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wider. “That sounds serious.”
    You nod and put on your most serious face. “Oh, it is,” you tell him. “Incredibly serious. If someone doesn’t put sunscreen on my back right now, I might turn into a lobster.”
    His eyes go to your book. “Better than an insect,” he says. “Or what’s the actual description? A monstrous vermin?”
    You flip open
The Metamorphosis
. He’s quoted it exactly. “How’d you know that?” you ask.
    He shrugs. “Words stick in my head. Read that one last year. I’m Marco, by the way.”
    You introduce yourself and ask, “Did you read it for class?”
    He nods, then holds up
The Iliad
again, this time with the cover facing you. “This one’s summer reading for college. But it’s pretty good.”
    You’re shocked. “College gives you homework over the summer?”
    He sighs. “Yeah. Columbia does, at least. All incoming first years have to read this one. It seemsright to read it on the beach, though, because of lines like: ‘He saileth in his many-benched ship over the wine-dark sea.’”
    You look out at the ocean. “Doesn’t look so ‘wine-dark’ to me,” you say.
    Marco laughs. “Good point. So you want me to sunscreen you up?”
    You hand over the tube of sunscreen, and he pats the blanket in front of him. You sit down.
    â€œI heard you’re supposed to use about a shot glass full of sunscreen per application,” he says. “But since this is just for your back . . . what do you think, a quarter of a shot glass?”
    You twist your neck around to see if he’s serious about this. You can’t really tell. “A quarter of a shot glass sounds good to me,” you say.
    He nods and starts squeezing sunscreen into his palm. “I think that’s about right,” he says, holding his hand out so you can see it.
    â€œLooks good,” you say, trying not to laugh. There’s something kind of endearing about how seriously he’s taking this sunscreen job.
    He rubs the sunscreen into your back, and you feel how strong his fingers are. You wonderif he does finger exercises to strengthen them. Do people make finger weights? Little finger barbells? Or maybe it’s from the piano or something.
    â€œDo you play an instrument?” you ask.
    His hands disappear from your back. “I do,” he says. “The guitar. Why do you ask?”
    You’re glad he’s facing your back, because you know you’re blushing. “You, um, have really strong fingers,” you say.
    He rubs more sunscreen across your shoulders and the back of your neck. “I’ve got calluses, too, though, so they’re not very soft. Guitar strings are not kind to fingertips.”
    His hands disappear from your back again. “You’re all rubbed in,” he says.
    You flip around on the towel so you’re facing him. “Thanks,” you say. “I really appreciate it. I should probably let you get back to your book now.”
    Marco looks at you for a long moment. “You could,” he says. “Or you could take a walk with me along the shoreline. I think I might need a break from
The Iliad
, as lovely as it is.”
    You’re intrigued. You know that if you tell thisstory to Tasha, it’ll totally count as a point in the flirting challenge. But you wonder if Marco could be a point in the kissing challenge, too.
    Click here if you want to go for a walk with Marco.
    - - - - -
    Click here if you realize Tasha’s been gone a while and think you should probably go find her.
    Click here to go back to reading The Metamorphosis .
    - - - - -
    Click here to go back to the beginning and start over.

AS cute as retro-glasses guy and his dimple are, you decide you’d rather keep reading your book. You sunscreen your back as best you can and flip over onto your stomach. But before you have a