Ruby locked eyes with me. Her blue freckle looked like a drop of nighttime had fallen out of the sky onto her cheek. Her face was soft curves and luminous skin. She might have been the prettiest girl I’d ever seen.

“How about this?” I pinched her chin between my thumb and forefinger, drawing her face close so I could whisper onto her lips. I wanted to tell her how much I liked her, how I felt this tugging feeling in my stomach that drew me close to her, but I couldn’t let the words out of my mouth because it felt like unleashing something I couldn’t control.

Instead I said, “I want to take you somewhere special.”

It was my favorite part of the beach, farther up out of the tourist areas, off a small cove with rough shingle instead of sand. If you climb over the stone inlet there’s a natural pool, entirely enclosed and about six feet deep and five feet wide. Somehow the water there is warmer than the rest of the sea. Warmer, not warm. That’s important. We lodged the swan into a crevice in the rock and it bobbed absurdly, a giant white getaway bird, as we climbed over the rock.

Ruby breathed out a low sigh. “This really is special.”

It was our own private pool lit by stars.

I sat on the edge of the water and dangled my feet in. Ruby stretched her legs and shook them out. Maybe I hadn’t really been doing all that much pedaling, if I’m quite honest, but she had those muscly gymnastics legs so I would have only been slowing her down. She reached her arms overhead and I tried not to stare at the places where the hem rode up. Instead, I patted the ground beside me and she sat and dipped her toes into the water.

“That’s nice,” she said, and she leaned her head on my shoulder, bits of her messy hair tickling my chin.

“Good,” I said slowly. “Because I was thinking we should go skinny-dipping.”

Ruby’s head sprang up.

“You’re joking.”

I shook my head.

“It’s really montage-y, don’t you think?”

“It’s not on the list.”

“Have you done it before?” I asked, trying not to sound jealous of the person who might have swum naked with my . . . with Ruby.

“No.”

Suck it, imaginary person.

“It’s absolutely freezing.” She looked mournfully into the water. Though the pool was too small for waves, it was dark and ominous and it made gulping, gurgling sounds as it flowed from the sea through the rocks.

“A minute ago you said it was nice,” I scoffed.

Her eyes searched mine, trying to figure out if I was serious, and I held her gaze.

“Let’s do it.” She leapt up and growled like she was psyching up for a battle against the elements.