Alone With You (Remma)

Kisses and Confessions

When had Emma found the time in her perfectly mapped out schedule to fall in love? She hadn't a clue.

Emma watched as Rikki swam through the crystal-clear water, noting the way she let every beautiful thing she found engulf her mind for at least a few seconds. She stopped at a gorgeous shell, picking it up and examining it with a rigor Emma had never seen before, almost like she could see through the shell and into its soul, before shifting her attention to something else.

Emma realized that she herself was doing the same thing at this moment; analyzing something she found beautiful, letting it take over her mind for only a few moments. Not an object, though. A person.

The girl who seemed to source Emma's every daydream noticed her watching and smiled. Emma was completely absorbed in Rikki's eyes, lips, body...

Rikki, Rikki, Rikki, she repeated in her head.

"Rikki, Rikki, Rik–"

"Emma!" Elliot shouted from outside her bedroom door.

"What?"

"We need to leave in ten minutes! Are you even up?"

Oh no, she thought.

—

"Tardy, Emma?" Lewis asked as she walked into second period maths and handed the teacher a late slip. "I thought you were better than this."

"Not in the mood, Lewis," she told him with a bitter smile.

She took her seat between the boy and Rikki.

"Morning," greeted Rikki with a warm grin.

Emma smiled, suddenly shy, and said good morning as well. At the sight of the girl, her various dreams from this morning, all of them starring Rikki, fell back into her mind. The teacher continued talking where she left off before Emma had entered the room, but she couldn't focus on one syllable the woman said. She was giving them a lesson on graphing different kinds of functions but it was just a review so Emma allowed herself to zone out until the teacher passed out homework right before the class ended.

While she was walking to lunch that day, Byron approached her.

"Hi, Emma," he said.

She smiled. "Hey!"

"So, you know how the school swimming sports competition is next month?" she nodded. "Well, Zane beats me in the 100 meters every year but I really want to beat him this time. I could use a really good coach and you were the first person who came to mind. You were the star swimmer before you quit."

Emma flinched at the way he described her as a swimmer in the past tense. She was the star swimmer. She did have a chance of going pro. Not anymore.

The thought of being near a swimming pool was initially alarming. One stray drop of water and her secret was revealed. But then she thought about how it might be nice to get back into the swimming life for a few weeks, even if she was no longer the swimmer. It broke her to pieces when she had to quit and she felt like she never fully recovered. It felt like something was constantly missing from her life after doing swimming competitions for years. And her mind had been somewhere else lately, the thoughts of Rikki practically renting part of her brain. Maybe a small distraction was what she needed to get back on track.

"I would love to," she told him.

—

Emma's first swim practice since she quit was the following day. She made sure to wear long sleeves and pants, even though the Australian heat was practically unbearable, for extra protection against splashes.