By The Pool With Shalina «DELUXE · 2027»

I followed her gaze. A dragonfly hovered over the shallow end, its wings catching every color. “Maybe it’s not time,” I said. “Maybe it’s just that pools have their own gravity.”

By the Pool with Shalina

The late afternoon sun cast fractured diamonds across the water’s surface. Shalina lay on the lounger beside me, her sunglasses pushed up into her hair, a paperback open on her stomach. She wasn’t reading—she was watching the light shift through the leaves of the palm overhead. by the pool with shalina

“Do you ever feel like time slows down right here?” she asked, without looking at me. I followed her gaze