I Just Want To Get le Clos To You

Twenty Four

August 12th, continued

We pass under a few streetlights on our way to the beach. The moon shines bright overhead, illuminating our way past the road. It's almost eleven at night, and no one is around. Chad drops his bag in the sand. We take everything besides our swim suits off and run towards the water.

It’s kind of cold, at first. But when it's only up to my chest, Chad pulls me into a hug. “Now our families are gone, it’s just you, me, and the other athletes.”

“Not necessarily a bad thing,” I say, shivering at the contrast between the chilly water and his warm arms around my waist. I could stand here for hours, if something didn't just touch my foot!

I scream and jump closer to him, kicking my feet away from where the thing touched me. Chad laughs loudly, calming my fear. He reaches into the water and pulls out a dark green glob. “Just seaweed, you’re fine.”

By now, my back is pressed against his chest, which is even warmer than his arms. The hand that didn't pick up the seaweed gently traces the faint lines distinguishing my abdominal muscles.

And just as quickly as I had jumped from the seaweed, Chad springs away and begins to swim circles around me. He’s an incredibly fast swimmer, which he must be in order to have won three silvers and a gold across two Olympics.

“Jess, how skilled of a swimmer are you?” Chad asks, finally settling a few feet away.

“Relatively okay, I can do flips and stuff underwater but I’m not quick by any stretch,” I reply. And just to prove myself, I duck under the surface and do a forward flip.

“That's similar to what we do when we reach the wall and have to turn around.” I pull my wet hair back into a sloppy bun to keep it out of my face. It makes sense why swimmers wear those caps during races.

As I tread water, a thought comes to me. “You are I are kind of opposites. I’m structured, you’re unstructured. I’m an introvert, you're an extrovert. Et cetera.”

“But we bring out the best in each other. It's part of why I enjoy your company so much.”

“You know, we’ve only known each other for a week. How do we know this isn’t just in all the excitement? How do we know we’ll still be good friends after?”

“I don’t know.”

Then the concept dominates my brain. After Chad and I leave Rio, who’s to say we won’t lose contact? Never talk? Never try to see each other or check on each other? All of this time spent could just be great memories, not the beginning of a long friendship.

“But I don’t want to worry about that, Jess. You and I are busy people, but not that busy. We can make time to Skype in our everyday lives. And if you won’t, I’ll bug you until you do.”

The corners of my lips twitch upward. I can’t help but turn warm at that statement. Unsure of what else to do, I pull him into a wet hug underwater. The ocean is up to my chin, but his shoulders on up are free to be stung by the chilly air. Since we’re in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s essentially spring here. I shiver abruptly.

“Let’s make the rest of our stay so exciting and thrilling that you will long for the day when we’re together again to have more fun,” Chad says, looking down at me. And just like that, I push on his shoulders so I’m high enough to kiss him on the lips. No dilly dallying, straight to the point. Not just a peck, either. And I don’t regret choosing to, because boy, is he warm.

I don’t feel cold anymore. In fact, I don’t feel much of anything, except for his hands on my waist, pulling me out of the water. We pause for just long enough for Chad to pull out a large towel and lay it across the sand. We plop down on top of it and continue.

A short while later, Chad lies on his back while I’m sort of half on him, half on the towel. I have an arm thrown across his stomach and he has one along my back. We stare up at the stars, no noise besides our slow breathing. Goosebumps form on my skin, but Chad seems too lost in thought to notice. When I sit up to grab the other towel, he snaps out of his daze.

“We should get back and shower. No offense, but you smell bad.”

“So do you!” I laugh as I stand up and pull my bottoms out of my butt. I help Chad up with my other hand and he brings the towel. Wrapping me up in the clean side, he throws the strap of his bag over his shoulder and carries our shoes.

We walk barefoot to the bus stop, not wanting to fill our shoes with sand. Chad rubs my shoulder to warm me up more as we wait. “Do you want to share?” I ask, opening part of my cocoon to let him in. He shakes his head and stares at the road in front of us. The bus comes a few minutes later, as it’s late at night. They travel less frequently once it’s dark.

It turns out we weren’t the only ones out and about at this time; roughly a fourth of the seats are occupied. Two open ones sit at the front of the bus, so we take them. I almost doze off, but Chad gently shakes my arm once we reach the stop by my apartment.

The walk to the elevator and to the room are enough to keep me awake long enough to shower. I put on shorts and a sports bra before climbing into bed. Chad showers, for the second time today, then lies down next to me. I’m barely awake when he does, but I feel how close he is. I’m not worried about what will happen.

6/12/17

YOU GUYS IT'S ALMOST BEEN A MONTH SINCE THE LAST UPDATE NO ONE REMINDED ME AND SCHOOL IS OUT SO I TOTALLY FORGOT LOL. But it's all good, I don't even have the next chapter done. So far, since school got out on the 2nd, there's only been one day I didn't have work or something similar and I don't get my next day off until Friday. So yeah, I'm tired, and in my free time I've been pushing through the Office and snapping cute boys. Anyway, this chapter sucks, if anyone knows how it could be less weird, feel free to let me know. Idk when I'll post the next chapter, certainly not until I finish it. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!