REPOST - [ camp discovery ] - a tayvis short story

chapter eight.

JUNE 21, 2013

14:23

Taylor sat down on the dock, dipping her feet in the water as she watched all of the counselors and campers playing and swimming in the lake. She smiled when she noticed Michael jumping from one of the highest platforms. As he stood at the top, she noticed him looking down, making sure that Travis was there to catch him before he did so. Michael was an adventurous boy. He was always willing to try and do the craziest stunts. He wasn't scared of getting hurt, but he wasn't the best swimmer so that held him back more than any other activity the camp offered. She laughed as she heard him screaming as he plummeted into the water below. She watched as he went under the water and came back up, moving his body in a way that looked like he was struggling to stay afloat. Travis grabbed him, and he soon calmed down. "Hey, stop freaking out, you got it. You didn't need me." Taylor heard Travis tell him. Michael wiped the water out of his face.

"Is that my boy swimming?" Taylor called out, getting Michael's attention. Michael looked over at Taylor, and a smile spread across his face.

"Look, Mommy!" Michael called out, wiggling out of Travis's arms. Travis let him go and watched as his son started to swim a little bit across the lake in the direction of his mother. When he ran out of air, he stopped and waded in the water until he could start swimming again.

"You're doing so good!" Taylor called out to him once he started wading in the water again to catch his breath. The smile on his face was unmatched. "Who taught you how to do that?" She asked, already knowing the answer to her own question.

"My Daddy!" Michael called back to her.

"He must be a really good Daddy if he taught you how to swim so well in a week and a half!" Taylor told her son while looking over at his father. Travis also wore a smile on his face. Travis taking on the father role so effortlessly made Taylor feel a bit weak in the knees. She did not need to be in a relationship right now, especially after everything she had been through. The thought of being with someone so soon felt rushed. But she would be lying if she said she didn't want Travis back in her life to feel the hole that she knew was there.

"He is!" Michael told his mother.

"Good!" Taylor told him. "You should ask your daddy if he has a girlfriend," Taylor told Michael, which made Michael laugh extremely too hard for someone who was trying to stay afloat. Travis hurried to his son's side, picking him up so that he didn't go under the water while he was in a fit of giggles.

"How about you ask your Mommy if she has a boyfriend for me," Travis told Michael.

"She doesn't!" Michael said immediately. Travis let out a loud laugh. Michael was obviously on board for his parents becoming a couple again, so Travis wouldn't have to ask permission from Michael for Taylor's hand in courtship if the time was ever to come that he felt he had a chance with her again.

"How about you go play with the other boys while I talk to your Mommy?" Travis asked Michael.

"Okay," Michael said. Travis released him and watched as the little one swam back to short and then ran off to play with the other kids. Travis swam over to the dock, his hands grabbing her feet, causing her to scream and then laugh.

"Why would you do that?" She asked. Luckily, she knew he was coming, so kicking him in the face hadn't happened in like it might have if she was surprised by his sudden presence.

"Become it will always be my favorite way to annoy you." He answered. It was something he used to when they were kids. The girls would be sitting on the dock, their feet handing in the water. All of them would complain the water was too cold to swim in but say with their feet in the water all day, talking and laughing as the boys played and wrestled in the water. There was always a point in the summer when Travis would get up the nerve to swim over to the dock, grab onto Taylor's ankle, and pull her into the water without her consent. He always found it to be the most hilarious thing on the planet to see her upset, but it usually got her and the other girls into the water and off of the damn dock.