Sisters' Spring Break

"Come with me?"

"Nope. If I'm there you'll take two hours just to try everything on and show off." June slid a pair of sunglasses on and nodded toward the group of guys still splashing around in the pool. "Plus, I've got some ogling of my own to do."

May looked in their direction. "Hmmm. You sure do. Good choice."

June waved as May stood up. "'K, see you in a bit."

*~~* *~~* *~~*

When June eventually got back to their hotel room a couple of hours later, she found May busily building an outfit. As soon as she heard the door, May called her sister over.

"Which one?" she asked.

She held up two dresses, of basically the same style, with a high collar, like a halter top and an open back. Both were sleeveless with a loose fit over the hips, and a full skirt that would end just above May's knees. One was a very dark green with pink trim around the collar, around the back and at the hem. The other had a large abstract floral pattern, in jewel tones of green, deep blue, and purple, on a cream background. Before June could answer, May dropped the green dress and picked up a pale pink shawl, draping it over both dresses.

"Wow, sis. Those are both gorgeous." June stepped forward and let the soft fabric run through her fingers. "I gotta say, though, I like the pattern a little better than the solid."

May nodded. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. I'm going to put my hair up, and I think those blue wedges I have will work too."

"Yeah. He won't know what hit him."

May laughed, tossing her hair and letting the clothes fall on the bed. "I'm getting a shower."

"Don't take too long, I've gotta get this chlorine out of my hair."

"Whatever."

"Oh hey, remind me to tell you something."

"What?"

"I found something to do tomorrow."

"What?"

"It'll wait. Get cleaned up."

As May went into the bathroom and June heard the shower starting, she pulled out the brochure she'd stuffed into her bag. She spread out the paper, and then opened her laptop to the website listed. She scrolled around, checking the reviews and smiling to herself.

When May came out, she had on her little pink thong and had pulled on a bathrobe but didn't bother to tie it shut. June spared a moment to envy her sister's casual self-confidence in her appearance. June shook her head, knowing that Nate was going to have his hands full with her. She hoped May enjoyed herself too.

May strolled over and sat next to June, reaching over to move the laptop without even asking her sister.

"What's this?" she asked.

"The outing I found. It's a boat ride to a private beach on one of the little islands out there. Seventy bucks for two tickets, and there are only a dozen people on each trip. According to the site, it's about a thirty minute ride, then you get a few hours on the beach. Nice and secluded." She leaned over and poked her sister in the shoulder. "Romantic, even."

"Meh. Romance." She looked at June. "'Sides, what if the date's a bomb?"

"Then you and I go. Sounds like fun either way."

"I don't know."

"Too late. I already got tickets."

May shrugged. "Whatever, it's your seventy bucks."

"I booked the morning trip. Leaves at ten."

May wasn't listening anymore. She had gone back to the bathroom, her make-up bag in hand, and June knew there was no point trying to talk to her while she prepped. She really wanted to get out of her swimwear.

"Will you hurry up," she yelled.

May ignored her. June gave up, stripped off her wet clothes and wrapped herself in a robe. She played games on her phone until May came back out. When she was done with her shower and washing her hair, May was already dressed, perched on the edge of a chair, trying to put her hair up.

"What are you trying to do?" June asked.

"One of those French twist things. I got these combs."

They stopped to pull up a couple of how-to videos, and then June helped her. It was a quarter to seven and May was ready just in time.

"You look great, really," June said, as May twirled around, showing off her long legs. June tossed her the shawl and waved as she sauntered out.

"Have fun," June called. May waved on her way through the door.

While May was on her date with Nate, June went down to the hotel restaurant, then wandered by the bar. She spent a lovely evening in conversation with a cute guy, occasionally fielding texts from her sister. She went back to the room happy and relaxed and had settled in to sleep just before midnight.

Sometime later, May burst into the room and jumped on June's bed with a happy shout.

Startled, but laughing in turn, June sat up.

"Had fun, I take it?" she asked.

"Girl!" May laughed. "You have no idea."

May flopped onto her back on the bed, then scooted up to lean against the headboard, piling pillows in her lap while she kicked off her sandals.

"Ohmigawd, June. This dude. He's so sweet. So smart. Kind of a smartass, but you know I like that. A real gentleman. Held the door for me. Held my chair. Held my hand." May leaned over to meet June's eyes. "Kissed me goodnight in the lobby, but on my cheek." She smacked her sister's shoulder. "Said he didn't want to assume anything."

"So. You kissed him back on the mouth, didn't you?"

May laughed. "You know it." She sighed in contentment. "He actually listened to what I had to say. We talked about music, books. Stupid movies we both like. He had on these pants. Tight, y'know. But not too tight. And this knit shirt. He looked so good."

May slid off the bed, tossing the pillows at June. She unfastened her dress and went to the closet to hang it up. She stood at the end of her bed, in her pink panties, rummaging for the t-shirt.

"I want to climb him," she said, looking at June and raising her eyebrows. "Climb. Him."

She pulled the t-shirt on and went to the bathroom, pulling the combs out of her hair as she went.

June hollered loud enough for May to hear over the running water. "Guess you're going on that boat ride tomorrow, eh?"

May came back toward the beds. "Yep."

"Make sure you've got condoms."

May gasped, as though she was shocked. Then she started laughing. "Yeah. Good idea."

June slipped between the sheets and turned off the lamp near her bed. "Good night. See you in the morning."

"Night."

"Oh, and May?"

"Yeah?"

"If you decide to rub one out, just be quiet about it, 'k?"

May started laughing. "I should pretend to be offended. But. OK."

June chuckled as she rolled onto her side, away from May's bed. She pulled the covers over her head, and piled the pillows to act as even more of a sound buffer.

Sometime in the small hours of the morning, June was awakened by the sound of her sister slamming the bathroom door. Then the clear sounds of her retching, a string of curse words, and more vomiting. June climbed out of the bed, walked over and knocked lightly on the bathroom door.

"May?"

June opened the door a crack, and saw her sister kneeling in front of the toilet. She quickly went over and knelt down next to her, rubbing her back and gathering her long hair, pulling it away from May's face.

"You didn't seem this drunk," June said.

May shook her head rapidly, then lurched forward and dry heaved.

"Didn't," she said, taking in a deep breath. She sat back on her heels, and June stood. "Didn't drink."

June got a washcloth and ran cold water over it. She handed it to her sister, who wiped her face and then flushed the toilet. She sat on the edge of the tub, rubbing May's shoulders. Suddenly May grimaced and clutched her stomach.

"Get out," she croaked.

"What?"

"Out. Trust me." May scrambled to her feet and sat on the commode as June caught a whiff of a horrible stench and ran for the door. She slammed the door shut behind her in time to hear May groaning. The sounds and the smells left no doubt as to what was happening in that little room. There was a pause, then the sound of the exhaust fan running. Then more groans and other noises from May.

June sat perched on her bed, facing the bathroom door. When the sounds had diminished, she carefully approached and opened it. May was sitting on the toilet, hunched over, grimacing and almost gray looking. June found a clean washcloth and ran warm water over it, washing her sister's face.

"Sorry."

"Sorry?" June asked.

May shrugged. "Dunno."

June sat on the bathtub again. "I just looked it up. There's a twenty-four seven grocery a couple of blocks from here. I can go get you something. Some Gatorade. That stuff Mom gets when she, y'know."

May shook her head. "I'm just gonna get some water now. See what happens. It must be that burrito. Ugh."

June reached out and helped her sister stand. "Get into bed."

They left the exhaust fan on, and May wished she had some air freshener to combat the stench. She crawled into her bed, and let June tuck her in. She didn't feel feverish or achy, and was convinced that the food truck she'd gotten her lunchtime burrito from had to be the culprit. She slept fitfully.

Just before dawn, she woke up to her stomach rumbling again. She made it back to the bathroom just in time. Her muscles hurt from the strain and her legs felt shaky. She propped herself up on the bathtub as her stomach lurched and gurgled, but nothing else came out. The next thing she knew, June was squatting next to her, shaking her shoulder.

"May, May," June was saying. "You fell asleep in here."

"Wha?" she asked, groggily.

"Come on, get up. Get back in bed."

"What time's it?"

"Like, four."

June walked her sister back to bed and tucked her in again. She waited until May seemed sound asleep, and then looked up the grocery. She found a cab company and got picked up in front of the hotel. Because it was the middle of the night, the cabbie didn't mind leaving the meter running while June ran into the store. She grabbed a few things and sprinted through the check out. She made it back to the hotel room in half an hour, and May was still sound asleep.

She put bottles of water and sports drink in the fridge and set the bottle of medicine on the nightstand closest to May. Then she got back in bed and fell asleep herself. She woke up a couple of hours later, to May shaking her shoulder.

"What?" she said, as she sat up.

May perched on the side of her bed.

"You have to go."

"Go where?"

"On the boat thing. With Nate. Go for me. Pretend to be me again."

"Wait, what?"

May nodded her head. "My stomach's better. Thanks, by the way for the stuff. But I'm beat. And the water. Ugh. And I stink. And you have to go for me."

"No, no, no. Not gonna."

"Yes, June. Please. Please. I can't skip out on this. I was so close to sealing the deal last night. So. Close."

"So. Tell him you got sick. Tell him—"

"No. Come on. He'll think I'm lying. He'll think I'm making up an excuse. Come on. It was your idea anyway. You wanted to do the thing anyway."

June realized she was too tired to argue, and she had wanted to see that beach anyway.

She started to nod.

"Ok?" May asked. "Oh, and you know. If he, like kisses you, just be your usual shy self. Tell him that, I dunno, you don't do that in public or something."

"Whatever. Listen, if you want me to do this thing for you, you need to let me sleep. Ok? Shut up and let me sleep."

June's last sight as she slid back under the covers was May holding her hands up in mock surrender. Luckily, her sister took the hint and stayed quiet the rest of the night.

*~~* *~~* *~~*

June waited at the dock, on a bench just opposite the mooring for the little cabin cruiser named Miss Bea Hayvin. She was always amused at the names people came up with for their boats. The day was bright and sunny, forecast for thunderstorms later, and high temperatures unseasonably warm in the mid 80s. She glanced at her phone, and saw that she still had fifteen minutes before the boat was supposed to launch. She stood up and paced around, wondering where he was.

She was staring out across the water when she heard, "Sum—" and turned.

There Nate stood, all smiles. "Oh, hey," he said.

"Hey yourself," she replied.

He stepped closer to her. "You look fine," he added with a grin.

The grin and the drawl of the last word let June know that in this case, 'fine' was a synonym for 'beautiful', or maybe even 'stunning'. She grinned back, tossed her hair, and swung her hips a little. She stretched her back and her stomach sucked in, letting her cut-off jeans fall lower on her hips. When she put her hands there, she accidentally on purpose pushed her unbuttoned cotton shirt back, revealing the top of her string bikini. It was bright green and white striped, and the little triangles that made up the upper part barely covered enough to be decent. Her shorts had dropped down just far enough that Nate would easily see the bows at each side of the bottoms. She watched his gaze travel up her body and stepped closer to him.

"You look pretty good yourself," she said. She reached out to touch his stomach. He had on a pair of long black shorts that hung well below his waist, but not quite so far that his crack showed. He also had on an unbuttoned shirt, in an old school madras plaid, in greens, blues, and yellows. He carried a back pack slung over one shoulder, and he reached out for her with the hand that wasn't holding the strap. He brushed back her hair, his fingertips trailing on her neck lightly enough to make her shiver.

Her palm on his stomach, she looked into his eyes and said, "You've got an eight pack."

He leaned in slightly and said with a chuckle, "Keep lookin' and you might find two more."

She smacked his chest playfully and stepped back.

Just then the captain blew hard on his whistle and told everyone to get on board. After they'd settled onto one of the several long benches arrayed around the deck of the boat, the captain gave them the safety lecture and passed out life jackets. June almost laughed when Nate actually put his on, but he looked so serious about it that she stopped herself. She held hers in her lap.

"You're not wearing that thing?"

"Naw. It's not that long a ride. I'm not worried."

"Smart though? Just in case."

She looked at him and relented. He helped her slip the lifejacket on as the boat pulled cleanly away from the dock. She relaxed against the railing, holding on to it loosely with one hand. She leaned into the rhythm as the boat bounced through the waves. She looked over and saw that Nate was holding on tight, and she patted him on the knee.

"You ok?" she said, raising her voice over the sound of the wind and the rumble of the engine.

"First time on a boat," he said.

"For real?"

He nodded and shrugged. "City boy."

"Land lubber."

"What?"

"Land lubber. I don't know. That just what my dad always called people who didn't have boats."

"Y'all have a boat?"

"Sure. Two actually. A little, well antique, speed boat. And a party pontoon boat. Plus, my uncle has a sailboat."

"No shit. Thought you were from upstate New York?"

"Yeah," June looked at him quizzically, then it dawned on her. "Lake Ontario."

"Come again?"

"We live next to Lake Ontario. Well, where Lake Ontario meets the St. Lawrence river." She saw he still didn't understand. "It's the smallest of the great lakes. The one furthest east. The lake and the river make the border with Canada. The Thousand Islands?"

"Thousand Islands. What, like the salad dressing?"

June laughed. "Yeah, actually. It was supposedly invented at some roaring twenties millionaire's summer home up there. But no, it's all these little, and some big, islands where the lake flows into the river and as the river narrows a little. Though it's still pretty wide.

"Anyway, my folks live in a little town up there, literally like a block from the water."

June distracted him during the rest of the trip, babbling on about her family, her dad's business, her mom's work in the local schools. She talked about lake effect snow and driving out on the river after it froze in the winter. Watching his eyes widen at that prospect, she laid on the winter horror stories pretty thick. She wove in some stories her mom told, about going to college up there, and them stringing ropes between buildings so people could hold on to them and not get lost in the blizzards. She told him about January mornings so cold it hurt to breath and icicles that reached all the way to the ground from the roof.

She found herself opening up to him in a way she rarely did with people she'd just met, and realized she loved how closely he was paying attention. How the questions he asked proved that he was paying attention. She scooted closer to him, telling herself it was just so he could hear her more easily over the noise. But knowing it was really because she wanted to feel his leg against hers, and maybe, accidentally on purpose, put a hand on his knee when the waves jostled them. She noticed that he reached behind her to hold onto the railing, and that their hands brushed together more than once.

She was almost disappointed when the boat slowed and the captain announced that their destination had been reached. But when she looked around and saw how pretty the beach was, and how secluded it was, her disappointment vanished. Nate stood and looked around too, and she liked the grin on his face and the easy way he held her hand as they climbed down onto the little dock at one end of the beach.

The captain blew his whistle hard again. "Ok. We're scheduled to be here for three hours. But I'll be keepin' an eye on the weather. You hear this—" He blew the whistle again. "It's cuz I've got an announcement. Now, this whole beach is privately owned by folks who live on the other side of the dunes. There are signs that mark the perimeter. If it says 'no trespassing', then they mean it. The water's pretty safe for swimmin', but don't go out too far, and remember there're no lifeguards here. Other'n that, have fun."

He went back into the cabin. June and Nate jogged up the beach, to find a spot away from the other tourists. When they found a place they both liked, above the tide line, but not too far, June pulled a big beach towel out of her bag and shook it out. She saw Nate do the same. She tossed her bag at the foot of her towel, and proceeded to take off her shirt and shorts. She noticed him sitting, shirt still on, watching her. She made a point of stretching once her cover ups were off, then grinned down at the addled look on his face.

She knelt down in the middle of her towel, rummaging through her bag. She pulled out a half-frozen bottle of water and the bottle of sunscreen. Nate just sat there, looking out over the water, but she could tell he was stealing glances at her too. She started slathering herself with the sunscreen. When she was reaching up to try to get her own shoulders, she realized he was paying closer attention.

"You want help with that?" he asked. "And your back?"

"Yeah, that would be nice."

She handed him the bottle and turned her back to him. "How much?" he asked.

"A lot," she said. "I'm pretty pale. And I burn easy."

He didn't respond, but she felt the lotion dripping thickly on her back, in a line across her shoulders. When he started rubbing the lotion in and spreading it around, she leaned back, into his hands. She loved the way they moved over her skin, the expanse of his smooth palms, and the way his fingers swept along behind. His hands worked lower, down to her hips, and he briefly let them curve around her sides.

She realized he was leaning in, and that his lips were very close to her shoulder. She felt the warmth of his breath and her desire to turn and kiss him startled her. She wasn't sure she'd ever reacted that strongly to someone before. Nonplussed, she shifted around and found the bottle of sunscreen.

"You want me to get your back?" she asked.