Chapter 5: 5 – Awake

Conor took a deep breath as if he enjoyed every bit of the chlorine smell that had settled on the second floor. We walked past some offices toward the pool area. The brightly lit display window showed off the entire basin to everyone walking through the hallway. The water stood still as the place was wiped out. White and blue tiles around the basin direct our gaze to a colorful mural of some mountains framed by two doors that lead to the changing rooms. Even though it looked a bit rustic, the whole appearance was still inviting, with enough swimming space to get the motors running.

"I don't have any swimming trunks," said Conor as we admired the view.

"As if that were an impediment," I replied, fully aware that I was on the same boat sailing down the river called the Complication.

The entrance was located a few feet down the hall. An older lady that looked like she was waiting more for her next smoke break than paying customers sat behind the counter. Her dyed long curly golden hair looked almost like a halo in the spotlight placed directly over her head. Reading a newspaper, she didn't try to engage us at all as we walked up to her.

"Good evening. We would love to use the pool, but we don't have swimwear," I explained to her. She glanced over her newspaper, scrutinizing Conor and me. You could see that her wrinkled face had lived through hard times and could tell many stories about God and the world.

"I can sell you some. 30 Dollars per piece. Plus 20 for an hour swimming," she answered and pinned her eyes back to the newspaper.

Shit. That was more than I wanted to spend. Why is everything fun in this country so fucking expensive? I turned to Conor to see what he thought about it, but he shrugged as if he didn't care about the price.

"Oh fuck it." I pulled out my old brown leather wallet, grabbed two fifties my grandma gifted me, and slammed them on her counter. That money was meant to be enjoyed.

With a big sigh, she put down her newspaper, scanned us from head to toe, and reached behind her to a shelf, pulling out two pairs of swim trunks. "These should fit. Only color I have. No returns. Changing room, down there." She was so eager to get back to whatever she was reading that she didn't even make an effort to form complete sentences.

I grabbed the trunks, handed one to Conor, and stared into the big eyes of yellow SpongeBob Squarepants printed on the blue shorts.

"Fashionable," stated Conor before I could even start thinking about how we would look in them. We smirked at each other, knowing that this wouldn't be the most awkward thing happening tonight.

We followed a small, horrifyingly dark corridor to the changing rooms. Small booths separated the publicly accessible part from the showers and pool area. I walked into one cabin, closed the door behind me, and heard Conor walk into the adjacent one, turning the lock around with a soft click before a slight rustling told me he was taking his clothes off. I inspected the swimwear designed for children.

"Are yours also... tight?" asked Conor from the other side of the wall in an amused voice. I slipped off my underwear, put my feet inside the swimming trunks, and pulled them up, but I had to stop shortly before they reached my butt. I looked down, spotting SpongeBob so wrinkled that it appeared as if he was screaming in pain, and I had to chuckle.

I raised my head to the ceiling as if Conor wouldn't otherwise hear me. "Shall we exchange them?"

"I don't care. No one else is here anyway."

I pulled the trunks higher and somehow managed to squeeze into them. Grabbing my stuff, I opened the door, walked to one of the lockers, and stuffed my clothes and bag inside. My ears perked up as he clicked the lock on his cabin open, and I heard him walking to the other side.

Compared to the entrance, the back part of the pool area looked far more impressive. The whole place was covered in oak panels and lit with a warm orange light, making it look like one of these Japanese bathing houses you can see in the afternoon anime that are sometimes shown on Cable TV. Conor was nowhere to be seen, but I heard a shower being turned on. I closed my locker, wrapped the bracelet attached to the key around my wrist, and stepped inside. As I saw Conor showering, only wearing swimming trunks, I couldn't help but notice how handsome he looked. His muscles were more defined than the last time I saw him like this, making him appear much more masculine. I looked at his trunks, and they were, in fact, very tight, kind of revealing what he had to squish in there. He swiped the water out of his face, forming a dirty grin as he noticed how awkwardly I stared at him.

"What?"

Without answering his question, I headed to the shower opposite his, turned the knob, and let some lukewarm water run over my body. I turned toward the shower head to help me resist the urge to keep staring at how gorgeous Conor's body looked. That thought so occupied me that I hadn't noticed how Conor sneaked up on me to smack me heavily on the ass. He ran for the pool, jumping straight in with a loud SPLASH. I followed him without turning off the shower, as I couldn't just let this slide. Conor dived toward the opposing side and panted as he emerged.

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I was just about to leap in when someone aggressively yelled, "No jumping." The entrance lady angrily pointed to a sign that forbade almost everything fun in ten languages. I tried to slow down but kept slipping on the tiles and was just able to keep myself from falling into the basin.

"Sorry! Didn't see that," I sheepishly replied, suppressing my laughter, as I didn't want her to call security. She rolled her eyes and mumbled something lost in the surging water's roar, thanks to Conor's swimming movements.

I sat on the edge of the pool and barely touched the surface with my feet. As the shock of almost ice-cold water hit me, I flinched back, forcing a splash onto Conor by accident. He glared at me as if he understood this as an invitation to another showdown. "Whoops," I laughed and pushed myself off the edge to dive under as fast as possible to get used to the temperature.

Conor swam beside me when I emerged, his mouth underwater, ready to flee immediately if I should decide to get my revenge for his ass-smacking. But the most satisfying vengeance would be to beat him at his own game.

"Wanna find out who is faster?" I asked, ready for a friendly battle. His eyes sparkled as his competitive side kicked in again. "10 times from this poolside to this and back," I told him as we both made our way toward the coping behind us.

Before I was in a suitable starting position, Conor yelled, "one, two, three, go," and pushed himself off the wall. I did the same, but my first push wasn't as good as it could have been if he hadn't cheated me like that. Nevertheless, I swam as fast as I could for a few minutes, as we were trying to outrun each other. I had no way of knowing if he had swum ten laps, but he was done by the time I was on my 9th round.

"You had an advantage with how fast you counted without warning!"

"Or maybe... I am just better than you now." He made a face like a kid playing innocent, and I couldn't help but notice how cute he looked like this. But still, I felt cheated, and my competitive side was hungry for revenge. So I airplane my arms up wide to gain momentum and drove them with power into the water, splashing a big wave into his face. He turned away fast enough so he could still see and returned the favor.

Our efforts to splash water in each other's eyes slowed my steps toward him. But as I, at last, was close enough, I jumped right at him, pushing his whole body down the water to prove that I was still stronger. But to my surprise, he somehow managed to wrap his arms around my waist, pulling me down with him. I could barely catch a breath before he dragged me underwater. Damn, he had become strong! A perfectly aimed kick against my leg made me lose my stance entirely. He pushed me further down and swam upward, regaining stability. Shit. He has a real chance to have the upper hand now. He grabbed my neck to hold me down as long as possible. I swam toward his chest, trying to press my head into his torso to topple him down, but he just laughed, unimpressed, not moving an inch. Change your tactics, I thought and turned around to now swim away from him, but he grabbed my ankle and pulled me back before I knew it. I could at least get my head above the water and catch some breath, but he used that to wrap his arms around me, making it impossible for me to flee.

Without hesitation, he jumped up and, since I was hugged in tightly, pulled me back underwater with him. His skin felt warm in the cool water. I opened my eyes and saw the blurry outlines of the floodlights on the ceiling. I couldn't deny that being this close to him felt good. We often fought like that when we were younger. But now, his skin touching mine felt so different, almost forbidden. I knew he expected me to free myself from his grip, even though, at that moment, I didn't want to for whatever reason.

Blood rushed into every fraction of my body. Unfortunately, also the part that would test how tight those swimming trunks really are. Why the fuck did I get a boner from this?

I suddenly felt hot, and even the cool water couldn't do anything about it. "Stop it," I tried to say after realizing what was happening, but only little bubbles found their way to the surface as we sank further to the bottom of the pool. His strong arms held me closer, pressing my body tighter onto his, arousing me even more. I screamed "stop" again from the top of my lungs, sending a small shockwave through the water, but big enough to be heard. At long last, he let go of me.

I panted as I emerged and, by and by, tried to find my balance again. Conor also came up, and his surprised look told me he was honestly just trying to have fun. He swung his head like a wet dog to shake the water off his hair and face.

"Everything all right?"

I moved several feet backward. Away from him, trying to calm down. But with every step I took, my swimming trunks drew further together.

He searched my face, confused, trying to guess if he had done something wrong. But the way my body reacted, he probably had done many things right, leaving me even more bewildered than him.

Conor took a deep breath, dove under, and swam toward me. I quickly turned to the edge of the pool, trying to hide the tightness in my trunks that I wished weren't there. But when Conor emerged right in front of me, I already knew it was too late as his eyes widened, and a big, fat gloating grin spread over his face.

"Do you have a boner?"

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