Lifeguard

Chapter 2

I remember my body crashing against the water. I remember falling. I remember feeling my lungs burn and my arms fight. My foot hit something sharp while I was thrashing. I remember hands wrapping around me.
I wake up on the rough dirt with everyone surrounding me. The lifeguard is on his knees "Are you okay?!" His voice is muffled but I nod. His fingers meet my back, in between my shoulder blades, as he aids me to a sitting position. My head feels weightless and my arms let go. I fall into his forearm and place my hand on my forehead. "Can I get some water?!", The lifeguard shouts into the crowd. Plastic meets my lips and I drink.
You'd think water would be the last thing I needed.
I open my eyes and meet his. His eyes are a deep brown, his lips are thin but the bottom is slightly larger than the top, he has black scruff and his hair is long and black. Jet black hair has always turned me on.
I push myself up and bend my knee. I wince. Blood. I look up and see the crowd has lightened up. I grab the half drunk water but the lifeguard takes it from me. "Here." He grabs an aid kit and opens it. "Alcohol." I bite my lip and nod. First he pours the water and then the alcohol. I scream through gritted teeth. My nails dig into the dirt as the alcohol burns throughout my foot. He wraps my foot in gauze and tapes it. "You're all fixed up!" He smiles and I smile back, "Thank you.", "I saw the whole thing.. pretty crazy.", "I laugh lightly, "Don't get drunk at the quarry.",I say jokingly. He plays with the left over gauze and smiles at the ground, "So what's your name?" I ask with an arm wrapped around my right knee. He looks up, "Charlie. You?"
"B!!!" My friends finally make their way to me from the other side. They wrap their arms around me, hard. "What the hell!?", Amy says with a big squeeze. "What the hell happened?!?!", Brooke lets go. Her words sound slurred, drunk. Charlie answers her, "She was drinking in the Quarry. What do you think happened?" His voice is firm and assured. Scary.
Brooke and Amy step back. "This is Charlie. The lifeguard who saved me!", I pronounce gratefully. Amy looks him up and down and crosses her arms, "Amy." Brooke looks at Amy's stance and tries to copy her. Her arms don't quite meet as smoothly as Amy's did. "Br-" she hiccups, "Brooke." I look up at them with a proud smile and look over at Charlie. He's not amused.
"Okay...I need to stand." I say. Charlie rushes to me and puts his hands on my bare waist. He lifts me up but his hands remain. Just for a second. "Thank you." I smile at him and limp away on my heel. Amy takes my right side and helps me walk.
We finally meet with our group we were with before. "Dammmnn, B! You good?", Seth says with a hand placed firmly on my lower back. "She's fine, Seth." Brooke says with a middle finger I can see out of the corner of my eye. I laugh and fist bump Brooke. "Holy shit, B." Andrew says with a laugh. He's cute. Shaggy, orange hair and an awesome body. His eyebrows are brown and his eyes are greenish-blue. "Yeah.." I sigh. "I'm a klutz.".
"Here." Brooke says with a beer held out in front of me. "Drink up!" She slaps a big smile on her face.
I start to throw down beers one by one. The wound on my foot hurts less and less with every drink.
    After dark, everyone heads into the trail in the woods to a bare patch with a bonfire in the middle. The area is huge and well lit with a fire. Music is blasted from a large speaker next to an oak tree. Amy, Brooke and I are all dancing together next to the fire. "I can't believe I forgot a cover up!" I yell. Brooke and Amy throw their heads back and laugh.
    Brooke stops and stares behind me, but then meets my eyes. "What is it?!" I yell. She comes up to me and turns me around, "It's Charlie..." I say under my breathe. He's standing in the corner with a glass beer bottle in his hand, leaning against a birch tree by a guy with a thick, short beard. "I'll be right back." I say to the girls.
    I half limp, half walk over to Charlie. He sees me and stands up straight. "Hey.." he grabs my arm and tries to help me walk. "I'll have you know I was just dancing and it didn't hurt!", "Well it looks uncomfortable now." He says with a concerning voice. "Who's this!" I ask curiously, "This is Gary.", "Hi, Gary. I'm B.", "B? What does that stand for?" He sips the drink in his hand that's enclosed in a Yeti cup. "It's just B.","Oh okay." I look at Charlie, his eyes are glossy. "How are you?" He asks. "I'm fantastic." I say with a scoot closer to him. "I should get a beer!" Gary stops me, "I got it. Coors?", "We have Coors?! Hell yeah I'll take a Coors!" Gary and Charlie laugh and I find myself joining in.
    "So how's your foot?" He looks down at me. "I'll live." I say with a shrug. "You don't have to hold me up, I'm okay." He nods and let's go. A part of me wishes he didn't. "You have to be cold." I shrug, "I'm good!" "No you're not." He starts to take off his grey sweatshirt. "Seriously. I'm okay!" I put my hand on his chest to stop him. He puts his hand on mine. "You're really something." He says with a grin. His eyes meet mine, then my nose and finally my lips.
    "Alright! I got the Coors!" Gary says with a whoop. I whip my hand off of Charlie's chest and grab the beer. "Thank you, kind sir." I curtsy, Gary bows. I catch Charlie out of the corner of my eye looking at me. He takes a swig of his beer. I look at him and do the same. "B!!" I turn to see who called my name, Amy and Brooke are waving me over. I look at Charlie, "One second." I start limping over to them until I feel a hand slide across my back and grip my side. My breathing stops and I look up. "That was painful to watch." Charlie pulls me closer to him. I grin at the floor.
    "This guy's got weed." Brooke says with an excited smile on her face. She's pointing to a man sitting on the floor lighting a bowl. I look up at Charlie and he looks down. He smiles. The bowl gets passed around a few times until we've all had enough.
    Charlie and I sit on the floor in front of the fire. He starts to take off his sweatshirt but this time I don't stop him. He pulls the grey sweatshirt over his head. I look at his back. It's muscular.. "Here." I hop out of my daze and take the sweatshirt, "Thank you." I smile and blow a kiss. It slides on. The length is easily over my knees. "What about you?" I look at Charlie as he gazes at his sweatshirt, "What about me?" He argues. "You don't have anything you can wear?" He looks at the fire, "Well I do but I gave it to you." He bumps me with his shoulder, jokingly. I bump him back, "You can have it back!", I say with a sleeve out. He sips his fresh beer, "Nah.." He turns his head, looks me up and down, slowly. He stops at my lips and says, "it looks better on you anyways." My heart sinks to the ground but I don't show it, I just rest my head on his shoulder.