“This one time, our swim team went to this bar,” Lillian said, a smirk covering her face. “Quinn was talking to this hot girl all night. They were all over each other. And right as they reached the dorm, the girl hurled all over her foot.”
Kennedy and Talia laughed. Lillian had a tipsy blush dusting her cheeks, so I knew the stories were going to continue to run freely. Hopefully, nothing too traumatizing.
“Needless to say, I didn’t bring her to my room, but I did call her an Uber,” I informed them. “You know, she texted me the next morning and thanked me for the ride? She asked me out after that.”
“Seriously?” Kennedy said with a full belly laugh.
“Obviously, I said no. I still had her barf on my Vans. Had to throw them out. I was pissed.”
“One time, this guy flirted with me,” Kennedy said, “and he reached into his pocket to get his wallet to buy me a drink, and a condom fell out and landed on my foot.”
“Both are equally disturbing,” I said.
“Yeah. I took the drink, then ran.”
Lillian put a hand over her heart. “Oh my gosh, I’m so proud. You don’t need no man.”
I held my lemon water up in agreement. “I second that.”
“But,” Kennedy announced and turned to Lillian again. “I have a story that trumps all the stories you have on her,” she said, smiling behind her beer bottle.
I gave her a curious look, and she stared me down as if trying to tell me what she was thinking. Then it hit me. The most embarrassing moment of high school. Still the most mortifying moment of my life.
“No,” I said, mortified. “Don’t you dare say it. It’s too soon.”
Lillian bounced in her seat. “What? Oh my God, tell me. Spill the tea!”
My freak out burned my face and made Kennedy’s laugh more vicious. “But it’s funny now,” she said.
“Is it? It still gives me nightmares,” I said.
“You do realize you’re not helping this sound less appealing,” Talia said. “Please resume, Kennedy.”
“It’s as embarrassing for me as it is for you,” Kennedy said.
“No, he’s not your brother.”
“Oh my gosh,” Lillian squealed. “Did your brother walk in on you guys?”
I buried my face in my hands as the room filled with laughter. Kennedy comforted me with a hand on my back. I pretended to be mortified a few moments longer just so she had an excuse to rub.
“Sounds like you have a lot of bad hook-up stories,” Lillian said.
I was done acting and shot up to glare at her. Competitive side activated. Kennedy retrieved her hand. “World champs last year,” I said. “I’d say that was pretty successful.”
“Oh yeah,” Talia said, scowling. “South Korea. When we roomed together, and you sexiled me.”
“What? You sexiled her?” Kennedy said with eagerness in her tone.
“Can I tell her?” Lillian said.
“That depends on if she can handle a hook-up story,” I replied.
Kennedy rolled her eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself so much.” She turned back to Lillian. “We’re drinking buddies right now. Drinking buddies don’t keep secrets from each other, especially when they have to do with Quinn.”
I sipped my water and leaned back, fulling taking in Kennedy trying to pry info out of Lillian. If she didn’t care about my sex life, would she have yanked for information from my roommate? No, she wouldn’t have.
“Quinn slept with her archrival last year at the world champs,” Lillian said. “It happened in their hotel room. Poor Talia got booted.”
“Amira Kőszegi is drop dead gorgeous,” Talia said, her eyes zoning out as if picturing the beauty. Amira had that effect even on straight women. “If she came on to me, I would say, fuck us hating her for being so good, let’s go to bed.”
“Wow, Talia. Ruby Rose and Amira Kőszegi are the two girls to convert you?” I asked.
“I mean, everyone is a little gay. I’ve appreciated beautiful women in the past.”
I lowered my water. This was new information. “Have you?”
“Once or twice. I follow Amira Kőszegi on Instagram. She posts really sexy modeling pictures. She’s a huge model in Hungary, you know.”
“Oh, I’m well aware.”
I wanted to tell them she was even more gorgeous when she was below you, but I fought the urge to say it. For Kennedy’s sake.
“I still can’t believe you slept with your competition,” Lillian said, shaking her head. “I’m not sure if I should be impressed or feel betrayed that you slept with the enemy.”
“Probably a little bit of both,” Kennedy said quietly, but I could read the dulled smile on her face, almost as if she forced herself to give a half grin to show the story didn’t bother her.
Speaking of Amira, the conversation segued into Lillian and Talia telling me that I had to be the one to prevent her from upsetting Team USA for the second time. Kennedy drank her beer in silence, and I felt bad for bragging about my hookup in front of her. I didn’t want the weirdness to linger for the rest of the night. We only had a few hours left before it ended. As much as it killed me to know that we were in the middle of walking cautiously around our feelings, it was a little comforting to know that I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.
Hoping to get us back to the mood from before my Amira story, I offered to get her another drink.
The weight of the story hung in the air until guests started arriving, mostly college swim friends who’d stayed in the city after graduation. After introducing Kennedy to everyone who came through the door, she held her own for a little bit while I mingled, but then she migrated back to Talia and me when the two of us were discussing Olympic ring tattoos.
“Promise me you’ll let me know when you’re getting it,” Talia said. “Because I want to come with. I think this is very overdue.”
“I don’t think I deserved the tattoo when I only medaled in the relay.”
“I think you’re selling yourself short. You swam the 400-free.”
“And took fourth.”
“You’re getting a tattoo?” Kennedy said from behind me, squeezing into the conversation.
“After the Olympics,” I said. “It’s basically a badge of honor. All the swimmers have one.”
“Except for this one,” Talia said and hooked a thumb at me, “who refused to get one after Rio because she didn’t have her own events.”
Kennedy rolled her eyes. “Sounds like Quinn.”
“Never giving herself enough credit?”
“Exactly! Talia, where’s your tattoo?”
She rolled up her shirt sleeve on her right arm to show the rings on her bicep. Lillian got hers on her left shoulder blade. Both of them got their rings after Rio, where they won their first gold medals.
“Where are you going to get this tattoo?” Kennedy asked.
“I have no idea. Any suggestions?”
“Hmm.” She tapped her bottle against her lips. She looked at my face, then my neck, then my arms, then spent quite a bit of time on my stomach. She practically stripped my clothes off, and during the long look, heat crawled up my spine and the back of my neck. “Your hips,” she said. “Right there.” With her pointer and middle finger, she drew a circle on my bare hip, and the touch of her most important fingers on my sensitive waistline spread a dull throb to my center. She could rub her fingers in circles there as long as she wanted.