by Mia Archer
“You’re right,” I said.
“Of course I am,” Sarah replied. “That tends to happen a lot, you know.”
I stuck my tongue out. “Get in there. I need to get in that pool and figure out how much I suck these days.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “You’ve been saying that ever since you got out of the hospital. I guarantee you that even being out of the pool for a month you’re going to kick everyone’s ass in there.”
“We’ll see about that,” I said.
A few minutes later we were out on the pool deck and I paused for a moment to enjoy everything. It was all so familiar and so comforting after so long in that sterile hospital room surrounded by various beeping things that told me whether or not I was about to die or whatever the hell it was they did.
This, though. This felt like home. This had been my home for most of my life even if I’d only been at this particular pool for a couple of months, and one of those months I’d been at the hospital.
I took it all in. The sound of the water echoing on the rafters above. The feel of the humid air against my bare skin. The smell of the chlorinated water drifting up. The sound of voices echoing and people splashing into the water.
Though there wasn’t much splashing into the water at the moment. For a surprise the entire team was gathered down by the starting blocks and they all had huge smiles on their face. Even more surprising was the cake out in front of them that had “Welcome Back Alyssa” printed in huge letters on the front.
They even had balloons and everything to welcome me back.
I turned to Sarah and gave her a long and lingering glance. Not the sort of long and lingering glance I’d given her the night before when we finally had a chance to sit back and relax together in the dorm for the first time in forever either.
“Did you know about this?” I asked.
Sarah held her hands up and her face had such a perfect look of innocence that it was pretty damn obvious she’d been in on this. Hell, she’d probably been the one to plan most of it.
Then everyone started clapping and the girls moved in around me. I didn’t even know most of them that well. We’d chatted before and after practice, but it wasn’t like high school when I was in class with them and we had a chance to get to know each other. But here they were surrounding me and hugging me and telling me how happy they all were that I was back and they were so scared for me.
I felt an overwhelming outpouring of emotion washing over me, and the best part was that after I was done being welcomed back in a way I never could’ve expected there was Coach cutting pieces of cake and handing it out. I walked up to him and he smiled.
“Glad to see you back,” he said. “You look a lot better without all those wires sticking out of you.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I feel a lot better without all those wires sticking out from me.”
Coach held out a plate with a reasonably sized slice of cake on it. Either he was worried about us eating wrong right before practice or he wanted to make sure there was enough to go around. I eyed the cake and raised an eyebrow before looking up to him.
“Aren’t you the one who’s always telling us we need to eat right before and after practice?”
Coach grinned and shrugged. “I figure we can make an exception. Besides, after everything you’ve been through you deserve a little bit of slack.”
Then he really surprised me by coming around the cake and wrapping me in a huge hug. Somehow he managed to do that and continue balancing the cake behind me. He looked down and grinned.
“It really is good to have you back,” he said. He glanced over to Sarah. “Also good to see that things, um, worked out between the two of you. There were more than a few times when she came into my office crying about everything and that’s never been something I was equipped to deal with.”
I blinked. I guess I hadn’t realized just how much of a toll everything was taking on Sarah. I looked over at her. You wouldn’t guess from how she was acting now, smiling and chatting with people on the team since she’d had a month and a half to get to know them better, that she was going through so much just a little while ago. If anything that made me appreciate everything she’d done for me that much more.
That she’d done it all and put on a brave face for me whenever she was in the hospital room was nothing short of amazing. I could think of several ways that I could thank her while we both had some fun too.
As I looked around at everyone, at everything, I felt tears coming to my eyes. Here was somewhere that they took me in and accepted me. They didn’t even give a second glance when Sarah came over and put her arm around me. It was nice to know that I had a support group away from home considering I didn’t have anything like that back home where it was really needed.
That didn’t matter though. Home was where you made it, and I figured if I was looking for new families I couldn’t do much better than this smiling group.
Then of course Coach had to ruin the moment by clapping his hands.
“Okay, party’s over! Time to get in the pool and work off that cake!”
Well I suppose no family could be totally perfect. I’d still take it.
33: Back in the Groove
Sarah:
Alyssa hit the wall and did a flip. Came back down to the other end. I was right next to her the whole way, and we both popped up.
“Ha! I stayed with you the entire time that time!” she said.
I shook my head and pointed to the timer still ticking away in one corner of the pool. It showed that the time we took to go down and back was way slower than what I was capable of. It was way slower than what Alyssa had been capable of when she was at the top of her game, but she was getting better.
She hung her head. “Damn it. You were going easy on me. I told you not to go easy on me!”
“Cut the accusation stuff,” I said. “I know you can go fast when you want to, so go fast or I’m going to continue babying you!”
Her eyes narrowed and she stuck her tongue out at me to let me know she wasn’t too mad. “Fine. We’re going again. At the top.”
I glanced over to the clock. That meant we still had thirty seconds or so of rest. That was another testament to how far she had to go before she made a complete recovery. If this was a real practice rather than us screwing around after practice trying to get her back into shape then we wouldn’t have nearly that much rest.
I glanced over to Coach’s office. I could see him on the other side of the window and he gave me a thumbs up when he realized I was looking at him. I smiled and gave him one too. Despite all her worries Alyssa really was doing great, all things considered. She’d be back in shape in no time.
The clock hit the top. I dove into the water and sliced through. We were swimming sides, freestyle, so I could see and feel Alyssa right beside me as we took off with a burst of energy. Then she slowly started to fall behind. I grunted. I was pushing myself, but she really was giving me a run that would’ve been up to where she was back when she was in top shape. I really had to push it, but in the end I hit the wall about a third of a length ahead of her.
She came up and slapped the water a couple of times. “Damn it! I told you not to go easy on me!”
I shook my head. My breathing was coming hard. I’d already been through regular practice and now I was doing this unofficial practice on top of that. I wasn’t going to tell her that though.
“No joking,” I said. “You kicked my ass on that one. Totally serious.”
She stared at me for a moment and seemed to notice that I was gasping for breath. “You sure?”
“Totally,” I said.
“I did feel a little better that time around. Like I was pushing it,” she said.
“You were. I thought I was going to lose or tie that time around!”
Alyssa sighed and leaned back against the wall. “I’m feeling a lot better about my chances for getting back into shape now,” she said.
“You should be,” I said
. “You’re kicking ass already! You’re going to be a force to be reckoned with by next year!”
“I want to be a force to be reckoned with this year,” she muttered.
“You might get there,” I said.
Alyssa looked over to me and smiled. Then she reached out and pulled me towards her. I glanced over to Coach’s office but he wasn’t paying attention at the moment. I wondered if Alyssa forgot that he was over there. Other than him it was just the two of us all alone in the natatorium.
She pulled me right against her and brushed her lips against mine. I started to turn towards the office again but she pulled my head back.
“He’s not watching. Don’t worry,” she said. “Besides, I need to thank you properly for doing this.”
I shrugged. “It’s nothing you wouldn’t do on your end.”
“Yeah, but you’ve always been there pushing me,” she said. “Even when you didn’t know it I was competing against you back in high school. You’re the reason I push myself when I’m feeling down.”
I grinned and leaned in to kiss her again. A fairly chaste kiss, just on the lips, but it still sent electric bolts of pleasure running through me.
“Yeah, well we might not be rivals now but I’m sure as hell going to make sure you’re still pushing yourself! And now you’ve got me right here instead of in the back of your head.”
Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. You’re a slave driver!”
“Maybe I am, but we’re going one more time!”
I dove into the water before she had a chance to react. I would’ve smiled if I wasn’t so busy trying to blow air out of my mouth to keep water from coming in. This was a sport that required a lot of concentration because otherwise you ran the risk of inhaling water which was never fun. I didn’t even look over to see if Alyssa was trying to keep pace with me. I just concentrated on going as fast as I could.
When I came to a stop at the wall I popped up and saw Alyssa was still standing there in the shallows. I blinked.
“You didn’t even try to beat me!”
“Actually I hit the wall about five seconds ago and I was waiting on you,” she said. “Though I thought about not even trying when you did that false start bullshit.”
“You’re serious? You beat me that time? Fair and square?”
“Well you are tired from practice, but yeah. I just wiped the pool with you,” she said with a grin.
I gave her a high five then came in for a hug. “If you’re doing that then you really might be ready for the big leagues soon!”
Alyssa got a funny look in her eyes and moved the short space across the lane to me. She wrapped her arms around me again and this time I felt her other hand going for some territory under the water that was very interesting. I didn’t bother glancing over to Coach’s office this time around. He couldn’t see what was going on under the waterline, after all.
“You’re going to get us in trouble,” I hissed.
“So what say we get out of here and go get into some trouble back in our room?” Alyssa fired back.
I stopped to consider that for a moment. I looked down the length of the pool. What I really should be doing is making sure Alyssa stuck with her practice routine. Sure I wasn’t supposed to be in the pool with her, but Coach didn’t seem to mind.
Then again balanced against that there was all the fun we could have back at the dorm. All the pent up energy that had been waiting to break free ever since she got out of the hospital. I rolled my eyes.
“You’re playing dirty to get out of practice,” I said. “I want you to know that.”
Alyssa leaned in and kissed me. A quick peck on the lips since we were above the water.
“So? You know you love it.”
Someone clearing their throat brought me back to reality. I looked up and saw Coach leaning against the door to his office. He was looking at us and shaking his head.
“I’m fine with the two of you practicing, but if you’re done could you hit the showers so I can go home and see my wife and kids?”
Alyssa blushed, but I’m sure that blush was nothing compared to the scarlet color creeping across my face. We’d been caught. Damn.
“Sorry Coach,” I muttered.
“Yeah, sorry,” Alyssa replied.
We hopped out of the pool and headed for the showers. As we made that walk I watched Alyssa and thought of the strange twists and turns that brought us to this moment. I decided that with all the stuff we’d been through in the few short months we’d been together getting caught in the pool by Coach was probably pretty low on the list of things I had to worry about.
Alyssa reached the locker room and looked over her shoulder. “What’s taking you so long?”
I sped up. I was still about halfway to the locker room, but there was something about the come-hither stare on her face that made me want to pick up the pace.
Yeah, it had been a crazy whirlwind over the past few months, but I wouldn’t change any of it if it meant I had Alyssa all to myself in the here and now. I knew it was possible everything could go to shit again and maybe we wouldn’t be together forever or something, but for now I was looking forward to four years of college and what might come after.
Alyssa’s troubles had taught me the same thing it taught her. Whatever might happen in the future was going to happen, but it was important to live in the now and have a great time. As she practically dragged me towards the showers it seemed like we were about to do a hell of a lot of living in the now.
I couldn’t wait!
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I didn’t intend to start the day questionin
g my sexuality, but the girl I saw hopping onto the elevator certainly brought my professed heterosexuality into question!
To say she was stunning would be the understatement of the century. Of the millennium. I knew, objectively, that there were beautiful girls in the world. And that was how I’d always thought of pretty girls when I looked at them. Objectively. It was always in a “oh wouldn’t it be nice to look as good as her” mix of admiration and envy. It was never with the sort of eyes that sent a bolt of fire running straight down to the core of my being and made me seriously reconsider everything I’d ever thought about the way the world worked and which way my sexuality leaned.
I mean sure there was the occasional experiment back in college, but who didn’t do that? Experiments were just that: experiments. Not the foundation of a relationship.
But damn. Looking at this girl with her perfect face. Brown hair that spilled down past her shoulders. The sort of body that would make a goddess sit up and take notice. Looking at her was making me want to lay one hell of a foundation, if you catch my drift.
I shook my head. What was I thinking? This was just some random pretty girl making her way through the lobby at my building. It’s not like anything was going to happen. It’s not like I was going to go up and chitchat with the girl or try to get her phone number or anything.
Still, it was nice to dream. Even if it was only for a moment.
Then she disappeared behind an elevator and I was brought back to the boring mundane reality of my existence. People in suits and business appropriate dresses making their way through the lobby to take the elevator to whatever floor they slaved away on at Zeidner Corp. I was up on seven which was pretty low on the totem pole.