleaming skin.

And Lydia—oh fuck, Lydia was taking off her bra.

I averted my eyes, then glanced back at her, then averted my eyes again. I couldn’t see anything more than a flash of skin, a swing of flesh, but it was enough to make my face sear and my lower belly throb.

“Come on!” she called to me, and beneath her laughter was something else: a high-pitched note of nervousness. I could feel her eyes on me as I fiddled with the clasp of my bra. I tried to say something, but a second later she was gone, rushing off to the water with everyone else.

I followed last, my bare feet slipping over pebbles and dirt, and in some distant, detached part of my brain, a wry voice said, You’re running after a hot, naked girl right now. I laughed aloud and crashed into the water, crouching low so no one would see my body.

The water was barely deep enough to sit in. It streamed past us, washing over stones, filling our ears with that eternal, moving rush.

“How much bacteria you think we’re sitting in?” Samuel asked.

“Just don’t drink it, dude,” Leo said.

The guys were trying not to look at the girls, and vice versa, and I caught Ricky’s eye, wondering if he saw the humor in it. He shook his head subtly and looked away, but I knew he was smirking.

We splashed and yelled and cheered for Leo as he pretended to synchronized swim. Natalie and Cliff ended up closely entwined, and soon enough Terrica and Samuel followed suit, and then it was just Ricky, Leo, Lydia, and me, carrying on the conversation and pretending the other four weren’t feeling each other