“So, tell me more about your boyfriend?” My aunt, Marisol, hands me my soda.

Her, her daughter, Sofia, and my uncle Ramón arrived in Ensenada yesterday, and everyone was already talking her ear off about Micah. By everyone I mean Toto. And by talking her ear off, I mean telling her he doesn’t trust him. Big brothers are really annoying.

Coming down to Baja is something our family does every year. My grandmother lives down here, and we’ll spend a week visiting her, hanging out on the beach, and having fun. I smile, thinking about Micah, as my uncle rubs suntan lotion over Marisol’s shoulders.

She’s a heavyset woman, but that’s never seemed to bother her. She’s wearing a two-piece, much skimpier than I’ve ever been comfortable with. I have on a dark blue, one-piece bathing suit, with a jade, lace cover-up that hangs loosely from my shoulders. Regardless of how much she weighs, she exudes confidence. I’ve always been jealous of that.

“Tomás doesn’t seem impressed,” Ramón says, wiping her shoulders.

I scoff. “Toto will never be impressed.”

“Is he nice?” Marisol asks.

“He’s amazing.” I smile as I scroll through some pictures of him and show her one.

“Oh, he’s cute.” She leans closer as Ramón lays down on his towel. “But the real question is,” she whispers, “how good of a kisser is he?”

“I heard that,” Ramón calls out.

I giggle, blushing, and stare down at the sand.

“Oh, that good?” she laughs.

I start to put suntan lotion on my legs, trying hard not to miss Micah. It’s only been five days, and even though he’s texted me every day, I still miss him. I know I’m in love with him, but I didn’t think I would miss him this much. It’s a little unnerving. And at the same time, I can’t wait until he’s holding me again.

“Well, it seems like he’s been good for you.”

“What do you mean?”

She tugs at my cover-up. “I like this. What were you wearing last year, shorts and a shirt?”

I adjust my straps over my shoulder. “Is it too much?”

“Mija, you look amazing. You always have, I’m just glad you can see that now.”

“I don’t know …” I look out over the tide. “He tells me I’m beautiful—”

“And you are.”

I smile. “Thank you. I want to believe it, but it’s difficult, you know?”

“Look at me.” She sits a little taller, adjusting her bikini. “You know your tio loves me. And I love him. But I loved myself first.”

She lets the words hang there, staring at me. I’ve never thought I never loved myself. But I also never consciously thought that I’m entirely confident either.

She gives me a loving smile before looking out over the sand. “What’s Sofi doing?”

I look out and see my cousin standing still, ankle deep in the water. Her back is facing us, but it looks like her arms are crossed.

“I’ll go check.”

“Thank you, Vero.”

Walking over to Sofia, I see a group of kids down the beach. She’s thirteen and in middle school. One more year and she’ll be in high school. As I get closer, her round frame reminds me of myself at her age. Her short, wet hair sways back and forth, her arms still folded.

“Hey, Sofi. What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

I see her head pop up for a moment, looking over at the kids, and then back down at the water. “Are those your friends?”

“No.” Her voice sounds harsh. “It’s just a stupid boy.”

“Oh. Yeah, boys can be really stupid.”

Glancing over at her, I see her wipe her eyes quickly. “Stupid Diego.”

“Who’s Diego?”

“A stupid boy!”

I remember feeling like her at her age. Liking boys and at the same time, when they didn’t like me back, calling them stupid. I see so much of myself in her right now.

“Did you want to talk about it?”

“No,” she answers. I’m about to turn around and go back when she starts up. “He kissed me.”

“Oh.”

“When we visited last year. And today’s the first day I saw him, but he was with his friends. I said hi, but he didn’t say anything. I asked him if he wanted to come over and have a soda. And then his friends asked who I was.” She stops and turns away from me. “He said no one.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Sofi.”

“That’s not the worst part. One of his friends said …” Her voice gets lower and I hear her sniffle. “One of them said to leave the whale alone.”

“Oh, honey.”

“He didn’t even say anything. He just looked at me and then walked away with them.”

“I’m so sorry, Sofi.” I wrap an arm around her, giving her a hug. “Don’t you listen to those boys. You’re right, they’re stupid boys.”

“Yeah,” she says with a whimpering laugh.

“And you know what, don’t worry about them. One day there’s gonna be a boy who’s going to love you and won’t think you’re a whale but think you’re the prettiest girl in the world. And he’ll be right.”

Her arms are still folded, but she looks up at me. An eyebrow raised, she stares at me like I just told her unicorns are real. “Whatever.”

“It’s true.”

Sighing, she shakes her head. “Veronica, girls like us don’t get cute boys.”

She looks back at the water. I have to bite my lip to keep from yelling at her. It’s like listening to myself when I was her age.

“You know, I used to think like you, then I met a hot boy. And guess what?”

“What?”

“I get to kiss a hot boy anytime I want.”

“Psh, yeah right.”

“Rude.” I bump her with my hip. I pull out my phone from my top and wave it at her. “You don’t believe me?”

“Boys like Diego don’t like girls like us.”

“Well, then how do you explain this?” I scroll through some photos of Micah and show her. One of him right after he got home from the gym. There’s another that I took of him when we went out with Cindy and Taylor.

“That doesn’t prove anything. He could be a friend. Or he couldn’t even be a friend, maybe someone sent those to you.”

“Okay, Ms. Smarty Pants.” I scroll to another of us together at the barbecue. “What about this one?”

“Again. Just a friend.”

I scowl down at her as she gives me a confident smirk. “Fine.” I pull up Micah’s number and call him. “I’m calling him.” She continues to stare at me, unconvinced. I put my phone on speaker and smile confidently at her. “You’ll see.”

“Hey, gorgeous,” Micah answers.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“I don’t go into work until later, so I’m just laying around thinking about you. Are you free? Maybe we can talk and—”

“You’re on speaker phone!”

My face burns as he pauses and Sofia looks up at me, confused. He clears his throat before continuing. “Uh, maybe we can … talk about … video games?”

“Dumb boy,” I laugh as Sofia still looks confused. “Hey, I’m standing here with my cousin, Sofia.”

“Oh, okay. What’s up, Sofia?”

“Hi,” she answer and smiles.

“So, we were talking about boys—”

“Boys, huh?”

“Yes. Cute boys, more specifically.”

“Hot boys,” Sofia corrects me.

“Hot boys?” Micah asks. “Sofia, how old are you?”

“Thirteen.”

“Well, young lady, I can’t have you talking about hot boys to my girl.”

She giggles. “Is she really your girl? I don’t believe her.”

“Rude.” I bump her again.

Micah laughs. “Yes, she is.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

“Why?”

Micah gets quiet, and I finally scowl at her. “Wow, um, okay. Sofia, you don’t like Vero?”

“I like her. But …” She bites her bottom lip, I think finally realizing what she’s saying.

“I guess she’s wondering what you like about me?” I ask, giving her a smile.

“Oh, that’s easy.” He pauses, and I feel a small pang of nervousness. “She’s incredible. She’s smart and funny, and she’s super nice.”

“But do you like like her? Like, do you think she’s pretty?”

I want to be nervous about his answer, even though I have no reason to be, but I’m more annoyed at her repeated disbelief.

“Yeah, I think she’s pretty. I think Veronica’s beautiful.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” He laughs. “But I have to correct you, I don’t like Veronica.” Her eyes dart to me, giving me an ‘I told you so’ look. “I love her.”

I nudge her shoulder and take the phone off speaker. “Hey, it’s just me.”

“What was that about?”

“I’ll explain it later. Thank you though. And I love you, too.”

“Okay. I wasn’t lying earlier,” he laughs. “I am just laying here.”

“Well, I’m out on the beach, so you might need a cold shower.”

“Fine. I’ll take a shower, it’s not gonna be cold though.”

“Gross. I’ll see you in a few days.”

“Okay, I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

I put my phone away and step closer to Sofia. “So, what do you think now? Still think it’s hopeless?”

She shrugs. “I guess not. He sounds nice.”

“He is nice.” A grin creeps across her face. “What?”

“Can you send me that picture of him all sweaty?”

My jaw drops. “Girl, your mom would kill me if you had that pic.”

“I’ll hide it, I promise.”

“In your dreams, Sofi.” I laugh, giving her a hug.