The concrete hollow where Lulu and Owen slept that first night, nearly a month ago now, and where Kiley taught herself to skateboard and Ryan photographed Cass draped in blankets in the tent—it’s submerged now. Swallowed. Drowned.

“What are you waiting for?” Ryan asks. “Let’s swim.”

Owen tugs his shirt over his head without thinking twice. Lulu can’t even imagine that kind of freedom in her skin.

She distracts herself by watching Cass as she slips off her shift. Lulu is so busy looking that she doesn’t even have time to think about the fact that she’s taking off her own clothes, skinning gracelessly out of her jeans. She’s vaguely aware that she’s glad she decided not to wear a thong today, that the chlorine probably won’t do her bra any favors, that she’s maybe three pounds heavier than the last time Owen saw her mostly naked, but she’s still pretty tan, so—

Owen isn’t looking. He’s the first one in the water, cannonballing in with a splash.

“Go!” Ryan is yelling. “Go go go go!”

Cass dives in, smooth and easy, and Lulu watches her body disappear into the water. She follows her there.

She understands why Ryan wanted them to do it fast as soon as she’s in. The pool is not heated.

The pool is fucking freezing.

“What the hell!” Owen heaves himself over the edge and onto dry land to tackle Ryan, who’s laughing too hard to get away in time. “See, asshole, now you’re all wet too!”

Owen is holding Ryan fast and flinging his hair around, trying to get him as damp as possible.

“Hey!” Kiley says, twisting from the spray. She didn’t jump in either. In fact, she’s still fully clothed. “O, come on, my hair!”

Owen lets up, and Ryan takes the opportunity to go after Kiley.

“You think you’re exempt?” he says, wrapping his arms around her and butting his damp head against her neck. “You think you’re too smart for me, Kiley?”

Kiley uses her elbows to keep him away from her head, but it just means he ends up with his face in her boobs.

Lulu looks at Owen, waiting for him to break it up, but that’s not Owen’s style. He doesn’t get bent out of shape about what things look like. He’s not gonna make a big deal out of some roughhousing.

Cass appears at the pool’s lip, wrapped in a towel and carrying another. “Lu,” she says. “Here.”

Lulu swims to the edge and lifts herself up. Cass wraps the towel around her shoulders, her arm lingering as Lulu grabs the edges and pulls them tight. She can see the blue of the veins under Cass’s skin.

“See,” Ryan yelps from where he’s allowed Kiley to maneuver him into a headlock. “There were other surprises! You animals!”