Ch 11: In Too Deep

In order to make it look like I wasn’t bothered by the fact that Luke called Gina to pick him up the previous day, I arrived at Luke’s with a wide smile. We had made plans to train before Gina had shown up the day before, so I knew Luke would be ready. Like many LA days, the sun was shining and there was little breeze. Luke welcomed me in, while munching on a bagel.
“What’s on tap today, boss?”
“I think we finally need to hit the pool, start…” he put up his hand to stop me.
“You don’t have to say it.”
“Well after the hamstring, it will be better to get in the water and…”
“My hamstring’s fine,” he said between bites.
“We’ll see about that. Katie hired my cousin to teach you how to swim, so I’m going to teach you how to swim.” I looked straight in his eyes. “Are you up for it?”
“Sure, just let me finish this bagel first,” he popped the remaining bite in his mouth, “and get changed. The pool’s that way.” He indicated a direction toward the back of the house. I waited until Luke walked away and hurried down the hallway.
Once I turned the corner I could see a sunny blue shimmer outside a bank of two-story windows. The room looked like the conservatory from Clue with pots of green plants and a floor covered in black and white tiles. One wall featured glass windows and a large glass door leading to the manicured pool area.
You would have thought I had learned when my first pool plan went wrong at the country club that I should give up making secret pool plans. I hadn’t. Before Luke could get back from changing, I pumped up an inflatable pool raft with a battery operated pump I’d brought. I still had the pump from the early days in our apartment when I used to sleep on an air mattress. Then I took off my shirt and shorts and left them crumpled in a pile by my bag.
As soon as Luke came back, I held the inflatable up in front of my body. Luke strolled in and opened the glass doors, letting in a chilly waft of air from the outside. I followed him holding the raft. When he got to the edge of the pool, Luke took off his shirt. His pecs glistened in the sunlight. Despite the love handles, his abs were fairly chiseled and his back appeared sweeping and sexy.
I quickly inched in the deep end, covering my body in little ripples, the raft in front of me before Luke could focus his gaze. Once in the water, my nervousness subsided. I was pretty sure Luke hadn’t gotten a good look at my figure, and in the water, I felt comfortable. The water was warm, not quite bath water, but not cold enough to make my nipples hard.
“So what’s first, boss?” he asked. I squinted up at him, using one had to shield the sun from my eyes. “Why don’t you get in and hold onto the wall?” I said.
“I don’t like the deep end.” He looked slightly disgusted.
“Oh, it can’t be that bad. Come in.” I was treading water with my legs and holding onto the raft. Luke sat on the pool deck, his feet dangling in the water. He slowly lowered the rest of his body in and held on the wall. His face appeared tight, his cheeks squeezed in as he struggled to even kick his legs. I could see Luke was uncomfortable. My initial reaction was to console him. At the same time, I was hesitant to let go of the raft. I inched closer to him, and once I almost reached the wall, I shoved the raft away.
I held onto the wall next to Luke and demonstrated kicking. Luke quickly caught on. Next, I encouraged him to do the same, just putting his head in the water, blowing bubbles and popping up to breathe. The first time he tried, he kept his face in for about a second before pulling his head up and gasping for breath. His legs fell against the wall, losing their buoyancy.
“Here. Let me help.” I grabbed his legs and held them up, alternating kicks while he put his face in the water and took breaths. He didn’t resist my grasp as we worked together to push his legs up and down in the water. “There,” I said. “You’re getting it.” I had pretty much forgotten about my body issues, primarily because Luke’s vision was skewed thanks to the pool water trickling in his eyes, and also because most of my body was concealed underwater.
He smiled, his wet tousled hair adding to his charm. “This is child’s play,” he said. “I think I’ve got it now.” He plunged his head in, blowing bubbles like I taught him. I continued to bob around, the raft nearby, watching Luke and his big grin of achievement when he brought his head up. His confidence grew as he kept his head underwater for longer and longer stretches.
With his confidence brimming, Luke looked up at me and splashed a little water in my face.
“What was that for?” I asked.
“Oh, just having a little…,” he said. I splashed him back before he could finish and laughed.
“Is that how it’s going to be?” He splashed me harder.
“I don’t think you’ll win this one, “I said and swam away on my back waving at him on the wall, taunting him, knowing he couldn’t catch me. I grabbed the raft and started kicking with it back toward Luke.
I guess because he had become so comfortable in the water so quickly, he thought he could challenge himself a little more. Or maybe it was the fact that we were actually quite competitive with each other, I’m not sure. But that’s when it all went wrong, and I wished I’d never brought that stupid raft in the first place.