Page 36 of Rootbound

“Maybe we’ve all had enough,” I say, suddenly full of reservations. Henry’s expression narrows at me.

“Oh no you don’t,” he replies. “Don’t you try to back out of it now.”

“Thenyoubetter decide, big guy. Drink or strip,” Grady says.

“Or, we could just stop playing the game. Weareadults,” I say and shrug, shoulders jumping, suddenly feeling quite sober.

Henry studies me then, and I feel my face scowl under the scrutiny. He comes to some internal conclusion before saying, “We don’t quit or chicken out on anything, here. If we did, what would be the point in ever playing anything?”

I start to say, “I don’t think that drinking games are the arena in which we learn life lessons,” but then he stands upand takes off his shirt, and my mouth goes dry. I dart my eyes to the table before I can get caught studying the details.

“Let’s go darlin’, I need a witness.” He turns to march out the doors to the deck.

Grady tips his head back, and closes his eyes.

“What are you doing?! You better go out there with me!” I hiss at him.

“Ew, no. He’s distantly related to me, remember?” He closes his eyes again.

“Grady. Come on.”

No response.

“What if I’m uncomfortable going out in the dark alone with a naked giant lurking in the water?”

He cracks open one eye and somehow manages to roll it. “Something tells me that’s not the case, but if so, don’t go. He’ll come back inside and that’ll be the end of the game. No skin off anyone’s back either way.” Then, “Heh, not sure how that’s a pun in this moment, but it must be, somehow.”

“Shit.”

“Sorry Sis, this is your moment, your call. I really am down for the count, anyway.”

And with that, his eyes fully close and his mouth falls open in a small snore.

I act quickly, and go snatch a towel—two, actually, because I guess drunk me has lady balls. I catch my reflection in the mirror. The remnants of the mascara I hadn’t already sweated off earlier are smudged beneath my eyes, I’m flushed, my ponytail has migrated, and the look in my eyes is a bit wild, but alive. I take a big breath before I head back out and proceed onto the deck.

I call out, “Henry, Grady’s asleep,you don’t have to—” but the rest of the sentence dies as I turn just in time to catch a pair of strong ass cheeks dive into the pond.

The rest of the big body disappears underwater along with those cheeks, the only light coming from the patio, illuminating the dock and a small area around it, the rest of the pond encased in darkness. I continue to stand awkwardly holding the towels for what feels like hours before he resurfaces, rests his head on folded arms at the end of the dock, and looks up at me curiously.

It’s muggy outside, the airjustthis side of stifling.

“Hi,” I say. He smiles a half smile.

“Hi back.”

I stand there for five seconds, painfully awkward, until it’s clear that my lady balls have vanished—castrated by my own neuroses. I go set down the towels by his elbow.

“Why two towels?” he asks, almost too quietly for me to hear.

It’s usually easy enough to be attracted to someone and to act on it. I am not one to deny myself when I want something simple anymore. I did the whole lead-up, the slow burn with the happily ever after. I did all the steps before, and where did that land me?

Now, when I want to do something, to be with someone, I do it.

I have to admit to myself that those encounters have typically left me wanting, while not actually wanting anything more fromthem.I suppose that I’m a ball of nerves over just how intense my physical attraction is to Henry without knowing much about him. And, despite living far enough away from one another, there’s too much common ground that we share. Ground that feels more foreign to me than it does to him. Old insecurities creep in, making mewonder—no, making me, again,suspect—that this attraction is more one-sided. Reminding myself of him flinching under my hand, and running away at my silly pick-up line, I deduce that it must be. That isn’t something I’m up for. I sigh, realizing that he’s still looking at me expectantly.

“You’re a large man, I thought you might need two.”

He laughs through his nose, then looks down at his knuckles. “I guess I won, huh?” He doesn’t say it victoriously.