Learning To Swim For Real

Chapter 34: Jack's Revenge

It had been a long time since Jack had worn a tie. He thought back, and couldn't remember. Maybe last spring, at the Dean's Tea? Dean Weaver had held a tea for all of the scholarship athletes who had maintained honor roll grades or made Dean's List or something. And he knew he hadn't worn anything like this.

However, if dressing in formal attire was going to get Kelsey to look at him the way she was looking at him now, all doe-eyed and dreamy, maybe he should do it more often.

Holy cow, she was sexy.

"Wow, Jack," she murmured, hugging herself to him, "you clean up nice." She gave him a very nice, very slow kiss. "If I'd known how good you looked all dressed up, I would've made you put on a suit months ago."

He was wearing a charcoal gray suit from Calvin Klein in a stretchy, comfortable fabric that was somehow lighter than air. The legs were a very narrow fit, as was the crotch, and he had to remind himself constantly not to tug at his junk. Kelsey had caught him doing this and had laughed, reaching in to give him a friendly squeeze.

"Hey, that's my job, coach," she joked, eyes merry.

"If you think what you're doing is going to help me with my problem, you're sadly mistaken, missy thing," Jack had replied with a grin, looking in the mirror to see if his boner showed.

With this beautiful suit he was wearing a blindingly white shirt that set off his tan and a tie in a tricky shade of turquoise that brought out his eyes and matched the color of his tennis shoes. Jack had never worn such an ensemble in his life. He was strictly an off the rack, conservative guy, but Kelsey was in charge of his wardrobe for this event, and he trusted her judgement. She was a former supermodel, and had been one of Vogue's Best Dressed Teens four years running or something. Jack was afraid to even ask what it had cost, but Kelsey assured him that the studio was paying since this was considered advance publicity for the movie or something.

Kelsey was wearing a pink lace evening dress that darkened to magenta just above her knees in a pouffy, full skirt, so beautifully fitted Jack didn't see how she got it on, even though he'd helped her to get in it himself. It was open below her shoulders, showing her gorgeous, toned back, which really had become a work of art from all the swimming, along with her glorious, world-famous legs. Her hair just brushed past her shoulder blades, accentuating the movement of her latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles.

He stood next to her and looked in the mirror.

"I feel like the Beast standing next to Belle," he remarked.

"Jack, how can you say that?" Kelsey was exasperated. "You look outstanding! I mean, those fitted trousers make your already long legs look miles longer, and your torso has the perfect V shape for a suit, you know? I mean, seriously, next to running around in nothing, which is basically what you do when you swim, you couldn't look better than you do wearing this suit. The cut and fit accentuate, um, everything that needs accentuating," she said with an impish grin, "and the colors couldn't go better with your tan and eyes and everything, if I do say so myself." She brushed an invisible speck off his shoulder. "I would've made a hell of a stylist, I think."

Jack took a deep breath and looked at his girlfriend's face, which looked different to him because she was wearing a full complement of make-up tonight.

"Shall we get this circus on the road, then?" he asked, holding his arm out.

They left Jack's cottage and walked out to the car.

They were attending a charity party, hosted by a Los Angeles hospital, for their juvenile AIDS research wing. It was an annual, star-studded event, held at the end of every summer at a glitzy hotel, and all of Hollywood's A-listers attended. It was considered the unofficial kickoff to the fall awards season, and the place where everyone reconnected after their summers of vacations and filming in exotic locations.