by S. M. Shade
Owen keeps his boxer briefs on, and the girls wear their bras and panties like I do. Serena’s is thin and white. It may as well be non-existent once she jumps in the water and surfaces. She doesn’t seem to care.
My plan was to inch into the water down the steps, but Owen isn’t having it. Before I can get to the second step, he scoops me up and charges in until we’re both soaked.
“Ah,” I gasp. “Asshole! It’s cold!”
What a way to sober up.
I stand up and swipe the water out of my eyes, my whole body shivering. Better to get in the deep end. I’ll adjust to the temperature quicker if I swim underwater a little. Diving down, I open my eyes, and start swimming. It’s nice under here. And it’s kind of a unique experience. I’ve never swam drunk before, especially at night in a dark pool. It’s eerie and exhilarating.
Everyone swims to the deep end and Owen gets out, flashing a smile at us as he heads to the diving board. He stands on the edge and does a back flip into the water. Not to be outdone by him, Marty climbs out and heads for the diving board—holy hell, where did his penis go?
Oh god. I said that out loud.
Everyone heard it too, except for him, judging by the uproarious laughter around me.
“What?” Marty asks, pausing at the end of the diving board.
“Nothing!” Serena calls sweetly. “Poor little scared turtle.”
Marty’s face is pure confusion.
Owen holds onto the edge of the pool and looks up at him. “Don’t listen to them, man. Everyone knows they shrink in cold water.”
Marty glances down and the outrage in his expression makes everyone lose it laughing again.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t…know that happened.” God, this is mortifying and now I’ve probably made him feel bad or given him a complex. Dropping my voice a little, I turn to Serena. “It’s like a mouse darting back into its hole. Do they always do that?”
Serena chokes on a laugh. “Girl…god, I can’t even with you. You’re killing me.”
Marty flips us off and stalks over to where he dropped his underwear, then pulls them on. “Aw, come on,” Serena calls. “We were just teasing.”
“Nope.” He struts up to the edge of the pool, and I’m glad to see he isn’t actually upset. “You girls had your chance. You didn’t appreciate the cockness monster so now he’s hiding.”
The next few minutes are fun while we all swim and wrestle around in the water. Diving under again, I swim closer to the shallow end. A light breeze chills my skin when I roll over to float on my back, staring up at the starry sky. Yeah, this is good.
Too bad nothing good lasts.
Apparently, drunk people are not quiet in a pool and it doesn’t take long before we’re noticed. A spike of fear shoots through me, and my arms paddle frantically to reach the edge when I see a police car pull up outside of the fence.
“Cops!” Marty yells, swimming for the ladder.
I scramble out, and Serena grabs my hand just as Remee catches up with us. Two officers enter the gateway, and yell at us to stop.
“Run, they can’t get us all,” Serena orders, shoving me toward the fence.
“Our clothes!”
“No time! Do you want to go to jail half naked?”
That gets me moving. Serena and Remee are right beside me when I climb the fence. We land in the grass on the other side and dart down the street. A glance back shows me the others have scattered as well, running in all directions with the officers chasing them. Luckily, we were the farthest away and none seem to be close to us.
We run like crazy, and I’ve never felt anything like this in my life. The fear and adrenaline, the exhilaration, the night air against my wet body.
“There!” I exclaim, when I see a row of dense bushes. We’re three streets away from the pool now. Best to hide. It won’t be hard to find three girls running around in their underwear.
We clamber under the bushes, and I feel a few of the branches scratch my skin. We’re hidden just in time.
Blue lights race across the buildings as two police cars creep by. They’re looking for us. “Ugh,” Serena scoffs. “We went for a swim. Don’t they have some drug dealers or real criminals to bust?”
“Shh!” Remee hisses. “I’m not going to get arrested and have that on my record! It’ll kill my career! No one is going to trust a psychologist who went to jail in wet panties!”
A snort of laughter leaps out of me, and I cover my mouth. Serena looks at me, and we both shake with silent laughter.
“It’s not funny!”
It is. I know we could get caught and it’d be humiliating and probably cost me money I don’t have, not to mention a night in a cell, but right now, I can’t stop laughing. The old Kelly would’ve been at some boring business dinner with Stanley or maybe shopping with the catty women I never really fit in with. Imagine what they’d think if they saw me hiding in bushes, wet and nearly naked, with cops looking for me.
The absurdity is hilarious.
Serena is the first to get control and whisper to Remee. “Girl, relax. We’ll stay right here until they’re gone.”
“What about Zara?”
“She was with Owen when we split up,” I tell her.
“I have my phone. I’ll text and check on her when the cops stop circling,” Serena says, nodding at the car cruising by again. Thank goodness it’s dark in these bushes. “I don’t want them to see my phone light up.”
“Do you think they caught her?”
Serena’s smile is barely visible in the darkness. “I’m sure they’re sorry if they did. She’s probably telling them they’re all tools of the patriarchy and demanding a supreme court trial.”
It’s quiet for a few minutes as we wait, lying in the dirt. My bladder starts screaming at me, and I’m quickly learning that you can’t hold it as long when you’re drunk.
“I didn’t have to pee until right now,” I groan.
“Don’t you dare,” Remee says.
Serena lays her head on her arm, her body shaking with laughter, and I can’t help but giggle. “Stop! Laughing just makes it worse!”
After glancing around and seeing no cops, Serena turns her phone on and texts Zara. Hopefully it isn’t buzzing in some cop’s pocket while they arrest her. After a few minutes pass with no response, she curses and texts Graham.
“I really really have to pee.”
Serena grins at me and gestures to the right. The brick wall of the building behind us takes a turn, forming a corner about ten feet away. “Go back there.”
“No way.” I am not pissing behind a bush.
Serena’s phone lights up, and she sighs, “No one was arrested. Zara is safe at the apartment. But cops did search the apartment and are parked across the street. We can’t go back there.”
Remee’s eyes are wide. “What are we supposed to do? We can’t Rideshare home like this!”
Damn it all. I’ve done my best not to call Trey for help, but we need a ride. “Let me call my brother and see if he can come get us.”
For one brief, paralyzing moment I can’t remember his number. Who really memorizes anyone’s number anymore? Thankfully, it comes to me.
“Yeah?” Trey answers.
“Um…hey, it’s me.”
“Kelly? Where are you calling from?”
“A friend’s phone. Listen, I um…need a favor. Me and my roommates are kind of…stranded. Can you come and get us?”
“You can’t get a Rideshare?”
“It’s a long story and I’ll explain when you get here, okay? Oh, and please bring three shirts or towels or something we can cover up with on the ride home.”
A long pause makes me afraid the call may have dropped. “Cover up? Are you naked!”
“No! Just please, we’re at the corner of Terrace St. and Wilcox Way in the Doe Run apartment complex. Just hurry, okay? And don’t stop if you see a cop.”
“Fucking hell, Kelly!”
I quickly hang up, letting
the phone go dark as I see a police car roll past. “He’ll be here,” I assure the girls. He didn’t exactly say he was coming, but I can always count on Trey.
“Ow!” Serena cries, shifting around. “A branch just tried to take my anal virginity.”
“You’ve never done anal?” I ask.
“Is this really the place to discuss this?” Remee hisses.
“Rem, you have to chill, we’re going to be fine. Her brother will give us a ride home.”
It’ll take Trey at least fifteen minutes to get here and I can’t wait that long to pee. “Keep watch for me. I can’t hold it anymore.” Serena chuckles when I get to my feet and move as fast as I can down the wall. It’s a dark corner surrounded by bushes. I can’t be seen from the street or anywhere else as far as I can tell but I still can’t believe what I’m doing when I pull my panties down and shove them out of the way. For a moment, I don’t think I’ll be able to. My bladder has stage fright or something, but finally the urgency takes over.
Oh my god, why does it sound so loud?
I hear Serena chuckle and I swear she starts singing “Let it go” softly. Bitch.
After a brief argument with myself whether it’d be better to just not wipe or risk a rash from one of these leaves, I decide a drip dry is in order. I can’t wait to get home and take a shower. “This is not how I saw my night going,” I say, crawling back under the bush between Serena and Remee.
“You’re having fun,” Serena accuses with a smile.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t.”
Remee shakes her head at our giggles. “You two are insane.”
A few minutes later, Trey’s car pulls up at the corner and his head cranes, looking around. “There he is. Let’s go.”
Running after being crammed under bushes for almost an hour isn’t easy and they look as clumsy and uncoordinated as I feel, but we make it to the car. I can only imagine what Trey is thinking when we all jump in and duck down.
“Just go,” I order. Serena passes me a towel from the back seat, and I wrap it around myself.
“What the hell did you do?” he demands, turning the car around.
“Nothing!”
“Nothing doesn’t make you end up naked on the other side of town hiding from cops!?”
Fair point.
“We aren’t naked! We just…went for a little swim and the cops showed up so we had to run without grabbing our clothes.”
“And why would cops be after you for swimming?” Despite trying to sound stern, I can hear the amusement in his voice. It’s not like he hasn’t done a ton of crazy stuff with his friends. The story of him and the Frat Hell guys who lived in our apartment before us are legendary on Violent Circle.
“The pool may have been closed. And locked up. But we totally didn’t damage anything.”
He shakes his head, repressing a grin.
I have a feeling I won’t live this one down for a long time.
Chapter Five
Layton
All the students who attended the introductory meeting show up at the fixer upper house for our first lesson in home maintenance and safety. Laughing at the wind whipping at their hair and clothes, they rush through the door when I unlock it. The weather has cooled, and rain is supposed to be blowing in.
“Hey, this place is nice,” Owen says. “Great place for a party.” He glances around at the others. “What do you think? Kegger on Friday?”
“Mr. Wright—”
“No worries, Mr. A, you can come too. Even old dudes have to have fun.”
Nila Higgins, another student who attends my economics class, speaks up. “He’s not old. What are you, like thirty-five?”
Ouch.
Harriet whispers something to her and they both give me a look that I should not be seeing on two eighteen-year-old girls’ faces. I’m not a stranger to being flirted with by students. Hell, I’m not that much older than them, but I could never date or let anything happen with a student. Not only would it cost me my job, but I’m aware that I have a position of power over them. Even if it was completely consensual on both sides, bad shit could come of it, the least of all being a job loss.
“Mr. Wright, since you’re so eager to participate, you can show us how to turn the power on.”
“Turning on is one of my specialties,” he says, bouncing his eyebrows at Nila and Harriet. When he gets matching scoffs, he turns to me. “No problem, where’s the breaker box?”
I shrug, and a grin appears on his face. “Oh, it’s like that. Well, the one at my parents’ house was in the basement.”
He wanders around until he locates the basement door. There’s a moment’s hesitation when he looks down the dim stairs that disappear into the dark. “Mr. A putting me in a horror movie scenario and shit,” he grumbles, turning on the flashlight on his phone. “How do I know you don’t have some cannibals tied up down here just waiting to snack on my bone marrow?”
He grins at Kelly through the laughter. “Come with me. You’re pretty and you smell good. They’ll eat you first.”
Rolling her eyes, she turns her phone flashlight on as well and accompanies him downstairs. Before I show him and the rest the breakers, I want to see if he knows what he’s doing. It’s a fairly simple task and if he knew where to search for the box, he probably knows to throw the main switch.
They disappear down the stairs, and he calls, “No cannibals but it smells like damp ass down here!”
A few moments later, the lights come on and the rest of the group follow me downstairs. Owen stands in front of the breaker box and takes a deep bow. “No applause needed. It was nothing, really. You can show your appreciation with gift cards and cash.”
“How about you just show them what you did?”
He demonstrates the switch that he flipped, then steps back beside Kelly as I explain that the main breaker controls everything, and how you can shut off electricity to different areas of the house with the other breakers.
“Okay, we’ve got the electric on. Depending on where you live, your house could be all electric, or you could also have gas—shut up, Mr. Wright.” I point at him when he opens his mouth, no doubt with some fart joke. “If the house has natural gas service, you may have a gas water heater, stove, dryer, or all three.”
Everyone follows me back to the first floor, and down the hall to the utility room. “This is a gas water heater. If you notice you have no hot water, chances are the pilot light has gone out and needs to be relit. We’re going to learn how to do that safely. I need a volunteer.”
Kelly steps forward with an audible swallow when no one else does, and one of the other guys, Patton, chuckles. “Didn’t you say you’ve already started one fire?”
“As long as there’s no cooking involved, I’m good,” she says, but her voice lacks any sign of confidence. She’s nervous.
“Anyone can do this. You just follow the steps,” I assure her.
She kneels beside me, pushing her hair back over her shoulder, and I call for the others to get closer so they can see. “If you notice you don’t have hot water and your pilot is out, you may smell gas. This may seem obvious, but I’m going to say it anyway. Never strike a flame if you can smell gas. First, you turn the gas off using the gas shut off valve here. Go ahead, Ms. Bryant.”
She reaches out and turns the knob to off.
“If you smell gas, give the area time to vent before you go any further. If you continue to smell gas once it’s off, get out of the house and call your gas company. If you can’t reach them, call the fire department. Once the air has cleared, pop off the access door and use a flashlight to see the burner inside.”
Kelly has no problem following the directions while the others watch.
“Now, we’re going to light it. There are two ways to do so. This heater has an ignition button, but some older models need to be lit with an actual flame.” I look into anxious blue eyes. “You’re going to push down on the red pilot mode switch and hold it down. That lets the gas
flow. Then push the ignition button here which should light the flame. You may have to push it more than once, but keep holding down the pilot switch, understand? Even after it lights.”
Glancing back, I gesture for everyone to move closer. They don’t have a great view and the fact they seem to be inching away makes me fight back a smile. “Come on,” I implore.
“Great news, guys!” Owen announces cheerfully. “We won’t be dying of natural causes.”
Kelly follows the directions and luckily, the flame lights with one push of the button. “Don’t let go of the pilot switch,” I caution. “You’re going to keep holding it down for about thirty seconds.”
“Got it,” she says, and I hear a sliver of satisfaction in her voice.
“Alright, now slowly release it and watch to see if the flame stays lit.”
She sits up with a stunning smile. “It’s still burning!”
“Good. Now turn the gas knob to on. We should hear a whump kind of noise when the main burner lights.”
The silence filling the small space and the intense expressions on their faces as they wait to see if it works makes me chuckle. As does the cheer they let out when the main burner fires up.
“Good job. Now just replace the access cover and you’re done. Now if your pilot ever goes out, you know how to fix it yourself.”
Getting to my feet, I turn to add. “Every direction I just gave is printed on the side of the heater as well and will be in the owner’s manual. If you don’t have that, I know you can Google.”
The rest of the lesson is spent showing them how to turn off the water to specific fixtures and appliances. As we’re wrapping up for the day, I take a moment to also point out the compartment in the side yard where the main water shutoff is buried.
“Life pro tip,” Milo speaks up. “If you can’t pay a water bill, that’s where the company will shut off your water. Sometimes they don’t padlock it and you can just turn it back on.”
“Why can’t you just cut the padlock?” Harriet asks.
“Because you’ll go to jail for destroying property.”
