𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 | redlyn oneshots

summer jobs

Big Red's POV

This summer, I was volunteering at the community pool instead of at my parents' pizza place with my best friend Ricky. Today, it was just me since Ricky was at home, moping around his girlfriend Nini or trying to write a love letter to her because he's too chicken to come to her house.

          I was a lifeguard, making sure that kids didn't do their business inside the pool and all the phones were safely kept inside. Two years ago when I was 14, I had to fish a "candy bar" out of the bottom of the pool. Turns out it wasn't a candy bar.

This was boring. I didn't bring one of Ricky's old LEGO magazines or my phone.

      The most commotion that was being caused right now was a bunch of ten year olds splashing and yelling at each other in the deep end.

       I munched on the bag of mini pizza bagels that Howie had made at the pizza place. It was quite good, actually.

       "Hey," a voice next to me said, interrupting me from my thoughts.

        "Um, hey," I replied.

        The voice belonged to a ginger-haired girl. Guess I'm not the only one. Instead of taking pictures and splashing around in skimpy bikinis in the other end of the pool, she was sitting here, talking to me. I'm not a very attractive person, okay? There is the other lifeguard named Hunk. Yes, he is hunky, but his real name is Harold. There are a bunch of girls crowded around him right now, trying to get a selfie.

          "Can I have some?" she asked, pointing to the bag of pizza bagels.

         I dumped a few in her palm.

           "So, what brings you to this pool today?" she asked.

            "I'm a junior lifeguard," I replied, holding up my badge. "What brings you here?"

"Just chilling out at a pool, away from my cousin and the twenty-seven or so girls at my house, because his house is often the scene of his parents' important lawyer work," she said. "I'm Ashlyn, by the way."

"I'm Big Red," I replied, shaking her hand.

"Pleasure to meet you. Is that your real name?"

"No, it's a nickname. Before you think about doing it, don't you dare make a joke about Clifford."

She chuckled. "That sounds like something my cousin would do, not me."

"So, Ashlyn, how long have you been living in Salt Lake?" I asked her.

"All my life, actually. Four weeks later and I'm going to be a junior at East High."

"No way! I go there too. I'm also a junior."

"Alright, who was the toughest teacher last year?" she asked.

"One, two, three, Benjamin Mazzara!" we both said at the same time.

"I remember in sophomore year when I asked to go to the bathroom in his robotics class. He said no, and I ended up getting a bladder infection for two months. I'm better now, obviously."

Ashlyn laughed. "There was this one time back in freshman year where I signed up for theater club, and I was the front half of a cow. I asked Mazzara if I could miss the robotics club meetings, and he said no. Every day after that for nine weeks, I had to sneak out of his robotics class to get to rehearsals."

We both laughed as we sat on the edge of the pool, our legs dipped in the water and a gentle breeze blowing. It was really fun to talk to Ashlyn. That came from me, a guy who had never talked to any girl before except Nini and Kourtney, but those two were part of Ricky and I's quad.

"Well, it was nice talking to you," I said as I caught sight of a suspicious looking kid in the other end of the pool. His face was all green, and I think I could lip read the words, I need to puke from here.

        "Whoakay, kid, let's get you to the bathroom," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder and leading him inside the building. "We do not want you puking in there. No offense, but there have been many unmentionable things that happened in this pool over the years."

          He nodded and went into the bathroom. I could hear the loud sounds of hurling coming from inside.

         When he was done, he whispered, "All better. Shouldn't have had those Takis earlier."

         I took him back out to the pool complex and saw that Ashlyn was gone. In her place was a strip of paper.

        If you need anyone to talk to when you're bored, I'm here.

        ***-***-****

       I couldn't help the contagious grin that spread over my face.