It was a new day. I knew that whatever was in store for me this summer, it had to be great, right? My last year of college is right around the corner and I can't wait to have the best summer ever with my best friends. My first day at the Denver Recreation Center is today where I'll be working alongside one of my besties, Mila. Thank god she was there.
After packing up all of my belongings, I grabbed my Jeep keys and off to work I went. The parking lot was pretty empty, except for Mila and my manager, Rick's cars and another who's I wasn't sure about. The door shut behind me. 6:30 am on the dot. We opened at 7. "Hey girl." Mila was turning everything on for the day. "Hey. Do you know who's car that is in the lot? The black one?" She turned around. "Umm, no. I don't think so. I didn't even see another one actually." Hmm. Strange. Sometimes people come unnecessarily early, maybe that's what was going on. After clocking in, I went to the back to get all of the smoothie supplies set up. "Boo!" Dropping the bag of cups, I screamed and turned around to see Rick laughing. "What the hell, Rick!" "Sorry, sorry. Your face was priceless though!" Rolling my eyes and picking up the cups, I finished organizing all of the supplies. "What time is it?" Mila checked her phone. "6:50." "Ahh, okay. I'm gonna go outside to get my whistle for lifeguarding later."
I ran out to my car and searched around for my whistle, finally funding it. "Hello." Dropping my whistle, I looked up and saw a curly headed boy standing above me. "I think you dropped this." "Uh, thanks. You scared me." I took it from him and locked my car. He laughed. "Sorry. You're about open right?" I just stared for a few moments. He was so pretty. Those teeth! Wowza. And those dark brown eyes. "Uh what? Open. Yeah. We open at 7." He laughed again. "Okay, great." I walk to the door and noticed that he was right behind me. He held the door. I blushed. "Thanks." Mila was raising her eyebrows at me as she saw us walk in, I just shook my head and quickly got behind the counter.
He scanned his keycard and we watched him walk towards the rock wall climbing room. Mila hit my arm. "Bro. Bro!!! Who IS that?" "I don't know." I was trying to not be so flustered but it was hard. We both rushed to the computer to look at his profile. "Josh Kiszka. He's...23? Damn. Perfect." Mila smiled. "Hold up, hold up. He's from Michigan. What's he doing here?" "I don't know, but I'm definitely making a move." I just looked at her. "Oh c'mon, you know I'm kidding. He was totally looking at your ass." I blushed again. "He was not!" "Mhm, keep telling yourself that. Should I go spy on him? I don't think Michael is here for his shift yet." Just as she said that, rock climbing extraordinaire, Michael, walked in. "Hey ladies." He clocked in and headed down the hall. "Wait!" I said. "What?" "Uh." I looked at Mila. "Never mind." He just laughed and shook his head, continuing on his way. "I'm gonna go do some laundry." I winked and headed after Michael. Mila laughed and went to help a member.
Peeking my head around the door, I saw Josh nearly at the top of the wall. "Whoa." I breathed. That ass. His American flag tank top hugged his body perfectly, matching his socks. "Layla!" I heard Michael yell. "What's up? Why are you being so weird?" "Shh! Stop yelling, damn." He held up his hands in defense. I walked in the room. Josh looked down at us and waved. Shit. "I'm not being weird. Just wanted to come say hi." "Oh. Well hi." Michael was kind of goofy. He was 27, so a bit older than the rest of us, but he was a great part of the team. He turned around to watch Josh make his descent. "Good job, buddy!" "Well, I'm gonna go now." He didn't hear me, I walked out of there as quickly as possible. My lifeguard duty didn't start until 10 so I had some time to wander around and help out other workers. I went in the bathroom to make sure everything was stocked first. Looking in the mirror, I grabbed the counter and started breathing really slow. My dark brown waves were being especially unruly today. I fixed my pony tail. "Stop being such a weirdo, Layla. It's just a guy. You see tons of them all the time, snap out of it." I whispered to myself. But he was so attractive! There was something about him.
Walking out of the bathroom, I collided with someone and went down. "Ah! Sorry!" I looked up and saw Josh. My eyes went wide. My face was heating up, I could feel it. "It's okay." He held out his hand towards me and again, I stared. He raised his eyebrows. Finally I grabbed it, praying to anyone and everyone that my hand wasn't as sweaty as I knew it was, and stood up. "Now you scared me." He chuckled. "Ha ha, yeah. Uh..." I wish I had a lifeline here. "Good job with the climbing. The rock climbing." God Layla. "Thank you." Think! "So, when did you join the Rec? I don't think I've seen you." "A couple of days ago, actually. I just bought a place here, I have some time off work so." "Oh. Cool." I smiled nervously. "Layla! What are you doing, girl?" Ugh. Rick. He can be a real jerk sometimes. "Well. I've gotta go." I waved and walked back to the front desk. "Layla." I turned back around. "See you later." He waved in the cutest way I've ever seen, weird I know, but it was.
