Prologue
Skinny dipping was the last thing on my list. Of the five items, it was the hardest one for me. It wasn’t a bucket list or anything like that—I wasn’t thinking about death. It was a things-to-do-before-college list my cousin, Amy, made for me.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. This is going to be one of those stories about the death of a loved one spurring a girl down a path of self-discovery. It’s not. My cousin is alive and well, and at the time of this story was in Malawi with the Peace Corps. The list was her way of preparing me for the wilds of college (her words, not mine). Amy was under the impression that I was entirely unprepared for the life of a coed.
I still remember her exact words. We were hanging out in her room at her parents’ house while she packed. “Juliet, sweetheart, you know I love you, right?”
I glanced at her apprehensively. “Yeah…”
“So know that, when I say this, it’s out of love.” She tossed a huge pile of t-shirts into her large black duffel.
I tensed. “Should I be scared?”
“No.” She smiled her million-dollar, brings-guys-to-their-knees smile, and I knew I should actually be terrified.
“Okay.” I clasped my hands together, refusing to look at my chipped nail polish.
She flipped long, dark hair off her shoulder. “I’m worried about you.”
“Worried?”
“I don’t want you to totally drown next year.” She shoved a small, pink envelope into my hand. “Here, don’t open this until after graduation.”
“But you won’t be here. You leave tomorrow.”
She gave me her signature ‘duh’ look. “I’m well aware. Just open it, and do exactly what it says.”
“This kind of feels like the beginning of a YA novel.”
She laughed. “No. Trust me. The contents of this letter are not YA appropriate.”
My stomach dropped. What was Amy getting me into?
I brought the envelope home and stared at it about four times a day for the next two weeks. Obviously, I could have just opened it, but I’m usually kind of a rules person. Each time I started to tear open the envelope, I chickened out. I kept picturing Amy’s perfectly made up face yelling at me. I know that description doesn’t quite fit with a girl who joined the Peace Corps, but if you knew Amy, you’d understand. She was just Miss Perfect. It wasn’t until I got home from a graduation party at a friend’s house that I finally opened it. As I unfolded the pale pink paper, a Georgia driver’s license saying I was twenty-two fell into my lap. I set aside the fake ID and read the note.
Juliet’s Must-Do Before College List
Get drunk (and no, a buzz from sugary drinks does not qualify as drunk).
Go to a bar. Any bar will do, but you need to at least know what they look like inside.
Wear something you know would give your father a heart attack if he saw it.
Kiss a random guy, and don’t let it go further.
Go skinny dipping.
I’m sure you expect me to detail how I crossed the first four items off my list, but this story isn’t about the first four. It’s about what happened when I did number five.
Chapter One
Finally alone, I reveled in the silence, looking out the large floor-to-ceiling windows of my family’s beach house. My grandparents had bought the house located just outside of Charleston, South Carolina years ago, before Kiawah became a retreat for millionaires. They were generous and let the entire extended family use it whenever we wanted. After two weeks of sharing the house with five other people, I was excited to have it to myself.
I’d decided to stay an extra day, craving some alone time before I had to give up all of my privacy and move in with some random girl. The whole idea of having a roommate sounded good in theory, but knowing my luck, I’d be living with my exact opposite or something even worse.
Sitting cross-legged on the ultra-comfy bed (now that everyone had left, I had moved up from the pull-out couch), I took the now crinkled letter out of my green REI backpack. Go skinny dipping. If I was ever going to do it, an empty beach house was the perfect place. Besides, I was running out of time. School started in just a few weeks.
It was already after nine, and the last remnants of the sun had disappeared. I picked out my favorite red bikini and changed. I’d have to ease into the whole thing, maybe jump in the pool and then take it off. It’s funny that getting drunk and kissing a random guy didn’t scare me, but getting naked in a pool seemed terrifying. I just wasn’t comfortable being naked. I knew my body wasn’t bad. I was decently thin with curves in all the right places—namely my chest. The few guys I’d been with always seemed happy enough with my body, but I still didn’t like shedding my clothes. I know some girls walk around their rooms naked. Not me. I was dried off and in clothes within minutes of getting out of the shower. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I loved sitting around in a towel, but you had to be careful doing that when you lived in a house with a couple of brothers.
I changed into my bikini and headed outside. One side of the house bordered the woods, and the house on the other side had been empty for the two weeks I’d been at the beach. I knew that well. I’d been disappointed when the Bradleys failed to show up.
Something was still missing. If I was going skinny dipping, I was going to do it right. I went back inside to get my iPod. I plugged it into the outside stereo system and selected my workout list. I needed something upbeat.
Satisfied with the musical selection, I jumped in. I wasn’t good with the whole easing myself in slowly thing. Too cold that way.
It was only after I’d jumped in that I realized I’d forgotten one important thing—a towel. I thought about getting out for one, but then I’d get cold. There was no sense going through it twice.
I dove under the surface and tried to make myself relax. It wasn’t a big deal. I needed to pretend it was a bath—a big, outside bath. I pulled the elastic out of my hair, letting my long, light brown hair fall down my back. My mom called my hair dirty blonde, but I hated anything with the name dirty. It was light brown.
I finally made myself do it. I untied my top and slipped off the bottoms. Oh my god, I’d done it. I was actually naked. I flung both pieces to the side, trying to get them to land on one of the lounge chairs, but somehow they ended up on the decking underneath. It didn’t really matter since I wouldn’t be putting them back on. I’d just run up to my room and change.