Chapter 3

I got up Sunday in a much better mood then I was in after my loss in Mario Kart, last night. My parents like usually were nowhere to be found. Mom was probably at the country club with her girlfriends and dad was off on a business trip still. My brother had gone out and I was left home alone.

By lunch time, it had warmed up and was turning into the hottest day of the year so far. Our pool looked so inviting that I felt like I had to go in. I loved the water and went swimming whenever I could. My mom had signed me up for swim lessons when I was little, because it was the thing to do, and with the added benefit, that got me out of her hair. Not that she was a mean mom; she just found it hard to relate to us kids.

At swim lessons, I had taken to it like a duck to water, and now whenever I could I would swim laps in our pool. I was excited, as today was the first time this year that it was really warm enough to go in the water.

In my room I rummaged through my dresser till I found last year's bathing suit. Last year was the first time I had gotten a bikini swimsuit. It was a red and white floral print, and I liked it so much that I would probably only buy bikinis from now on.

I strip down and put on the bikini bottoms. They were a bit tight on me; I guess I had filled out some since last summer. The top barely fit; it was just a clasp in the back and wasn't really adjustable. Even though it was a bit uncomfortable, I didnt have anything else to wear, and I really wanted to go swimming. I grabbed a towel, a book, a drink, and some snacks and headed outside.

Years ago my dad had a privacy fence put in and had a pool and Jacuzzi installed. And since there were no houses behind ours, as the backyard was up against some woodlands, it was very secluded. I placed my stuff by one of the lawn chairs and went over to the pool. I dipped my toes in.

Damn it was cold. Did I really want to go in? Na, I'll just sun for a while, I decided. I wanted to swim, but it was just too cold.

I lay down in the lawn chair and picked up the book Jen had given me. It was some vampire romance that she really liked.

After a couple hour of sitting in the sun, I began to feel really hot, so put the book down and went and dove into the water.

"Holy shit, that's cold!"

I went from, being hot to freezing, so I started swimming laps to warm up. I didn't get as many done as I would have like, I was a bit out of shape, not having done any swimming since last summer, and plus the water was freezing and I was too cold to continue.

I got out and wrapped the towel around myself to dry off. The warm sun felt really nice now. After drying off I sat back down and picked the book back up.

It was about this half-vampire girl who hunts down a kills vampires because a vampire raped her mom and that union resulted in her. And now she was at war with herself because she was falling for a vampire that she was hunting. Though, of course she was fooling herself thinking that she needed to kill him.

After a while sitting there reading, my bikini top felt like it was really digging in and was hurting me a bit. I tried to ignore it but I just wanted it off. I was enjoying the sun and didn't want to go inside to read. So, it was go inside and be able to take the top off, or stay outside in the sun and in a really uncomfortable top. Neither sounds good, I really wanted to be comfortable outside.

A sudden flash of memory surfaced in my mind, of being at the beach as a kid and seeing a woman lying on a blanket, soaking up the sun. I remember seeing her turning over to lie on her stomach and then reach behind her to unclasp her bikini top. It seemed weird to me because I was always told to keep my swimsuit on and wondered why no one yelled at her. I remember her staying like that for hours.

I could do the same.

I was a bit torn though, as I flipped over to my stomach. On one hand I knew no one could see me, but on the other it had been ingrained in me not to be naked in public. It felt a bit scandalous to take my top off. But I wasn't really taking it off, was I, just undoing the clasp. It still would be around me.

I sighed in relief as I reached behind me and unclasp my bikini top. Man that felt good; sometimes you don't really realize how uncomfortable something is until it was gone.

Freed from the confines of my top, I went back to reading my book. About half way through the book I got to a really steamy part. The half-vampire half-human heroine was about to confront the master vampire she was tracking. In her heart, she was conflicted about what to do. She was hired to kill him, yet for a reason she couldn't explain she felt drawn to him.