I drove up the circle driveway, not sure where to park. The massive white house was way bigger than anything I had seen before, and I suddenly felt inferior somehow, like I wasn't supposed to be here.
"Dale!" a voice shouted, breaking me from my internal debate.
Susie ran out from the front door towards the car. I threw it in park and climbed out. She jumped up and wrapped me in a huge hug.
"So glad you could make it," she said.
Susie and I had met earlier in the year, both of us stuck in Calc 2 office hours struggling to figure out series. We became quick friends. And when she found out that I only lived about two hours from her family's lake house, Susie insisted that I come visit during the summer. I guess I should have assumed from the whole "lake house" thing that her family was well off, but I still wasn't prepared for the scale of things.
"Of course," I said, "Where should I park?"
Susie gestured at the right side of the three car driveway. "Over there is best - I don't think Mom and Dad are planning on coming out this weekend."
"Sure thing." I pulled the car over and grabbed my duffel from the trunk.
Coming in the front door, I was just shocked at how large it was. The foyer opened up with a massive two story atrium that bled into the main living space, which was a kitchen about double the size of my entire dorm room. Attached was a living room with a couple sofas, spread out around a big brick fireplace. Then past those was a sunroom, full of windows, sofas, and lots of plants.
"Wow," I breathed.
Susie led me through the kitchen, down a side hallway wide enough for French door just to enter it.
"This is the kids' wing," she explained, "Me and my brother had this to ourselves... though I think that's more so that my parents had their wing they could retreat to without us."
There was another sitting space, though smaller, off the street side of the house. Still, it had a full sized couch and a TV.
"This couch pulls out, so that should come in handy."
Down at the end of the hallway were two doors. "That one is my brother's," Susie explained, pointing at the door on the right, "And here's mine."
The door swung open, revealing a big bedroom. The ceiling was sky-lit, with sunlight falling on her unmade king-sized bed littered with pillows. The windows looked out towards the backyard, sloping down steeply until it met the lake shore, where there was a dock and a boat moored to it.
On the left side of the room, opposite the bed, were two doors, bathroom and closet. Susie had a bedroom all to herself, in her bedroom! I tried not to gape.
"What do you think?" she asked.
"It's... wow, Suz, it's a lot. This place is unbelievable!"
Just then, the doorbell rang, echoing down the hallway.
"Oh! That must be Andrew!"
She opened the front door to a guy about my age, light brown hair.
"Susie!" he said with a smile, wrapping her in a big hug.
"Good to see you, Andrew! It's been so long!"
Susie glanced up at me. "Dale, this is my friend Andrew! Andrew, Dale."
"Nice to meet you," I said as cordially as I could manage, reaching out for a handshake. He promptly shook then put his arm back around Susie, who leaned a bit into him. "You live around here?"
"Oh, no," Susie said, "His family used to have a place up here, but they sold it a few years back. So I asked if he wanted to come out this weekend too. Hope you don't mind."
"No," I said flatly. "Not at all."
"Great! Then... why don't we go swimming?"
"Shoot!" I said. "I didn't bring a suit."
"Did you forget the lake part of the lakehouse?" Susie teased.
"I mean, I guess it just slipped my mind. I completely forgot about that."
Susie studied me. "Hmm, what are you, a 34? I wonder if any of James' suits will fit you."
"I'm willing to try, I guess."
Andrew just looked on with a smirk. "I'll go change in the bathroom while you two figure that out."
"James hates when I go into his room. Tough shit, James," Susie muttered as she cracked open the door to James' room.
The closet was big enough you could fit a mattress on the floor. There was a chest of drawers in there, and a bunch of clothes hanging from stainless steel rails. Susie quickly rifled through a couple of them before finding the right drawer.
"Ah shit," she said. "There's a couple suits, but, um, they're all his workout suits. You know, speedos." She held up a bright yellow speedo. "This one, I think, is the largest."
My eyes widened a bit. Hmm. I really didn't want to be left out, especially with Andrew seeming to be so close with Susie. It might have been a pipe dream, but I was hoping something could happen between us this weekend.
"Fine," I said, "I'll give it a try."
"Great," Susie said, "I'm going to go get changed."
In James' bathroom, I dropped my shorts and underwear and slowly pulled on the Speedo. It clung tightly to my body. Really tightly. I pulled at the crotch to try and make my junk less noticeable, to no avail. Well, I thought, at least this way Susie knows what's available.
The other two were on the deck spraying each other with sun lotion when I walked out. Susie wore a navy blue bikini, held up with strings. I was trying not to cover myself up. If I owned it, maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal. But I felt so exposed.
Susie stifled a giggle, and my face must have fallen sharply, because she quickly added, "No, no, it looks good. Real good."
I glanced at Andrew, who was in more normal looking swim trunks. He just nodded at me. Damn it, he was so much more cool than me. "Sunscreen?" he offered, handing over the can.
I sprayed myself as best as I could, making sure to get all the areas that were definitely not used to seeing raw sun. "Can someone get my back?" I asked, looking clearly at Susie.
"I got you," Andrew said, grabbing the can back. I sighed inwardly and turned around, just in time to catch the cold sunscreen spraying across my back. Andew was at least meticulous, making sure to get every square inch of my back and sides too.
"Shoot, I forgot towels. Why don't you two head down to the lake, and I'll grab them?" Susie said. "And don't forget the cooler!"
Andrew and I grabbed the white cooler, presumably filled with beer, and walked down through the grass to the lake. There was a boat moored at the dock, plus a smaller white slide that led off the edge of the dock into the water. A hose at the top trickled some water down the plastic.
"Coors?" Andrew said, offering me a metal bottle with a twist cap.
"Thanks," I said. "Let's do this!"