PRETTY

was ignoring all of her responsibilities as she lounged on a deck chair soaking up the sun's rays. She was ignoring the math homework she had to do, college tours she had to plan, and finals she had to study for. The final weeks of junior year were fast approaching and the seventeen year old could care less at the moment.

Her phone had been blowing up nonstop because of the group chat she was in with her four closest friends: Thomas, Luke, Alexandria, and Zander. The four were spamming Cindy, trying to convince her to throw a party before her mother or sister returned.

🧚🏼‍♀️

Cin, please please please?!

1:07 PM

🧶

Ria, she's not going to.

She's too much of a PUSSY!

1:08 PM

🌵

She fucking better!

That bitch owes me.

1:08 PM

THOMAS!

That was ONE time!!

1:10 PM

🥰

Woah woah!

Why does she owe you??

1:11 PM

🧚🏼‍♀️

You could invite that boy

you met!

What was his name?

Adam? Austin?

1:12 PM

🌵

A BOY?

I HAVEN'T HEARD

ABOUT ANY BOY!!

1:12 PM

🥰

You're cheating on me?

🥺🥺🥺

1:13 PM

1. Don't worry about

why I owe Thomas.

2. His name is Aaron.

3. I would never cheat,

baby. xx

4. IF YOU ALL WILL SHUT

UP, I'LL THINK ABOUT IT!

1:16 PM

After hitting send on her last text message, the teenager turned off her phone, tossing it onto the closest empty chair. She loved her friends but they truly drove her insane.

"I had a feeling I would find you out here." The corners of her pink lips turned upwards, a toothy smile spreading from ear to ear. Butterflies soon found their way into her stomach; they always seemed to when Duncan was around her.

Sitting up to face the man, her legs hung off the side of the white chair. She lowered her designer sunglasses, taking in his unusual appearance. The man that she he had only ever seen in thousand dollar suits and boots, now wore a pair of black Armani swim trunks, a loose white t-shirt, and a pair of Ray-Bans. Of course, even his causal wear was expensive.

"I have a feeling you were hoping to find me here." She remarked, giving him a snarky response as per usual. Her response made the man chuckle, his true character showing slightly as the pair were alone and there were no expectations to be upheld.

"Maybe. Or perhaps I just wanted to alleviate my stress from work by swimming." He replied, shrugging his shoulders. However, the hint of a slight smirk on his lips told Cindy that it was the first option.

Rolling her eyes, she pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, returning to her original position on her chair. "Whatever you say, Duncan." Closing her eyes once more, she allowed herself to relax again, and enjoyed the warmth of the sun on her exposed skin.

Duncan pulled the shirt over his head, now allowing the sun's ray to bask his own golden skin. Discarding his shirt over the back of an empty lounge chair, he placed his high-priced sunglasses on the edge of the infinity pool. After doing so, he dove into the water, his form impeccable like almost everything else about him.

Hearing a soft splash (the noise was quiet as Duncan's did a dive that would have been given a perfect score by Olympic judges), the seventeen year old sat up. Searching for the man in the water, her eyes remained on the source point of various water ripples until Shepherd re-emerged.

The girl smiled softly, taking note of the wet curls that were plastered to his forehead. It was strange to see Duncan so relaxed and not wearing YSL boots. It was a sort of surreal experience to Cindy. She saw him as an actual human being instead of a stuck up businessman.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," he chuckled, swimming over to the ledge, and grabbing his shades. Placing them on the bridge of his nose, he hid his blue eyes behind dark frames, much to the girl's disappointment.

She rolled her eyes and despite not being able to see her sarcastic action, Duncan's smile grew slightly wider because he knew the girl had rolled her eyes. He had been around her long enough to know how she would react to his statement.

Before getting off the deck chair, Cindy connected her phone to the speakers installed on the back patio of the large home via Bluetooth. Pressing shuffle on a Spotify playlist named "Summer Vibez", she locked her phone, and got into the pool using the stairs.

"One, one. Would you be mine, would you be my baby tonight? Could be kissing my fruit punch lips in the bright sunshine."

The first song began, the voice clearly belonging to no other than Lana Del Ray. The seventeen year old found it ironic that the song "Lolita" was the first to play and Duncan happened to be with her.

"'Cause I like you quite a lot, everything you got don't you know? It's you that I adore, though I make the boys fall like dominoes."

The blonde was singing along, knowing every lyric by heart, until she was interrupted by her stepfather. "Does my beloved stepdaughter actually go around breaking young boys hearts?" He asked, leaning against the ledge of the pool near the stairs. His elbow rested on the deck, his head leaning on his palm, his long fingers in his hair. Cindy realized that she herself wanted to run her fingers through his wet curls.

"Hey Lolita, hey! Hey Lolita, hey! I know what the boys want, I'm not gonna play."

"I've had one boyfriend, D." She informed him in a matter-of-factly tone. She was slightly offended that the man would even insinuate such a thing. "And for your information, I think most boys my age are immature."

"Never was in love, skipping heart beats with the boys downtown. Just you and me feelin the heat beatin when the sun goes down."

Her words hindered Duncan from being able to form any of his own. Of all the answers she could have come up with, her's was the last one he was expecting. He found her too pretty to have only had one boyfriend. The fact that she said she found boys her age immature only peaked his interest in her thoughts, "Okay, I'll bite." He said, urging her to explain.

"I could be yours, I could be your baby tonight.

Topple you down from your sky forty stories high.

Shining like a god, can't believe I got you inside.

Look at what I bought, not a second thought, oh romeo!"

Cindy put all her weight on one foot, jutted out her right hip, and folded her arms across her Tommy Hilfiger bikini top. "Boys my age only think about one thing: sex. Their small dicks get hard at the slightest mention of anything dirty or the smallest amount of contact. Then all they worry about is when they can go home and jack off in their damn sock or how they can talk a person into letting them hit it. Even if they are successful in getting their pubescent penis in an asshole or vagina, they probably finish in two seconds."

"Probably?" Duncan asked, noticing her word choice. Quickly connecting the dots, he came to the realization that the teen girl was a virgin. Much to his surprise to say the least. "You're a virgin."

"Hey Lolita, hey! Hey Lolita, hey! Whistle all you want but I'm not gonna say."

The blonde's cheeks began to heat up and turn a bright red and both of them knew that it wasn't from the heat of the summer air or the sun itself.

Slightly embarrassed, the girl shrugged, trying to play it off as if it was no big deal. Which in reality, it wasn't a big deal. She could care less about fucking teen boys. But the fact that Duncan seemed surprised by this revelation is what made her cheeks go red. He had assumed she was experienced and she wasn't.

"What's it matter?" She asked him, continuing to try and play it off, praying to god that the color in her cheeks would soon fade away.

"I want my cake and I want to eat it too. I want to have fun and be in love with you."

"It doesn't," he told her. Duncan's blue irises watched intently as drops of water rolled down her sun kissed skin. His eyes trailed after the drops the whole way down. "It's just surprising is all."

Cindy was confused for two reasons. The first was what the man meant. The second was why she was having this conversation with him. However, she only questioned the first reason.

Seeming to read her mind, he cleared up her confusion before she got the chance to even ask. "You're to pretty to be a virgin. Pretty girls your age usually aren't. At least not when I was in high school."

"I know that I'm a mess with my long hair and my suntan, short dress, bare feet."

"Aww, you think I'm pretty?" Cindy asked Duncan in a teasing tone, making her way over to him, and wrapping her arms around his neck. "The Duncan Shepherd thinks I'm pretty?"

The man rolled his eyes, allowing his arms to loosely wrap around her waist. The man wasn't even thinking about the pairs position or his actions. It just felt natural. Whenever he was around Cindy, he never thought about anything except her.

"And how long has it been since you went to high school, D? Fifty years?" The teenager giggled, using her index finger to pull Duncan's Ray-Bans down the bridge of his nose so she could see his eyes.

The man rolled his eyes, his actions now visible to the girl. Pushing her away from him, he splashed water towards her. "Hahaha, very funny." He responded in a sarcastic voice. "For your information, it's only been twelve years."

The seventeen year old was still giggling hysterically, her blonde hair now wet because of the man. Duncan watched her until she finally calmed down, a feeling of content washing over him.

Once she was finished laughing, the girl finally looked at him again. His glasses had been readjusted and his cheek sat in the palm of his hand, once again. "And if you must know, yes, I find you pretty."