11. Swimsuit Shoot

  (Lina)

  “I like him,” Sera claimed as soon as Zeyna and Zai’len were gone, and I rolled my eyes amusedly.

  She already knew what I was going to say, smirking while she took a sip of her drink.

  “You only like him because he practically offered you a job two years from now.”

  “What better reason is there to like someone?” She got cozy under her thick fleece blanket and put her gunky marshmallow rod to the side.

  “Don’t get caught up on his first impression. We still don’t know if he’s a good match for Zeyna. Might I remind you, he basically came here and bragged about how his people enslaved my people?”

  Sera gave me a leveled glare. “He wasn’t bragging about it.”

  “Then why even bring it up?”

  I may have added a little more passion than I actually felt. It was all fun and games. I was just happy to see she was in a slightly lighter mood than before.

  Of course, it wasn’t nice to hear the specifics of how the Demons enslaved my ancestors, but at the back of my mind, I wondered if I should’ve been more offended. The reason I wasn’t was because… I hadn’t been too involved with my heritage in the first place.

  My father had spent centuries in Caeriel, but we never spoke about his experience there, or in the war. Similarly, my mother didn’t mention it. She was so fixated on my education, yet educating me on where we’d come from was the least of her concerns. In her view, it mattered little to our lives. They were never going back to Caeriel, and they assumed I never would either.

  Our intentions, for as long as I’d been born, were to fit into Liberty as best we could. We were one with the community, a necessity even.

  But I didn’t like how some guy could approach me and be more knowledgeable about my history than I was. I didn’t like how he used it as a passing conversation—small talk—and I was the one left speechless and ignorantly unaware, so I vowed to never let it happen again.

  I didn’t need my parents to educate me when there were plenty of books in the library that could offer me more than they ever would. And I was going to find them as soon as we got back to Solace.

  “Don’t tell me you’re going to hold it against him because he’s one of those Demons.”

  My brows furrowed. What? It wasn’t about that at all. She didn’t understand.

  “It’s not—”

  “What matters is that she’s excited about it. Do you see the way she looked at him? I’ve never seen her that way around a guy.”

  “Awe,” I stated, and relaxed back in my seat.

  Sera took a moment to understand I meant the actual word awe, not the sound.

  “Yeah,” she said, once she got it. “Like she actually had respect for him, for once.”

  I laughed. She was right, in a way. Zeyna didn’t exactly give off the impression that she was impressed or highly respected the guys she’d been with. Typically, Zeyna held herself higher than most. She didn’t idolize the people she was interested in, even if they were older, wiser and more put together.

  She’d once dated a Sol Magia alumni who’d gotten into politics and successfully pushed a huge eco bill. If she should’ve idolized anyone, it should’ve been him, with how dedicated to the environment she claimed to be. But even he didn’t get the full appreciation he deserved.

  Then again, he didn’t deserve much appreciation in the end. He may have cared for the environment, but that didn’t make him a good guy. They broke up after hiding their relationship for months. And when she saw him again, he was set to get married.

  That was one question we’d forgotten to ask Zai’len.

  “What if he’s married?”

  Sera clicked her tongue, thinking I was trying to find anything bad about the guy, simply for the sake of it. But then she really thought about it.

  “He did avoid answering if he had a girlfriend.”

  My eyes grew playfully. “Because he already has a wife.”

  “No,” she stressed. “He’s too young.”

  “Or maybe he’s bonded already!”

  She shrieked. “No! Stop, stop, stop!”

  I snickered. “Okay, okay.”

  Sera whined, “Not my Zeyna.” She squeezed the blanket to her chest.

  I shrugged. “She’s never going to see the guy again.”

  Sera stared at me. “Lina… Have you not been paying any attention?”

  I pouted innocently.

  “‘If I find someone I like, I want to keep them by my side,’” she repeated Zeyna’s words from earlier in the afternoon. “She’s looking at him with awe—obsessing over his texts, checking her magi-tab every second of the day. She’s making things out of nothing, turning any minor interaction into a major one.”

  “Yeah…” I admitted with a sigh.

  It wasn’t looking good for her. She’d been sucked in. And Zeyna wasn’t prepared. She didn’t know that level of obsession. Sure, she’d had her fair share of crushes, where she’d held out hope for something to happen between them, but for the most part, she never held her breath. She moved on if she needed to—usually when she found another guy.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “She’s fucked…”

  Sera nodded. “We’re on full-support duty.”

  “Got it.” I saluted her lazily.

  She focused on the fire while she deliberated, eyes squinty. “We need to better vet him,” she said in a calculated tone. “Just in case.”

  My tab buzzed in my hand with her name on the screen. I leaned closer to Sera to share.

  Besties | Sera & Zeyna

  Zeyna: His car! I can’t even!

  Lina: What? What?

  Sera and I shared a confused look, but Zeyna never got back to us. Sera shrugged and said, “He must have a nice car.”

  “Nicer than her parents’? Nicer than Zeph’s?”

  “Maybe more environmentally friendly,” Sera joked.

  “Imagine. He’d be her dream man.”

  Sera laughed—and sighed. Then she stared up at the stars. The fire snapped and popped, startling her from her daze.

  “What should we do?” She rested her head. “She’s gone off to have fun without us again.”

  “We can go to bed early.”

  “I’m not that sad, Lina.”

  “Aw, here I was hoping. We could’ve snuggled up in bed, watched a movie and gorged ourselves on snacks.”

  She smiled. “Maybe later.”

  “Okay,” I agreed cheerfully.

  “But for now… Can I take some pictures of you by the pool? You looked so pretty yesterday in your swimsuit.”

  “You want me to change?” I groaned.

  She pleaded with her hands. “It’s just for fun.”

  “Fine,” I droned. Who was I to deny her a little happiness?

  She gave me a few attire ideas before I went up to the room. The few ideas she offered made it clear that we weren’t going to be capturing my innocence. She wanted to get sexy. I didn’t know how comfortable I was with the guys hanging out on the other side of the patio, but I didn’t need to worry much about either of them getting the wrong ideas in their heads.

  I changed into one of the black bikinis I’d brought and accented it with some dainty silver jewelry, as Sera requested. With my gauzy cover up tossed over my shoulders, I strapped on some of Sera’s wedges.

  A blush heated my cheeks as I sauntered down the stairs. Kayo stood in the kitchen, getting some water. He stared.

  “Going swimming?” he asked, his voice raspy. He immediately cleared it.

  I shook my head and paused at the patio door while I said, “Cheering Sera up.”

  Seemingly out of his control, he rolled his eyes. He gestured to me. “I think all this will be a little lost on Sera.”

  I smirked. “Yeah? Why do you say that?”

  He didn’t answer because he knew I knew. He sipped from his glass.

  When he spoke, his tone came out more displeased than I expected. “Can I ask, what is it about Sera that makes you all rush to please her?”

  My smile disappeared. Because she deserves it.

  “I can tell you, but—” My attention strayed as Zephyr hesitantly approached the fire pit outside. “But it’s a long story, and…”

  I thought to text Sera to see if she was okay to speak with Zeph again, but then I remembered why we were in this situation to begin with. She didn’t have a magi-tab to text with anymore.

  “You’ll have to excuse me.”

  I threw open the patio door and stepped out. “Zephyr!”

  He twisted back to me guiltily, and I strutted down the steps and across the deck. He retreated back to the table without any comment, and I returned to Sera’s side with a smile, my hands on my hips.

  “How’s this?”

  She jumped up. “Perfect! I have so many ideas! Come on!” She took my hand and pulled me over to the pool.

  I handed her my magi-tab and listened to her every direction, despite how embarrassing it was. I got down on the ground beside the water and tried to hold my body as naturally as I could, while she moved around me.

  I wasn’t as well versed in modeling as Zeyna was. Maybe I wasn’t egotistical or vain enough. And it wasn’t as easy with Zeph and Kayo watching from afar.

  “Lady Luna,” I cursed as I released a pent-up breath. Still, I listened to Sera’s next command.

  “Arch your back a little more.”

  “Part your lips.”

  “Open your eyes.” She hummed. “A little less. Give more eyes rolling back into your head while you look up at the moon.”

  I laughed. “What?”

  “Just do it. It’ll look good.”

  She took the picture from high above me. Then swiftly moved to fix my necklace. She took the same shot a few times before working on a different pose.

  Without thinking too much about it, she stripped down to her underwear and lowered into the pool. “Turn this way and look down at me.”

  She readjusted my legs on the stone lip, then took my hand and placed it between my spread legs. She was so in the zone she didn’t even notice my little smirk at how bossy she was being.

  “Lean on your arm a bit, and bring your chin down.” She fixed my hair and necklace again so it’d hang in the air, then continued, “Okay, I need more intensity in your eyes, and part your lips slightly again.”

  I struggled with the eye intensity, until she said, “Look at me like I’m Hellion and I hurt Sera.”

  I snorted, and she too laughed. Once I regained my composure, and gave her a look that might remotely be described as that, she began snapping the photos with only a few minor notes.

  She squealed suddenly as she swiped through the photos, and my heart settled, knowing that I had spared her some of the hurt Zephyr had caused her. That was more than enough for me.

  “Get in the pool with me,” she demanded. And if she asked it of me, I’d do it. I’d do anything for her.

  She didn’t notice me staring while she checked her work, but the other two did. I tried to get a closer look at the screen, moving in so close to her, but she pressed the glass to her chest.

  “No peeking until we’re done.” She gestured across the pool, to the side with the best view of the moon. “Go lean on the wall.”

  “So demanding,” I teased.

  We were in the pool for over an hour and a half. Countless poses and several commands later, I gave in. “Sera, I’m getting cold.”

  I’d been in and out of the pool a few times and the night had gotten breezy.

  She pouted. “Aw, okay. Just one more.”

  I paddled over to her. “Fine. One more.”

  Drawing us together, I snuggled up to her and lifted her hand high so she could take one of us with the moon above. My arm wrapped around her waist, and I kissed her cheek while she took the picture.

  It was the only one I’d care about. The others were nice; I’d love them simply for the fact that she’d taken them, but this one was real.

  She may have been disappointed that she didn’t get to fit in another pose, but her expression softened before she pressed the button. She clung to me, her skin warm against my numbing flesh. Her head rested on my shoulder and she looked up to the camera peacefully for the next picture.

  The magi-tab buzzed and Zeyna’s message passed on the screen. Sera and I smiled, hers a bit bigger than mine.

  Besties | Zeyna: Wait up. I have a bedtime story.