The next day, Saturday, I didn't have to be at my lifeguard shift until 11. So naturally, I rolled out of bed at 10:30. Quickly putting my suit and shorts on, I tossed my hair into a messy bun, sliding into my Birks and grabbing a banana before walking out of the door. The first song to come on after plugging my aux in is All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix. Perfect start to the afternoon. "There must be some kind of way out of here..." I sing along, rolling the windows down in my teal Wrangler TJ. Pulling up to the Rec, I grab my bag and securely hang my whistle around my neck, smiling at the thought of what happened with it yesterday.
"Layla." Justin, the other front desk worker, smiles at me as I walk in. He's had a bit of a crush on me for a couple of summers now. He's sweet and all, but I've known him for so long I can't see him as anything but a friend. "Hey, Justin." I clock in and make my route to the pool. Unlocking my locker in the women's room, I throw my stuff inside and take my shorts and Birks off to put in as well. I make my way to the lifeguard chair after doing some stretches and watch as people come piling in as the pool opens. Jordan, the other lifeguard on duty today, makes her way to the kiddy area and I wave. She can be okay sometimes, but for the most part she's kind of hateful and annoying. I try to be civil as much as I possibly can though. "Hey miss." I look down and see a boy who's about 10 or so looking up at me. "Yeah, sweetie?" "How deep is this water?" He gulps. Aw. "Well, it's about 14 feet at the deep end, but the shallow end is only 3 feet." I smile. "Okay. Thanks." He looks uneasy and I see him heading towards the shallow end. Sweet kid.
I look up and see who I think is Josh heading in the men's locker room. Dear god. Why me! Behind him, I can see Jordan definitely checking him out. Nice. She flirts with everyone, this should be interesting. I try not to hyperventilate so I can do my job and make sure that no one is running, or yanno, drowning. I watch the water and have to make myself not look towards the locker rooms. No luck. There he is. Oh, god. He walks towards the pool in nothing but tight little purple shorts and a gold necklace hanging down his chest. I look back towards the other swimmers but can't help but find my eyes drawn towards him again. My eyes meet his and I instantly start to heat up. He smiles but I quickly look away before he sees me drool. This is not good.
I see a kid running and half blow my whistle. "Please, no running!" I can feel someone looking at me and my eyes directly meet his, again. "Hi, Layla." He's swimming underneath me now. "Hi." I smile shyly. He's for sure doing something to me, but I don't know what. "I didn't realize you were a lifeguard." I pray to god Rick doesn't come in here and see me talking to him again. He'd probably write me up or some dumb shit. I just nod. He swims towards the other side of the pool. Fuck. I've lost my chance. I just get so tense and don't know how to function. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Again, trying my best to focus on everyone and everything but him, I fail miserably and catch myself watching him swim his laps back and forth through the water for what seems like hours. God damn, I've never seen someone move so gracefully...
I hear a whistle blowing loudly from beside me. "Laylaaaa!" Ugh. Thomas. The new high school lifeguard. "Thomas." I climb down the ladder so that he can begin his shift. Three hours had gone by so quickly. I hadn't even noticed that Josh had probably been getting in and out for awhile, but I had been daydreaming. I saw him at the end of the pool though, lifting himself up to get out. Shit. "She's all yours." I gesture to the water. "Thanks, sweet cheeks." He winks and climbs up the ladder. Groaning, I head to my locker. "Layla, wait up!" I spin around and see Josh walking towards me. "I didn't run, wouldn't want you to blow the whistle at me." He says, winking. Whoaaakay. I laugh awkwardly, per usual. "What are your plans for the day?" I can't help but look at his chest as the water from his curls comes trickling down the rest of his body. "Um...I'm just, I'm probably gonna go smoke." I gulp. "You?" "Ohh, right. It's legal here. Nice. Would you want some company?" My heart jumps. COMPANY? Hell to the fucking yes I would. But I live with my parents during the summer, and I usually go to Mila's...yikes. "Yes! I mean yeah." His face lights up. "That would be sweet. I just...live with my family during the summers because of school and I'm not sure if my brothers are home right now. So..." "Oh okay, I totally understand. We could go to my place?" My eyes are about to pop out of my head. I just nod. "Okay." He smiles. That fucking smile. "I'll wait for you outside." I nod again, turning around to the locker room.
I watch as he leaves the pool and begin to melt as I open my locker to change. What the hell. I check my phone and see I have about a million missed messages and a couple of calls from Mila. I scroll through the messages for a second but just decide to call her back. She picks up on the second ring. "Bitch, where the hell have you been?! I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours!" "I had to cover someone's shift, remember?" "Oh. Well this is more important!" "What is?" "Okay, you know me, being the crazy weirdo stalker that I am I had to do some more research on Josh. Obviously." Oh god, here we go. "And it turns out, your boy is famous! Like super famous. Well, pretty famous. But still, famous!" Well that would explain the godliness and charisma. "Really? Are you sure?" "Yes! He's in a band. Greta..Van Fleet? Yeah that's it. He's the lead singer!!!" "Well, damn. That's crazy." "Uh, you think?!" She got a little worked up about things sometimes. "I'm actually...about to go hang out with him now." I try not to shriek. "You're what?!" "I'm really sorry, I know we had plans to smoke and stuff. But he's so hot and-" She cuts me off. "Bro. I am not mad AT ALL. Go get some rock 'n' roll ass for me. I love you bitch!" I just laugh, "I love you too." This is about to be a crazy ride.
