by Sophia Sharp
I make myself breakfast with the leftover groceries Spencer bought us. The first thing I want to do with my paycheck is pay him back. I do not want any kind of debt between us. If I don’t resolve it, I’m sure he will just use it as an excuse to see me.
Pickles jumps on my desk just as I’m about to get started on my homework. I shoo him away. He gives me the saddest look in the history of the world.
All of a sudden, I feel guilty for neglecting him the past few days. I pick him up and place him on my lap, then reach for his favorite brush. He purrs in content as I stroke his thick, rich fur. Eventually, he falls asleep on my legs.
“You don’t know how easy you have it, cat,” I tell him with a wistful sigh and return to my homework.
***
I don’t see Katy all day. I text her out of concern, and she gets back to me seconds later saying not to worry and that she’ll explain everything when she gets back. I take it as code for, “I met a guy.”
It’s dark by the time I finish my schoolwork. Even though the day is gone, I feel good about myself. I got a lot done.
I flip my MacBook open and browse iTunes for the latest episode of True Blood. Pickles curls up at my feet, and I relax with my show. It’s a lot easier to handle drama when it’s going on in somebody else’s love life.
***
I get up early on Sunday, excited to get to the pool. Katy is still nowhere to be seen.
I stuff a swimsuit and a few towels into my bag and head off. Technically, I’m not expected there for another few hours. I figure it’ll be good for me to do some laps to clear my mind.
I dive into the pool, slipping underwater with barely a splash. I love the easy efficiency with which my body flows. Sometimes, I feel a bit awkward on land. I’ve never had that feeling in the pool. Here, it’s just me and the gentle buoyancy that makes me feel weightless.
The first few laps are just warm ups as my muscles remember how to move again. The last time I had a chance to swim was before I rushed to Utah from boarding school to take care of my grandma. I missed the feeling.
I start to push a little harder as my heart warms up. I feel a bit of strain after being away for so long. I embrace the feeling and simply swim.
Life is simple in the water. There is no pressure, no expectations. It doesn’t matter who you are. The water treats all people fairly. You can be rich or poor, young or old, male or female. Here, it makes no difference. Here, you don’t need to think. You just need to be.
I burst out at the edge of the pool. My muscles are screaming, my heart is pounding, and my lungs are on fire.
I wouldn’t trade the feeling for the world.
After a few seconds, my waterlogged ears pick up the sound of somebody clapping. I look up to find the man who’d hired me—the university’s aquatics director—standing to one side.
“You ever thought of joining the team, Paige?” he asks.
I blink in surprise. “You mean here? At the university?”
He barks a gruff laugh. “No, I mean at the Olympic stadium in Athens. Of course I mean here! Where else?”
“I never thought I was good enough.”
“Good enough? Girl, I’ve been watching you lap back and forth for the past hour without so much as slowing down or taking a breather. You’d give the best of our varsity girls a run for their money.”
I don’t know how to react. Me? On the swim team? Here?
“Who taught you to swim?” the director asks.
“You know, sir, I kind of… just taught myself. I mean, I had lessons once when I was a little girl, but past that? Swimming has always been a hobby, nothing more.”
The director looks at me flatly. “Come now. You think I was born yesterday?” His humor seeps away.
I blush a bit under his scrutinizing stare. “I’ve never had any coaching,” I say in a small voice. “Truly.”
The director squats down so he’s almost level with me. His forehead wrinkles as he frowns. I look up at him, starting to feel a little uncomfortable…
“Hot damn,” he says finally. “I actually think you’re telling the truth.”
I give a little shrug. “I don’t have any reason to lie.”
He beams and bounds up, clasping his hands together. “Wow. Wow! What a talent. You’ve got Olympian pedigree, kid. Wednesday morning. Six a.m. That’s when the varsity team meets. Show up, and if you do half of what you did here today, you’re guaranteed a spot. No questions asked.”
He turns and walks away, humming to himself. I’m left alone to grasp the significance of what just happened.
***
Swimming lessons come and go. I’m paired with a girl named Talia, a junior, who has been teaching here since she was a freshman. She shows me the ropes. Most of the kids we’re in charge of have never set foot in a pool before, so a lot of the first day is us trying to get them comfortable with the idea of a body of water deeper than their bathtub.
Another class is going on at the same time across the pool in the other lanes. The kids there are older, not yet teenagers but probably preteens. They’re being taught by the aquatics director. I take it that means they’re part of an advanced group.
The two lessons end at the same time. Everybody filters into the shallow end of the pool. Talia and I throw some plastic balls and foam noodles in there, then jump in ourselves to play with the kids.
We get a little game of basketball going. Slowly, the teams dwindle in size as parents arrive to pick up their children. Eventually, it’s me and a boy named Jordan up against Talia and the twins, Brittany and Becky.
It’s a close game. Ten to ten. First team to eleven wins. I have the ball in my hands after snagging a rebound from a Brittany shot. I lob it high in the air to Jordan. He jumps out of the pool to catch it. Both twins are on him in a flash, splashing around and clinging to his neck as they try to steal the ball.
One of them pops the ball from his hands. He yelps as he loses it. It flies through the air, going right to Talia. I know what’s at stake here. Without thinking, I launch myself forward. I burst out of the water right in front of her. My hand slaps the ball away, intercepting the pass. It skips over to the no man’s zone in the middle of the pool.
“Quick!” I yell to Jordan. “Go, go, go!”
Talia and I jostle for position under the hoop. One of the twins still has her arms around Jordan’s neck. He bounds for the ball, dragging her with him. He gets there before the other sister. The two girls make a defensive wall in front of him, flailing their arms in the air to block the shot.
“Take it,” I scream, laughing as Talia tries to drag my feet out from under me. “It’s all you, J!”
The boy nods, narrowing his eyes and bending his knees. He times his jump so that both the twins are going down as he’s propelling up. His wrist whips forward. The ball arches through the air, flying straight for the hoop.
It hits the rim once, bounces up, then hits the rim on the other side and starts to spin. The twins are yelling taunts. I’m trying to block Talia out so the rebound goes to me. The ball rolls around the rim, once, twice… and falls in.
“Yeah!” Jordan yells, pumping his fists in the air. “That’s a two pointer from downtown!”
“Is not!” one of the twins protest. “You weren’t out far enough!”
“Is, too,” a laughing, deep male voice sounds from behind me. I look back, and see a handsome man with a thick black beard watching the girls.
“Daddy!” one of them exclaims. “No fair! You weren’t looking!”
“I saw everything with my own eyes, pumpkin,” he chuckles. He gives Jordan a wink. “That was as good a shot as I’ve ever seen. You’re going to be an NBA star one day, I can tell.”
Jordan beams at the compliment.
“Now then,” the man continues, “we’ve got to get the two of you home before mommy gets worried. You wouldn’t want to scare her, would you?”
“No,” Brittany—or is it Becky?—admits.
“Hop
out and I’ll get you dry.” The man smiles at me and Talia. “Thanks for keeping an eye on them.
“They were a blast,” I say, climbing out of the pool. “I’ll see you next week?”
I head for the change room to get out of the wet “Instructor” tee shirt I’d been given. Halfway there, I realize I’d forgotten my backpack by the pool. Since class is over, I take the shirt off anyway, and wring it dry as I walk back.
I’m reaching for the backpack when a voice stops me. “Paige?”
My heart leaps to my throat. I spin around. “Andrew? What are you doing here?”
“Picking up this little guy.” He nods at Jordan, who’s just pulling himself out of the pool.
“He’s your brother?” I ask.
“Yeah.” Andrew sticks his hands in his pockets and looks at the floor. He seems to be having a hard time meeting my eyes.
Then it hits me. Andrew is fully clothed, while I’m standing here practically naked!
I fight down the full-body flush that threatens to overtake me. I don’t think I’m very successful.
Thankfully, Jordan runs up to us, breaking the tension. He tugs on his brother’s hand. Andrew looks relieved to have the distraction.
“How’d swimming lessons go, buddy?”
“Awesome!” Jordan exclaims. “They timed us today. Coach said I might make the high school team by the end of the year! Oh, oh! At the end, we played basketball, and it was a tie game, and I took a three pointer, for the win, and it went swish right through the hoop. Tell him, Paige!”
“It was a pretty good shot,” I laugh. “We were on the same team,” I explain to Andrew.
“Were you, now?” he asks, amused.
“Oh, and I saw Jason, and Mark, and Karl today too,” Jordan continues. “I didn’t see them all summer.” He makes a face. “Karl got fat.”
Jordan says it so matter-of-factly that Andrew and I burst out laughing together. Andrew cuffs his little brother playfully upside the head.
“You can’t say that,” he chastises, still laughing.
“It’s true,” Jordan insists. “Karl even said it himself. He let us poke his fat.” He shivers. “Gross.”
Andrew perks an eyebrow at me. “Is this the sort of thing that happens here often?” he laughs.
“I wouldn’t know,” I say. “I was on the other side of the pool the whole time.”
“She’s teaching the babies to swim,” Jordan offers. “She’s not good enough to work with us.”
“Hey!” I defend. “I could do it if I wanted to. They just don’t let me yet.”
“‘Cause you’re not good enough!” Jordan stresses. “I bet I’m a faster swimmer than you.”
I place my hand on my hip. “Is that a challenge?”
Jordan shrugs mischievously. “Maybe.”
“Fine,” I say. “Next week, after class, you and I race each other in the lanes.”
“What does the winner get?” Jordan asks.
“There has to be a prize?”
“Well, duh,” Jordan explains. “Otherwise, what’s the point?”
I look at Andrew. “Your brother’s got a good head on his shoulders.”
Andrew laughs. “I’d say he takes after me, but he’s way sharper than I ever was.”
“How about this,” I offer. “The loser of the race has to buy the winner pizza.”
Jordan’s expression turns serious. “Well,” he says to himself, “I am only nine, and I don’t have any money… but I’m sure I’ll win.” He sticks his hand out. “Deal.”
I laugh and shake his little hand. He has a surprisingly strong grip for a nine-year-old.
“Speaking of food,” Andrew puts in, “Jordan and I are gonna stop by a burger place on the way back. It’s kind of a tradition after practice. You want to come?”
Jordan looks totally shocked. “You want to invite her?
he asks. “But she’s a girl!”
Andrew winks at his younger brother. “That’s why I’m inviting her.”
Jordan shakes his head in dismay. “You’re crazy, dude.”
Andrew laughs. Then he looks at me. “So? What do you say?”
“Are you sure?” I ask. “I mean, there’s everything we talked about on Friday…”
Andrew waves my objection away. “Just as friends. You’re my little brother’s swimming instructor now. Nobody can object to that.”
“Technically, I’m not teaching him. I’m just here with a class that happens at the same time.”
“Tomato, to-mah-to. Same thing. You want to come, or not?”
I hesitate before I answer. I want to go with Andrew. But I can’t tell him about what happened with Spencer with Jordan around. And if don’t do it the first chance I get, it’ll look like I was hiding it later.
“Andrew, come on!” Jordan complains. “I’m hungry!”
“Last chance,” Andrew offers.
“Thanks, but I can’t,” I say, shaking my head. “I’ve got loads of homework to do.”
“That’s too bad,” Andrew says. He picks up his brother’s stuff and turns to leave. Jordan runs ahead of him.
“You know,” Andrew adds with a bit of a smirk just before turning a corner, “I never thought I’d get to see you with so little clothes on so soon.”
He pauses. “I might have to start coming here more often.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Where did you disappear to all day?” Katy asks when I walk into our dorm. “You didn’t answer your phone once. I probably called you a dozen times.”
“Shit,” I curse. “I must have forgotten it in my room.”
Katy gives me a strange look. “A swear word? Out of you?” She shuffles forward on the sofa. “What’s going on, sister?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You never say stuff like that. You’re the same girl who blushes when she says ‘sex.’ Something’s definitely up.”
“Nothing’s going on,” I defend. “I had my first day at work this morning. I just forgot my phone when I left.”
“Oh?” Katy practically sings out the word. “A little birdie told me there’s more to the story than that.”
“That’s all,” I snap. I don’t like feeling like I’m being put on trial. “Come on, Katy. You don’t come back Friday night or all day Saturday. And you grill me about been away for a few hours?”
Katy narrows her eyes. “I had my phone with me. I answered you when you texted. You have no right to get mad at me!”
“I know, I know,” I sigh. I plop down on the couch next to her. “I’m sorry. You’re right. It’s been a crazy few days. I needed to talk to you yesterday, but you weren’t even here.”
That doesn’t even include Andrew’s last remark to me. I must have played it over in my mind a hundred times on the way back to the dorm.
Katy relaxes. “Don’t worry about it. I was just concerned about you, that’s all. I know I should have told you where I was. But this morning, I ran into Spencer.”
I rub the bridge of my nose. “Nooo.”
“Yup. And he had some interesting things to say about Friday.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me. What did he tell you?”
“He told me that you two had a bit of a confrontation at the party, and that—” she cuts off. “Well, I should probably let you fill me in on the rest. Spencer’s perception of things sometimes doesn’t jive with reality.”
I grimace a bit and shake my head. “There’s not much to say. Remember when I left you to use the restroom? Well, I found Spencer in there with a girl. I got kind of emotional. Upset, or angry, I don’t know. I thought he invited me to the party with him. But I was just being stupid. I left after that.”
“With him?” Katy asks.
“No, not with him!” I bristle. “Why? Did he say something else?”
“No.” Katy shakes her head. “He just asked me how you were doing. Said he saw you upset on Friday night.”
I feel some tension ooze out of my shou
lders. I had worried that Spencer told Katy about everything that had happened when he came to the room after.
I’m glad he didn’t.
“Yeah, well, I was. But I’m over it now. Like I said, I was being stupid.”
“Hmm.” Katy chews on the inside of her cheek. “You know, I hate to say it again, but I have to: He definitely has a thing for you. I’ve never seen him so interested in someone he hasn’t slept with yet.”
“And won’t sleep with, ever,” I correct. “Next time I see him, I intend on telling him that he blew any chance he thought he had with me after Friday. Not that there was much of one to begin with.”
Katy laughs. “I know a lot of girls who would pay good money to see his face during that conversation. You do realize it will only make him chase you harder?”
“Whatever. I can handle it.”
“So what about lover-boy-number-two?” Katy asks, holding up two fingers. “Any news with him?”
“Andrew? I don’t know. I ran into him after the party. We talked. He said he might be able to change peer groups next semester.” I trail off and shrug. “Who knows what will happen?”
“Hold on. You’re thinking of waiting for him that long?” Katy sounds impressed. Or disgruntled. I’m not sure.
“Well, I think he’s worth it.”
“You’re basing that on one date,” Katy says flatly. “You barely even know the guy.”
“Maybe. But I like what I know. He’s fun. Sweet. Responsible.”
“Well, duh. He wouldn’t be a peer leader if he wasn’t.”
“I know. And he takes that responsibility seriously.”
“Which is why he’s forcing you to wait!” Katy exclaims. “Since when is responsibility sexy?”
“I don’t know, Katy. He seems like a good guy.”
“If he really wanted you,” she continues, “he would have found a way to bend the rules. Just for a day. A night.” Her eyes glimmer. “An hour.”
“Katy!”
“What? Just calling it as I see it, babe. It’s your choice. Personally, I wouldn’t want to limit myself like that. Not when we have so many available studs walking around campus.”
