Chapter 27 I Sent it by Mistake
-Annie-
Summer
It’s been a fun summer. It was nice to visit my grandparents in Texas.
I got to go on some college visits to a few colleges, but mostly I’ve been enjoying the fact that my grandparents have a pool.
I’ve spent a large portion of my visit lying by the pool, getting a great tan, and checking off my summer reading for my upcoming senior year.
Mom and Miles join me at my grandparents' house for a few days before we head to Galveston to hit the cruise ship for our last family vacation before Miles starts football camp at his university.
Miles and I have one request on the ship, and that is that we get Wi-Fi so we can still text our friends.
Mom and Dad agree on the condition that all dinners are phone-free…
for everyone but Mom. She gets her phone to capture all the moments and adventures during the cruise.
We all have different activities throughout the day.
***
Today, I take myself poolside again, trying to soak in every last drop of summer.
I’ve been texting Meg about a few of the cute boys here at the pool.
She's been asking me if I’m in the new bikini we picked out together before I left.
She follows the message with a selfie of her looking all sad.
Before I can reply, the waiter shows up to give me my smoothie.
I fumble my phone for a second, trying to hold it and the smoothie.
Thank goodness I don’t drop either, and the waiter moves on to the next customer.
I’d settled for this smoothie because even though I turned eighteen in June, and I was able to drink at the port stops in Mexico, the boat upheld American laws.
The smoothie tastes good, and before I set it down, I decide that I should send Meg back a selfie of my own.
I open my phone, taking a photo of myself with my smoothie and its little umbrella by the pool.
I type out a comment I know will make Meg laugh, then put my phone down to enjoy the sound of summer and pick up the book I still need to finish before school starts in a few weeks.
***
I’ve been reading the book for a while when my phone vibrates a few times on the table.
I mark my place in the book and open my phone.
I almost drop the phone when I see who has replied to my photo and my comment.
OMG, I must have hit a wrong button or two and selected Drew’s name.
I think it must have happened when I’d almost dropped it earlier.
It wouldn’t have taken that many actions; he was the only other person I’d texted in the last few days.
Our conversations had been about baseball and jokes about the summer reading list dragging on.
It had not been half-naked selfies and definitely wasn’t like my last text message.
Annie
Suns out, girls out! What do you think?
Drew Davis
Did you mean to send me this?
I don’t mind if you want to send me more
Annie
OMG, sorry about that
Before I can text anything else, I get a photo back. It takes a little time to load, and before it finishes, I get another message.
Drew Davis
Figured I’d send you mine to keep it even
Suns out guns out, what do you think?
And before you ask I did mean to send the picture
The photo loads, and it’s a selfie of Drew outside at the baseball field with his shirt off, flexing his bicep.
He is all tan skin and abs, muscles for days until they run to the edge of his pants.
I think I stop breathing, looking at his body like this.
What has travel baseball done to Drew? Did he have all these muscles before he left?
Before thinking better of it, I hit the button to save his photo.
Annie
In full honesty, I saved the photo
Drew Davis
So did I, may have even made it my lock screen
Annie
Did you really?
Drew Davis
It’s a nice photo, Annie
Annie
Fine, fair is fair, lock screen it is
Drew Davis
I feel honored, see you in two weeks
Let me know if you need any new material
Annie
Ditto
And I make his photo my lock screen like I said I would.
It’s not like I can’t change it later. But here alone at the pool, I can enjoy the picture of my next-door neighbor.
I’ll worry about changing it back later: right now I’m on vacation after all, and Drew handed me the best eye candy of my summer.