I turned the corner to the girls' bathing section of the store. Marco and Lee were right behind. "Are we going to invite Noah to come swimming with us?" Lee inquired. "We could. We're supposed to be friends now, aren't we?" I responded half-heartedly; I wasn't really in the mood for swimsuit shopping today. Bathing suits never looked good on me… "We can ask, but there's no guarantee he'll come," Marco shrugged. "Good point. Eh, we'll deal with that later. For now, it's swimsuit time!" Unlike me, Lee had an incurable enthusiasm about this whole thing.
The guys went to their part of the store, right next to mine. They scanned over the bathing trunk options while I begrudgingly searched through the girls' section. A groan echoed inside me. Nugh, I hate shopping for swimsuits; I've never really liked it. It was always so hard to pick anything out, and all of these were made for Korean women. Meanwhile I'm here with my broad hips and big thighs. None of these are going to look cute and dainty on me….
"Hmmmmmm, so many choices….. We'd look good in any of these, hey Marco?" "Heh, I'm sure we'll find something we'll like. What about you, Elle?" "Huh?" My shoulders flinched, his voice breaking my self-pity party. "How are you doing over there?" "O-Oh, fine!" I'm not sure why I blushed, but I did. "Find anything?" He pressed, though I'm sure he wasn't aware that he was doing so. My head shook almost timidly so. "N-Not yet!" "Ok then, we'll be over here." "Sure thing!" What's wrong with me? We're just looking for bathing suits; it's not like this is anything to be embarrassed about.
The embarrassment was ramped up to eleven, however, when Lee came bouncing over with this way too big bikini; and I mean big in the rack department. My whole face sizzled red as he showed it off to me. "Hey, Elle? What do you think of this one? Pretty cute, eh?" "That's way too big, Lee!" My hands clasped together in front of my chest. He looked confused. "Huh? No, it's not. You're skinny enough." "Not that way, you idiot! Find a smaller one! And no bikinis! Full pieces only." "What?! Those aren't sexy," Lee gasped. "I'm not going for sexy, Lee!" Well, I guess I'm going for cute, but I'm too big structure-wise for those kinds of bathing suits; at least in Korea. Man! I hate this! It never gets easier, even as an adult.
Lee put the bikini back and re-joined Marco in the men's department. I took the opportunity to find some modest one-pieces; all in pink. To be honest, I wasn't enthusiastic about any of them, but they were only one I remotely liked in the whole store. I wasn't lying when I said that bathing suit shopping wasn't fun for me. I grabbed the fifth one off the rack by the time Marco and Lee came over; their arms full of trunks. Looks like they didn't have any problems.
"Come on, Elle. We're gonna go try ours on," Lee grinned at me. My eyes grew wide, a bit taken aback. "T-Try them on? You mean in the same changing area?" "There's only one," my best friend laughed. Change…..? You mean, Marco's gonna see me in a swimsuit? Oh god, why does that feel so…. intimate? It's not intimate! Lots of guys are gonna see you in a swimsuit at the pool. Plus you're a grown woman who's had sex before. Showing a guy a swimsuit shouldn't be a big deal. It isn't a big deal! Only…. My cheeks blushed slightly. It's Marco…
I stayed in my changing room for much too long. None of the ones I picked out looked really right to me. I threw off the fourth one and grabbed the fifth. Well, it's either this one or I'll have to go back out and look again. I cringed so hard at the sudden voice calling out behind my curtain. "How's it coming? Do you need me to grab a different size for you, Elle?" Awe, Marco…. He's so kind. And I'm going to show him me looking all geeky in a bathing suit.
"Dude! I think we've found a winner!" Lee told Marco, coming out of his changing stall. "Nice," Marco complimented him. "Do I look hot or what?" "Definitely, but I don't know if I'm the right person to be answering that." "Eh, you'll do. Go try on your trunks, man! I'll pester Elle to get out here and show us." "Alright, but she may need another size." "Roger! Hey! You done changing in there, Elle! Come on! We wanna see!" Gees, Lee! Can you be anymore cringy? But I guess I can't put it off any longer…. I sucked in a long breath and opened the curtain. Lee watched me reluctantly step out into the open.
"So…. What do you think?" I stood there, looking as uncomfortable as I sounded. Lee gave me a once over and shrugged his shoulder. "Eh. A bikini would be hotter." "We're not going for hot, Lee! How does it look naturally?! Does it…. look alright?" "Yeah, it's fine. But I don't know why you've gotten so shy about showing skin in recent years. You're the one who stripped at our house party in high school, don't forget." "I'm not that same girl anymore. I'm…. well, I'm just shy about showing off too much! Call me a virgin or something. Anyway….. So it does look ok?" "It's pretty, Elle; you'd look good in anything. But I still think you should go with a bikini. What do you think, Marco?"
My heart skipped a beat as Marco's curtain drew back. As if he couldn't be any more of an Adonis, he was so ripped and swoll; just like back in senior year. He was like a living work of art… And here I was, looking like someone didn't know how to dress their swimming barbie doll properly. He's going to think I look so whack compared to him…. I got ready to inwardly cry.
But I didn't cry, and Marco didn't say anything right away. He just stared at me for the briefest of moments; his eyes wide and absorbing. He wasn't smiling; it's like he got caught by surprise or something. My heart raced faster and faster as he turned his head to the side, refusing to look straight at me any longer. I swear, I could see the tops of his cheeks blushing slightly….. And it's moments like this I remember just how dense my best friend can be at times.
"What'd you think, Marco? Cute, eh?" Marco still declined to even glance at me again. He kept his eyes locked onto the wall beside him. "Yeah, she's….. beautiful." Marco! I felt like I was going to explode from the inside out. Yet again, he acted as if he caught himself, flinching a little. He blinked and spun right around, facing his back to us. "A-Anyway…. You better put some clothes on; you're going to catch a cold." Marco…. My eyes grew. A secret grin rolled over my lips as I reverted back into my changing room. Meanwhile, Lee looked all bewildered and confused again.
"Hey dude, you don't seem to have a problem about me catching a cold!"