Karyn tried to be inconspicuous as she searched through the house, but after half an hour, she returned to her bedroom, flushed and exhausted. Where was the stone?
It didn't matter. The only people who knew about it were Sara and Kara, and Karyn could change them by changing their bedroom. Karyn was willing to bet that either she or they would end up with it eventually, and she'd just have to make some key alterations before that happened.
But for now she needed to clear her head. A bottle of tanning oil wedged beside a jewelry box caught her eye. Yes, spending some time sunbathing was relaxing. And although Karyn had never engaged in the activity before, she felt this pull towards the bottle. Like once she'd seen it, she had to make use of it.
Well, Karyn certainly couldn't go sunbathing in the outfit she was wearing, that's what swimsuits were for. So she stood up, took a few breaths, and walked to her closet where she found a single, solid green one-piece, alongside a wide selection of bikinis.
Karyn furrowed her brow. The one piece was hers, right? It's what she always wore. Everything else was here as a result of a wish. But you can't sunbathe in a one-piece, can you? And that same pull that drew Karyn to the tanning oil was telling her that she'd worn that one-piece before, so she didn't need to wear it again so soon. She needed to make use of everything in the room. She needed to make use of one of the new bikinis.
Suddenly, Karyn realized that she was holding a hanger in her hand. And that the hanger held an extremely small pink bikini, tastefully speckled with glistening rhinestones.
Well, she figured, if she was already holding it, then this must be the swimsuit that she'd wear.
But she'd never worn a bikini before. She'd never gone sunbathing before. What if she did something wrong? Karyn's anxiety didn't diminish her need to make use of the items that she'd determined to use. But it did generate another need.
Karyn's free hand found itself snaking its way over to where three cell phones were casually strewn on top of the dresser, and it ended up grabbing for one of the two brand-new iPhones in shiny pink cases, rather than the three year-old LG that didn't have a case at all. And almost absent-mindedly, Karyn's hand input the unlock code and went straight for a group chat labeled "the girls."
With a turn of her head, Karyn looked at her hand and finally saw that it was holding a phone. This wasn't her phone, though, was it? A glance at what was on the screen, and that no longer mattered. She hadn't wanted to sunbathe alone, and here she could text several people at once.
"Tanning in my back yard in ten," she texted out.
"OMW," came an immediate reply. Then "Can't wait!" Then someone else sent a sun emoji and a sunglasses emoji.
Karyn put her phone back down. She had to make sure she got changed before any of the girls showed up.
