Surf Rider

She was seven, he was eleven, and his grin was lit with mischief. They looked like brother and sister, but their blood was more diluted than that. He held up the green bottle and passed it over.1

“I dare you,” he whispered, a laugh in that light soprano boy voice. She took a sip and grimaced.2

“It doesn’t taste good, Jay,” she complained, but her eyes never left his.3

He pulled the bottle back out of her hand and poured himself a generous amount. His grin was cocky as he drank it down, and she shuddered though he didn’t.4

“Double dare you to drink that much,” he said, his voice choked just a little with the strength of the liquid.5

She smiled, her eyes narrowing in challenge. She poured the yellow liquid into the shot glass and raised the glass to him. “Cheers,” she murmured back to him, raising the glass. The acidic smell made her mouth water automatically, made her lips purse in anticipation of the nasty taste. But she drank it down all the way before she let her face scrunch up.6

And then they both dissolved into giggles as Grandma made her way down the stairs.7

---8

The knife bit into flesh, releasing the softer scent into the air. The taste that accompanied the rind was bitter, but it was the scent that was infused in all the products beneath her kitchen sink. People associated lemons with that smell.9

Not her. She associated lemons with the sharper tang of lemon juice.10

She associated lemon juice with him.11

Part of her wanted to eat that bitter peel today, just as she wanted to punch something. How dare he leave her for his friends? How dare he hang out with them when it was a family party, one of the few times she got to see him every year?12

How dare he leave her?13

She grumpily squeezed the lemons into the bowl. She had to make the lemonade for the little kids. She was double digits now, and everyone else was too little.14

When no one was looking, she took a sip of the lemon juice and smiled.15

---16

“Limes?” her friend said. “Why would you want to eat limes, Sofia?”17

Sofia rolled the tiny green fruit over and over in her hands before peeling it like an orange. The scent reached her then, the bitterness. It wasn’t as strong as the lemon, and the taste wasn’t so much sour as bitter.18

She wondered if the pot tasted bitter, sour or sweet. She smelled it once on him, and it smelled sweet. Jay wasn’t sweet. He was sour. He was lemons.19

“I like them, Amy,” Sofia snapped, and then she peeled off a wedge from the fruit. “Dare you to eat it.”20

---21

“A full cup? Are you insane?”22

“That’s how the relay works,” Sofia explained. “If you don’t like it, make someone else do it.”23

“But that’s not fair either. No one can drink a full cup of lemon juice,” the boy replied belligerently.24

Sofia raised one dark eyebrow. “Oh really?” she asked, pouring from the green bottle and raising the Dixie cup to her lips. As always, the acrid scent had her mouth watering, her taste buds tingling before the bright yellow liquid even left the paper cup. And, staring the boy in his brown eyes, her eyes narrowed with the challenge, she drank it all down.25

“Lemon freaking shots,” the boy muttered, staring at the liquid and vowing he’d be the one on that leg of the relay, “face didn’t even flinch.”26

I have Jay to thank for that, she thought, breathing in the sharpness of that concentrated dose and pouring another half a glass to wash it down with as the contestants walked off. If it weren’t for Jay, I’d never be able to stomach it.27

Jay made her strong enough to handle hard knocks. She hoped he was strong enough to handle them where he was.28

---29

“I found this amazing drink at The Juice Bar the other day,” Amy said without preamble, setting the drink in front of her friend. Sofia looked up from her reading with an eyebrow raised, dark hair falling into her face. “It reminded me of those strawberry daiquiris you taught me how to make with Sprite back when we were in high school, remember that? Anyways, you should try it, I brought you some.”30

Sofia leaned forward and looked at the sunset orange liquid. The scent was sweet and fruity, like strawberries, but something lay beneath it. And when she took a sip, it was the sweetness that came first.31

And then came the explosion, bringing with it the memory of that dare. She was able to define the other part of that scent when she tasted the lemon and lime fireworks as the liquid sloshed around her tongue.32

“I thought of you, because those are your two favorite drinks, you know? Sweet and sour? It seemed perfect!”33

“I love it,” Sofia replied, and her face as she smiled said more than could ever be put into words.34

---35

Jay sat at one end of the long table, Sofia at the other, holding her youngest cousin on her knee. Sofia had a glass of water with a lemon slice next to her strawberry daiquiri. The little two year old was reaching for her alcohol, his big blue eyes filled with wonder at the sight of that pretty umbrella.36

“Here JJ,” Sofia said to distract him, and she reached out to grab the lemon wedge, as she had for every single younger cousin since the first had come along when she was eight. She put the slice in his mouth, saw his eyes furrow with confusion, and then widen with delight. To her surprise, he took it from her and began sucking delightedly.37

“He’s a little you!” her uncle laughed, staring at his youngest son in shock. “Sofia, I haven’t seen anyone eat lemons like that since you were a kid.”38

She still did, but she wouldn’t say it. Instead she let her eyes drift towards the other end of the table, where Jay looked over and observed the scene with interest. His eyes met hers, and both smiled, remembering a late night with a green bottle.39

As though it had never happened, Jay turned back to continue his conversation with his mother, and Sofia put her nose down to JJ’s head, inhaling the baby scent he still carried with him and the ice water-muted tang of fresh lemons.