Learning To Swim For Real

Chapter 4: Free Style

"Uh, okay," Jack said cautiously. He didn't want to offend her again, but this wasn't going to work, no way, no how. The sun baked down on the pool, creating a glare that made them both squint. He put away his phone, which he'd used to record her from the deck.

"How about if you watch me," he suggested. 

At her nod, he jumped in; he noticed in passing that the pool was over chlorinated, and made a mental note to check the levels himself later. He adjusted his goggles and pushed off from the wall, trying to go as slowly as he could, shorten his streamline, and over exaggerate the elements of his freestyle so Kelsey could see everything he was doing. He kicked very slowly, bending his knees slightly, reached out in front to pull, making his body as long as possible, turning his head to the side clearly so she could see him breathing without lifting his chin. He pulled his arms out, elbows first, making sure his hand stayed close to his ear, not straightening the elbow, rolling a little bit as he carefully placed his hands. Even with this ridiculously slow pace, he still reached the opposite wall in five strokes, and he did a very slow flip turn, again, taking care not to streamline at all so she could see the actual stroke. He stopped at the wall in front of her and lifted his head, shaking the excess water out of his hair as he looked up at her.

"You were doing so many things at once, and it was so fast," she complained. "You're going to have to do it again, okay? And I'll record you this time. That way I can watch again, slowly, to see everything you did."

Wow.

Kelsey was aware of how she looked to Jack from the pool. She knew that being seen from the ground at an upward angle was not the optimum way for her body to be viewed. It made her look foreshortened, made her legs short, her breasts look little, made her look dumpy. She took a step back to lengthen the angle from which he saw her.

Not that she really cared how she looked to him. There were people who mattered and people who didn't, she knew this, people whose opinions counted and people who were just there. Jack was definitely one of the second group. He was her coach. Spectacular body notwithstanding, he himself wasn't particularly handsome, and he wasn't in the business, either. 

But he was a man, and Kelsey also knew from experience that all men could be useful under the right circumstances. 

She took another step back and shook her head before she remembered that her hair was in a pony tail. 

Well, shit.

She recorded him on her phone as he did two more laps, then got in the pool with him. He grabbed his kick board out of his bag, which made her smile.

"What?" Jack asked, seeing her grin.

"I don't know, I just associate those with little kids, with wading pools, you know?" she replied.

"Well, you shouldn't," Jack responded. "I use this at nearly every workout. And you're going to need one, too." He showed her how to hold it, and how to kick properly, without scissoring her legs, or bending her knees too much. He swam next to her as she traversed the pool, encouraging her. He held his palm out behind her so she kicked out of the water the correct amount, and she was happy and proud when she felt herself moving faster than before through the water.

She was also surprised at how tired she got.

"Oh my god, I'm already so out of breath," she gasped. "How do you guys do this for so long? I mean, didn't you say you work out for five or six hours a day?"

"Well, we don't do it all at once," Jack said. "And I did build up to that, too, remember. But yeah, this is why you need flippers, fins, okay?"

"Really?" Kelsey looked quizzically at Jack. "Like scuba divers?"