A

lex looks down the cliff, then stares at me, rolls his eyes as if I wouldn’t dare, and I stare back at him because I can’t believe him, I can’t believe what he’s suggesting, he says, I’ll jump if you jump, and I take a look down at the deep blue waters, inviting but scary, and I shake my head, like saying, I’d never do it, never, never, and Alex is laughing so hard, he eyes me up and down, walks right to the edge of the cliff, he shrugs and waits, and I walk to his side and we pause, he says, don’t look down, so I look up instead, I say, I’ll dive if you dive, and Alex smiles, then winks at me and jumps and I jump too and I feel the waters hitting me when I go down into the deep, then up to the surface, I float and open my eyes and he says, we’re in a pool of germs, and I nod and say, that’s gross, and as we swim to the shore I ask if we have antiseptic, and after he gets to his backpack, he hands me the fat bottle and tells me people used to swim in the sea all the time in the past, but I don’t believe him, ewww, I say, but he makes it even worse, he says some folks call it “happy old times,” before the germs era, when people even exchanged bodily fluids, can you believe it? he asks, and I shake my head, I can’t; he grabs my hand, but I pull away, what on earth are you doing? I pour some more antiseptic, but Alex moves closer, he asks, do you want me to show you? and I look into his deep blue eyes, inviting but scary, my heart skips a beat, I nod, and his lips are on my lips, his tongue inside my mouth, and it feels as if we’re one for a while, only for a few seconds, before he pulls away, his cheeks red, his eyes sparkling, he must have felt it too, that magical, unspeakable union, but Alex is standing up, in a hurry, checks inside his backpack, then looks my way and asks, do you happen to have mouthwash? and perhaps I’ll regret it tomorrow, but right now, I don’t give a damn about cleanliness; I take a step forward and jump back into the sea.