Sofia absolutely knew what she was doing.
That was the important detail.
Because according to both Luca and Adrian, this entire situation was somehow her fault.
Three months earlier, the three of them had been planning their sailing trip through the Croatian islands when Sofia casually announced over dinner:
“Men look better in Speedos.”
Adrian nearly choked on his drink.
Luca stared at her suspiciously. “That feels like a trap.”
“I’m serious,” Sofia said. “Not everyone can pull it off. But when a guy actually has the confidence for it? Extremely attractive.”
That sentence changed everything.
Because Luca treated it like a challenge immediately.
Within a week he owned black swim briefs so tiny Adrian accused him of “committing crimes against fabric.”
Mostly because he claimed lime-green briefs made him look “like a fashionable tennis ball.”
But after enough gym sessions, enough mirror checks, and one dangerously supportive compliment from Sofia, he eventually folded too.
Now here they were on the yacht — turquoise water, bright sun, mountains in the distance — and Sofia couldn’t stop smiling at the fact that both of her male friends had somehow transformed into aggressively confident European beach men.
“You realize you created this,” Adrian said, adjusting his sunglasses.
Sofia looked between them innocently. “Created what?”
Luca gestured at himself in the black Speedo. “This entire energy.”
To be fair, Sofia was enjoying herself immensely.
Not because the Speedos were shocking anymore.
That phase lasted maybe twenty minutes on the first beach day.
After that, they just… suited the guys wearing them.
Luca carried himself differently in them — more relaxed, more aware of how he looked without pretending not to care.
And Adrian, despite all his complaints, secretly loved the attention. Sofia could tell every time he caught his reflection in a boat window.
“You know what’s funny?” she said.
“You both spent weeks acting terrified to wear them.”
Adrian scoffed. “Because normal people don’t casually wear this little fabric.”
Luca answered first. “Now board shorts feel emotionally dishonest.”
Sofia burst out laughing.
A couple walking across the yacht glanced over at the trio, clearly noticing the coordinated swimwear situation.
Neither guy looked embarrassed anymore.
That was Sofia’s favorite part.
The confidence had stopped being performative somewhere along the trip.
Now it just felt natural.
Adrian leaned back beside her, sun-warmed skin against the white yacht cushions.
“You’re never going to stop encouraging this, are you?”
Sofia smiled slowly behind her sunglasses.
