Tidal by Emily Snow

and walked
    over to me, holding out his hand. I looked
    down at it, disgusted, before I turned my
    head to the side and gave him a skeptical
    look. “Oh come on, that was a long time
    ago,” he said, holding up both hands to
    wiggle them a few inches from my face.
    “See, no tan streaks.”
    Gross.
    He was totally crass, but for some
    reason, I started to laugh. It was a
    welcome distraction from thinking about
    Cooper. Skinny Roommate pulled me in
    for a big hug, hunching over so he could
    inhale my hair. I took a step backward to
    separate our crotches so he wouldn’t get
    any more strokes of inspiration. “God,
    who would’ve thought Willow Avery
    smelled like peaches. Peaches and—”
    “Stop feeling up my client, Eric,”
    Cooper warned. Eric sniffed me a few
    more times and then, groaning loudly,
    pulled away.
    He gave Cooper a dramatic glare.
    “You get all the fun ones.”
    Cooper ignored him. “He’s got a
    girlfriend. He doesn’t surf,” he said as he
    slung a black backpack over his shoulder.
    He lifted two long surf boards from
    behind the counter and tucked them under
    his arm. “And he’s a bum.”
    Eric leaned against the counter,
    puffing his chest out. “Guess it goes along
    with being the son of Rick, the resident
    lazy, pill-dealing douchebag.” He turned
    his gaze on me. “Word of advice, don’t
    buy your shit from him. He’ll turn on you
    like that .”
    As he snapped his fingers to
    emphasize the final word, my gaze
    dropped to the floor. I could take jokes
    about him getting off with tanning lotion
    without so much as blinking an eye but the
    moment he mentioned my escape of
    choice, my whole body burned. I knew it
    was another joke—that he probably hadn’t
    even thought about what he was saying—
    and yet I felt like he knew every thought
    that had crossed my mind in the past few
    days.
    I felt like I was standing in a room full
    of people snapping photos of me, judging
    my every move, my every word. Judging
    whether or not I’d suddenly cave and
    wind right back up in rehab.
    I wouldn’t.
    I put on my most convincing smile—
    the look of someone totally fixed and un-
    screwed up. It was my best role to date,
    and a recurring one at that. Then, I lifted
    my head. “Noted,” I said, in a confident
    voice.
    Eric’s face was red and Cooper was
    glaring at him. Eric didn’t even glance at
    me when he said, “You kids have fun and
    no touching in bad places.”
    “Stay away from the tanning lotion,” I
    retorted, as Cooper motioned for me to
    follow him out the double doors behind
    the counter. Eric’s laughter made me
    glance back and he was beaming at me
    again.
    “Don’t worry. That shit left shimmery
    streaks on my hands.”
    “Is he always like that?” I asked
    Cooper as we walked down short, tiled
    hallway and outside to a beamed wooden
    deck. There were strings of lantern lights
    hanging above our heads, but I didn’t have
    time to look at them closely. He was
    already heading out toward the beach. I
    left my bag and phone under a chair.
    “Eric’s like that every day,” Cooper
    answered once I caught up with him. We
    trekked through the sand toward the beach,
    our bodies so close the back of my hand
    skimmed the smooth edge of one of the
    boards he carried.
    “You’re kind of an odd couple.”
    He grinned and I felt my lips move
    into a smile too. “The oddest.” He
    stopped, fifteen feet from the shoreline,
    and situated our boards down on the sand.
    I stood a few steps behind him. When he
    rose to his feet, he stared out at the sea
    and said, “Eric was my roommate
    freshman year at UH and I guess you can
    say we hit it off. Rick—his dad—kicked
    him out a few months ago when we
    graduated and he’s been living with me
    ever since.”
    “Even though he uses tanning lotion
    for lube and teases you about your girly
    coconut shampoo?” I joked.
    “He’s honest,” Cooper said matter-of-
    factly. He dragged his shirt over his head,
    and my eyes