"I don't know, that's a lot to live up to," Thomas remarked, mimicking Derek's movement by laying back and stretching out carefully. He wiggled his toes, feeling sand caught up between them that he'd probably find in his socks later. It probably wouldn't be the last time.

"I mean, how can you expect to beat a guy who smelled like grease and probably slept with the Glade's animals," Thomas said, closing his eyes and letting that bright orange color fill up his mind again. The last time he'd laid out in the sun, he'd woken up with patches of red crisscrossing his face and a mouth so dry, he'd barely been able to talk. "He had lots of hair too. Lots."