Dream, Dive, Daley?

Chapter 4(a)

Friday morning at the Plymouth Life Center pool, it couldn’t be any quieter. My head was under water and I was almost out of air. The cold and the thought of almost dying kept me awake.

‘Sutton! Get your head out of the water before you drown yourself!’ Coach Banks’ voice sounded blurry beneath the water. When I started to feel pressure in my chest area, I began to swim to the surface.  I quickly gasped for air. What felt like an hour in the water, was actually three minutes on land. The water flowed down my body as I pushed myself up on the pool deck.

‘Are you okay kiddo?’ Dad placed his hand on my shoulder and tried to comfort me with calming words. He was worried about me. I haven’t been sleeping well these days. The pressure was getting bigger as closer I was getting to the European Championships. As a result of winning the British Championships, I was immediately qualified to the European. No, Dad, I’m not OK. ‘Sweetie, you look pale. We need to take you to a doctor’ No, Dad, I need coffee. I quickly shook my head and denied my illness.

Coach Banks and Dad went outside to talk about the European championships when Mr. Daley entered the main entrance. I took a glance up at the large wall clock. 7.10 am. Tom was rather late for practice. Odd…  

‘Good morning, Mr. Daley’ I stood up and greeted Tom’s father.

‘Good morning, Sutton. Congratulations on the gold medal. First place, well done!’ I thanked him politely. ‘I think Tom is about to ask you out’ Say what, Mr. D?!

‘Oh, really?’ Why would he want that? Does he really want to piss off our agents?

‘Yes, maybe to our barbeque or something. He mentioned it yesterday. Just thought you should know. Ha!’ His voice made his laugh so deep.  That so sweet!

‘Dad? What are you doing?’ Tom mouthed something to his father that made Mr. Daley leave us alone. ‘I’m so sorry. He’s just…’

‘Adorable. Like any other dad in the world’ I looked up at Tom.  Drops of water dripped down his body slowly. His perfectly muscular, tan body. ‘Well, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later, Tom’ I smiled and walked slowly pass him, waiting for him to ask me out to his family barbeque. As I walked pass him, I made sure that our shoulders brushed against each other. It made my entire body shiver.

‘Wait… Sutton?’ We'd turned around at the same time. His colorful mini-towel rested on his broad shoulders, absorbing any type of liquid. 

'Yes?' I waited patiently for him to ask me out and finally...

'We're having a barbeque at home later this afternoon, and I was wondering if you wanted to join us?' He looked me straight into my eyes. He wasn't nervous at all! I pretended like I was thinking about it.

'Sure! When do you want me to come?' I sounded a little bit too excited, but he didn't really notice. Tom gave me his adress and a time before we said goodbye for now.

I rubbed my temples with the tips of my index finger. Dear headache, please go away just for tonight. Sincerely, Sutton.