Dive

Nineteen

"What's wrong with you?"

I startle. I hadn't heard anyone approach me. I look up from my spot behind the front desk that I'm covering while Valentina prays and sees that she's done, standing beside me with a frown on her face. Her head is tilted, dark eyes examining me.

"What do you mean?" I ask her, getting up from the chair, fiddling with some papers on the desk to avoid her inquisitorial gaze.

"You don't look so good," she observes, sidestepping me to flop down in the seat.

I rake a hand through my hair. It's loose today, which it never is when I'm working, so I understand that Valentina would notice something might be off, but I wouldn't go as far as to say I don't look good. "Do I need to remind you that I'm your boss?"

I pin my young coworker with a stern glance, but she just raises an eyebrow at me. "Do I need to remind you?"

To be honest, that's kind of fair. I have never reinforced the boss/employee relationship between us, and I'm also not the world's most responsible leader, but still. Don't I warrant some kind of respect?

I lean against the desk, studying my nails instead of looking at her, as I ignore her question. I should probably book a time to get them done soon. Maybe Valentina has a point.

"Are you sulking because you miss the hot swimmer?"

My head moves so fast to look at Valentina, that I'm surprised I don't permanently damage my neck. "What do you mean?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Aren't they like gone for some meet?"

I have no idea. I haven't spoken to Jayden in three weeks. Not since that day at my apartment...

Besides, even if I was still seeing him, it's not like my world would stop because he went away for swimming. I'm not codependent. I huff at the thought. "How do you know?"

At this, a sheepish expression spreads across her face and she glances down at the table, fiddling with the end of her hijab. "I'm a prospective student at the University of Michigan. I need to keep up to date."

"You're not going to college until summer next year. That's a long time away, Val." I smile smugly. "You sure there are no other reasons?"

She rolls her eyes. "Okay, so maybe I wouldn't mind having babies with that one cute swimmer with the brown eyes. So what?"

I feel a pang of something in my chest, thinking about Jayden's teammates. "I don't think Saltz is ready for kids," I say, purposefully leaving out the fact that he's currently dating at least two other people. I don't think polyamory is really Valentina's thing.

She looks a little defeated, sighing. "Oh well, a girl can dream. At least you bagged one of them."

I avert my gaze, letting it survey the room around us, but I'm not seeing anything. "We're not seeing each other anymore."