Healing Takes Time

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Okay, Freckles. How are you so good at swimming?"

He looked up at me from where he was floating. I was still sitting on the dock--we were right on the outer edge of the enclosed dock--but I'd taken my shirt off. My feet were dangling in the water, and he grabbed one of my ankles to keep from floating away.

My leg somehow went numb and hypersensitive at the same time.

Right when we had gotten to the beach, he had taken off without me, peeling his shirt off and running surprisingly fast for a guy that said he got tired easily. He didn't even stop running when he ran out of dock. He went flying through the fucking air with his legs and arms still moving. When his head rose back up to the surface, he'd said, "Oh my gosh--it's cold!"

I could only stare for several minutes. Eren was right--Marco did like to swim. Not for the same reasons, but still. Who woulda thought?

He shrugged. "I don't know. I've always liked swimming. I can't fall over in the water, and if I can swim long distances without getting tired, then I can walk around for most of a day without getting tired too."

He tugged on my ankle. "Get in."

"That's what she said," I muttered.

"What was that, Jean?" The way he was floating made him look upside down to me. Even then, I could tell that he really didn't hear what I'd said.

"N-nothing," I said quickly. "I just said that the water is cold."

He smiled. "Don't be such a baby."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I'm not a baby."

He let go of my ankle and stood up in the water, facing me. He raised an eyebrow, but he was still smiling. "Is Jean boy a baby?" he asked in the type of voice that I'd heard Mom talk to little kids in.

I glared at him.

"Come on. I know you can do it." He tilted his head. "Are you too scared to jump off the dock? Do you need me to catch you?"

"Alright, asshole." I braced my foot on the metal under the wooden part of the dock and jumped forward to catch him but missed, landing completely in the lake. I came up, sputtering. Marco was laughing. I lunged forward again, but he evaded me.

"See? I knew you could do it. Yay!"

"God dammit, Marco. I'm gonna get you!"

He was back to his normal voice when he said, "You have to catch up to me first!" He disappeared under the water.

I started swimming in his general direction, but I wasn't getting anywhere very quickly. Yeah, I knew how to swim, but I usually just hopped around, moved my arms, and hoped for the best.

Today was no exception.

"Marco!"

I saw his head pop up all the way on the other half of the dock. "Polo!" he yelled in response before ducking under the water again.

I couldn't help but laugh. I knew that if my name had been Marco instead of Jean that I would've hated that game. It wasn't surprising that he was okay with it, what with his bubbly personality and all.

We swam--well, he swam, I hopped--around for another ten minutes before I gave up and leaned against the dock. The next time he came up, he was closer than I thought he was, but I pretended not to see him.

He seemed to have bought my act because he silently slid back under the water. Shortly after, he appeared again, but this time, he was much closer. Damn, he moved fast. He went back down for a third time, and I saw him come closer under the water. He didn't have much time to do anything when he came to the top because I grabbed him and wrestled him against the dock, being careful not to do anything that could hurt him.