Learning To Swim For Real

Chapter 18: The Magic Kingdom

"I am so excited!" Kelsey said, bouncing up and down in the passenger seat of Jack's little car.

"I know, you've said that about a hundred times since we left home," Jack replied, smiling over at her.

It was six thirty in the morning, and they were headed south on the 10, in sparse weekend traffic. They could already see the blue-brown haze that sat over the City of Angels. It was going to be a blazing hot day.

"I can't believe that you've never been to Disneyland," Jack said again, shaking his head. "You've lived here how long?"

"Five years," she replied.  "I moved here when I was eighteen."

"Same as me," Jack said. "But I'm two years younger than you, and I've been to Disneyland too many times to count."

"I was busy," Kelsey replied, laughing and shrugging. "Building a career, being on forty-seven magazine covers, making eight blockbuster movies? You may have heard of some of them?" she teased.

"Yeah, right, whereas I was merely swimming, working, and being a full-time student," Jack said. "I've been a real slacker."

Kelsey unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned over to put her arms around his neck so she could snuggle into him and kiss his neck. "Shh, don't even joke like that," she chided. "It's not funny." She sat back and buckled herself in once more.

"So it's Zach's birthday?" Kelsey asked.

Jack nodded. "He loves Disneyland. He used to go with his family every year when he was younger, and now we take him. This is our third time." Jack grinned. "It's so fun, but man, we get so tired. I mean, the end of June is frying hot, so we get cooked, and you know we want to get there when it opens, and stay until it closes, so we're just dead, you know?"

Kelsey nodded happily. "And who's going to be there, again?"

"Well, it's always us guys, so that's me, Toby, Jeff, and Zach, you've met all of them," Jack listed. "Then there's whomever Toby's dating at the time, so I believe this year it's someone named Brooke? I've met her a couple of times, she seems nice. I think she's a psych major at school." Jack looked over his shoulder and changed lanes. "Then there's Troy Goodman, he's Jeff's boyfriend. They've been going out for a couple years. He's a really good guy, I think you'll like him. He's a music major, one of those super dreamy looking guys that girls always go for?" Jack shook his head. "You can hear female hearts breaking all over campus when they find out he's gay, you know the type?"

Kelsey nodded. She'd come across a few of them in her line of work.

"Then there's Vivian, Zach's girlfriend. They've been together for awhile, too. Her last name's Conway. I know her pretty well, because she's on the team, she's a swimmer too, a veterinary science major, I think.

"And then there's you," Jack said, putting a hand on her knee.

"And do I look okay?" Kelsey asked nervously. "I mean, do I look like everyone else?"

"Aww Kels," Jack said, his voice getting soft, "sorry to tell you this, but there's no way on earth you'll ever look like everyone else, okay?"

And because Jack didn't acknowledge what he said, Kelsey didn't either. She just looked out the window for a second, blinking really hard as she squeezed his hand. He turned his hand over so he could squeeze back. When she knew she could talk and not have her voice be all quavery, she spoke again.

"I mean, will I blend in? Will I not look like a super famous celebrity actress or whatever?" she asked in a light voice.

He looked over at her briefly before looking back at the road. "Yeah, you look just fine," was all he said. And she did. She was wearing  one of Jack's UCSM swim team tank tops, along with denim Capri pants and tennis shoes. Her hair was in a ponytail braid, she was wearing a pink bucket hat.