At my best friend’s house, you could pad indoors from the pool, bathing suit damp, hair in long chlorinated twists. Sit, alone, elbows on the cherrywood bar where her dad sometimes mixes drinks and keeps a bouquet of paper umbrellas in a toothpick jar. Pop one in your lemonade and pretend you’re sitting next to a cute boy. Twirl that umbrella, wiggle on your leather stool. Sip. Flirt. Then go back outside and jump in the pool, where the two of you swirl your hair like mermaids, sing along to the oldies station, and pull each other around on floats.
Leanne Rose Sowul has been published in JuxtaProse, Hippocampus, Under the Gum Tree, and more; through Read650, she’s performed stories at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Connect with Leanne on her Substack, Good Character.