Powering Through: A Sequel to Learning To Swim For Real

Chapter 3: Separation Anxiety

The first day of class was hard for Jack, much harder than he thought it would be. He'd gotten used to having Kelsey by his side all day, to waking up with her soft warmth next to him and having time to slide over for a cuddle if he wanted. He loved watching her wake up, seeing her eyes open and focus on him, recognize him, seeing her smile as her love for him filled her up.

He didn't realize how comfortable and comforting it was to be with her all the time until he no longer had that luxury. It just underscored for him how unutterably lonely he'd been until he'd met her. A person who's colorblind doesn't miss the vibrant colors of the world, just like a person with no sense of taste feels no more than perhaps a fleeting wistfulness when seeing the people around him enjoying their food. For him food is sustenance, nothing more.

But now, after months and months of being with her nearly 24/7, of being bathed in the light and  humor and simple physical presence of her, Jack felt like he'd been cast outside without enough clothes on. As he woke up for morning practice, trying to move quietly so he wouldn't wake her, for the first time in his life he was resentful of swimming, even though it had brought him so far, given him so much.

He went around to her side of the bed, carefully avoiding the boxes that were piled haphazardly around the room. They had officially moved into the "bungalow" in Hollywood a few days before, but hadn't finished unpacking yet. He pulled the duvet over her, covering her exposed shoulder after dropping a soft kiss on it.

He pulled the bedroom door shut so he wouldn't wake her up and blended up his pre-practice smoothie, and took it to drink in the car. As he drove the nearly deserted streets he calculated how many hours it would be until he saw her again.

Thirteen hours. At least. Wow. Jack knew that he'd gone thirteen hours without seeing her before, but he'd never known that it would be thirteen hours, never actually calculated the time out like that.

It sounded like forever.

He swam, showered with the guys and joked around like he had before, grabbed breakfast with them, and headed off to his first class. It was an upper division course recommended for anyone applying to law school, called "Women and the Law," which was supposed to be amazing.

Jack told everyone he was "Pre-Law" when asked what he was studying, and many people did go from UCSM directly to law school, but there was no pre-law major there per se. He was actually a political science major with an eye toward going to law school after. He took as many philosophy and law oriented classes as he could, and was preparing for the LSATS as well.

He got a lot of looks as he took his seat, and as other students came in after him, which was new. He was famous now, because of Kelsey, because of the fight at the hotel. A few people even smiled and waved at him. He smiled back, hiding his surprise.

He couldn't hide it, however, a few minutes later when three girls came to sit by him. He blinked in shock as they took seats all around him, even going so far as to scoot their desks closer to his, one on either side, and one in front of him. There was a blonde with curls, a redhead, and a brunette, so at least he'd have no problem telling them apart.

"Hi there," the brunette said, smiling. She was wearing bright red lipstick, and bore a striking resemblance to Natalie Wood in West Side Story, one of his mother's favorites. "I'm Teresa Chavez, and these are my friends, Rain Gibson," she gestured to the redhead, "and Nadine Larson." She pointed at the curly-haired blonde. They both nodded hello and smiled.

"Uh, hi," Jack returned, still staring.

"I know, and I'm sorry to be so forward," Teresa continued. "But we know that this professor wants us to divide up into study groups, and we were hoping you'd be in ours?" She smiled again.