13.)

I couldn't believe I was lathering Blossom Brixley in tanning oil. The only world where I thought that would happen was if cheerleaders became the dominant caste and nobodies like me were their slaves. Before I could become enraptured in a new fantasy, I shook my head and grabbed my towel. I wrapped it around my stomach and stood awkwardly in the corner while Blossom finished up. I still had to help with her back, but that was a lot easier than her front.

There was a lot more that Blossom wanted to do and say, there was a lot more she could have leveraged from that moment, but she didn't want to make a mistake. So Blossom did the uncharacteristic thing of restraining herself. Once the two were both lathered up, Blossom took Mia by the hand and led her down onto the beach to find a spot to lay down.

Blossom made a note to make sure Mia had a proper swimsuit next time, because she couldn't wait to see her with tanlines.

"Alright, lay down here on this towel."

"This is kind of public..." I lamented. "We couldn't do this on the deck?"

"Probably," Blossom shrugged. "But it would take longer."

"I'm okay with that," I said, but she gave me a look. One of those "you're being difficult" looks. I had gotten enough of those in my life to recognize them right away. So, with a sigh, I laid out the towel and sat down on it. I unfolded the towel around my stomach and laid on my back.

"So I just lay here?" I asked.

"Yup. Close your eyes. Sometimes we wear sunglasses but that has its own risks, so we're just going to do closed eyes today."

Blossom was already pretty tan. Mia wasn't at all. 30 minutes today, tops, and then she'd take her new friend inside and rub her down with moisturizer to keep her skin happy.

"Once you get your own swimsuit," Blossom said, "the tanlines on your bottom half will look better. Right now it'll just look like shorts, which is fine, but there are sexier underwear lines to have tanned into you. Trust me."

"I don't see why it matters," I said passively, laying there with my eyes closed. "No one is going to see my legs." Under the heat of the sun, it was actually a rather warm October day. I thought I would get cold closer to the water, but so far that wasn't the case.

"Oh I don't know about that," Blossom teased. "If you wear a diaper when you're here next week, I might see them."

Blossom wore a cheeky smile, even though both of them had their eyes closed and neither could see it. She liked to imagine Mia was blushing when she said that, and she also hoped that nobody else had been close enough to hear.

I didn't know what to say. We'd talked about the whole diaper thing in theory. We talked about my stories, and the kind of things we liked about them. I knew she had never worn one before. She knew I had. But the implication of us doing so together - of me doing it? I froze up. A part of me continued to wonder if maybe it was all a trick. She puts me in a diaper, snaps a picture, and then blackmails me. But maybe I had just read one too many stories...

"Mia?" Blossom asked, after a long silence.

I nodded, but I didn't say anything. Both our eyes were closed, and I knew she couldn't see, but I felt too queasy to talk. Thankfully, Blossom had no such issues.

"It's okay if you don't want to," she said. "I was just teasing."

Wasn't the whole point of going to that munch to make friends like Blossom? I wanted to play with someone local, didn't I? I thought I did. But now that it was here in front of me - now that it was Blossom Brixley of all people...

"Roll over," Blossom said quietly after what must have been forever.

I did so. On my stomach, I could open my eyes. My skin felt a little tingly, but not in a bad way. Actually, the heat and the light of the sun was starting to feel relaxing.

I turned my head to look at Blossom. Her eyes were still closed. Her bare ass was mooning the ocean. Her top was tied in impossible knots. Her face was soft and quiet. She looked like she was asleep. She looked so... unthreatening.

"I'm nervous," I admitted. "I know it's stupid and mean, but I just keep thinking... this is a joke. That you want to hurt me..."

"I know, and I deserve that opinion of me," Blossom muttered. "I was a pretty awful girl in high school, and I'm really not much better now. I got my status by stepping on people lower on the social hierarchy - of course you're going to be afraid."

There was something in her voice, a sort of tone of... well, remorse, mostly. Maybe something else.

"I promise I'm not out to hurt you."

Was there a way she could prove that, though? Was there a way that Blossom could prove to Mia that she wasn't just looking to humiliate her, or embarrass her, or black–

Hah. There sure was.

"I'll wear one if you do, and I'll let you take pictures. So you'll have something on me. And then you can feel less at a disadvantage."

"No, that's..." I put my head down on the towel and sighed. The truth was, even if I had pictures of her in diapers, she could probably play it off like a prank or a joke or something. Blossom just had that kind of magnetic energy. It was hard to oppose her. There was no security in blackmailing her. And besides... "I don't want to feel this way. I don't want to distrust you. And I don't want you to be afraid of me just because I'm afraid of you."

"I wanna improve your life, Mia Moore. I wanna be your friend, I wanna show you my world in little pieces, I wanna know more about yours. I wanna help you work out your writer's block, or whatever it is. I just wanna know you. You've been a pretty big part of my life, in this weird parasocial way. And I'd like it to be less weird, and more real. Does that make sense?"

Blossom knew the timer would go off soon and it would divert the conversation, so she was eager to make at least some inroads.

"I know..." I sighed. "I'm trying..."

Maybe trying wasn't good enough. Maybe I wasn't capable of being her friend, or maybe I wasn't capable of being really honest with anyone. I couldn't even tell my best friend. How was I supposed to share this stuff with someone like Blossom?

"We can take it slow," Blossom offered.

"If you're sure," I sighed, but I didn't feel much better. I felt like it was inevitable that I would sabotage this friendship. Even if she didn't want to humiliate me or use me to get more Academy Works stuff, she wanted someone to play with. I couldn't give her everything she wanted. Maybe I couldn't even give her anything she wanted.