Floating by

Chapter 9: Diving Head First

Just a little note, I'm not a diver so I don't really know a lot of the terms that they use. Most of my knowledge comes from the little I've watched during the Olympics or just by googling. Please forgive any of the mistakes and assumptions I make. I would love it if someone who knew the sport could help me out if they see something wrong. Thanks!

Zach has been excited for this the whole day. He got up super early this morning because of it. He also almost gave up during the hack-a-thon cause his mind kept drifting to thoughts of Kayla and seeing her later that day.

Although now that it was time, he wanted to be anywhere but here. He was becoming less excited and more nervous by the second.

What if he isn't as good as her?What if he doesn't remember how to dive?What if he kept staring at her?What if he embarrasses himself?What if he flops on his face? Or his butt?What if-

His thoughts were interrupted as he noticed Kayla walking towards him from the ladies changing room. She had her hair up in a ponytail and she was wearing a blue and white one piece suit with sports shorts.

"Hi!" Kayla says with a big smile on her face as she nears Zach.

"Hey Kayla." Zach says while trying not to check her out too obviously.

"Are you ready for this?"

"I think I am! I haven't done this in a long time though, let's hope I'm not too rusty!" Kayla says embarrassed.

"Hey, no worries! We can totally start with a few forward dives on the 1 meter platform then work our way up. We can totally work on our competition dives later on."

"Yeah, that sounds great! I definitely need to ease my way back into this. By the way, why isn't there anyone else here?"

"Oh, the cruise is letting people who signed up for the competition book out this indoor pool for 2 hours at a time per day."

"Oh wow. That's pretty cool."

"Yeah. So...should we get started?"

"Alright, lets do this!"

Kayla removes her shorts and tosses them to the side, she goes to wet her shammy leaving Zach in a bit of awe. Zach shakes his head and removes his t-shirt and goes to the pools edge to do the same.

Kayla

I'm not sure if Zach can tell, but I'm a bundle of nerves.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about getting back to diving but I'm also incredibly nervous and afraid that I'll trip and land flat on my face.

I spend a bit too much time wringing out my shammy, prolonging the inevitable; diving off that platform.

I stand up and look over at Zach, who's just done wringing out his shammy, and I can't help but stare a little. I knew Zach had some lean arm muscles, but I wasn't really ready for the defined abdomen in front of me.

I had to catch myself before I was caught staring and thankfully Zach was focused on the diving platforms rather than on me.

"So, are we ready?"

Zach turns his head to look over at me.

"Yeah, let's uh, head on up."

We make our way up to the 1 meter platform and toss our shammy's over the sides. We both walk to the edge and have a peak down then step back and look at each other.

"So how do you want to do this?"

"Since you haven't done this in a while, I'll let you take the lead? We can jump off the 1 meter as many times as you'd like until you wanna move up and so on."

"Um, wow. Yeah. Let's try that. Do you mind counting us down?"

"We'll go on 'jump'?"

I nod at him and we make our way to the edge.

"Ready?"

I nod and take a deep breath in and out.

"3."

"2"

I get on my tippy toes right at the edge and lift my hands up to meet above my head, with my fingers pointing up.

"1"

I exhale and take a deep breath.

"Jump!"

I jump off the platform and aim my body forwards, trying to get my hands to hit the water first.

I enter the water with minimal splash and I can't help but relax a little and remember that adrenaline rush I used to love.

I resurface and look over at Zach with a huge grin on my face.

"That was awesome! I forgot how amazing it could feel."

Zach just chuckles and we swim over to the pools edge and host ourselves up and out of the pool.

I take one look at him and I had this urge to give him a hug, so I did.

I wrapped my arms around him as best as I could and had my cheek nestled in his neck. Zach was frozen for a minute before he finally relaxed and hugged back, resting his cheek on the top of my head.

"Thank you."

"Hmm? What for?"

"For asking me to do this. I know it's a bit dramatic after just 1 meter, but it means a lot."

"Your welcome Kayla."

We hug in silence for a bit longer.

"Anyway, I know this was just an excuse so you could sorta feel my abs." Zach says cheekily pulling away and looking down at me.

I pull away fully with a shocked face that turns into a blush and I playfully smack him on the arm.

"You just had to ruin the moment didn't you?"

Zach is still chuckling and I grab his arm and pull him towards the stairs.

"Come on then. Let's keep going. We're gonna hit that 10 meters by the end of our 2 hours."