Learning To Swim For Real

Chapter 9: Easy Like Sunday Morning

Kelsey woke up to stealthy clinking sounds coming from the kitchen. She rolled over in surprise when she realized where she was. Had she really slept all night? On someone's couch?

It seemed she had.

She sat up and saw Jack opening and closing drawers.

"Sorry," he said with a grin. "I didn't mean to wake you, I just need to take my vitamins."

She smiled and waved a hand, raking a hand through her hair and covering a huge yawn with her fist. "I can't believe I slept the night through," she said. "I usually wake up at least five or six times, especially if I'm someplace unfamiliar." She patted the couch. "This sofa is amazing."

"Yeah. My older brother Jacob is a furniture maker in San Diego, and he gave it to me when someone returned it. It's a futon couch, folds out and all, see? Usually they're not very comfortable, but Jake does amazing work, and the futon came from Japan and everything, so it was a steal." Kelsey could hear real pride in Jack's voice, and affection.

"Jack and Jake?" she said, making it a question.

"Yeah, there's Julian, the oldest, who's twenty-eight. He teaches high school English. Then there's Jake, the furniture maker, who's twenty-seven, then Jeremy, who's in med school back east, he's twenty-four, then the baby, me," Jack ticked off on his fingers. "All Js. My parents wanted to keep things simple, I suppose. We all swam on the same team, and we all look alike, so by the time I came along, our coach didn't know if he was coming or going, honestly."

Jack opened a few cupboards, and looked back at Kelsey apologetically. "I'd offer to make you breakfast, but I don't really have any food. I was going to just grab some food and shop on the way home--" he let the sentence dangle. "Did you want to come with me?" He added when she didn't say anything.

"Would you mind?" Kelsey asked.

"Uh, no not at all, but things didn't go so well the last time we went out, you know?" Jack replied.

"I don't think that will happen again," Kelsey said, hoping it was true. "It usually isn't so bad during the day, and maybe if we stay out of Hollywood?" She looked at Jack hopefully, and he nodded.

"Sure, not a problem, we can just head over the hill, the other way," he said.

Half an hour later they were safely ensconced in a booth at an IHOP in the San Fernando Valley. Kelsey was wearing jeans and a blue blouse, with her signature locks in a pony tail braid, while Jack was wearing his usual, shorts and a T-shirt with flip flops. They blended right in, and no one gave them a second glance.

Again, Kelsey was shocked at the amount of food Jack ordered, and stared with wide eyes as the waitress deposited his order in front of him. He had a plate of just protein, and a plate of only carbs, and a bowl of fruit.

He just smiled at her and dug in to his food.

She was once again surprised, ten minutes later, when she saw she had cleaned up her own plate, and was looking around for something else to eat. Jack saw her looking around and pushed over a plate that had a short stack of pancakes on it.

"Go ahead," he said, gesturing to the pancakes. "Take a couple off the top, I don't need them all."

"You sure?" Kelsey asked, even as she was forking a few onto her empty plate. "I can't believe I'm eating all this." She poured blueberry syrup liberally from the bank of carafes lined up along the window. "You know what I usually have for breakfast?" she asked as she brought the first forkful towards her mouth. At Jack's negative head shake, she said, "Whole wheat toast and fruit."