Drowning

2. Embarrassment at its finest.

"I can't-I can't do this," I stutter.

"You made a deal, stick with it."

She's right. I can't back out now.

"Besides, he's hot," Devin gushes.

Finally, I understand the term "hot". He's gorgeous, lounging in that white lifeguard stand. Looking at him makes my mouth dry and my palms sticky. His hair stands up in strange places. In a sexy way.

The thing that scares me the most about this is that I know I can pull it off. Of Course, my friends don't know that. They probably think I'll just flail around and look like an idiot. When I was only seven years old I witnessed my cousin drown. It still haunts me, the way his limp body sunk to the bottom. It wasn't like I could help him, I couldn't swim myself back then. When I noticed what was going on, it was too late.

I am not going to die. I can swim now and Isabelle and Devin will both be watching me. They swore they wouldn't take their eyes off me. And yes, this most likely counts as "life threatening" but I'm still going to do it. It's like there's this burning in the pit of my stomach, making me feel like this is something I should do. Or maybe it's just the pear pressure.

There are only two lifeguards watching the swimmers. Just the brunette guy and some blonde chick at the other side of the pool. The guy is closer to me, which means he is the one who will "save" me. A shiver shoots through my spine as I think of him touching me. Hopefully he can take a joke.

"You can do this, Jodi," Belle reassures me with a pat on the back.

I swallow. Is it better to really try and look like I'm drowning, or not try and look like a faker? A million thoughts swirl around in my head. Everything spins. Maybe I can fake it so well they won't question it being untrue. What if they do find out? I could get in big time trouble.

I walk along the edge of the deep-end, pretend to slip, and go tumbling in with a squeal.

"She can't swim!" Devin shrieks.

But the oblivious lifeguard doesn't notice. He sits there fiddling with his whistle.

What am I supposed to do? A picture flashes through my mind, a picture of my cousin, Corrie, drowning. His eyes were empty and terrified, so that's the look I need to pull off. I attempt to use my chin to push myself above the water. It doesn't work, obviously. I'm choking and coughing as I swallow the pool water. Next I lean my head back and keep my mouth above the surface. I let loose tendrils of hair fall over my face. I am slowly sinking.

"DUDE! My friend over there is drowning!" Isabelle points towards me.

Finally, he snaps out of his dreamlike state and springs into action. He grabs the float beside him and dives into the water. He swims, at unbelievable speed, towards me. Once he reaches me he hauls me out of the water, placing his arm across my chest, and grabbing underneath my left armpit.

He is touching me. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't. Freak. Out.

We reach the poolside and he releases the float and carries me like a baby before setting me down on the hot concrete. I resist the urge to stand up and get off of the burning cement.

I keep coughing up water. The beautiful lifeguard- the guy -keeps glancing nervously from me to the female lifeguard.

"Wha-" he starts.

"I don't know! Do it! It won't hurt her," the blonde girl orders.

Are they going to knock me out?

He swallows visibly. He places one hand on the ground beside my head and cups my face with the other.

Um, okay then.

Slowly, he leans closer, and his lips part. I feel his warm breath across my face. He smells like sunscreen and strawberries. My new favorite scent. Usually, blue eyes don't catch my attention. But he makes them look incredible. The perfect shade of blue. His face hovers a few inches above mine. Then, without a second thought, I sit up and press our lips together. I don't move my lips or anything, I just keep them against his. Whatever his name is.

He pulls his face away in disgust.

What was I thinking? Oh wait, I wasn't thinking.

I just kissed a complete stranger. But he was about to kiss me. But why? And why did that other lifeguard tell him to? My head hurts.

"What the heck?" He spits.

"I could say the same thing to you."

You were the one that kissed him, idiot.

He looks confused. "Why did you kiss me?"

"You were about to ki-"

I mentally face palm myself.

He wasn't going to kiss me. He was about to do mouth to mouth because I was choking. The embarrassment I feel makes me feel weak.

"Wait. You thought-" he stops mid-sentence, right before he bursts out laughing.

I frown. "This isn't funny."

"You thought I would actually k-kiss you!" He is literally clutching his stomach and rocking back and forth.

All of the pool goers are now looking at us. A few laugh along side the lifeguard. Including Isabelle and Devin.

The blonde chick shoots me looks of hate.

"I'm leaving," I mumble.

My eyes threaten to tear up. I can't take this kind of embarrassment. I cross my arms and storm out. I know Devin will grab my things. They can walk home, because I need a little alone time.

I slam the door of my jeep and drive home as quickly as possible. Today was interesting. I fake drowned and kissed some random guy. Thank Zeus that wasn't my first kiss. That would make it even worse. I'm known for being pretty flirtatious so that explains why I leaned in for the "kiss". Except it wasn't a kiss. I thought it was, but it wasn't. My lips are still tingling, in a nice way.

I did not just think that.

As soon as I get home I rush up the stairs. I wrap myself up in my blanket like a burrito. I scroll through instagram and hate myself. The norm. Maybe this is better than doing crazy crap and embarrassing myself to death. I'm only missing one thing.

Nutella.

I stumble down stairs and grab the jar and a spoon. Personally, I like it better this way, straight out of the container. I resume my social media scrolling. I'm just going to forget the pool incident even happened today. Eventually my friends will forget about it and so will I. Oh and I'm definitely not ever swimming at that community pool again.

I hear the front door open then close.

I lick my spoon off, set it on my nightstand, and shove the Nutella under my pillow.

"We're home!" Devin shouts.

You don't say.

My bedroom door swings open. In the doorway stands three people.

So much for forgetting about today.

*****

thanks for reading!

okay so sorry for the late update. school and stuff takes up the majority of my life.

Tell me what you think about my story/this chapter. (:

OH YEAH! Point out any spelling or grammar mess ups pleeeaaase

Faith