In Memory (21 page)

Me. Him. Swimming.

T
hink you can see how this progressed.

Also, on the way to the pool, we rode my street bike, cause
it was a little far to walk. W
as hyper-aware of his legs resting beside mine, and the fact that,
ahh
, his crotch was right up against me.
Hoo
.

T
hink I have a dirty mind, cause I couldn’t stop thinking about
that
. When we turned down 110
th
, he held on to me tighter, s
queezing himself against me. N
early crashed the bike.

D
on’t think it’s fair that he can just make me uncontrollably attracted by just being that close to me.
Argh
.

We arrived at the pool safely, and hurried to help one of the senior nurses who
was
balancing a huge platter of food precariously as she went up the stairs.

She then ushered us into the mo
stly empty men’s
changeroom
. F
orgot that the hospital
staff
was mostly women, and there were only a few men in there.

The familiar scent of chlorine stung my nose, until I got used to it. Dr. Stevens waved at us from the end of the
changeroom
, as he pulled off his shirt.

W
as aware that both of us were staring. And then I smiled to myself.
Ohoho
, I’m not the only one of us with a sex drive, huh?

D
on’t know why I felt so triumphant about that.

Noah opted to use a curtained stall to change into his swimsuit. So did I, because I actually had to get fully naked, because I neglected to put my swimsuit on under my pants before leaving.

W
as stuffing my bag into one of the lockers, when I heard him call my name.

W
alked over to the stall, “Huh? What’s up?”

“Will you pass me a towel please?”

C
omplied, handing
it to him past the curtain. S
aw a glimpse of his arm, seared with scars.

S
wallowed, morbidly fascinated to see the rest of his body.
D
on’t know why. Maybe because they’re less of a symbol of his abuse, but the fact that he survived it.

T
hey’re less horrible if I think about them like that.

He exited the
stall,
with the towel I gave him wrapped around him like a blanket. It successfully hid all the scars on his torso. I was aware of permanent bruises down his legs, with a few incidental scars.

Upon looking at his swim trunks, I had to laugh a bit. They were white and blue, with a pattern of anime
cat heads
, all frowning with little anger marks above them.

“Well, are you ready to go?” I asked, taking his bag and shoving it in our locker.

He took a deep breath, “Yes, I am ready.” Instinctively, he pulled the towel tighter around his shoulders.

We went to the shower area; everyone else was already in the pool, I guess.
Changerooms
echo weirdly when there’s no one in them.

P
ushed the shower button in and stepped under the predictably cold spray. He looked at me curiously as I flicked the cold water off me and started towards the door.

“You have to shower off before going in,” I explained, remembering that he’d never been to a pool before. “It’s the rules.”

He tightened his grip on the towel, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I did not realise. I-”

F
igured out his plan. He was just going to sit on the edge with that towel around him and not actually go in.

Goosebumps covered my skin in waves as I walked towards him. The shower I switched on was now spouting hot water.
Dammit
, go figure.

Slowly, I grabbed the towel where he was holding o
n to it, and pulled it away. F
elt like some sadistic magician, where my trick was to reveal the exact thing he wished so badly to hide.

His face burned red as I looked at him, and he stared off to the side, not daring to return my gaze.

Maybe it was just me, but seeing all these scars etched into his skin was almost worse than seeing the wounds when they were new. Bruises were tattooed into his skin, running across his chest and onto his back.

B
it my lip, and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him into the now pleasantly warm shower.

Water ran over both of us, running in smooth rivulets down my arms, and then on to him, where the smooth course became jagged over all of the irregularities on his skin.

S
tood behind him, and ran my hands down his arms, smooth against his skin,
using the water as a buffer. K
issed his neck, a small act of reassurance. “It’s okay,” I whispered, hugging him gently.

His thin arms covered mine, and he leaned back, resting his head on my collarbone. “I know.” He said quietly.

“Ready?”

He nodded, and I led him out into the bright fluorescent light of the main pool.

It wasn’t terribly
full,
there were a large group of the younger nurses in the main pool, diving off the board. The older group was in the expansive hot tub, which is where I had my eye set.

Noah followed behind me closely, with his arms across his chest to disguise himself as best he could. We stepped into the hot tub, sin
king down with satisfaction. C
hose it specifically because it will most definitely disguise his scars.

“There…” I sighed, basking in the heat of the tub.

He settled down beside me, and was close enough to touch me. Smiling contentedly, I grabbed his hand under the water, and squeezed it.

We remained that way for a while, relaxing under the cloak of swirling water.

“Oh, Aerian!” Terra’s voice made me open my eyes. She looked really good, I noted. She was wearing the sundress I made her with a pair of poppy red high heels, and had a white lily in her hair. “I’m glad you guys made it! I was
gonna
call you if you weren’t here yet!”

Someone called her name, a
nd she waved and dashed off.
S
hrugged, and leaned my head against the edge of the tub, enjoying the heat.

After about fifteen minutes, Noah tapped my shoulder.

“Aerie…”

“Hmmm? What’s up?”

His voice was soft as he continued, “You said before that you wanted me to inform you if I was feeling unwell, right?”

“Yeah…”

“I’m feeling ra
ther faint.
”
he said weakly. O
pened my eyes, turning to him. His skin was bright red, and his eyes were a little unfocused.

S
at up straight, grabbing his arm. “Whoa, whoa, don’t faint. C’mon, we’ll go to t
he cooler part of the pool.” H
eld him firmly, walking with him out of the hot tub. “How come you didn’t say you we’re feeling faint before?”

“You looked very comfortable, and I did not want to disturb you.”

His skin burned pink, so I hurried him into the shallow end, sitting down with him in the cold water. Which felt like ice water after the hot tub.
Eeeesh
.

The cool water seemed to make him much more alert. He splashed some in his face, and ran his fingers through his hair, spiking it up weirdly.

It took a few more minutes for him to fully recover, and he watched the other swimmers with apparent interest. A few small kids were splashing nearby, playing in the water jets and swimming around the kiddie area.

“How do they do that?” He asked.

“Huh?”

“How does one swim?”

Instead of expressing my surprise th
at he didn’t know how to swim,
just decided to answer him. At this point, I figured there
was
probably a million things he hadn’t done, and me pointing out how odd that was wasn’t going to help. “
Er
… you just float and paddle through the water with your arms and legs, I guess. Look, see, you just float on the water and move around with your arms. And you have to kick wi
th your feet, like a motor.” D
emonstrated in the shallow water, kicking up a wave.

He copied me, kicking weirdly, like he was trying to ninja kick the water’s face or something.

“No, up and down, like this.” I showed him again, scooting down into the deeper water. We were now in the kiddie pool, on the opposite side of the little kids. “Now float, so your head stays above the water, and use your arms to keep yourself steady, while you kick with your legs to move.”

He tried, and was okay at it, he mostly
just copied me
.

“Now for an actual swimming move, you have to float on your stomach, and put your face in the water.”

He obeyed, and smashed his face into the water with more gu
sto than strictly necessary. W
aited for him to do something, like
move his arms or kick
his legs or something.

All he did was float there,
with his face in the water. S
hook my head, and grabbed him, hoisting him up out of the water.

“
Geez
! What the hell are you doing?” I asked, clearing the water from his face. “Trying to drown yourself?”

“I was following your directions, I think I executed them improperly.”

L
aughed out loud, “You have to move your arms, and kick, and lift your head to take a breath once in a while.”

“Oh, I apologise. Let me try again.”

This time, he started actually swim
ming, but sank like a stone. L
ifted him up, with one hand under his thin bony chest, and the other under his thigh.

He spluttered, coughing out some water.

“That did not go very well.” He choked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Here, I’ll hold you up until you get the hang of it. Just concentrate on moving your arms and kicking. I’ve got you.”

He nodded, and tried again. As he kicked, he nudged my hand closer and closer to his… whoa boy.

Ahum
. Anyway.

W
as so turned on I could hardly even continue without wanting to kiss him madly in front of all these middle-ag
ed women and their children. M
anaged somehow.

We swam around for a while after he got the hang of it, progressing to the s
hallow end of the main pool. W
as aware of the mothers looking at
us and exchanging comments. W
onder
ed
if they were speculating about our sexuality. Probably, just from the looks on their faces.

Terra joined them after a moment, and they
not-so-subtly
pointed at us and asked her a question. She stepped back, with her hands on her hips, frowning.

She then leaned in, and said something in what I imagined to be a scary tone of voice. They seemed to be
intimidated,
at least enough to put their hands up in the universally known “whoa, I’m not a threat” pose.

I love my sister. S
miled with satisfaction, swimming up beside Noah, who was venturing closer to the deep end.

“I am getting better, I think. This feels much like flying.” He smiled, “I thoroughly enjoy it.”

“Hmm… do you
wanna
try the water slide?”

“How does that work?”

“Basically, there’s a huge slide,” I pointed at the massive red structure, “And water flows down it, and it’s really fast and fun.”

“Do you think I am ready?”

“You’re treading water pretty well, I think you should be fine.”

The problem with the water slide wasn’t the idea of it, or the many flights of stairs, or his swimming.

He looked at the rushing gaping opening of the slide, and was instantly afraid.

Now, to someone like me, who had overcome the fear of the slide at a young age, I couldn’t really see what he was so scared of. So I thought about it objectively, and holy
moley
.

Something like ‘sure, let’s
throw
ourselves down this confined tube full of water and not ever be sure if there’s an end, that sounds fun and safe’.

I could understand. The group of young kids were waiting behind us, some of them asking what the holdup was.

T
urned around, smiling at all of them.
“Sorry, guys, my friend is a little afraid to go down…”