by Mia Archer
I frowned. Something wasn’t quite right about that. Alyssa in my arms. Very right. Birds chirping outside. Annoying but not world ending or anything. The sun shining through the closed blinds casting lines of light on the floor.
The sun. Shining. Which it shouldn’t be doing if we were getting up on time to go to practice.
“Shit!”
Alyssa followed my gaze and her eyes went wide. I could see her making the connection as a look of horror dawned on her face.
“We’re late to practice!”
We stayed like that for a moment. I couldn’t believe we’d been stupid enough to sleep through our alarms. Then again we’d been so preoccupied the night before that it was entirely possible both of us forgot to set any sort of alarm.
Shit!
We both went into a mad scramble. Alyssa was in the middle of changing into her suit but I didn’t stop to enjoy the view. I’d get to see that later, and I figured there wasn’t much point in enjoying that view if I was going to be struck dead by coach as soon as we got to the pool. I needed to get suited up and ready for practice. I glanced down at the time on my phone and let out a wail.
Practice had already been going on for a good hour. We were in deep shit. Deep, deep shit. We’d only been here for a couple of weeks and already we were late. This wasn’t the sort of thing you recovered from. Coach was going to think we were slackers for the rest of our college careers.
Damn it.
We met out in front of the dorm a couple of minutes later. I got into my suit and some workout clothes to throw over it in record time. It looked like Alyssa had done the same. Her face was flushed which, once again, brought back some nice memories from the night before.
I frowned. “We’re going to have to sprint over there.”
“I hate cardio that isn’t in the pool,” Alyssa muttered.
There was nothing for it though. Either we ran our asses off or we risked getting in even more trouble. So we sprinted through campus, dodging some early birds from various orientation groups who were already out and about. Obviously none of them had been stupid enough to go to a party the night before and stay out too late.
I was just glad we hadn’t drank all that much. Being hungover on top of being late to practice would’ve been completely unforgivable. Especially after the speeches coach gave us about not doing that sort of thing. Somehow I doubted telling him someone on the swim team encouraged us would make him any more lenient.
Damn it. Not only was that guy hitting on Alyssa and being a first rate creeper, but now he might cost both of us our scholarships!
Though when I really thought about it it’s not like I could lay all the blame on that Todd asshole. Sure he’d been an asshole and a creeper, but he wasn’t the reason we forgot to set our alarms. No, that was all on me. And Alyssa. I blushed thinking about it.
Finally we reached the natatorium and continued sprinting through the doors. We might be swimmers, but I’m pretty sure in that terrified dash across campus we could’ve set a couple of land speed records.
As soon as we burst through the doors at the natatorium we saw that we were too late. Coach stood right there and when he turned he didn’t look angry or anything. No, his look communicated something far worse: disappointment. He shook his head and nodded towards his office.
I hung my head in shame. I’d been swimming my entire life and I’d never been late to a practice. It figured the one time I pulled something like this was when it actually had real world consequences. He was going to pull both our scholarships and that would be it for the magical summer of fun. All the excitement I felt over what happened the night before drained from my body as I made the walk of shame over to his office.
We sat down in a couple of chairs that looked like they’d been staged this morning just for this purpose. He knew we were coming and he wanted to be ready. I glanced over to Alyssa and she looked like she was about to be sick. I could understand the feeling.
“How bad do you think it’s going to be?” I asked.
“Oh God this is it. He’s going to come in here and tell us that we’re off the team. We’re going to lose our scholarship and then they’ll kick us out of the dorms and I won’t be able to pay for school. My parents don’t have that kind of money and it’s too late to apply for financial aid. I’ll have to go back home for a whole year,” she said.
That last bit seemed to panic her more than anything else. She started hyperventilating to the point that I scooted my chair over next to her and put a hand on hers. That seemed to finally get her attention. She looked up at me and smiled.
“Sorry. I guess I let myself get a little carried away,” she said.
“Trust me, I know exactly how you feel,” I replied. “You’re making me feel a little less crazy. I’ve been worrying about the same things the whole walk over!”
Alyssa smiled for a moment, but only a moment. I guess knowing that I was worrying about the same thing wasn’t terribly comforting. We settle into silence until I heard the door open. I didn’t pull my hand away from Alyssa. I wanted her to know I was there for her, and after last night it felt like trying to hide what we were was more than a little silly.
Coach moved around his desk and sat down. His old chair creaked. Not because he was overweight or anything, he was in surprisingly good shape and actually swam with the guys team once in awhile. He leaned forward and stared at both of us in turn, his hands clasped together in front of him.
“So do either of you ladies want to tell me why you decided to show up late to my practice only a couple of weeks into your college swimming careers?”
Again there wasn’t really anger in his voice. Just a touch of disappointment and a touch of something else I couldn’t quite identify.
“If I didn’t know any better I’d say that two of my new star swimmers were out breaking some rules the night before. And it looks like maybe at least one of you had a couple of drinks, too,” he finished, looking right at Alyssa.
I glanced at her. How did he know that? I couldn’t even tell she’d been drinking. Then again the man had been here coaching for decades. His experience and the way he ran the program was part of the reason why I chose this school. That and they offered me a full ride. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that experience was coming around to bite us in the ass now. This wasn’t his first time at the drunk student rodeo.
His face softened a bit. “Look, I understand how it is. You come to college for the first time and you see new things and experiences. You have to understand there are certain rules and responsibilities you have to stick to now that you’re in college, and especially if you’re going here on a scholarship to swim on my team.”
Coach leaned back in his chair and sighed. A small smile actually played across his face. “I don’t mind my swimmers going out and enjoying themselves. That scary speech at the beginning of the season is mostly for show. There’s balance in everything. What I can’t have is my swimmers showing up late because they don’t know when to stop, do you understand?”
We both nodded and he seemed to take that as encouragement. He leaned forward even more. He was practically lying across his desk at this point. “This happens a lot more than you might think. I promise if you come clean right now there won’t be any consequences. This time.”
“The asshole who invited us out last night sure seemed to be tipping that balance a lot more than we were,” I muttered.
I’d like to say the words slipped out without really thinking about it, but that would be a lie. I was still seething over what Todd had done the night before. I was upset that we were the ones getting yelled at when he’d been the one who practically attacked my friend. To be perfectly honest I figured if we were going down then I was going to take him right along with us.
“What are you talking about?” Coach asked, looking at me with a piercing stare that could only come from a man who had decades of experience getting exactly what he wanted out of college students.
; I sighed. Looked over to Alyssa to make sure she was okay with this. She bit her lip, looked uncertain, but she nodded. I took a deep breath and turned to coach. Launched into a quick explanation of everything that happened yesterday. Getting invited to a “swim team” party. Getting there and discovering it was only a couple of guys from the team and a bunch of strangers. Todd thrusting a beer on Alyssa and pulling her off on her own. How I went searching and found him holding onto her.
Alyssa filled in a couple of details from that moment that I didn’t get to see. My blood boiled even hotter at that. The next time I saw that guy I was going to kill him!
The look on Coach’s face grew darker and darker. When I finished he sighed and looked between us for a long moment.
“Y’know I wondered where that shiner on Todd’s face came from this morning,” he said.
I blinked. “Shiner? What are you talking about?”
Coach chuckled. “You must have one hell of a right hook little lady, because he looked like he got in a fight with someone twice his size when he walked in this morning. Said he fell down the stairs at his house the night before, but I didn’t say anything because he was on time for practice and that’s all I care about. Of course that all changes now.”
I licked my lips. Alyssa leaned forward. “What do you mean that all changes now?”
Coach leaned back in his chair. It creaked again as he rocked back and forth. He shook his head and he still looked very angry.
“That’s not the first strike against Todd. He’s always been a troublemaker. Never anything this terrible, but this means he’s off the team. That’s the kind of bullshit I will not put up with. I’ll also be reporting this to the campus police and I can get you set up with some counseling if you’d like?”
I blinked in astonishment. Glanced over to Alyssa. This whole thing had spiraled out of control pretty darn fast. I’d heard so many horrible things about colleges trying to cover up this sort of thing that it was a bit of a pleasant surprise to hear a college official saying they were going to bring the hammer down on Todd.
“Are you sure we have to do that?” Alyssa asked. I gave her hand a squeeze to let her know that it was going to be okay. I wanted to communicate to her that I would be there for her, with her, every step of the way.
“Yup, pretty damn sure,” Coach said. “I can’t promise the police will do anything. It comes down to he-said she-said in the end, but the fact that there are two of you means something might stick. I’m not a cop. I can’t tell you what’s going down there. I can tell you he’s off the team. Now.”
I let out a sigh of relief. I’d been worrying about whether or not he might try that with other freshmen girls who were new to the team and willing to go out of their comfort zone for the possibility of having fun with the big man on the team.
Coach sighed. “You girls have certainly given me a heap of trouble this morning. Not that I mind, but I have a lot to do. Now get out of here. You have today off.”
He paused and looked at both of us again. A lingering stare. “And I want both of you to consider this your freebie.”
I blinked, but Alyssa got to the obvious question first. “You’re not making us swim the rest of the practice?”
“Nope. I learned my lesson the hard way about making freshmen who can’t hold their booze swim a practice. Took two days to drain the pool, clean the puke, and fill it back up again. Don’t let this freebie influence your behavior at all, though. I expect you to be at practice on time in the future. Got it?”
“Got it,” I said.
“Got it,” Alyssa echoed.
“Good, because I’m very hopeful this is the only time I’m ever going to have to have a conversation like this with two ladies who are about to be my star swimmers.”
And with that we were out of his office. On the whole that had gone a hell of a lot better than I thought it would. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with Todd, but I was sure that we’d just gotten away with one hell of a gimme from Coach. Something told me he could come down on people like a ton of bricks when he wanted to.
I had a feeling the Todd situation had something to do with his leniency. Whatever it was, I’d take it.
16: Hit the Showers
Alyssa:
I wasn’t sure what to think as we made our way to the showers. I wasn’t even sure why we were heading for the team showers when we hadn’t practiced. I guess it was a little bit of habit ingrained in both of us after years of swimming and a little bit of both of us needing a shower since we usually cleaned up after practice.
“I can’t believe we got away with that,” Sarah said. “I can’t wait to hear about what the cops are going to do to that prick.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said.
To tell the truth I was a little conflicted about that, and I hated that I was conflicted. The guy was an asshole. He’d lured me to his house, tried to get me drunk, and then he’d almost forced himself on me. If that wasn’t a textbook example of the kind of things my mom warned me about before I came out here to college then I don’t know what was.
I sighed. I suppose it was all going to be worth it. I just hoped my parents didn’t somehow find out about it.
“Hey, you okay?” Sarah asked.
I looked over to her and smiled. She’d gotten out of her clothes and was just in her suit. I paused for a moment to admire the way the suit clung to her in all the right places before I pulled off my own shirt and bottoms and tossed them to the bench beside me. I didn’t even bother to open my locker. It’s not like any thieves would be sneaking into the locker room this early in the morning to steal an old T-shirt and shorts.
“I guess I’m fine,” I said. “Just thinking about everything that happened last night,” I said.
Sarah hesitated. “The good stuff or the bad stuff? Or was there good stuff?”
I grinned and stepped forward. Wrapped my arms around her. “Trust me there was good stuff. There was bad stuff too. Me yelling at you for no good reason. That jerk Todd doing what he did.”
“Yeah, everything about last night was pretty crazy, but I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Sarah said.
“Me either,” I said with a grin. “And I’m really glad that I had you around to save me. It’s like I said last night. You’ve been there for me every time I needed you lately.”
“Y’know you’ve been there for me too,” Sarah said. “This isn’t a one way street.”
I ran a hand up and down her back. Traced a line along the curve where her one piece suit met her skin. She shivered and I felt goose bumps trailing along everywhere my finger made contact. I gave a little shiver of my own. It was nice to know that I could get that sort of reaction out of her.
“So what is going on here?” I asked. “We never really talked about that last night. We just sort of…”
I trailed off and blushed as images of making out with her like a possessed woman flashed through my mind. We really had gone off the deep end last night even if we hadn’t rounded all the bases. To be perfectly honest I didn’t even know what rounding all the bases looked like with a girl, but I was eager to find out.
Eventually.
Hopefully with Sarah.
Sarah who reached down and pulled my hand to her lips. She kissed along my fingers and even darted her tongue out for a moment reminding me of the feeling and taste of her tongue darting into my mouth. I shivered again.
“I don’t know. What do you think is going on here?” Sarah asked.
I figured I could just come out and say what I thought was going on here. What I wanted to be going on here. That I desperately wanted her to be my girlfriend. Only something seized me in the moment. I felt the need to be a little more playful than direct. It was nothing like my reluctance to come out and say anything last night.
Last night had been about shame and worry that Sarah wouldn’t feel the same way. Today it was all about flirting because I knew for sure that Sarah did feel the same way.
I pulled myself away from her. The pout on her face as I did that was so delicious. I wanted to kiss it away, but instead I took a step towards the showers.
“What are you doing?” Sarah asked.
She sounded incredulous. I’d be a little angry too if I was just having a moment like that with Sarah and she just turned and walked away from it. I had plans though. I turned and put my hands on my hips.
“What do you think I’m doing? We need to take a shower, don’t we?”
“We need to?”
“Well yeah.”
“Together?”
I shook my head. “Well duh. Why else do you think I said we need to take a shower? If it was just me then I would’ve said I need to take a shower silly!”
“We’re taking a shower as in you want to take a shower together in the same stall? We’re not going to be in separate stalls or anything?”
“That’s the idea,” I replied.
Sarah glanced around the locker room. She suddenly seemed uncertain. Some of that confidence I’d seen from her just a moment ago was leeching out. She looked at the door leading into the pool for a good long time. I could hear the telltale splashing of a bunch of people moving back and forth in the pool as they went through morning practice. The familiar smell of chlorinated water drifted through that door.
“But anyone could walk in at any time. What would they think?”
“By my watch practice isn’t going to end for another forty-five minutes,” I said. I winked at her. “Besides? What do you think is going to go on in this shower?”
Sarah swallowed. It was so cute watching her being unsure of herself. It was so much fun being the confident one for a change. I felt like Sarah had taken the lead with a lot of stuff so far, and I enjoyed putting myself out there.
“I don’t know? What is going on in there?”
I turned and walked towards the showers. I tried to put some extra sway in my step. I wasn’t sure if Sarah noticed, but I certainly knew I’d notice if she was walking away from me the way I was walking away from her. Being with her had ignited something in me that had lain dormant for so very long, and I loved it.
