Down For Me ENGLISH

Chapter 1 - James' POV

June

The day had just begun, and I already felt bored, as if every second of my existence was slowly being thrown away.

It was the second week of summer vacation, and I had already completed three games on my video game console, rearranged the furniture in my room twice, and was planning to do it for the third time in 15 days. The height of boredom.

Ever since Chloe went to Canada, my life seemed like an endless loop of doing nothing mixed with the desire to do something without having anything in mind. When I dragged the nightstand to the other side, the door to my room was opened by my father. I looked at him, and we stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before he started laughing.

"What?" I asked, not understanding his laughter.

"Nothing, just that there will come a time when you won't have anywhere else to put these furniture pieces," my father said with a smile.

"Do you have a better idea? I've done everything I could do this vacation; I'm slowly going crazy," I said, flopping down on the bed.

"You could go swimming," my father shrugged.

"It's not fun swimming without Chloe!" My sister was the highlight of my days; I always had triple the fun when she was around. "I should have gone to Canada to work too."

"She wouldn't have allowed it; it was something she wanted to do alone, and you know that. And just as she's trying out new things, you need to be open to new experiences too. Instead of using the gym, pool, sauna, court, and other things here at home, why don't you go to the club? There are people your age there, and you can make friends to make your vacation more enjoyable," my father always knew what to say, but he always waited for the moment of greatest despair to finally put his ideas at our disposal.

"The club?" I confirmed.

"Yes, maybe it's a good idea. Unless you want to go to Florida with your grandfather earlier," my father shrugged, and I vehemently shook my head, eliciting another laugh from him.

It's not that I didn't like staying at my grandfather's house, but it was the same as staying home without Chloe, except this time it wouldn't be in Atlanta; it would be in Tampa Bay.

"I'll go to the club," I finally said.

"After you put all the furniture back in their original places, please," my father patted my shoulder twice and left the room without saying anything else.

And for the fourth time, I started rearranging the furniture in my room, this time back to their original positions as my father had requested. It took about an hour until everything was properly in place.

My phone started ringing as soon as I lay down to rest from the effort I had made. I glanced at the screen to see if I really needed to answer or if I could ignore that call, and I saw Chloe's name shining at the top of the screen.

"Hey, Chlo-eh!" I answered enthusiastically.

"Hey, James! How are you?" Chloe's voice was gentle, but I could tell she was happy to talk to me.

"I'm too bored, but I'm fine. And you, how are things over there?"

"Tiring, I'm never at home, I've been planning to call you for days, but I always have something on my work agenda. Sorry about that, bro."

"It's okay, we knew this would happen. But I'm glad you called, I was on the verge of a breakdown."

"What do you mean?"

"Chloe, there's nothing to do in this town. All my friends are traveling, you're in Canada, I've already beaten several video games, and I've rearranged my room like four times. I have no idea what else to do. So today, Dad came here and gave me the idea to go to the club, to use the pool and gym, I thought it was a good idea. Maybe there's someone there to rescue me from this time capsule."

"My god, James! You're so dramatic. But I'm glad you have dad with you. So are you going to the club then?"

"I think so, I was just about to lie down for a bit because I just put the furniture in my room back in their original positions."

"Oh yeah! I called, obviously to see how you're doing, but also to extend an invitation. The folks here are planning a trip to some mountains, something like that, during our week off. So I wanted to know if you want to come with us. You come over here, I'll pick you up at the airport, we travel with them, and you can stay a few days here after the trip too, what do you think?"

I was sure I looked like an idiot after hearing that invitation from my sister. I had been eagerly waiting for it ever since she went to Canada.

"I think it's a great idea! I'll talk to mom and dad to buy the tickets."

"Perfect. Then just let me know the schedule so I can pick you up at the airport. You need to be here by next Saturday morning."

"Great! I'll buy the tickets right away, and I'll let you know."

"Yay! I'm excited to see you, Jamesey!"

"Me too, Chlo-eh!"

"Awesome! Now, I gotta go, tell me how it goes at the club."

"Sure thing, we'll talk later! Love you, ugly!"

"Love you too, brat!" Chloe hung up, I placed the phone on the bed and went to change to go to the club.

I arrived at the club and decided to go check out the pool first. There were some kids playing in one corner, some women lying on lounge chairs chatting, and two women dressed in white near the children. Ah, Atlanta's Elite!

I sat down near the bar and ordered water, staying in the nearly empty pool area, just watching the kids playing in the shallow end; they were funny. When one of them splashed water into another's eyes, they both started crying, which prompted the nannies to move them away from each other. I followed one of them with my eyes as she went to the opposite side of where they were, and I saw a girl who seemed to be my age stretching by the poolside.

From what I could see from afar, she had a well-defined body, long brown hair almost reaching her waist, and she was wearing a pink and blue floral bikini. She seemed quite flexible from the way she was stretching, and observing her made me feel like a pervert, a jerk, analyzing the girl's movements.

I tried to turn my face away to stop staring, but when she prepared to jump into the pool, my gaze was drawn back again. She dove into the pool so gracefully, like a mermaid; she crossed the pool without resurfacing, and I couldn't help but stare.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" I heard a female voice behind me, and I turned around; it was the waitress.

"Hi? What? Who?" I stammered, causing the girl to chuckle softly.

"I heard she's a cheerleader; she comes here every day at this time, swims alone for an hour and a half, and then leaves. Always alone," the waitress recounted, and I turned back to the pool, analyzing the girl swimming. "It's been like this since the first day of summer break."

"Ah," was all I could manage to say.

The waitress stopped talking and left me alone to watch the girl. There came a moment when I felt like a stalker, staring at her, so I turned my attention back to the children, who had returned to playing together on the other side this time.

"Ginger ale!" I heard the waitress's voice again, this time farther away from me. I turned to see whom she was talking to; after all, there were only five people at that pool. I saw it was the girl who had been swimming alone.

"Thank you so much!" She grabbed a cup and poured the liquid from the can into it.

I was staring at her again. I needed to stop staring at her, but it was impossible. Then she looked at me, smiled, and drank from the can, she chuckled softly and grabbed the glass, as if she had gotten confused. That's when I stood up and left the club, without going to the gym, without going to the sauna, without going to the pool, without talking to the girl. I returned to my daily boredom.