Summer Girls 2012 — Playboy-s Sexy

The magazine that August had a different cover. A different “Summer Girls” theme—something about cowboys and whiskey. Lila and Margo’s photos ran in a single, small spread: two girls in white eyelet dresses, sitting apart, not touching. The caption read: "Sunsets are beautiful because they end."

And in Margo’s script below it: "Best summer I ever survived."

“Probably,” Margo said.

Margo laughed, a rusty sound. “And I’m here to prove I have one.”

“I’m not here for the fame,” Lila confessed. “I’m here to prove I can be seen as something other than a brain.” Playboy-s Sexy Summer Girls 2012

The romantic storyline wasn’t in the magazine. It was in the quiet. The way Margo taught Lila to angle her chin to avoid double-chin photos—a tender, proprietary touch. The way Lila read Margo’s horoscope aloud from her phone each morning, making up absurd predictions.

“He’ll cut us from the issue,” Lila whispered. The magazine that August had a different cover

Margo finally looked at her—not the lens-ready gaze, but the real one, tired and fierce. “I’ve been a storyline for three summers, Lila. A fantasy of rivalry, of friendship, of whatever sells. But you? You’re the first thing that wasn’t a caption.”