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If it felt this good, I was going to have to swim more often. Would Seth mind if I snuck over and used his pool?
When I came back up, I was on the other side and felt more refreshed than I had in days.
“Decided to join us for the final days of good weather?” Paxon asked, swimming toward me. His strokes were strong, muscles flexing with the movement. He may not have been a strong swimmer like Justin, but he was still excellent at it.
I shrugged. “Why not? By next week, it’ll be too cold to enjoy this anymore.”
Toby snorted. “That’s an understatement. I swear, New York doesn’t understand that summer exists. Having only a couple weeks of heat isn’t enough.” He turned to Justin. “Justin! Come play chicken with us. We can have three teams going.”
Toby broke out in a huge grin when Justin got up from the chair and walked to the edge.
“Chicken?” I asked.
“You’ve never played?” Paxon asked, swimming closer to us so we didn’t have to yell across the pool at each other. I never realized how fit everyone was before now, with them so close to me only wearing swimming trunks.
I shook my head to let him know I hadn’t, but to also clear the haziness they caused being near me.
“You sit on someone’s shoulders and try to knock other people off by pushing them,” Paxon explained patiently.
“Sounds simple,” I said as I pushed back my hair, belatedly realizing I should have put it up. It was going to be a pain to wash tonight.
Ten minutes later, I realized this was not a simple game at all. I sat on Justin’s shoulders, his hands on my calves to keep me steady. It kept feeling like I was going to fall backward. Balance and anything dealing with fitness wasn’t my thing. Poor Justin was going to be bald by the time this was over.
Paxon had Calvin on his shoulders, and Bryan held up Toby. If Justin wasn’t so sturdy, I would be in the water. The other two couples were teaming up on us.
“Cheaters,” I said as I dodged Calvin, who had a huge smile on his face, his big doe eyes lit up with laughter and pure happiness. Toby chuckled as Bryan maneuvered them behind us. I was now trapped between the two teams.
Seconds later, I was in the water, swimming to the surface as everyone laughed. I sputtered, the chlorinated water burning my nostrils as I tried to get it out. That seemed to only make them laugh harder as Justin gave me tips to get the water out of my nose.
We went for a few more rounds, and even Calvin was able to knock me down once.
“You suck at this, Candy Apple.” Toby laughed as he shook his head in mock disappointment.
I huffed, trying to ignore the embarrassment. How was I supposed to tell them that it was weird to be sitting on a guy’s shoulders? Justin would move his hands, changing his grip, and all my awareness went to the feel of his touch, distracting me enough to get knocked off.
“I’m done.” I finally caved, ignoring the moans from everyone as I swam to the ladder and climbed out. I padded over to Seth, whose eyes never left me as I came closer. I settled into the lounge chair next to him and leaned back, trying to not think too much about the fact that I was fully clothed and completely wet. Seth’s clothes sucked to my body. I had to look like a complete mess.
Seth smiled over at me as the others decided to create a whirlpool. They swam laps around the pool in the same direction to get the water moving and create a current.
“How are you doing?” Seth asked, tossing a towel my way.
I used it, wrapping the massive beach towel around my body to keep warm now that I wasn’t in the pool anymore. The breeze was cool enough to cause my skin to pebble. If I stayed out there for too long, I was going to start shaking.
“I’m okay,” I finally said, ignoring his loaded look that seemed to want a different kind of answer. I didn’t know what he was expecting me to say. The oversized clothes stuck to my skin and I used that to distract me from his gaze.
Seth stared at me for a long moment, to the point that I was becoming antsy. I switched my focus to the guys, trying to ignore him and the impulse to shift around.
After a long while, he asked about my welfare again. “What’s wrong?”
Turning to him, I raised my eyebrow. “What makes you think something’s wrong?”
Seth pointed to the pool and everyone who was currently trying to race each other around it. “I’ve been friends with them for a very long time and they all have their own stories. Even I do. Growing up with them, I learned to pick up on signs that others normally don’t see. I’ve lived and learned to open my eyes more.” His words were softer toward the end as sadness filled his voice. I couldn’t ignore that. It wrapped around me and begged me to open up. But I couldn’t.
I just couldn’t. My lips practically quivered with the need to speak out about my problems but also losing against the impossibility of it too. I didn’t know these guys, not enough to tell them about my dirty secrets.
We watched them play for some time, my thoughts growing heavier with each passing second. Every moment felt like a moment lost until I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to tell him something. Anything. I didn’t want to feel this disappointed, like I was letting him down.
Shit.
