Sixteen
Summer
River lets the gate shut behind him with a slam, as if we’re not on a self-imposed stealth mission. I don’t know why I thought sneaking into the country club pool would be easy. Or quiet. River has been tripping over his own feet and doing nothing to hide his hyena laugh.
Yeah, there’s no way he’d ever get a starring role in Mission Impossible.
River stumbles over himself yet again, trying to peel off his socks and shoes. Then he stands, prideful, in nothing but his swim trunks.
My throat dries and I have to tear my eyes from his tan skin and the sharp, delicate line of his collarbone. I promised myself that I wouldn’t try to rip off his clothes until we made it back to the apartment. Or his car. It really depends on my patience level by the end of the night.
“Do you get off on being as loud as you possibly can?” I scold.
“Yeah.” River smiles. “Usually.”
I know that statement holds true because the noises that come out of this man’s mouth during sex are going to replay in my head forever.
And because I don’t need to be caught sneaking into my job—or with River deep inside me at that—instead of reaching for River’s swim trunks, I begin stripping off my own clothes, leaving me to stand in front of River in nothing but my bathing suit.
For I’ve worked hard for the body I have.
Hours of dedicated swimming and dry land training will do that, but for some reason I feel more exposed in my two-piece than being completely naked.
“What?” I shift my weight to my other foot, trying to pretend that River’s blatant staring isn’t creating a wet spot in my bikini bottoms. “You act like you’ve never seen me in a bathing suit before,” I say.
During the season, I practically live in my one-piece. And River has literally seen me naked. My plum bikini shouldn’t be this distracting for either of us.
River shakes his head, his eyes still tracing the outline of my legs and hips.
“No.” He swallows. “But usually I have to force myself to look away.”
“And now?”
“Now?” His eyes meet mine. “Now I’m taking full advantage while I have it.”
I look down at the goosebumps forming on my skin, the LED pool lights reflecting off them, and swallow the lump in my throat. Unable to think of anything other than letting River fuck me right here, I decide to dive into the pool, keeping my body flat and moving forward instead of rounded.
I know that this summer is supposed to be about exploring things physically with River, but I can’t jump his bones every moment we’re alone together. I think I’d become way too obsessed.
From under the water, I can hear River jump in after me. I allow myself to remain near the bottom, letting my hair float above me. The pool is a little colder than the one on campus, but I’d take swimming in an ice bath if that was the only water available to me.
River’s hands rest on my hips, leaving me no choice but to open my eyes to look at him. A cheeky grin spreads across his face before he pulls me in so that my legs wrap around his waist, and then he’s pressing his lips to mine. It’s a few quick pecks and we’re floating back up to the surface.
When we resurface, neither of us pull away.
River keeps his hands on the curve of my ass and I keep the smile on my face, even though it’s making my cheeks hurt.
Being in the water and having River around are possibly two of my favorite things.
It’d be infeasible for me not to be in a good mood right now.
River guides us until he’s holding onto the edge of the pool. He brushes his hair away from his eyes. “You always look so happy in the water.” His smile only makes mine wider.
“You little water baby,” he whispers, amused.
That’s what Dad used to call me growing up. Both he and Papi said that I was trying to learn to swim in the bathtub before I even knew how to walk.
There’s just something about being in the water. As if being engulfed and surrounded by nothing but water, nothing can hurt me. If anything tried, it’d drown before it could ever reach me.
Especially at night. The dim lights of the pool. The faint outline of the stars. The quiet rippling of the water. I truly believe I could stay out here forever.
“If you had the money, would you ever come to a place like this?” I ask while my finger follows a droplet of water along River’s shoulder.
River snorts. “I would not spend my money on coming here, no.”
“Not even if you had all the money in the world? You wouldn’t come here for a dip or an overly expensive steak? Or even pretend you know how to play golf?”
“No,” River repeats. “I don’t feel the need to.”
I always thought that everyone wanted to experience things like that.
I know that I’m fortunate enough to have been able to grow up middle class.
My parents always made sure I had a roof over my head, food on the table, and anything I needed for swimming.
But we weren’t exactly fine dining and going on vacations.
Our family trips usually consisted of driving up to New York for a weekend.
That’s how I knew I wanted to go to Kingswell. The people in Ellingbrook just seem to have it all figured out. Like they have the world in the palm of their hands and they’re using it to their advantage.
“I would want to,” I admit.
“You’d seriously spend all of that money just to come to a place like this?” River’s words don’t feel judgemental, just surprised that it’s something I’d want.
I shrug and pull away to slowly begin swimming around, unable to keep still. Especially not when I’ve been dreaming about swimming in this pool for almost a year now.
River follows.
“I’d like to experience it at least once in my life instead of being on the sideline and catering to those who can afford it,” I say.
I keep my kicks behind me small, almost like I’m kicking into a bucket. All of this due to muscle memory.
“Yeah?” River smiles. “Well, when you have all of those sponsors from your Olympic success for being the fastest swimmer in the world—” he exaggerates and I let him. “I’m sure you’ll be able to do anything you want.”
“You’ll be there though, right?” I can’t help but ask.
River swims in place, water droplets falling from the ends of his hair.
He watches me for a moment. I’ve never found myself feeling self-conscious under River’s gaze, but something about admitting out loud that I want to experience the luxury of artificial things makes me worry that River will think less of me.
I can’t help but want a taste of a little bit of luxury in the world and I’d love to experience it with him. I’d even add Lily to that equation, but having a hockey legend as your grandfather already puts her in a different tax bracket than both River’s and my families.
River finally speaks. “You’ll be too busy living the life of a champion. I highly doubt you’ll want me around.”
“It’s not like I would ever stop being friends with you.”
River lightly flicks water in my direction. “That’s not what I’m saying. I just don’t want you to think that because we’ve known each other for so long that you’re obligated to have me in every aspect of your life.”
There’s no obligation here. I’ve never once pictured my future without River or Lily. I want to grow alongside them.
“Okay, fine.” I blow a few quick bubbles under the water, trying to kill off some of the tension that’s forming for whatever reason. “No country clubs. So then what would you do with money like that?”
River thinks about it for a moment. I expect him to say he’d buy some expensive piece of art or go on a trip somewhere far away. Maybe he’d open his own business like Bora is striving to do or move back to Korea and have his own private practice like Dae.
“I don’t know,” River says genuinely. I’m about to get on him for not having an answer but he continues talking. “I think I’d probably just buy a house out here.”
I wait for him to add on to that. Like maybe adding a crazy theme park in his backyard or hiring a personal chef. But he grows silent.
“That’s it?” I ask.
He nods.
“Oh come on.” I throw my hands up in the air, causing the water to ripple at the surface. “There’s nothing absurd or ridiculous that you want to get or do?”
He hesitates. “Yeah, there’s something like that I want.”
I wait but before I can tell him to spit it out because the anticipation is killing me, a light shines in the distance and the sound of keys jingling quickly pops our bubble.
“Shit,” both of us whisper at the same time.
We remain frozen for half a second before swimming to the edge of the pool and trying to climb out as quietly as we can, but the water dripping on the concrete does us no favors.
We grab our clothes and shoes, hugging them close to our chests. There’s no time to put them back on.
“Were you not aware of security guards?” River whispers.
“Yeah, but I thought they just walked around the perimeter. Not the pool.”
“The pool is part of the perimeter,” River argues and I roll my eyes, tugging him behind a row of lounge chairs.
My knees press into the rough pavement but it beats getting caught. When the flashlight shines in the opposite direction from us, I peek my head out from behind one of the chairs.
I finally breathe. “It’s just Richard. He gets in trouble all the time for half-assing his job, so I think we’re good.”
Just as I was predicting, Richard doesn’t fully scan the pool. He simply shines the light around a few times before walking away, quietly rapping to some song that he either heard on the radio or wrote himself.
I’m never quite sure.
It falls back into silence and for a moment neither River nor I dare to move. When we finally do turn our heads to look at each other, we fall into a fit of quiet laughter.
River falls from his crouched position, landing on his butt. We slap at each other’s hands for trying to cover the other’s mouth.
“I did not want to spend the night in jail,” I wheeze.
“And you think I did?”
Realistically, I’m sure that bribing Richard with twenty bucks would’ve been enough for him to keep his mouth shut, but the idea of him catching us is still funny enough for me to now have the hiccups.
“I think it’s safe to say that we should probably head out.” River wipes tears from his eyes.
He goes to stand and helps me up in the process. We stare at each other, unable to keep our laughter from bubbling.
“Hey.” I nudge his shoulder. “You never told me what absurd thing you’d want.”
His smile remains in place but he waves me off, dropping his clothes onto a chair and begins slipping them back on.
I follow suit.
“It was stupid,” he chuckles.
“And you think me wasting thousands of dollars on a country club membership when I don’t even play golf isn’t dumb?”
“I’ll think of something else and let you know,” he reasons with me.
“Deal.” I’ll accept that. “Now, let’s go before Cruella somehow magically spawns out of nowhere.”
Now that we’re dressed, River throws his arm over my shoulders and we head back out the gate we came in from.
I make sure to lock it back up.
“Does Cruella live here or something?” River asks.
I shrug. “It honestly wouldn’t surprise me.”
River and I continue our stealthy walk back to his car, making sure to stay on the lookout for Richard. Or Cruella.