Fellow lifeguards: Evak

Sleepless together

As I was walking to the first training station I noticed Magnus, Jonas, and Mahdi sitting on the side of the shore, looking at me shamefully. I just stood there looking at them confused for a little while before Noora came up to me and told me why they were there.

"They got in trouble for messing around", she laughed, "They'll join the training soon, don't worry."

I laughed and showed them the loser sign before going up to coach and asking him what we were doing here.

"CPR, but you've been very good at it all these years Isak so this year you get to start with reflex training. You're the only one doing it already, you're the best trainee here" coach nudged my arm.

"Haha, thanks coach. Where is it?"

"Where Even is standing. You still need a mentor, for safety reasons. Even happens to be one of the best at reflexes."

Of course Even was. Just my luck. 

I walked towards Even already blushing. When I arrived where he was I waited for him to say something first. 

"Hey?" he chuckled with question in his voice.

"Hey" I replied with a little laugh.

"So here we'll just be passing the ball at random times first, to see if you have the reflexes to catch it all the time. Then we'll be swimming and coach will tell us what to do then." he smiled.

"Oh, ok. Sounds easy."

We had practiced reflexes with passing a football, and coach was right. Even was really good at reflexes. After a while we sat down on the sand for a little break. I decided to ask him a question.

"If you saw me 'sneak out' last night why didn't you tell coach?"

"I'm a mentor, not a snitch"

"Thanks.."

"No problem. What were you doing out anyway?"

"Uh I couldn't sleep, so I just took a stroll."

"Even!" coach was calling him from the other station, signalling for him to come help the others.

Even stood up but before he ran to coach and the others he turned around and looked at me,

"Next time you take a stroll, just wake me up. We can be sleepless together" he chuckled.

I smiled on the outside. I was screaming, confused, and happy on the inside. Why did Even have that effect on me? Maybe it was because I recently come to terms with me being gay and I felt like I had to be attracted to him? He was special.

I watched him go to coach and help the others. I found myself staring at him helping everyone. I shouldn't have stared when he was helping Emma because of course she thought I was staring at her. She put her short brown hair behind her ears and smirked at me. Oh no. I just fully turned around so I was facing the water side of the beach. 

First training had been cut short but it was one to remember.