Brick didn’t remember falling asleep by the motel pool. When he awoke, he sorely regretted it. As he stirred on the plastic lounge chair, he felt miserable. Placing a hand on his stomach made him wince.
“Oh no,” he groaned. After all the times he warned his daughter about using sunscreen, Brick made the mistake of napping under the blazing July sun with no protection. His chest, arms, and legs were as bright red like his hair.
“Terrific,” Brick muttered to himself. “Just terrific.”
The “me-cation” as his friends dubbed it was not going well. Lacie was spending three weeks at Camp Oak Falls, meaning Brick found himself with little to do while his only child was roughing it in the woods. This was the first summer since Lacie was born that they hadn’t gone on vacation to the Jersey shore together.
Brick winced as he pulled himself off the lounge chair, hating the sound of his back being yanked from the plastic straps. Like Velcro being torn.
Finally free of the chair, Brick inspected his arms, legs, and chest. He’d been thoroughly cooked.
I feel like a side of bacon, he thought to himself while grabbing his Hawaiian shirt off the ground. As he bent over, he noticed his stomach was beginning to obscure his feet. Yeah, I guess bacon was the right word.
A rumbling sound from above broke Brick from his depreciative thoughts. Looking up, he saw clouds were beginning to obscure the sun.
“And where were you when I needed you?” Brick cursed the heavens. Their answer came in the form of rain. The rest of the motel guests cursed and groaned as rain began to fall and they emptied out of the pool. Just as well. At least no one else could stand around to gawk at his sunburn.
As Brick made his way to the gate separating the pool from the rest of the Pink Lotus, a brawny toned, big-bellied guy in a blue bathing suit ran past him and cannonballed directly into the deep end. Brick jumped out of the way, avoiding getting splashed, when the brawny redhead emerged from the water and let out a satisfied laugh.
“What are you doing?” Brick suddenly demanded to know. “It’s raining!”
“I know! Isn’t it great?” The happier redhead announced. “I love swimming in the rain.”
Confused, Brick asked “Why?”
“It’s not like I can get any wetter, now can I?” Brick wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “You jumpin’ in or what?” The other redhead asked. “You look like you could use a little cooling down anyway.”
Brick instinctively closed his shirt, realizing his sunburnt belly had been visible for the other redhead to see. That just made the other guy laugh before dunking his head beneath the water.
Standing at the edge of the pool, Brick went over his options. He could either sulk back to his room to sit in the AC and watch daytime TV as he applied lotion to his red skin or have the pool to himself and one other guy while potentially being struck by lightning.
Brick flung his shirt off and jumped in.
The relief the cold, chemically treated water brought was instantaneous. As Brick stuck his head up from the depths, he felt the rain falling onto his head. The droplets made multiple ripples in the water.
“Doesn’t that feel great?” The other redhead asked as he swam up to Brick.
“You do this a lot?” Brick asked.
“When I can,” the redhead explained. “I find it soothing. Name’s Sky by the way.”
“Brick.”
“Some kids left their beach balls in the shallow end,” Sky pointed towards the other side of the pool. “Wanna hit one around before they come looking for it?”
“Not like I have anything better to do,” Brick bluntly answered.
“That’s the spirit!” Sky laughed again and slapped Brick on the back before swimming over to the shallow end. Brick was grateful his back wasn’t burned, or he would’ve probably killed the other guy for that.
The rain continued to fall as Brick and Sky played an impromptu game of water volleyball. Brick wondered if any of the other guests were watching the two swimming around in the rain. He was certain the beach goers heading up from the sandy dunes must’ve seen the two men and wondered why they weren’t inside.
“That was my point!” Sky announced when Brick missed the ball.
“Oh, we’re keeping points now?” Brick asked. “And how many would that be?”
“Me one, you zero,” Sky said. Brick quickly punted the ball too fast for Sky to hit.
“Now we’re tied,” Brick replied.
“Hey, no fair, I wasn’t ready!” Sky joked as he hit the ball back.
“You sound like my daughter,” Brick replied.
“You’re here with your kid?” Sky asked.
“Huh? No, she’s at camp.”
“Ahh, took a dadcation, huh?” Sky answered.
“A what?”
“A dadcation. When a dad goes on vacation by himself.” Sky explained.
“You just made that up,” Brick insisted. He didn’t want to admit he liked that better than “me-cation.” “And what about you? Are you taking a ‘dadcation’ too?”
“Nope,” Sky proudly announced as he spiked the ball. “Here with the love of my life and our two adorable children.”
“So where are they?” Brick wondered.
“My better half took them out shopping on the boardwalk,” Sky explained.
“You didn’t join them?”
“I was taking a nap in the room, told them I’d catch up later,” Sky hit the ball low. “When I saw it started raining, I couldn’t resist. Just jumped in without thinking.”
Brick couldn’t help but laugh and said, “You’re weird, you know that?”
“Thank you!” And with that he hit the ball hard enough to send it out of the pool.
“Smooth move,” Brick declared.
BOOM!
“Uh-oh,” Sky said, and swam towards the ladder.
“You’re not sticking around?” Brick asked.
“Hey, I like swimming in the rain,” Sky clarified. “I didn’t say I’m up for getting electrocuted.”
Seeing a bolt of lightning crack the horizon, Brick quickly swam towards the pool’s edge. As he began to hoist himself up, Sky bent down and offered a hand. The brawnier redhead pulled Brick out like he was nothing. Grabbing his shirt and beach towel (now soaking wet) and his room key, Brick followed Sky out of the rain into a nearby stairwell.
“Um, thanks,” the red-suited redhead said to the blue one. “Hold on, lemme get some dry towels from my room.”
“Awesome,” Sky said. “Because I kinda left my key in my room.”
“Dork,” Brick replied. He left Sky standing there a moment before returning with two towels. Brick handed him a pink-and-blue towel with an anime design on it.
“Ultramarine Blue?” Sky asked, eyeing the character on the towel.
“Don’t tell me you’re worried about being seen with a girl towel.”
“Not at all, my kids love this show!” Sky said as he dried his hair.
“So does my Lacie. She forgot to bring that with her to camp. I told her to make sure she had everything packed.” Brick shook his head. “Kids.”
“Well, I thank Lacie for her sacrifice.” Brick wrapped a black-and-white stripped towel across his waist.
“I have some heavy-duty moisturizer if you need it,” Sky offered. “Rhea made sure we were prepared for anything on this trip. Ahh, she thinks of everything. I can get it when she comes back with the twins.”
“Nah, that’s okay,” Brick shook off the offer. “I already owe you anyway.”
“Owe me?”
“I haven’t had the greatest time by myself on this trip,” Brick revealed. “I think I forgot how to have fun by myself. Like, without my kid around. I don’t know.” Brick groaned. “I don’t think I know how to stop being a dad. When Lacie’s not here it’s weird. We usually do everything together when we’re on vacation. I’ve just been lazing around feeling sorry myself.” He looked down at his stomach. “That’s probably how I put on a few pounds.”
“Um, newsflash, you never stop being a dad once you start,” Sky chuckled. “Once you have a kid, you’re a dad for life. But you’re still you. And you’re allowed to have fun by yourself even if your daughter’s not here.”
“Tell that to my subconscious.”
“Your subconscious needs to get over itself.” Sky bluntly replied. “Also, you look good with it on.”
Brick couldn’t tell if he was blushing, or it was just sunburn.
“Now don’t take that the wrong way,” Sky explained, placing his hands on his chest and dreamily sighing. “My heart belongs to my one and only. That was me stating an objective fact.”
“How about we objectively check out the arcade games they’ve got here until your family comes back,” Brick offered. “My treat.”
“Considering my wallet’s locked in the room of course it’s your treat.”
“And because you pointed that out, I’ll play and you can watch.”
“I take back my body-positive compliment.”
Jude Deluca's a nonbinary aegosexual Capricorn and professional detective of horror fiction. Their areas of interest are magical girls, slasher fiction, YA horror, superhero dads, and big beautiful men. They can be found on twitter as @judedeluca1990, and everywhere else as @judedeluca
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