"You don't have to. We'll stay right here. We'll keep practicing floating until you're comfortable with it."
"Am I doing it right?"
"Almost. Try to lift your butt up more so it's even with your legs."
"It's already lifted. I just have a huge ass that hangs down in the water."
"Your ass isn't huge."
"Compared to the girls you date, it's enormous."
"The girls I date don't even have an ass. They're too skinny."
"Guess that means you're not an ass guy," she says, closing her eyes as she smiles up at the sun.
"No, I'm definitely an ass guy," I say, trying to pry my eyes from her breasts. Why the hell did she have to wear this bikini? I can't even think straight. I'm so distracted she actually could drown if I don't get my shit together and focus.
"Maybe you should try to date a different type of girl. One that actually has some curves."
"Yeah, maybe," I mutter, my eyes following the path of her body. I tell myself I'm checking her form but I know it's more than that. I'm attracted to her more than I want to admit.
I'm atttracted to Birdie. My sister's best friend. The girl I grew up with.
"What are you looking at?" Birdie says.
My eyes shoot back to her face. "Nothing. Why?"
"You were checking me out!" She bats her hand in the water, splashing me. "Pervert!"
Shit. She caught me. Now what? How do I explain this?
Chapter Five
Birdie
"I'm kidding," I say, laughing at Cal's expression, which is a mix of panic and confusion. I know he was just checking my form but I wanted to see what he'd do if I pretended he was doing more than that. "So now what?"
"What do you mean?"
I lower my legs and stand up in the pool. "I think I've figured out floating. So what do we do next?"
He stares at me, not saying anything.
"Cal." I wave my hand in front of his face. "You awake?"
"Yeah. Sorry. Um, how about trying to actually swim? Like trying a basic stroke. You think you're ready for that?"
"Maybe in the shallow end."
"You won't go very far but okay. Watch me first and then it's your turn."
"Go ahead." I move to the side of the pool.
"I'll swim to the deep end and back, just to show you." He stands up and shakes out his shoulders, then rotates the one that's injured. He hurt it last year, which is one of the things keeping him from returning to professional golf.
He takes off swimming the breast stroke, gliding fast and smooth like it's no effort at all. When he's back beside me, he stands up and wipes the water from his eyes.
"See? It's easy," he says.
"For you. Not for a beginner."
"You just have to practice. I'm gonna grab some water and then we'll start."
I watch as he gets out of the pool. When did he get such a good body?
And why am I checking him out?
Turning away, I lower myself into the pool to cool myself off. The sun must be really intense today. Having grown up here, the Arizona heat doesn't usually make me feel this hot but today I'm burning up.
"Okay, face down," Cal says, now back beside me.
"With my face in the water? How am I supposed to breathe?"
"Keep your head to the side, not down. You're gonna try floating again but on your stomach. I'll hold you up."
"I thought you wanted me to try swimming?"
"You have to learn to do this first."
"Are you sure I'm ready?" I ask, already feeling nervous.
"Nothing bad's going to happen. I'll be right here, holding you up. C'mon. Just try it."
"Where do I put my arms?"
"Straight out in front of you."
I take a deep breath as I extend my arms and bend forward into the water.
"Now lift your legs up," Cal says.
"I'm afraid to."
"Birdie, I've got you. I swear."
"I know but I'm still afraid."
"Here." He places his arm under my chest, just above my breasts.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to hold you up until you're comfortable being face down in the water."
"You'll be holding me the whole time because there's no way I'll be comfortable. I'm not ready for this."
My legs suddenly lift up.
"Cal!" I scream, panicking now that my feet are no longer touching the bottom.
"Relax. I've got you. Just keep your head to the side."
Both his arms are holding me up now, one cradled just above my breasts and the other one under my thighs. If someone had told me just a few weeks ago that Cal Tuckerman would be touching me this way I would've laughed in their face. There's no way I'd let Cal even get near me, let alone touch me. And now here he is, touching my bare skin near very intimate areas.
And what's even worse? I'm kind of liking it. He has really strong arms. And his chest keeps brushing against my side as the water moves us. Did I mention his abs? He must've spent all summer working on them because, damn, they look good. I'm guessing that's because of Luke. Cal spent all summer with Luke and stepped up his workouts, hoping to look more like Luke. It worked, because Cal's abs have never looked better.
"You okay?" Cal asks.
"Yeah." I catch his eye and he smiles. "What are you smiling at?"
"I can't believe you're letting me do this."
"Do what?"
"Hold you up like this. Just a few days ago you accused me of trying to drown you and now you're trusting me with your life."
"That's a little dramatic, don't you think? If you let go, I'll just stand up."
He continues to smile, except now it's a different smile. The kind of smile that's hiding a secret.
"What?" I ask. "Why are you smiling like that?"
"Because we're not in the shallow end anymore."
"What?" I look back and see we're on the other side of the pool, in the deep end. "What are we doing here? Get us back!"
"Relax. I've got you."
"Cal, I mean it. I'm freaking out! Get us back!"
"I will. But did you see how you only freaked out once you knew? I did this to show you the water isn't scary. You've been in the deep end for over a minute and it was no different than being in the shallow end."
"It's totally different! I could die over here! Cal, I'm not kidding! Get us back!"
"Yeah, I'm going."
He slowly moves us the other direction. "We're almost there. I can feel the bottom."
Just then, his feet slip and his arm drops from under my chest. I feel myself sinking in the water and grab him. Completely panicked, I wrap my arms around his neck, holding on so tight I'm nearly strangling him.
"Birdie, what the hell?"
"Get me out of here!" I yell, my legs wrapping around him, my eyes squeezing shut as I try to breathe.
"Um, Birdie?"
"Stop talking and get us to the shallow end!"
"We're already at the shallow end."
Opening my eyes I see we're back at the other end of the pool.
"Oh." I turn to Cal, our faces so close we're almost touching. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried to but you were panicking too much to hear me." He looks me in the eye. "You know I'd never let anything happen to you, right?"
There's something different about the way he says it. It's a tone he doesn't usually use with me. It's serious. Caring. Like he really means it. I know he does. I know he cares about me, at least in a sisterly way, yet right now he's not looking at me like he'd look at his sister. Staring into my eyes, his breath over my lips, I almost feel like he's about to kiss me.
"Birdie?"
"Yeah?" I say, my heart pounding.
"You're strangling me."
"Oh!" I quickly loosen my grip around his neck, and notice my legs are still tightly wound around him, my body pressing against his—holy crap, is that his penis? It is! I'm touching his penis, which means it's eithe
r erect or just naturally sticks straight out. What am I saying? It's obviously erect. It's hard. Very hard. And pressed against my butt!
I quickly let go of him, my feet searching for the bottom of the pool. By the time I find it, I'm completely out of breath.
"You okay?" Cal asks, a smile on his face. He knew! He knew we were touching like that and he liked it! Or thought it was funny. Either way, I'm pissed at him.
"The lesson is over!" I say, getting out of the water.
"Why? We've barely done anything."
"Oh, we've done plenty." I grab my towel from the chair and cover up. "And don't even try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about."
He's still standing in the water, which comes up to his waist, leaving his newly formed abs exposed along with his muscular shoulders, which for some reason look even bigger when they're wet.
"Do you mean when you fondled me just now?" he asks, folding his arms over his chest.
"ME?" I huff. "You're the one with the..." I wave my hand in the direction of his crotch.
"The what?" he asks with a smile.
"The...the giant THING pressed against me."
"Giant?" he asks, smiling even more.
I narrow my eyes at him. "You know what I mean."
"That I have a giant penis?"
"No!" I fumble with the towel as I try to dry myself off. "That is not what I said!"
"Then what thing were you referring to?"
I stop drying myself and glare at him. "Yeah. Fine. I meant your penis but I didn't mean it was giant. That just came out because I was angry."
"You describe things as giant when you're angry?"
"Just forget it, okay?" I go back to drying myself. "Forget it even happened."
"It's a little hard to forget when a girl wraps herself around you then rubs her ass against your penis." He's trying not to laugh, which is making me even angrier.
"I did NOT rub against your—thing! I was holding onto you because you dropped me in the water. You tried to drown me! Again!"
"My foot slipped. I was not trying to drown you. I went to hold you up but you had already grabbed onto me. I had us back to the shallow end within seconds. You were never in danger. I, on the other hand, was nearly strangled to death while being fondled in an inappropriate manner." He's doing everything he can to hold back his laughter.
I sigh. "I'm going home now."
As I turn to leave, I hear him get out of the water.
"Birdie, wait!"
"Cal, I don't want to talk about this anymore."
"I wasn't talking about that." He steps in front of me. "I was going to ask about tonight. What time should I pick you up?"
"Let's forget it. I'll just tell your dad I went."
"You don't want to go?"
"You know frat parties aren't my thing."
"But my dad is right. It's a good way to meet people. And I want you to go."
I cock my head. "Why? Do you have something planned? Some kind of stupid practical joke?"
"No. What the hell are you talking about?"
"I could totally see you doing something to embarrass me."
"Why would I do that?"
"I don't know." I pull the towel tighter around my body. "To make your friends laugh?"
"Birdie, you know I'd never do that. Why would you even think that?"
He's using that tone again. That serious, caring tone that isn't the Cal I know. It's making me uncomfortable.
"I have to go," I say, going around him.
"Wait." He holds my arm, stopping me.
I turn back around. "What?"
"I want you to go tonight."
"Why?"
"Because I think you'll have fun. It'll be better than sitting at home in your room. We're grilling burgers so you'll at least get free food."
"I'm pretty sure I'd get food poisoning from anything your frat brothers cook."
"Free beer?"
"That's something worth going for. What else you got?"
"Me?" He smiles, and it's a sweet adorable smile I don't remember seeing on him before.
"What about you?"
He shrugs. "I've been told I'm fun to be around."
"Sometimes. Not always."
"Birdie, c'mon. Just come to the party. If you hate it, I'll never make you go again."
I sigh. "Okay, what time? Is eight too early?"
"Eight's perfect." He pauses. "Unless you want to go to dinner first."
"Dinner?" I scrunch my nose. "Why would we go to dinner?"
"Because I don't have any food at my apartment and I know how much you hate your mom's cooking."
"She is pretty bad but she's actually getting a little better."
"We can skip dinner. I just thought I'd ask. So eight o'clock. I'll see you then."
He walks back to the pool.
"Wait!" I call after him. "What do I wear?"
"Whatever you want," he says, grabbing his towel.
"I need more direction than that."
He turns to me. "Just wear what you want. You always look good."
Cal thinks I always look good? Is he kidding or being serious? I can't tell.
"See you later," I say, walking off.
"Birdie!"
I turn back and see him coming toward me. "You forgot your dress."
"Oops." I laugh as I take it. "I almost drove home wearing a bikini."
"That could be a good thing. That bikini would definitely get you out of a traffic ticket," he says, his eyes glancing over my body.
"Yeah, well, I'm hoping I don't get stopped. See you tonight."
As I'm driving home, I replay the afternoon in my head. Cal was acting weird. He usually treats me like a kid sister, but today it was like he was seeing me differently. I was seeing him differently too. He wasn't just Taylor's annoying older brother but a guy that was kind of cute. Maybe it's all that touching in the pool. Or maybe I'm just horny. I haven't dated in months and I could use some sex.
I need to find a boyfriend. Or just a guy to satisfy whatever urges are making me see Cal this way.
"Cal!" I hear Max yell from the living room.
It's just before eight and Cal's here to pick me up. I heard his SUV pull up in the driveway as I was putting on my mascara. Earlier I told Max he could answer the door for Cal so he's been waiting at the door for the last ten minutes.
My little brother loves Cal, even though he only sees him when our families get together for the occasional cookout, which rarely happens now that Taylor is away at college.
"Hey, buddy, how's it going?" I hear Cal say.
"Wanna see my new camera?" Max asks, and from the mischievous tone is his voice, I know which camera he means.
I run out to the living room. "Max, no!"
But I'm too late. Max already got him, leaving Cal's white polo shirt splattered with water.
"Max, what did Mom tell you about that camera?" I say in the same stern tone my mom uses with him.
"Not to spray people with it," he says. "But Cal doesn't count.”
I laugh. "Cal's not a person?"
Max shrugs. "I thought he'd think it's funny."
"It IS funny," Cal says, smiling at Max. "Where'd you get the camera?"
"My uncle got it for me," Max says. "It's a water camera! It's so cool!"
As they talk, my eyes get stuck on Cal. Damn, he looks good tonight. I don't usually like the preppy polo shirt look but on Cal it's more of an athletic look. As a golfer he wears a lot of polo shirts, and this one looks really good on him. It fits tight on his shoulders and the sleeves strain against his muscular arms. I swear he didn't have those arms before last summer. Or that body. Or maybe he did and I just didn't notice.
"People think you're taking their picture," Max says, "and then they get wet!"
"Can I see it?" Cal asks.
Max hands him the camera.
"Pretty cool," Cal says, looking it over. He aims it at me.
"Don't you dare!" I shield my face.
/>
Cal laughs. "I wouldn't. I already got you wet once today."
He did. And it wasn't because of the pool. It was because he touched me. My chest. My legs. And then his—thing—touching my butt. I still can't believe that happened. And that I got so turned on by it.
"I mean in the pool," Cal says with a nervous laugh, like he, too, was thinking about what happened earlier. I wonder if he could tell I was turned on. I hope not. I tried to hide it by yelling at him. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't hide his arousal, but I still think that was less about me and just him being a guy.
I point to his shirt. "What me to put that in the dryer?"
"It's fine. It's just water. It'll dry." He smiles at me. "You look nice."
"Thanks," I say, sounding surprised because Cal almost never compliments me. But I do look damn good tonight. I'm wearing a bright orange sundress in a flowing fabric that ends just above my knees. It has these cute frilly straps holding it up and the top part has a tight bodice that really shows off my boobs. I found the dress at a garage sale for only five bucks. The garage sale was at a house in Cal's neighborhood, which is full of multimillion dollar homes. Those people rarely have garage sales but when they do, I always stop. They have awesome stuff and they sell it really cheap. This is a designer dress that I'm sure cost hundreds of dollars originally.
"Hey, Max," Cal says, getting his attention.
"What?"
"Say cheese." Cal aims the camera at him and water shoots out.
"Hey!" Max yells, laughing. "Give it back!"
Cal keeps shooting him with water. "Not until I get a good picture."
My mom walks in from the kitchen. "What's going on in here?"
"Cal shot me!" Max says between laughs.
"Looks like you got him too." My mom smiles at Cal. "Sorry about that. Do you want me to put it in the dryer?"
"No, it's fine." He hands her the camera. "But you might want to hold onto this until we leave."
She takes it from him. "So you two are going to a party on campus?"
"It's at my frat house," Cal says. "I thought it'd be a good way for Birdie to meet people."
"More like a good way to make sure he can golf tomorrow," I say, looking at Cal.
"That wasn't the only reason."
"What do you mean?" my mom asks.
"His dad's making him take me," I explain. "If he doesn't, he can't golf with his dad tomorrow at some fancy golf club."
Kinda Hate You: An Enemies to Lovers College Romance Page 5