Swims | □

U

RECAP:

Declan has been blackmailed to get close to Malia and has asked her to teach him how to swim. Declan has nicknamed his blackmailer, Potential Rapist.

Dedicated to @ginawriter because I love her more than I should. Check out her profile!

The following weeks, Malia began teaching Declan the basics of swimming. Most of the time, Declan skipped practice so they usually ended up having one lesson a week. More than that, he was a slow learner.

One Saturday though, as Malia was commanding him to hold the foam noodle correctly, the light around then flickered once before shutting down completely. The emergency light switched on illuminating the large room just enough for Malia to see Declan.

"Get out of the pool Declan."

"Why?" He began wading towards the edge anyway. "What's happening?"

Outside, it began raining.

"I'm guessing power cut." Malia heaved herself out of the water and Declan followed her silently. "Let's dry up and get home. We'll continue next week?"

"No!" Declan grabbed Malia's arm and she flinched. He grimaced. If he was going planning on getting close to her, he needed to gain her trust. "Look, it's raining and it's dark. Why don't we wait for a bit until the rain subsides?"

Malia weighed her options. It was raining heavily and if it really was a power cut, the streetlights would be out too. Declan had a point. On the other hand, what would they fill the silence with?

"Okay."

Fifteen minutes later, both of them climbed onto the diving boards and faced each other. The awkwardness of the situation seemed to weigh in.

Declan and Malia could never see eye to eye much less sit together in silence. Usually, Declan was ruining something Malia loved and Malia was too helpless to do anything.

"I've seen this in movies but... Wanna play Twenty Questions?"

"You're joking right?"

"Not really." Declan grinned at her and shrugged. "We have time to kill right?"

"I don't know." Malia felt queasy. Twenty questions meant questions, obviously, and questions meant answers which Declan could eventually use against her.

"Don't you trust me?" Declan's voice was unnaturally soft and on the outside he seemed like the epitome of what every girl wanted. His face betrayed nothing but concern and his voice was like velvet. Malia sighed in defeat. She gestured for him to go on.

"Do you have a middle name?"

"Nope. What about you?"

"Bob." Declan answered in all seriousness. Malia raised her eyebrows.

"Seriously?"

"No." He chuckled. "Do you play any other sport? Other than swimming, you know."

"I can play lacrosse. Well, I know the rules and can catch and throw a ball but not like the you guys do." Declan nodded, slightly impressed. Maybe for one night they could drop the personas and be real people. Declan and Malia; he liked the sound of that.

"How come you can't swim?" Malia asked and looked at him expectantly.

"Never learnt how. Not all of us want to be gold medalists, you know."

"You wouldn't wanna go pro?"

"I play lacrosse." Declan huffed. The chances of him going pro were none mainly because there was no outlet.