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When they got back to the beach the sun was just setting. Gregg, Angus and Jen headed over to where a group of perhaps ten people were hanging out under a long pier, but Bea and Mae decided to walk the pier first as the last rays of the setting sun sunk behind them and the giant-seeming moon rose on the horizon before them.

“God, that’s beautiful,” Mae said as they arrived at the end of the pier.

Bea sat at the end and Mae sat beside her, watching the moon rise imperceptibly before them, it’s glow bouncing from the shallow waves. She tore her eyes away to look at Mae, the moon’s glow in her friends eyes. She really liked this cat, even if she didn’t know why exactly. She took Mae’s hand and turned back to watch the moon-rise.

Finally the bottom of the moon crested the horizon and they stood up.

“Come on,” Bea said. “Let’s go be sociable.”

“I’ve not been much fun at parties since I got back, have I?”

Bea ruffled her hair. “Oh, don’t worry about it Mae. Let’s just go have fun.”

Mae took a deep breath and followed her friend back. As they walked over the people under they pier, they heard an acoustic guitar.

“Jeeze,” Bea scowled, “does there have to be one of those guys at every party?!”

But just as they got to the end of the pier and turned back, a new noise took over. Somebody had obviously brought a boom box of some sort, and the acoustic guitar was drowned out by the sound of an overly compressed bass drum beat and an impossibly perfect-pitched female singer.

“BRING BACK THE GUITAR!” Bea laughed over the thumping, but she had to admit she found the tune catchy at least.

“Hi Bea! Hi Mae!” said the gator boy from the volleyball game. He was holding out two plastic red cups.

“Hi Jon!” Mae said, taking the proffered drink happily.

“What’s this?” Bea asked, looking into the cup.

“Cheap-ass hard cider,” he smiled as she tasted it.

“Mmm! Not bad,” she admitted.

“There’s a keg underneath if you prefer beer. I don’t touch the stuff myself.”

“Na, this is fine. You know these people?”

Jon turned around and looked where a bunch of guys were gathered around while Jen and a few other girls danced to the music.

“Yeah. Locals. You’re with Gregg and Angus, right? Jen introduced them a while ago.”

Mae and Bea nodded.

“Okay, let me give you a rundown first. They guy with the stereo is Lame Ken.”

“What’s he some kinda dick or something?” Bea asked.

“Na. Got a bum leg. He’s okay actually. Does these parties most weekends. The girl in the red bikini dancing is his girlfriend Francis. The blonde cat is her friend Kotex but don’t call her that.”

Bea snorted and Mae giggled.

“Yeah. Long story. Anyway, Kurt and I don’t hang with this group much, but they’re okay anyway. Lame Ken’s dad is the Sheriff so the cops leave us alone pretty much as long as we don’t make any trouble.”

They were introduced to the others and it was clear that Angus and Gregg were having a blast. Mae even started dancing once she’d gotten enough alcohol to overcome her shyness.

“What about you, Bea?” Jon asked as they watched the dancers later, a bonfire providing the light now that the sun had truly sunk.

“Me? Sometimes. When I’m drunk enough.”

Jon shook her empty cup. “I can get you some more!”

“Na. I gotta drive back tonight.”

“Oh yeah. Hey, you wanna walk up the beach or something?”

Bea looked at the fellow gator. He was shorter than she was, and seemed sincere enough.

“Fuck it, why not. Sure Jon. Let’s go for a moonlit stroll on the beach.”

Jon stood up and held out his hand. She slapped it away disgustedly, though a shift of the sand as she stood caused her to grab him for a second anyway.

“Sorry Jon. You don’t know me, I know. I’m a bitch. You should know that.”

“Not exactly a traditional girl then I assume.”

They walked towards the water’s edge as they talked.

“Jon, I run a hardware store in Possum Springs by myself. I can dead lift a 50 lb sack of Quikcrete and I’m in debt up to my eyeballs. I think that’s all you need to know about me.”

“Well, not quite all.”

Bea looked at him warily.

“You and Mae?”

“Oh. We’re best friends I guess. Why, you hoping to fuck me tonight before I leave?”

Jon said nothing and Bea immediately regretted what she’d said.

“Sorry Jon. You’re alright and I shouldn’t have said that. I’m just not very good at this stuff, you know?”

“You’re honest I suppose,” he said with a nervous chuckle.

Bea pulled a cigarette out of her bag and lit it. “Are you?” she asked, then thought about the cigarette. “Oh, and I smoke.”

They heard the patter of feet approaching behind them, which Bea immediately recognized.

“Hey guys!” Mae said. “Mind if I come with?”

“Na,” Bea said, blowing smoke out through her nostrils.

“Watcha doin’?” Mae asked, oblivious to the obvious as usual.

“Moonlit stroll,” Bea said, realizing she really didn’t mind having Mae along. Made things less obvious.

“Ooo! How romantic!” Mae said, taking Jon’s hand.

“It is, isn’t it?!” Bea said with a bit of an evil tone and took his other hand.

“Er… this isn’t exactly how I’d imagined it,” Jon laughed, “but I don’t mind!”

“So what do you like to do Jon?” Mae asked, swinging his arm in exaggerated arcs. “Other than play vollyball with nerdy girls?”

“Oh, not much. Mostly I’m a manager at a pizza place just a few blocks inland.”

“Bea owns a hardware store!” Mae said, as if revealing a secret of the ages.

“Yeah, so I heard,” he laughed, looking up at Bea.

“I run it. I don’t own it,” Bea corrected.

“Hey, you ever skinny dip in the ocean?!” Mae asked, and Bea sighed. It was bound to happen.

“Um… no.”

“You know what it means? Skinny dipping?”

“Yes, Mae, I know what it means.”

“Wanna?”

“Mae,” Bea said with a firmness in her voice that she hoped would get through. “I am not taking my bikini off in public.”

“Didn’t ask you!” Mae laughed and pulled down Jon’s shorts.

Jon screeched the cutest “Aaagh!” and covered himself reflexively.

“Sorry Jon,” Bea puffed. “Meet drunk Mae.”

“MAE!”

“Come on Jonnyboy! Let’s go!”

Jon looked back at Bea.

“Don’t look at me, I’m a neutral observer. You do you.”

Mae had waded into the water and threw something that hit John full in the face.

Bea sighed and sat down at the water’s edge. Yup. Mae’s bikini bottom. Jon chased Mae into the water, as was practically fore-ordained. Bea watched the events unfold before her almost as if watching a bad movie.

Yup, there’s the slow motion chase through the water, with the boy inevitably catching the girl - who most likely wasn’t trying all that hard to get away. Oh! And she goes underwater, knocking him down. So… did she….

Stage two complete. Guy’s swim-trunks now removed as well and thrown up on the beach as guy stands back up feigning embarrassment and the chase begins again.

Bea pulled a last drag on her cigarette, knowing it was going to get wet at this rate. She tossed it and got up, lumbering over to where Jon’s trunks lay and picked them up, no longer caring to watch the antics since she had seen this sort of movie before. She dutifully grabbed Mae’s bikini bottom as well and took it with her back to the dry sand.

One more requirement, Bea thought, before the tableau could be considered complete. It would take some wrassling first, but it was bound to…

And there it was. The two silhouettes in the moonlight playing out the climax of the story. The top comes off and they stand breathing hard, their laughter dying out as they realize they are standing face to face now, nothing between them but water and air.

And then they come together.

Bea left her bag and swimwear on the beach as she waded out to the two. Mae handed her the bikini top without even looking, as the two continued their passionate embrace. Meanwhile Bea splashed her way back to shore with bad grace.

She lit another cigarette, sat on the sand and stared at the moon, debating if she should go back to the party with their swimwear. But alas, she wasn’t the prankster type. No, she would just wait here till the story played itself out. It wouldn’t go too far, she knew. There’s only so much you can do in the ocean, and Mae couldn’t hold her breath for all that long.

Perhaps if she wasn’t there they could have sneaked out of the ocean and gotten themselves covered in sand while letting nature take it’s course, but that wasn’t going to happen. She was going back home tonight, and Mae was going with her, no matter her protests.

The two had gone back to playing in the ocean while Bea thought about her own feelings. It wasn’t something she spent a lot of time doing, but she wondered if she shouldn’t be having some feelings of jealousy or something. She liked Mae, and after the last few days it was clear she liked her a lot, yet now, with Mae frolicking in the ocean with some boy she barely knew, Bea felt nothing but happiness for her friend. At most she was just a little irked that she was left alone here while they played around.

“Hey Bea, could you bring us our swimsuits?” Mae called a while later.

“Fat chance!” Bea called back, standing and dangling them like carrots in front of a horse. “Here they are! Come get em yourselves.”

Though she could only make out their silhouettes against the rising moonlight, they were coming closer and she could hear Jon begging Mae to bring his back, but she kicked him and ran out of the water.

Bea handed Mae her clothes which she quickly got into, while Jon tried to cover himself as he climbed out of the low surf.

Bea chuckled and tossed his trunks to him, which he caught in midair - exposing himself reflexively.

“What do you think, Bea?” Mae asked, not taking her eyes off the embarrassed gator.

“Well, to give him credit, it is a little cool with the breeze and all. Probably not the best conditions for impressing us with his manliness.”

“That’s right! Why, I’m downright massive in the right circumstances!” Jon protested as he shoved himself inside the trunks.

Bea decided she liked the guy. He could at least take a joke.

“Mae, it’s getting late. I think we need to be thinking about getting back.”

“Can I walk you to your car?” Jon asked.

“Sure!” Mae said and the three began the long trudge back up the beach, stopping by to say goodbye to Angus and Gregg.

“Will you be back again?” Jon asked as they approached Bea’s car.

“Oh, probably not, often,” Bea said. “It’s quite a ways from home, but with Angus and Gregg moving here, we’ll surely drop by once in awhile.”

“Sorry Jon,” Mae said, “but it was fun!”

“It was,” Jon said, and gave Mae a little kiss, which she returned with gusto.

“I’ll write you on IM,” he said as she got in the car.

“You’d better!” she laughed as Bea started the car.

“Say hi to Kurt and Jeff!” she called back as Bea drove off.

Bea turned on the radio on low, and Mae began fiddling with it till she found a love-song station.

“Had fun then?” Bea asked.

“The best. Jon’s pretty cute, isn’t he?”

“Yup. I suppose so. And apparently you’re not…”

“I don’t know what I am Bea,” Mae said. “I just like to have fun, you know?”

“Yeah. I guess I kinda am too.”

“You still got my dry clothes in your bag?”

“In the bag in back.”

“Don’t look, I’m gonna change out of these wet things.”

“Mae, don’t you think I’ve seen you often enough these last few days? Kinda silly thing to say isn’t it?”

“Heh. Yeah, I guess so.”

Soon she had the wet clothes off, but instead of changing, she let the wind from the open window dry her off while she hung a foot out of the window.

“Mae, be careful. We’re going pretty fast on the Interstate.”

“I will,” she said, laying her head on Bea’s lap while putting both feet slightly out of the window. Bea decided it was safe enough.

“Feels good,” Mae said, luxuriating in the night breeze on her fur.

An hour passed as Mae dried off, and both just sang along to sappy songs on the radio that neither would ever admit knowing in company with others. Bea considered how nice it was to be able to hang out with someone who knew her this well, even if Mae was a little broken.

Finally Mae climbed halfway over the seat to rummage her dry clothes out of Bea’s bag, her butt practically in Bea’s face.

“Mae! Do you mind?”

“Oh, don’t lie. You like my ass.”

Bea laughed. “It’s alright,” she admitted.

Suddenly something fluttered around in the rear view mirror like a large rectangular moth in the back seat, flitting around from one side to the other in the wind.

Bea’s heart stopped.

“Mae! Get that! It’s my check!”

Mae turned back around, “What?”

But before Bea could say anything else, the weird moth flew out of Mae’s window and Bea hit the brakes hard.