Penfield's Greatest Swimmer

🌊~27

The following day.

I slapped my hand against the tile and lifted my head, taking deep breaths.

In preparation for the Regionals, I'd been training my butt off to improve my time for all my strokes, especially breaststroke. What happened during the last meet could not happen again.

Tired, I pulled myself out of the pool to take a break when the doors flew open.

"Aha! Figured you'd be here." A bubbly Princess jogged over, holding her sports bag. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

Ignoring her, I picked up a towel to dry my hair, then her arms clumped around my waist from behind. "What the--Princess, let go!"

"Oh c'mon, it's just a hug," she giggled, nuzzling her face into my back.

I wriggled some more and she finally let go to settle on a nearby bleacher. "Aahh, last night was amazing." The corners of her lips twitched up.

"Guess that means you and Ethan are back together?"

"Well... he told me he hasn't completely forgiven me for cheating on him." she shrugged. "But I think he has. He just wants to play hard to get. Anyway, I didn't come here to talk about that. I came here to give you...this." She rummaged through her sports bag. "Tadaa!" She pulled out a mini gift bag and shoved it into my hands.

The bag contained a grey scented box, which I pulled out and opened. My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. "A... a Rolex watch?" And it was the latest model too.

"Mhmm." Princess beamed. "It's a little something something to say thank you for being there for me. Honestly, if you hadn't come to get me out of my gunk, I'd probably still be in my room, living off Gulder beer and coke."

At this point, I struggled to find words. "I...I...I appreciate the thought behind this but...I can't accept this."

"Arrgh, c'mon. Don't be like that," she groaned.

"No, no seriously. It must've cost you a fortune to buy this."

"Well, it was expensive, but it doesn't matter cuz all of it was Ethan's money, plus you deserve it, Akwasi." She pushed the gift closer to my chest. "You're the whole reason Ethan and I are trying to fix our relationship. It's because of you. So please, don't turn my appreciation down."

Speechless, I gaped at the gift in my hands. "I..."

The doors swung open again and this time Seth and a number of our teammates walked in. I quickly shoved the Rolex into my sports bag.

"Yo Akwasi, Princess, wassup?" The broad-shouldered guy gave us the usual bro handshake.

"Good, just sneaking in some extra training," I said.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Seth." Princess crossed her arms. "Considering how much you drank last night, it's a miracle you're not suffering from a massive hangover."

"I owe it all to Dr. Alex's wonderful prescriptions. I swear, the dude has pills for everything, including pills for fucking. Can you believe that?" He chuckled.

"Hey guys, listen up!" Ethan called out, announcing his presence. "Coach is gonna run a little late, but she left strict orders for us to follow this practice outline." He lifted a sheet of paper for all of us to see. "So lets all change and start warming up!"

Grabbing her sports bag, Princess began walking in the direction of the locker rooms, followed closely by Seth.

"Wow, your captain sure likes to bark out instructions." My roommate walked up to me; hands tucked in his khaki pockets.