Powering Through: A Sequel to Learning To Swim For Real

Chapter 14: The Three Skankiteers

"We'll probably still be up when you get home, so I'll for sure see you before you go to sleep, okay?" Jack gave her an adorable wink as he handed over her smoothie.

"You didn't have to make me one," Kelsey said as she took it. "I know what a hurry you're in. 

"In fact," she continued, "what are you even doing home? Don't you have class straight through?"

Jack shrugged. "I have a little break, just enough time to pop home, so I figured I'd stop by. Otherwise, I wouldn't see you until midnight or whatever, you know?"

Aww.

"I knew you'd just dash off with no food or anything, too," Jack said, gesturing at the smoothie. "You need to keep your strength up, you know? Waking up early, going to bed late, I mean, that's the definition of 'burning the candle at both ends,' missy thing," he admonished. 

Jack and his study group had a big paper due in a few days, and this was the last night all four of them could get together to work on it. Jack was the only one of them who lived in an actual house with enough room to spread out, so they were all getting together at the bungalow that night to work on it, possibly all night, depending on how things went.

Kelsey was looking forward to meeting the girls in person. She was hoping that doing so would make her ridiculous, childish feelings of jealousy go away. Jack knew that she felt twinges of some sort of rivalry whenever he mentioned them, like a joking kind of thing, but he had no idea how deep her feelings of distrust and doubt went. Every time he mentioned one of them she got tense, the same way she felt whenever he mentioned any other woman. She knew she was being silly, and that Jack didn't have feelings toward any of these girls, but it didn't change how she felt.

"Okay, have a great one, Kelseylove, knock 'em dead," Jack said, pulling her close to give her a kiss.

"Bye coach, love you." Kelsey waved and got in her car.

Jack ran back to class, and stopped by the store on the way home to load up on snacks and drinks for the marathon study session ahead. It was a novel experience for him to be hosting a group at his house, and he was grateful to Kelsey for putting him in this position.

They were going to work in the dining room, because of it's proximity to the kitchen, the nice, big table it contained, and because it was furthest from where Kelsey might be trying to sleep if she came home before they finished.

"Wow, Jack, what a beautiful house," Rain exclaimed, looking around. 

"I know," he responded. "I stepped in a huge pile of good luck, didn't I?" He had made it very plain to everyone that this was Kelsey's house, Kelsey's life, that he was just along for the ride, and he was thankful for his good fortune.

Teresa Chavez, the brunette, just smiled and got herself a bottle of water as she set up. Jack thought that she came from substantial means as well, as her parents were both doctors or something, and she had a new car. 

Nadine, the curly headed blonde, however, was on a scholarship and financial aid like he was, Jack knew, and she, too, was impressed with Jack's set up.

They got going on their project, about women's rights in the post-WWII era, and how the rise of the middle class affected women socially and politically. Everyone was supposed to have been gathering material on their own, and they were going to try to collate everything into a cohesive paper tonight. This was the first time they'd done anything like this, and Jack was pleasantly surprised to find that Teresa had been telling the truth about the girls; all three were diligent workers, focused when they had to be and capable of top notch work.