~Harry~

I pulled up to the community center the following Saturday, closing the door of my black Range Rover and locking it. I had come dressed in a black t-shirt and black skinny jeans. People probably though I was insane, it was so heavy and humid out, but I didn’t feel hot at all. My swim things were shoved into a bag that was comfortably slung across my body.

I walked up to the door, and Matt met me there. He wore a huge smile, khaki shorts, and a white t-shirt as he came and enveloped me in a hug, patting my back, “It’s so great to see you again, dude. I’m excited for you to meet her.”

“I’m excited too,” I agreed, and we made our way inside. The air conditioning hit me, and we turned left, walking along a hallway.

“So,” Matt began, “As you know, she’s training for the Olympics. The summer ones, obviously. And she needs a good review from a pupil to get in,” he paused as we stopped at the changeroom door, “Just don’t go easy on her. She can be a bitch sometimes, let me tell you, but I love her anyways. If she doesn’t do a good job, I don’t want you to feel like you have to give her a good review, got it?”

“Got it,” I said solemnly, and then I grinned.

“I’m glad you’re here, Haz,” he returned the smile as he said those words and patted my shoulder, “Go get changed. Be out on the pool deck in five. I’ll tell her you’re here.”

“Alright, mate,” I said, and then I pushed open the changeroom door, making my way inside.

It wasn’t much. Just a few benches, lockers, and hooks. There was a row of five showers on the far wall, but other than that, it wasn’t all that special. I made my way over to a bench and began pulling my swim trunks out of my bag, stripping off my shirt, my jeans and my boxers, and shrugging them on.

The whole time, I was thinking about that girl. Damn, she was fit. And sassy. I liked that. It made me laugh, and I needed a laugh nowadays. I thought back to a few days ago, when I saw her in her bedroom window. She wasn’t wearing a scowl—for once—and she looked genuinely interested in the book she was reading. Her posture on her bed had been relaxed, and after I got off the phone with Matt, I’d just sat on my bed, watching her, for a bit. I know—I’m a stalker.

Why was she so wound up about things?

The thought prodded me. She seemed like the kind of person to easily be set off by the smallest things, and I wanted to get to know her, and figure out if that was genuinely the case. She intrigued me for some reason.

And I had no idea what that reason was.

After I estimated five minutes had passed, I raked my hand through my hair, sending it into a messy quiff, and looked at myself in the mirror for a moment, studying myself. She could go for me, right?

I walked over to the door that led to the pool deck and pushed it open. The smell of chlorine bombarded my nose, and I scrunched up my face for a moment, getting used to it. The pool was quite big—maybe about one hundred meters, and I walked along the deck for a moment before I heard a voice.

“I’m going Matt, I’m going!” someone called out, a girl.

I heard Matt yell something back, and a moment later, a person stumbled through the girl’s changeroom door, laughing loudly.

Her back was to me, but she wore a simple one-piece bathing suit that dipped considerably at the back. I saw that she had a nice, curvy body, even though she was slightly petite. Her long, wavy hair was tied into a high ponytail that reached about mid-back, and she continued to laugh uncontrollably at something Matt had said. She looked vaguely familiar.

She took a few teetering steps, emitting breathy chuckles, and I couldn’t help but to smirk lightly. Then she turned around, and my smirk was wiped off of my face.

She had brown eyes, full, pouty lips, and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose and cheeks. My jaw dropped, and she froze, looking at me, her eyes wide. We just stood there for what was only a second, but it seemed like a millennia.

Finally, she whispered, “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

~Cassidy~

“I’m going, Matt, I’m going!” I laughed.

“You’d better not be sucking him off when I get out there!” he yelled playfully, and I broke into loud, wild laughs. I subconsciously pushed through the door and stumbled out onto the pool deck, laughing my ass off. I took a few small steps, making sure that I didn’t slip on the tiled floor, and finally turned around, chuckling.

I froze.

Standing there, in only a black bathing suit—it was him. I recognized his curly hair and green eyes instantly, even though we stood about ten feet away. My eyes wandered to his cheekbones, then to his lips, then lower, to the prominent biceps on his arms. He had multiple tattoos on his left arm and on his torso. On his arm, I spotted a heart, a pirate ship, two of the many. On his torso, a pair of swallows and a moth adorning his abdomen, inking over his defined six-pack.

This whole study happened in a matter of seconds. My eyes flickered up back to his face, only to find that his mouth was propped open. I tried to tear my gaze away, but I couldn’t.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I breathed, and then I made a frustrated sound, turning on my heel and stalking back into the changeroom, yelling out, “Matt!”

I pushed through the door. Matt was still standing there, a confused look on his face, “What?”

“Him?” I said loudly, pointing at the door, not bothering if Curly heard me, “Seriously Matt? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“Who?” Matt asked, his brow furrowing in confusion, “Harry? His name’s Harry.”

“I don’t give a shit about his name!” I screamed, “Matt, that’s my new neighbor! He’s annoying as fuck! I refuse to teach him!”

“Cass,” Matt said quietly, “Come on. You just met the guy, and I bet you haven’t even spoken two words to him.”

“He spilled coffee all over my shirt!” I retorted, stomping my foot, and Matt laughed. I know that it wasn’t the best excuse to use, but for some reason, I felt edgy around Curly, and I had absolutely no idea why.

A part of me felt bad for giving Matt a hard time. After all, he was doing this for my benefit. But another part of me—a bigger part—encouraged me that I was right. I didn’t have to teach this idiot if I didn’t want to. He was annoying, and to be honest, I didn’t want to see him ever again, though I had no fucking idea why.

“Are you actually serious, Matt?” I asked, rubbing my forehead in hopes that he’d be a decent person and tell me that I didn’t have to bother with it, that he’d go kick Curly out and find me a new pupil.

But no, of course not, because that wasn’t how Matt rolled.

Matt sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. “Just get out there and teach him.”

I crossed my arms, staying rooted to the spot. Matt frowned, “I’m serious, Kane.”

Ugh, he used my last name. He was serious. I made an incoherent screaming noise and turned away; flipping him the finger and shoving through the changeroom doors back onto the pool deck, fuming.

Curly was still there. He looked as though he hadn’t moved from the spot. I stalked over to him, getting up in his face, our noses only a few inches apart, “Don’t annoy me, alright asshole?”

He gulped and nodded, and I just rolled my eyes, whipping back around and walking away,

“Get into the pool,” I called out over my shoulder. A moment later, there was a splash. I walked over to the deep end and turned around, only to find him swimming towards me. I watched him swim, analyzing him. Truth be told, he wasn’t that bad, but I was too angry to care.

I rolled my eyes as he placed his forearms onto the side of the deck, staring up at me and flicking his wet, shaggy hair out of his eyes. I fiddled with my goggles around my neck, “Look. I have rules, okay? First of all, don’t get within six inches of me. Second of all, listen to me. Third, don’t annoy me, because I will kill you.”

“Can I get your name?” he smirked up at me, revealing a dimple on his left cheek, and I rolled my eyes again. There was no way in hell I was going to tell him my actual name.

“My name’s Kane,” I told him curtly, still fuming. I just wanted him to hurry up and swim so that we’d be done with this lame-ass conversation. His brow furrowed, “Kane?”

Holy shit, could he get any more stupid? I swear: this level of idiocy was unnatural.

“Yeah, that’s my name, idiot. Are we done here? Because if I remember correctly, you’re here to swim,” I said sarcastically, and he chuckled. I turned away, reaching for one of the pool chairs on the deck and pulling it close to me, collapsing down on it.

I glared at him, “Start with four hundred meters of breaststroke.”

I closed my eyes briefly before opening them again. He was still there, staring at me, “What?” I asked harshly, about to explode. How dare Matt ask me to teach him! This was some sort of sick joke, right? Just a prank, right? Fuck.

He was still staring at me. I glared down at him, “What?” I asked harshly, yet again.

“Your name’s Kane,” he said slowly, and holy, it was aggravating, “That’s a beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”

“Oh, fuck off,” I waved away his compliment tiredly. I wasn’t pretty; he was just trying to kiss my ass.

He chuckled again and without another word, turned away, pushing off of the wall with his feet and beginning to swim. I rolled my eyes, pulling off my goggles and throwing them on the floor with a frustrated groan.

Could I just curl up into a ball and die? That was how I felt right now; I wished I could just disappear.

It’s not like anyone would miss me anyways. I was nobody; I didn’t have many friends, and there was no point in being positive about anything right now.

I buried my face in my hands, hoping that when I looked up, this whole scenario would be gone, like a bad dream, and I’d wake up in my bed and restart the day.

But of course, that wasn’t how shit worked in the real world. I looked back up and was immediately met with a spray of water hitting me, compliments of the douchebag swimming in the pool.

I didn’t know if I could go through with these whole sessions anymore. Everything was just so fucked up all of a sudden.

Matt was an asshole. Curly was an asshole. The storm coming was an asshole. The whole world was just a giant, loathsome asshole.

What had I done to deserve this? I honestly didn’t know. I was blowing this out of proportion, but I didn’t care. This was my life, my dream, and I didn’t want some tall, British crumpet-muncher destroying it as soon as he walked into the picture.

Curly finished his first lap and moved onto his second. I tried to watch him, but I couldn’t even stand looking at him.

This was not fair. Why did God have to take the one thing that I actually enjoyed in life and set it against me? I had a feeling that during these lessons, I wouldn’t be as eager to get to the pool and swim as I usually was.

Great, this guy was fucking with my career now too. Was there anything else that he didn’t enjoy tampering with?

I knew I wasn’t being fair to him; I barely knew him. But I needed someone to pin the blame on, and he was right here. I forced myself to stop thinking about it that way; he deserved this for waltzing into my life and messing everything up.

Fuck my life.

~*~

“Thanks Cass,” Matt said as I shrugged on a red shirt. I rolled my eyes, still extremely pissed at him. When I didn’t answer, he just sighed, taking a step closer, “Look, I know that this isn’t the easiest thing for you to do—”

“No shit,” I spat out, whipping around to face him. He sighed again, raking a hand through his dark hair. I stared into his light eyes, seething.

“But thank you,” he finished, “This is going to benefit you the most in the end, trust me.”

Was it really? Because I didn’t even know if Curly was going to give me a good review or not. He seemed like a giant dick, so probably not.

I slipped on my white flip flops, shouldering my swim bag, and glared at him, “Whatever,” I said, “I’ll see you later.”

Without another word, I exited the changeroom, walking along the hallway. Curly had left about an hour earlier from our first session, thank God. I wandered along the hall, following my usual routine, following the signs that led to the gym. After every class, for about a half hour, I would always work out just a bit.

I walked into the gym, feeling a bit lightheaded. When my gaze landed on the room, I froze.

There was the regular, everyday things that I’d come to familiarize myself with. Treadmills and bikes line up against one wall, a punching bag in the far corner, weights stacked against the wall to my right, and mats and exercise balls on a tall shelf. Mirrors adorned the wall that the treadmills and bikes were resting on, and the floor was hardwood.

But now, I could hear faint groans coming from the corner where the punching bag hung. I looked over there and saw—just my fucking luck—Curly.

Notes

Hellooo! I hope you liked this chapter! So there, Cassidy and Harry finally know. That means they will be spending a fair amount of time with each other ;)

Please provide me with feedback, I feel as though I haven't gotten any on this story so far. VOTE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE! It would really mean so much, you have no idea.

Random fact: Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex purely for pleasure.

~Cuties~