Hayleigh claps her hands, “Okay, well, we need a plan. We can’t just rock up to the guy's place of work and be like ‘Oh, hey, guess what? Your man juice made a baby.’ That wouldn’t be great.”
I burst out laughing. “Way to put it, Hayleigh.”
“You know what I mean. Food is almost here, and after that, we’re taking a little drive over to Brimcrest, okay?” I nod along to her, because what else can I do?
**********
Brimcrest isn’t that far from our town of Roselake. Where we’re all bright houses and clean beaches, Brimcrest is more tacky arcades and beaches littered with a constant stream of rubbish. The only time we go over to Brimcrest is to visit our favourite burger bar. It’s a place Cole and I have been visiting since we were kids, and they do the best strawberry milkshakes by far.
Emmy drives us along, humming a tune on the radio, and Hayleigh is deep-diving into her phone. I take my phone out and open it up, noticing I have a notification from Cole.
Cole
Did you know that today, little Peanut is actually the size of a passionfruit?
I smile at that little piece of information.
Me
Actually, no, I had no idea. What else do you know? As a matter of fact,howdo you know that?
Cole
I’ve been doing some reading, and right now Peanut’s major organs have formed. I’ll speak to you later, a new job has come in!
“Earth to Lacey, did you hear what I said?” Hayleigh snaps her fingers in front of me.
I shake my head. “Sorry, no, I wasn’t listening to you. What did you say?”
Hayleigh barks out a laugh. “Charming! I was telling you that we’re almost at the Splash Centre. That’s the only place I can think of a lifeguard working, seeing as they don’t have them onthe beaches.” She shrugs, twisting back to face the front of the car.
As Emmy pulls into the car park, my stomach starts somersaulting, and I can’t think straight. So many things could go wrong with this, and I haven’t even talked it through with Cole. Not that I have to, but a part of me feels like I should have at least asked his opinion on this.
Walking into the splash centre, the stench of chlorine hits me. The air is stuffy, and it’s packed with people. I turn to my friends and say, “Maybe this isn’t the best idea.”
“We don’t have to talk to him today. Let’s just go and scope out the pool from the café area.” Emmy links her arm through mine as we walk towards the café.
Finding a seat near the window, I look down and immediately notice him. He’s sat in the lifeguard chair, looking utterly bored. He’s blonder than I remember, tall too, but not as tall as Cole. I remember more as that comes back to me; he has blue eyes, but they’re a pale blue, not the deep, sea-blue of Cole's.For crying out loud, Lacey, get a grip and focus!
“Is that him?” Emmy almost gives me a heart attack as she whispers in my ear.
“Jesus, Emmy. You scared the shit out of me. Yes, that’s him.”
She gives a slight nod of approval before commenting, “Hmm, he’s kind of cute.”
Well, the ‘kind of cute’ is now climbing down from his seat as the shift changes. I look at Hayleigh, and she points to the door that connects the pool area with the café. I look back down towards the pool and see Ted-Fred walking up the stairs to the door. I stand up as he walks through it.
Well, it’s now or never. No going back now.
I do what any normal, non-awkward person does: I stand right in his way and say, “Hey.” I try to smile, but I’m afraid it comes out more like a grimace.
Ted-Fred blanches. “Hi. Do I know you? You look familiar.” He screws his face up like he’s trying to place me before clicking his fingers. “Wait! I know where I know you from now, you work at that little burger place on the way out of town!” He starts smiling at me, and internally, I want to roll my eyes.
Instead, I try to be as polite as I can. “Uh, no, actually, I don’t work there. We met a few months back at that bar not far from here.” He looks at me, clueless, so I continue, “We were both pretty drunk. My name's Lacey. Is this ringing any bells for you?” I can feel my patience wearing thin.
“Oh, Lacey? Huh.” Again with the clicking of fingers. “Hot aquarium chick! That’s you?”
Wow, what a charmer this guy is.
