Living Water

9. The training

"Well, nice to meet you too." He muttered under his breath as he ran his fingers through his cropped hair, bearing the awkwardness of the situation.

"You're definitely not Coach Ryan." She stated the obvious, folding her arms across her chest with a snotty look. Her swimming kit dangling by a strap on her shoulder. She dressed prepared, she wore a light blue sun dress that stopped just above her knees with a Nike palms that looked somewhat displaced.

"No but he is my coach. My name is Timothy by the way, or you can call me Tim." He introduced himself as politely as he could. The girl ran a thorough look on him and hissed loudly.

"You shouldn't have bothered introducing yourself. I don't feel comfortable staying here either ways. Especially because of a certain perv." She faked a tight smile, like she never said anything crude in the first place.

Timothy rolled his eyes and shook his head exasperatedly. The girl may be very pretty but she's more trouble than she's worth, if Somto was here he would have still attempted to flirt with her despite her hostility. Timothy almost grinned at the thought.
"Well suit yourself. Meanwhile I'll continue my warm up. Just so you know, Sunday was totally an accident, whatever you thought I was trying to do...well I wasn't." He pulled off his bathrobe about to dive back into the pool, from his peripheral view he could see the girl stare at him, her eyes eating up his built abdomen. He smirked, inwardly enjoying the attention.

"Wait! If what you said was true, then how about that friend of yours? You think I didn't see him pointing at me, discussing God knows what about me, I just pretended not to notice." She stepped into the court, away from the entrance.

Timothy massaged his temples , he did not blame her for having such thoughts against him. If he was in her shoes he may have jumped to a similar conclusion. Not to mention, he was honestly checking her out that Sunday when he stood with Somto. He settled by the edge of the pool, and his hair ridden legs swirled in the water.
" See umm.." He tried to search for her name in his head, realizing she never really introduced herself.

"Beth." She responded.

"Birth? Your name is Bet?" He asked a bit perplexed by the nature of her name. To his surprise, he caught her smiling, then the smile morphed into a pleasant giggle.

"Well no, my name is Beth, as in Bethany." She laughed a bit more, before her laughter died down and she joined him to sit by the pool, keeping her kit beside her and removing her palms.

A ghost of a smile was on Timothy's lips as he monitored her demure movement, pulling down the hem of her gown to join him where he sat by the pool.

"Well Bethany, I apologize on behalf of my friend Somto and I, but believe me it's hard to see a pretty girl and pass, it was really just admiration, nothing more......At least I could speak for myself." He added.

He expected to see her blushing or at least react positively but the girl's face formed a pout and she sneered slightly like he said something offensive.
"Did I say something wrong?" He asked with genuine concern.

She shook her head and looked at him, she sat a reasonable distance away , so they weren't invading each other's space.
"No you said nothing wrong. I just want to remind you that I barely know you, empty flirt doesn't work on me, just because I sat here doesn't mean I let my guard down." She said firmly, her legs still going in a circular pattern in the water.

Timothy sensed the tension, although he felt bad that his honesty was thrown right at his face, he couldn't blame her, she was hurt, he could see it in her eyes no matter how much she tried to avoid his stare, there was no hiding something so profound in her persona. "Don't worry. I wasn't trying to flirt, trust me you'd have been out of here running from the overwhelming cringe if I ever attempted to flirt with you." He joked, and a laugh bubbled up from her throat easing her tension.

"Well speaking of running out of here. I suppose I should get going since my uncle is not here."

His eyes widen with surprise.
"So, Coach Ryan is your uncle?"

"Yes he is. He's also my favorite person from my mom's side, even though he could be overly serious sometimes." They both laughed in agreement.

"Very true, but Coach Ryan knows his onions. I've never seen him enter the water once, but for over 11 years now he has built me to be the athlete I am today." He caught her staring at him, an approving grin on her face, he could tell she has earned his respect as there was this look of admonition in her eyes.

"That's how we are in my family, very inspiring." She wiggled her eyebrows playfully and Timothy couldn't help but chuckle a bit at her silliness. Then she bent down closer to the water and dragged her hand across the surface, ripples following her movement, Timothy just watched her intently, for the first time he noticed her hair which was a short kinky afro, with it's tinted, curly maroon tips, at the nape of her neck sat a tattoo of a butterfly the size of an actual insect. He was amused, he never saw her as the rebelling or adventurous type.
"Nice tattoo."

For the first time, he saw her look shy. Her wet hand moved over the surface of her tattoo. Causing droplets of water to fall on her skin, which she she didn't bother to wipe off.
"I'm planning to get rid of it."

Timothy squinted his eyes, and looked at the tattoo again, the intricate details and miniscule elegance of the design was appealing, he wondered why she'll want to get rid of that piece of artwork.
"Why? But it's really cool." She raised her bushy eyebrows a bit taken aback by the compliment.

"I know it's cool and beautiful. But that's no longer me." She replied and her glossy lips curved into a sad smile.

He stretched backwards, his hands supporting him as he leaned back and sighed deeply. "See, I don't think it's been up to an hour since we've actually been talking, but I can tell you are a really cool and beautiful person." Timothy was expecting to cringe inwardly from what he mindlessly blurted out but for some reason, there was this fuzzy feeling he had, this warmth that enveloped him.

Bethany looked at him passively before bursting into a wide smile, her grin stretched from ear to ear.
"Aren't you a stream of compliments?" She asked cheekily.

He shrugged. "I'm just honest. Your also really sassy." He stated blankly.

She held her chest and gasped in mock surprise. "Me Sassy?! Never."

His head fell backwards in laughter, he was lighthearted. The conversation of the night and the annoyance of the morning seemed as if they were extinct for the moment. Her presence was a breathe of fresh air, even though they started of on the wrong foot at first.

When his laughter died down, he caught her staring at him intently, as if tempted to pose a pressing question.
"What's on your mind?" He asked.

She licked her lips and her gaze shifted to her lap.
"Timothy, I just wanted to ask, I um-

"Ama?!" A scratchy voice pulled their attention, as they both turned to look at the entrance. A short man with a ball cap, wearing a red jersey and blue jeans. His wrinkled face was set in a grim frown and he looked to be in his early forties or thereabout.

"Coach Ryan."

"Uncle Ry." They chorused at the same time as they met the judgy eyes of the old coach.