Getting It Right (BOOK THREE)

Chapter 22

The harsh scent of cholorine burns Sevyn's nose as she walks into the pool area of the YMCA with Jackson. They're here to pick up Jamie from swimming lessons.

"There she is." Sevyn points near the shallow end of the pool where Jamie is splashing around with five other girls and two swimming instructors, a guy and a girl. Jackson begins walking over with Sevyn by his side and Jamie's face brightens when she sees them.

"Hi guys!" She waves excitedly, accidently splashing a girl in the face. The girl cough as water goes up her nose and she splashes Jamie back who giggles and squeals.

"Hi Jay," Sevyn smiles down at her. "Are you getting better at swimming?"

"Yeah and I can float on my back without getting scared, watch!" Jamie leans back in the water and arches her back. She floats in the water and beams confidently up at the ceiling. Jackson and Sevyn clap for her as the girls around her try to show off and do the same. "And look how long I can hold my breath under water!" Jamie pinches her nose and closes her eyes, then plunges over the water.

Sevyn and Jackson lean over the pool to watch her as she crounches at the bottom of the pool for about twenty seconds before popping back up and wiping the water from her eyes. "Good job," Jackson tells her. "Are you ready to go?"

Jamie shakes her head quickly, "Can I have ten more minutes?" She says with puppy dog eyes.

"Fine, only ten." Jackson tells her. She gives him a thankful smile then sloppily swims over to two girls playing with the kick boards. Jackson looks over at Sevyn, "Wanna go for a swim?"

"Don't even think about it." She holds up a warning finger in his face and takes a step away from the pool in case he gets any idea to throw her in. As she backs up, she bumps in to someone and their wet skin brushes against her. Thinking it's a little kid, she turns around abruptly. "Sorry!" Her face changes when she realizes that it's none other than Taylor, standing there in a red one piece bathing suit that she manages to look good in. Her hair is wet and hanging over her shoulder as water rolls off her body. Sevyn just realizes how much smaller Taylor is compared to her. Not only is her frame smaller than Sevyn's but her head only comes up to Sevyn's collar bone and Sevyn doesn't even consider herself to be that tall.

"Nice to see you again." Taylor says, more to Jackson than Sevyn. She doesn't even look over at Sevyn, instead her eyes stay locked on Jackson. "Jamie did very well today. I think she's going to be promoted from tadpole to guppy by next week. The girl is fearless."

"That's good." Jackson replies, trying to keep the conversation to a minimum.

"Remember the last time we went swimming together?" Taylor licks her lips. "There wasn't much swimming happening from what I remember."

Here she goes again with this bull. Sevyn thinks as she mentally measures how far they are from the pool just in case a fight breaks out and they end up toppling into the water. She silently begins taking out her earrings, wishing she had brought a hair tie with her because Taylor looks like one of those girls who can't fight so they grab for the hair instead.

"Cut it out Taylor." Jackson takes the words right out of Sevyn's mouth. Surprised that he actually spoke up, she watches as Jackson grabs Taylor's arm and pulls her away from the kids hearing range. His face has that intimidating looks on it that Sevyn recognizes when he gets aggravated. "You can't keep doing this." He hisses.

"Doing what?" Taylor touches his hand where he's gripping her arm and he snatches it away.

"Flirting with me, bringing up the past in front of Sevyn. It doesn't matter any more. If you're trying to make her jealous it's not working, you're just making your self seem thirsty." He says to her. "You only do this in front of Sevyn, usually when I come get Jamie it's a simple hello and goodbye from you, what is it that makes you act out in front of Sevyn?"