-eng- Sleeping Cousin -rj353254- -

I found her on the wide screened-in porch. The lake beyond was black glass, and the only sound was the rhythmic, quiet scrape of a branch against the screen. Lena lay on the long wicker chaise, one arm thrown over her head, the other resting across her stomach. She was wearing a thin white tank top and shorts. Her mouth was slightly open. Asleep.

No lights. No fan. No excuse to stay in my assigned room, a closet-sized box of heat and stale pillows. -ENG- Sleeping Cousin -RJ353254-

The night was thick and wet. I could smell the lake, the citronella candle that had burned out hours ago, and something else—her shampoo. Coconut and something green. I watched the dim light from a distant dock play across her face. In sleep, the sharpness in her eyes was gone. The mocking tilt of her mouth had softened. She looked younger. She looked like a stranger. I found her on the wide screened-in porch

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. Because the moment I spoke, the spell would break. She would wake, and the knowing would begin, and the summer would become something I had to apologize for. She was wearing a thin white tank top and shorts

Not because she was beautiful, though she was—the sharp line of her jaw, the dark fan of her lashes, the slow rise and fall of her chest. But because she was there . Unaware. Unguarded. Sleeping people exist in a different dimension, one where they cannot see you looking, cannot catch you staring. They are utterly vulnerable, and that vulnerability is a kind of power you steal without permission.