Jean had expected Danika to call first. He told her she could use the pool anytime during the week since the house was all his. His parents were away for ten days, and this was the most privacy he’d ever been able to enjoy. What to do. His cousin was standing on the front porch holding a beach towel and waiting to be let through to the back yard. “-kind of presumptive” Jean thought, but he was never unhappy to see Danika. They weren’t the closest of cousins but were never strangers either. Neither of them could remember the first time they met the other. They were only a few months apart in age and had just always been around.
Jean had expected Danika to call first. He was on his way to the pool himself, and wearing his blue spandex racer briefs, the ones he wore for the school water polo team. Not standard pool gear in North America, and Jean had never been seen in them except on the pool deck. “Well, if she’s uncomfortable then this is what happens when you show up unannounced” he thought, not dwelling on the matter too much. She’s family, after all. They may have taken a few baths together as toddlers. Jean opened the door.