Harder (16 page)

“Is there something going on between you two?”

I blink. “No, why?”

“Just wondering. I think I’m going to ask him out.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, is that okay?”

I sigh and chew the inside of my cheek. Breeze ripples the pool water, splitting the sunlight into little wavering puddles on the surface of the pool. No one else around. I don’t know why I’ve never been down here before teaching her. I guess being in the water isn’t that appealing after working next to it all day.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not for me to say.”

“Do you think you could put in a good word for me? As my teacher?”

I bite a bit too hard and my cheek explodes with pain. I sit back, my hand to my cheek. “Shiz.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Is this conversation bothering you? You do like him, don’t you?” She looks disappointed.

“Look, I’m not his type. I only want to be his friend. Nothing else matters. In fact, I think you two would be good together. Why don’t you go text him now? You can get his number off my phone.”

She looks away shyly. “He already gave it to me.”

“What?”

“Said to call him if we had any trouble at this pool, and we could use his.”

“What problems?”

She shrugs. I guess he thought my pool was too ghetto for the likes of her.

“Well, there you go. Just text him and see if he wants to do lunch tomorrow or something.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, tell him Ally told you to.”

“I can do it on my own.”

Good girl. “Go ahead then.”

I go deeper into the water, and duck my head, then come out and shake my hair everywhere. Cooled off, I turn and watch her towel off and pick up her phone. She thinks about it for a while, paces a bit, and presses a button. Then she drops her phone on her stuff with a squeak and looks over at me, panic in her eyes.

I grin back, and she smiles, rubbing her hands on her shoulders nervously.

“Now what?”

“Now we wait to see what he says,” I say.

“What will he say?”

“I have no idea.” I wouldn’t mind if it was something like ‘sorry, I’m super in love with Ally, and even if she can never feel the same way, I can’t look at another chick’. But then again, that’d be stupid.

A beep and a buzz interrupt the afternoon silence, and my head snaps up at the same time Emily’s snaps to her phone. “It’s him.”

“What’d he say?”

“Okay,” she says. “Now what?”

“Set a time. You want him to pick you up?”

She shakes her head yes.

“Tell him that then. Say, pick me up at blah blah. Whatever time.”

She texts him and waits again. I dunk under again. When I come up, she’s running to the edge of the pool to talk to me. “He said yes. I can’t wait.”

She jumps in the pool, flails for a minute, then stands up and puts one small fist in the air. “Yes!”

“All right, all right.” I hear voices floating down from upstairs. Sounds like Oscar. “Actually, maybe we should continue in Ryan’s pool, before it gets late. Text him to come get us.”

“Is that too forward?”

“No, he’ll know it’s me. You can use my phone if you want.”

“No, it’s okay.” She texts him and smiles up at me. “He’s coming now. I can’t wait to see his pool!”

“Great. Now let’s make sure you can swim so when you do go in his pool you don’t drown.”

“He wouldn’t let me drown.”

She says it without any shame, and it bothers me again. She doesn’t at all mind depending on a dude for something like that. Fine then. But she should still know how to swim. He won’t always be there.

“Let’s at least get your float down. Come here,” I say, putting out a hand.

She comes over nervously, takes a deep breath, and tries to float. I push up on her back to help.

“You gotta relax,” I say. “Relax those muscles. Take a new breath but leave your lungs half full.” She does. I slowly remove my hand, and she freaks and starts to sink. “Stop that, my hand’s right here, you just can’t feel it.” I slowly pull it away again, and this time she closes her eyes, pulls in a half breath, and relaxes. She floats, her toes just a few inches under the water. Good enough.

“That’s great!” I say, bringing my hand up to help her again.

“Good, we’re done then?” She grabs the wall. She looks past me, slightly alarmed. I can hear men’s voices. I turn around too. Shiz.

Oscar from downstairs, with a couple friends. I turn away from them, hoping they just pass by and don’t notice.

“Who are they?” Emily whispers.

“Shh.”

The footsteps stop at the head of the pool. Dangit.

“Ally? That you?”

I turn around slowly. “Hi, Oscar.”

He’s short, pale, stocky, overweight just in his gut, and his dark hair looks greasy as usual. He’s been harassing me since I moved in. Seems to think a single woman here on her own is fair game. I just don’t open the door when he comes by. He hasn’t really done anything that sinister, but I just don’t get a good feeling about him.

“Damn girl, lookin’ hot in that swimsuit.” He and his friends come around to the wall where Emily is, and I grab her and let her cling to my arm as I step back and away from them.

Just a group of three guys. The other two look like they could be Oscar’s brothers. Both have the same greasy dark hair, sallow skin, and unpleasant features.

I move my arm so that Amy is behind me.

Oscar pulls off his shirt to reveal a grossly hairy chest. Ugh. I keep backing up.

“We were just coming to swim too,” he says, jumping in straight from the wall, swimming towards me. I shove Emily onto the other wall. She grabs it and I move between her and them, just in case. I don’t know if there’s going to be any trouble, but the guys that live here are generally the type she doesn’t probably hang out with.

One of Oscar’s friends just rolls his eyes and heads to a lawn chair, where he sits back, one leg up, sunglasses down over his face.

The other just kind of glares at me as Oscar gets closer. I don’t like the way he smells. I don’t like his scruffy stubble. I don’t like that he lives here, like I do, and is probably the type of guy I should go for.

“Damn, If I knew you looked that good in a swimsuit I’d have gotten you down here sooner.”

“It’s okay, I know you’re probably busy down there with all that porn.” I can see his wireless network sometimes in my list, and it’s called the ‘porn funnel’. It’s part of the reason I don’t hang around him. He’s nasty, and he looks like he expects the world to fall at his feet like porn actresses do on the computer.

“Why you got this on, though?” he reaches for my tank and I slap his hand away.

“Ew, don’t.”

He laughs and shakes his hand off, like I barely phased him, but he doesn’t come closer. “Come on, I don’t even care that you dress like a dude. I know you’re all woman under there.”

Oh barf. “Really? ‘Cause I’m about to be all man right now, and punch your ass out if you come any closer.”

“Hm. Interesting.” He just stares at me, those dark blue eyes giving me the creeps in the pit of my stomach. “Fiesty, I like that.”

“Leave her alone,” Emily squeaks from behind me. I sigh and slap my hand over my face.

Oscar perks up like a dog smelling bacon. “Who’s your friend?” He tries to push past me but I get up in his face, plant my hands on his gross chest, and push him back.

“Emily, get out, we’re leaving.” I grab her thigh and shove her up over the pool edge. She gasps in shock, but struggles her way up. I splash Oscar in the face so he stops watching her like a creep. I turn to pull myself out and feel something pinch my ass. Oh HELL no.

I drop back in and attack him, trying to pummel him on the chest, the face, anywhere I can reach, but he grabs my wrists easily and in the water I don’t have any leverage. I try to headbutt him, but he just pushes me back towards the wall, pinning me there.

“Let me go,” I say.

“Not so manly now, are you?” he asks, running a finger along the strap of my tank.

“Manlier than you.” The water gives me crappy leverage. It’s all about weight, and I’m light. Insults are all I have.

“I’ll get Ryan,” Emily says, running off. I should have told her not to bother. Ryan doesn’t like violence. He doesn’t hit people unless he thinks it HAS to be done. I doubt this is one of those times.

Oscar leans in towards my ear, and I try to head butt him. No luck, he pulls back.

“One last warning, touch me again and I’ll take you out.”

“Oh yeah, what are you going to do if I don’t?” His hand disappears under the water and he grins.

“Not her, me,” a deep, familiar voice booms out from above us, and Oscar flips off me, dragged against the pool wall next to me. I look up to see Ryan, holding Oscar’s hair. His green eyes are wide and blazing, his jaw rigid.

Oscar is in trouble.

Ryan throws Oscar back from the wall and jumps in the water in front of him. He grabs Oscar by the back of the neck and punches him, hard and fast and perfectly trained, so hard that Oscar flies back into the water with a splash. But Ryan isn’t done. He grabs him again, punches with his other hand in a short jabbing motion that makes Oscar’s head snap back.

“Careful, Ryan,” I say, not wanting him to get in too much trouble over this.

Ryan just looks over his shoulder with a slight glare, punches Oscar one more time, and then gets out and drags Oscar out to lie on the grass, sputtering and holding a bleeding nose.

Ryan drops down by him on the grass, and I strain to hear what he’s saying, as Oscar nods weakly. Ryan brushes off his hands and comes to my side of the pool, reaching down for me. I take his hands and he pulls me up and out.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, thanks to you. What did you say to him?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he says, looking back at Emily, who is watching us between her hands, which are covering her face.

“All right,” I say, agreeing at least to drop it until a better time.

We all pile up in his car and it’s a long, awkward ride to his house. So he can punch people. I guess I misjudged him. It’s an odd feeling, seeing a guy friend do that for you. It’s odd seeing such a gentle man unleash such raw anger and aggression, no matter how warranted it is.

We pull up to his house, and he takes Emily in ahead of me, points the way out towards the pool room, and when she disappears out back, swings around to block my path. I run into six feet, three inches of solid muscle. I look up into his eyes.

“What?”

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah,” I say, trying to push past him. He blocks me.

“What did he do?”

“Not much, you got there in time.” I try fruitlessly to go around him again. Why does he have to be so big and solid?

“I’m glad.”

“Yeah, your boxing came in handy.”

“I haven’t seen you at work lately,” he says quietly.

“I switched a couple shifts. You like working with Sarah, right?”

“Are you avoiding me?”

I stand still and fold my arms. “No.”

“We’re friends, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve just been busy.”

He purses his lips, rolls them together. I’m mesmerized. “As long as nothing’s wrong then?”

“Nothing’s wrong. It’s good to see you.” I give him a quick side hug and use it as an excuse to go around him and towards the back door. He catches up and grabs me gently around the waist, pulling me back. I glare and hope Emily doesn’t see us.

“You sure nothing’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” He should know that in girl speak that means something is definitely wrong, but I don’t want to talk to you about it. He’s going on a date with Emily soon. He shouldn’t be worrying about me anyway.

I tug back and he releases me. I kind of miss his touch when it’s gone. What’s happening to me? I’m a badass. I tear off my tank as I get outside and throw it to the side of the pool and jump in. I come up and look around me and gasp.

It’s gorgeous out here. The pool is lit by lights in the wall, which are on even though it’s just early evening. The pool is curved like a jelly bean, with beautiful tiles along the wall and the bottom. The water is so blue and clean. There’s a cover rolled up at the top, so they must keep it clean that way.

“Eek! A bug!” Emily says, pointing in the water next to me. A little bee is fluttering, stuck, at the top of the water. Emily’s still yelling, but I cup my hands together to see if I can get it out without getting stung. I’m trying to lift it up, when a large net on a stick falls in front of me.

I jump back, and Ryan deftly sweeps it out. Why didn’t I think of that? Emily runs over to him and gives him a hug, treating him like a hero. I bite my uninjured cheek, a bit embarrassed that I tried to take care of it myself.

Whatever.

“You okay?” Ryan calls from the side of the pool.

“Yeah. Emily, you get in here,” I say, waving. She comes in at the stairs, tentatively stepping down into the water. I help her out to the middle and we start working on floats again.

A couple minutes later, to my chagrin, Ryan starts laughing. It’s deep and unmistakable and gets my hackles up immediately.

“What?”

“Nothing. Sorry, I saw something on my phone.”

But I don’t see his phone around. I glare at him, letting him know we’ll deal with this later, and start her on another float. After a few minutes she does one on her own. A few minutes after that, she’s exhausted. She goes inside to call her parents, turning down a ride from Ryan.

“They won’t like it if I come home with someone they don’t know. They’ll bug us.”

“Okay.” We both wait with her outside till they pull up. Sheltered, I guess it makes sense. They pull away without acknowledging us. Ryan looks over at me.

Neither of us speak.

Then I do. “All right jerk, what were you laughing about?”

He clamps his mouth shut and shakes his head.

“Tell me. Now.”

He rubs his hands over his knees. “I guess it was just weird to see you being so patient. And quiet.” He puts both hands up like he thinks I’m about to sock him. I guess I could.

“I can be nice.”

“Yeah. Not to me though.”

“What do you call hauling your ass to bed a couple weeks ago?”