Free All the Pretty Lies by M. Leighton

get back to her.
    Holding the tube by the fat part, I scrape
the sharply folded end over Sloane’s skin.
    She yelps in pain. “Don’t do that!”
    She flinches away from me.
    “Hold still. I have to get the stingers out.”
Once more, I carefully scrape the site with the flat edge of the
lotion tube until I’m fairly confident there are no remaining
stingers. I can tell she’s in pain, but Sloane doesn’t make another
sound. Finally, I scoop her back up again and take her into the
surf.
    “What are you doing?” she asks, clinging to
my neck and curling her body tighter against mine so that I don’t
put her into the water.
    I set her down in the shallows, in just
enough depth that I can bathe her leg. “Here, this will help. Just
trust me. I need to wash it out with salt water. It’ll help it to
not burn as bad.”
    I cup my hands and ladle water onto her
thigh, gently rubbing the area. Over and over, I force water onto
the sting, hopefully rinsing away any residual stingers and
neutralizing the toxins.
    “Is it feeling any better?” I ask, checking
her color again. She still looks pale, but she doesn’t look like
her distress is as acute.
    “A little.”
    “You’re not feeling short of breath or
anything, are you?”
    She pauses to assess herself then she shakes
her head and answers, “No. I feel fine otherwise.”
    “Come on. Let’s find an emergency room or an
urgent care to get you to.”
    I bend to pick her up again, but she
struggles a little. “No! That’s not necessary, is it? Just for a
jellyfish sting?”
    I glance down at her face. She looks
alarmed.
    “Well, it’s not mandatory, but I’d
feel better if you got some medical attention.” I see her worrying
her lip. “Why? Do you have an aversion to hospitals or
something?”
    “It’s not that. It’s just that…that…”
    “What? Spit it out.”
    She leans her head against my chest for a
second, as if her instinct is to hide her face.
    “It’s just that I’d hate for my family to
find out about this.”
    “Why? It’s not like you did it on
purpose.”
    “I know that. They’re just…it’s just…it’s
complicated.”
    “Complicated,” I repeat.
    “Yeah. Complicated.” I slow my walk as we
approach Sloane’s towel. I set her down on it and crouch at her
side.
    “Do they not know you’re here?”
    “Uhhh,” she hedges, “not so much.”
    “Is it because of last night? Because I’m not
afraid of your brother, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
    “No, no, it’s not that. It’s just that…”
    “You can tell me. Whatever it is. I don’t
judge. And I won’t get mad, if that’s what you’re worried
about.”
    She makes a growling sound. “Grrr, it’s not
that. It’s just…it’s embarrassing.”
    I sit over onto my hip beside her. “All
right, tell me what’s going on.”
    “Look, my family is just very…protective.
It’s been a big struggle for me to make them see that I’m all grown
up, that they need to let me live my life. Turning twenty-one was
huge for me. They’ll go into orbit if they find out I took off to
the beach with some random guy, got stung by a jellyfish and then
ended up in the hospital. They’ll give me shit every time I want to
leave the house for months if they find out.”
    “No offense, but why don’t you just move
out?”
    Sloane sighs. “It’s not that easy. There are
things…well, it’s just not that easy. Trust me.”
    Everyone has a right to their secrets and
their privacy. I, of all people, believe that wholeheartedly, so I
don’t press her.
    “Okay, well how about this. Let’s find a
hotel and at least get you someplace where you can rest and I can
get some vinegar on this thing. That way you won’t have a miserable
car ride and an unsavory family run-in today. You can tell
your family that you’re with a friend, and that you’ll be home
tomorrow. Sound plausible?”
    I see as much as feel her exhale. Her smile
is relieved. “That sounds great.”
    I