And She Made the Shape of My Heart With Her Hands

“Oh my God! It’s The Maine!” Yep. Another group of teenagers. Another set of photos. Another round of autographs. I stepped aside and let them do their thing and play famous.

“Pat, I think you’re just the cutest thing,” one girl squealed. Pat laughed and thanked her.

Another girl told John, “I want to like marry you or something!” He smiled his charming smile while signing something for her.

The whole day while we were walking around Des Moines, it was like this. Teenage girls would run up to the band and rant on about how cute they were, or how funny they were, or how great they played earlier, or just how much they loved them in general.

I would simply stand aside and let them have their fun. I didn’t mind it. The boys always said sorry afterwards or smiled apologetically, but I always assured them it was fine and not to worry about it. I understood completely.

After the crazy fan girls left, we started walking again down the busy streets. Suddenly John asked me something completely random.

“Did you bring a bathing suit, Cara?”

The confusion I felt made my brow furrow. I shook my head slowly. “No…?”

“Come on! It’s summer! How did you not bring a bathing suit?” Jared questioned me, his eyes wide and incredulously looking at me.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t really think about it. But yeah, you’re sort of right, Jared.”

“Well then I guess we know what we’re going to do now,” John remarked. I looked at him confused. He smiled. “We’re getting you a bathing suit.”

My mouth dropped open a little. “We’re? As in all of you guys are coming, too?” Pretty much all of them nodded and shrugged in agreement.

“It’ll be fun, Cara,” Pat promised.

“Well, alright then,” I stated a little reluctantly.

***

“Oooh. How about this?” John held up this skimpy little pink bikini. It was either made especially for a girl with mosquito bites as boobs, or a slut. The trashy thing had tacky silver sparkles everywhere.

“Absolutely not,” I replied.

John pouted. “Aw,” he mumbled. I giggled.

“Hey, this is sexy!” Pat held up this one-piece bathing suit. It was red and yellow, frills and ruffles everywhere. It looked like something a deranged old lady would be seen in.

I stared at it for a moment, my green eyes squinting humorously. “What the hell is that?” Pat and John laughed.

I scanned the discount racks as well as the overpriced ones. Then I pondered aloud, “Should I get something with a design like polka dots? Or just stick with a solid color?”

The two boys thought for a moment and shrugged. Then at the same time they answered, “It depends.” They looked at each other and smiled. I did, too.

Three minutes later, I was swamped with bathing suits Pat and John had picked out for me. They were looking harder than I was. As for Jared, Kennedy, Trevor, and my brother, well they just sat on a couch that was near the small dressing rooms. Lazy bums.

I walked in the dressing room with three bikinis. Of course out of the hundreds the two boys had found for me, I had to select only a couple to try on. I didn’t want to be here all day and possibly year, too.

I slipped the first one on. It was white with black leopard print, some with various colors of the rainbow filling them. It was already tied to fit me at the top. I looked in the mirror to observe myself.

“No,” I muttered to myself.

The top was too small for my C cup breasts. It made me look like I was desperately trying to show off my ‘goodies’. As for the bottoms, well they fit all right, I suppose.

“How’s the first one?”

“I don’t like it. It’s sort of too small,” I answered.

“Nonsense. Let’s see,” John coaxed.

I sighed and then ruefully opened the thin wooden door. I closed my eyes and shifted my weight to my right leg. Slowly, I opened my eyes and felt the blush coming on. Of course all their eyes were looking around the chest area. I backed up into the dressing room again.

“It wasn’t that bad, Cara,” Pat comforted me.

“Eh. Whatever. I told you it was too small, especially for my boobs.”

“What? Boobs! Cara, please don’t talk about your, err, chest. It’s weird and makes me want to run out of this store right now,” Garrett called out quickly. Everyone, including me, snickered.

Next I tried on a bathing suit that was just plain black with very thin white stripes crossing everywhere diagonally. It fit nicely but it just made me look too pale and washed out, not that I was bone white or anything.

I swung the door open and let everyone get a look at this one.

“I like the way it fits, but I don’t like how it makes my skin look so white,” I commented. Everyone nodded in agreement, even the ones on the couch, excluding my brother, who were now paying attention.

I disappeared back into the small space while stripping down and slipping on the final suit, which fit like a glove and looked good on me.

It was a halter-top and had sort of a messy plaid design everywhere. The design consisted of colors such as light green, dark green, scarlet, and a light blue. However the bathing suit itself was white. The bottoms matched exactly from the top, two strings hanging off each side from the ties.

I was simultaneously playing with the tie behind my neck, not even noticing that it was getting looser and looser by the second. It got so loose that the tie came undone soon enough.

“Cara?” Pat’s voice brought me back into reality.

I shook my head quickly. “Yeah?”

“Are you okay?” John asked.

“Well, yeah, but I can’t get this thing tied.”

“Oh. Come here then,” John declared.

I did as he said, getting the door open and with my backs to them. John came up to me and grabbed the two strings; I lifted my hair out of his way. I felt his fingers carefully tie the strings together. When he tied them tight enough for me, he securely place the bow on my neck, slowly letting go and letting his hand slightly trail down my upper back. I could hear his steady breathing as my stomach tied up into knots much similar to the one behind my neck at the moment.

As soon as John backed away from me, I turned around and held my arms out in a ‘tada’ sort of way.

“I like it,” Jared commented.

“Me too,” Pat agreed.

“So do I,” said John.

Kennedy spoke up, “Same here.”

“I like it, too.”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s hot and stuff,” Garrett said nonchalantly. Everyone looked at him like he was mental or something. “I meant the bathing suit, not her!” Everyone laughed, including me. My brother shook his head back and forth. “Let’s go now.”

“Fine, but care to tell me why I needed a bathing suit in the first place? I have a feeling that it was for a specific reason.” They all shrugged.

“You’ll see,” Pat finally answered me.

“Well, alright then,” I mumbled, getting changed back into my normal clothes.