"It's quiet out here, isn't it?" Jen says with a smile.
"Yes," I reply politely. "It's very nice."
I think it's not so quiet, here in the enormous yard outside Jen's summer house. Insects are everywhere audible, and the faint hum of a passing car wafts up periodically from the not-so-distant highway. I've been quieter places; I grew up in some of them. But compared to the city office in which Jen and I work, this place seems peace incarnate. It really is nice.
Jen is nice too, though I'm not very comfortable around her. I'm kind of shy most of the time, and so I usually form relationships with people who are especially open and easy to talk to. Jen is neither, although she's popular enough at the office--she has a certain charisma; she always looks right at you when you talk to her, so you can tell there's somebody listening. Plus she's pretty, and always perfectly made up; I think most men find her sexy. She and I don't cross paths very often. But that's a strange thought to have when you're sitting across from someone on the floor of their hot tub.
"So give it to me straight," Jen says relaxed, her head cocked to the side. Her expression is movie-star coquettish. "What do you think of Gene?" She's referring to her boyfriend, with whom we have just shared dinner at an adorable picnic table on the back patio. I guess she wants to gossip a little, or have her ego stroked--or, I don't know, maybe I'm being unfair. I sort of have a chip on my shoulder because these people are rich and I'm jealous. But dinner was surprisingly fun. I even find myself giggling a little, reminded of one of Gene's sparkling little jokes.
"He's very playful," I say. "He seems like a good guy." I'll bet he's hung, too, given his size--but I don't mention this.
"Yes, he is. He can be a handful, though," says Jen, arching her sculpted eyebrows in a cute caricature of exasperation. There's real warmth in her voice, something I haven't really heard from her before, and I start to wonder what a guy has to do to get past this girl's persona.
"What about you, Erin? Is there a man in your life?" Jen leans in a bit, the perfect shells of her bikini cups dangling just a tad into the water. I realize she's nearly dry above that point--god, her makeup is still all in place.
"No," I reply. "No, it's been... quite a while."
Jen smiles, staring right at me. "Why not? You're so smart, and pretty--you seem like quite a catch."
I feel like a wet rat, with all this hot sweaty water on me. I'm blushing though. "You really think?" I say, and it sounds like I'm twelve, but Jen doesn't mind. That's what I like about her--she lets you be foolish or clumsy or whatever, if that's what you're gonna be. I think that's the coolest thing. Even though I barely know her.
"I do," she says, still making me squirm with that gaze of hers. "If some of the guys at work saw you right now, I bet they'd... well, they'd be having some thoughts." She finishes with a soft little giggle.
"Oh, well those fashion guys, you know, they're probably all gay anyway," I say to sort of get out of the spotlight, and Jen bursts into laughter. Her boobs dip into the water, and I notice that her nipples are newly and distinctly outlined through her suit. How odd. She straightens herself and leans back, smiling at me.
"Ah, I always wonder about you, sitting so quietly at your desk. What makes you tick?" Jen shakes her hair back, and then settles against the wall of the tub, looking past me at the increasingly starry sky. I'm glad she isn't looking at me; I think she doesn't want me to feel like I have to answer. I keep looking at her, though--does beautiful, mysterious Jen really wonder about me? Surely I'm not such a mystery, but then....
I'm about to answer, maybe to say something uncharacteristically honest. But something touches my leg; it distracts me. I peer down through the phosphorescent water. It's Jen, her slim calf extended onto the little bench between my white thighs. Her toe is nudging me, sort of stroking me, rising and falling with the current. Well, okay. What was I saying?
"Do you have any cousins?" asks Jen, in sort of a dreamy voice. A cool draft blows over my face, rustling my hair.