July 21st 1985, 5 months earlier

We went to Toronto islands an infinite amount of times that summer. We would get there early in the morning, and go on the SkyRide at Centerville first thing so that it was just us. The air was always sweet in the mornings, and as the day went on we would get ice cream and sit and talk by the beach. We did almost the same thing every day of July, but it never got stale. There was one day where Robin snuck a few Labatts out of her step-dad’s cooler and we brought them onto the lake at night.

“You’re crazy,” I said as Robin jumped into the lake. Fully clothed.

“Come in with me, it’s not that cold.” She pushed her hair back, the moon glinting off the water around her.

“You need serious help,” I scoffed, kicking my shoes off and putting my feet in the cool water.

“Mari. Just-” she started, grabbing my foot “-have fun!” She shouted, pulling my leg and knocking me off my feet.

“Robin!” I yelled, rubbing water out of my eyes and splashing water at her.

“Oh please, that’s tame,” she said, cupping her hands and pouring water over my head. She moved her hands down to my cheeks, holding my face.

I pushed her hair back out of her face and behind her ear, letting my hand stay there for a minute as she held onto my face. My pulse quickened and my cheeks warmed. I felt nauseous.

“Do you want a beer?” I asked, pushing on a rock and turning away from her, quickly making my way out of the water. “I’m getting a beer.”

“Yeah I’ll have one,” she said from behind me. I could hear her smirking.

A few beers later we were lying down on the sand looking up at the stars. Robin had lit a cigarette and we were passing it between the two of us.

I coughed. “My mom would kill me if she knew I was doing this.”

“Does your ass hurt from being this tight all the time?” Robin was giggling. She giggled when she was drunk.

“I’m not a tight ass. I just follow the rules.” I passed her the cigarette.

“My step-dad’s a tight ass,” she said, looking up at the sky dazedly. “I think I want him to die sometimes...” She paused, looking down at her hands. “Or maybe I just want to die.” Robin was looking at the sky now, and I reached out to touch her arm with my finger, but it felt like she was a million miles away.

“I think you’ve had too much to drink. Let’s go home.” I helped her up. On the walk back to her car, I thought I saw tears in her eyes, but when I looked back a moment later they were gone.