Lounged - Slice - Knot

Thanks to Bone for making me write. Even when I hate to and I hate the feelings it brings. Including my jealousy of his works.

She tried to appear as casual as possible. Nonchalant, even. She lounged delicately on the cheap plastic chaise purchased for $3.99 at the local Dollar General. She’d covered it with a towel, hoping he wouldn’t notice. She wasn’t in his league, but he didn’t need to know that. She could pull off sophistication and class. Just watch.

The ice in her drink had long since melted away in the hot summer sun, thwarting her plans of a seductress type enchantment. She’d had visions of him walking near her, noticing her not noticing him, hooking him on that alone. Men were so easy. Then, when she started to become an after thought, she’d reel him in. Lightly pinching a piece of ice from her glass and running it around her neck, slowly, then drawing his view to her moderate cleavage by directing the ice ever closer. Damn. Why had he picked today to be an hour late?

She opted for the next best thing. Removing the single lemon slice from the edge of the glass and nipping gently at it’s peel. It wouldn’t take his eyes to her best asset, but making a man think about your mouth was never a bad plan.

But he kept walking. As though she was invisible. How could he not have seen . . . ? But, didn’t he know that she . . . A lesser woman would have stamped her foot in frustration. But not Alaina. She continued to nibble at the slice as she thought of what to do next. If only Sherri had come with her, she always had a back-up plan that could work magic. But Alaina never thought that far ahead. Or, rather, she never believed her first plan could ever fail. She was always so sure of herself. But her confidence and bravado were starting to slip. She had to act now. S omething brazen, something brash; since subtle obviously didn’t work.

She leapt quickly from her seat and padded to the lifeguard’s chair. "Umm, excuse me, this is soooo embarassing, but my friend had to leave and I don’t know anyone else here to ask, and, umm, well, since you work here, I mean, it’s your job to help me, right?" She continued in a rush of words, as though she were scared his interrupting would serve to banish the small remainder of her confidence. "But, umm, well, my top is just the slightest bit too tight and I can’t reach the knot by myself and if you could just, well, just loosen up the teeniest, tiniest bit, I would like be sooooo thankful."

He simply nodded shortly and set his fingers deftly to the knot, loosening it in milliseconds. She never even felt him touch her skin! How disappointing. Her cheeks brightened to a dark shade of red and she hurried back to her chair by the pool.

He schooled his face not to show even the slightest of smiles, but couldn’t stop his eyes from laughing behind the dark sunglasses or his mind from thinking, "These poor Junior high girls, what will they come up with next? I could be her father!"