"I told you NOT to run by the pool, young lady."
I looked up from my position on the wet concrete. It wasn't the best position to be in, especially considering that Matt Shepherd, the city's hottest lifeguard, was standing over me, one leg on both sides...if I sat up, my mouth would be at his crotch.
I swallowed and tried not to think about the fact that my brand new string bikini was basically all string at this point and very little bikini.
"S-sorry." I mumbled, my mouth so dry it felt like sandpaper. What else could I say? I had been running. By the pool. After he told me not to... I'd tried to stop. Really I did. But I'd been running too fast; the pavement had been slicker than I thought, and so I'd fallen right on my ass, right in front of him, right after he told me to stop. My face was on fire. I'd been so bad. I couldn't even say this was the first time I'd broken the rule or that I'd never do it again. We both would have known that was a lie.
See, sometimes, when I get excited or nervous, I break out into a run. It's weird, I know, but I've done it all my life and I have no idea why. I've never been able to stop. Most of the time, like today, I don't even realize I'm running until it's too late.
And today, I'd gotten really really excited...and taken off running. Of course, it was his fault. Not that I could ever tell him that. But it was. I mean, I took off running because he had noticed me. For the first time. Ever. Really noticed me.
I've been in love with Matt Shepherd for as long as I can remember. He's been a lifeguard at the pool during summer breaks since he started college at the University of Arizona. Now he's in medical school here, but he still works at the pool between semesters. I don't know if it's because he needs the money or he loves it...but I suspect it's the money since I've never seen him so much as crack a smile when he's working. He's built like a jock and looks like a dark haired Adonis, but the sharp look in his eyes gives away his intelligence...and his sternness. I would walk through fire for Matt Shepherd... Not that he cared.
To him, I was just the nerdy high school girl with frizzy hair and glasses that is always hanging out at the college pool (my pass to the pool is one of the only perks of being a professor's daughter). To make matters worse, I've never worn a suit that didn't look like it could've come out of a 1950s store. At least, not before today.
Today, I look hot. I know I do. I've spent the last three weeks with my gorgeous cousins from California, cousins I didn't know I had until a few months ago, getting a super makeover. It's a long story, but my mom and dad got divorced when I was a baby. She ran off with another man and my dad got full custody of me. I've spent the last year dealing with my anger at her, for abandoning me, and the last couple months trying to find her. I guess I hoped, if I found my mom, I would find myself somehow too.
I realized, shortly after turning 18, that I'd spent my whole life with my nose buried in a book, trying to live through characters instead of myself. To put it bluntly, that had not been working out too great. I had no friends, no boyfriend, no life... other than the one I had in my dreams. So I'd talked to my dad and he'd reluctantly given me permission to start the search.
The priest who'd married my parents had taken pity on me and given me the phone number of my mom's sister, now a nurse in LA. My dad had never heard of her. I called her and she'd never heard of us either.
I didn't get to confront my mom, because she'd died a year before. Aunt Tina said it was a drug overdose... hearing that, I was almost glad she left us. My dad is the last person in the world who'd ever get involved with drugs. He teaches health and wellness classes at the nursing, public health, and medical schools on campus. I've always wondered if Matt's been in one of his classes, but been too embarrassed to ask. My crush on Matt has always been my deepest secret...nobody knows, and that definitely includes him. I think I'd die of shame if he realized how much I wanted him and all of the things I've thought about doing with him or to him or having him do them to me...
Feeling his eyes on me, I realized my secret was in serious danger. I was pretty sure my whole body was blushing as I felt him look and it felt like my nipples were about to poke through the tiny triangles of cloth barely holding in my breasts.
I'd never been pretty before. And I sure didn't feel pretty now. Even though, I knew I was. I'd flown out to meet my Aunt, who had two cousins my age that looked like models (one of them actually is a model, in fact). They were slender, leggy, and had perfectly tan skin, hair down their back, and sparkling blue-green eyes. I couldn't believe we were related. They, on the other hand, had burst into laughter when they first saw me, but it wasn't because they were mean. They said I looked just like they had in Junior High.
Apparently, my state of un-attractiveness was entirely self-imposed. If I'd never met them, I swear I never would have known. Dad is wonderfully kind, but completely clueless when it comes to make-up, hair, and fashion for young women. And since I read almost constantly, I didn't have a lot (or any) other friends to turn to. Until I met my cousins Shana and Lace, who spent almost the entire time we were together dragging me to malls, stylists, and the beach. I'd even done a mock photo-shoot with a famous photographer who'd offered me a modeling job. I told him I'd think about it...I'm still not sure if modeling and majoring in engineering are compatible.
Today, I was wearing the same bikini I'd worn during the shoot and I'd done my hair and make up exactly the way the stylists had shown me. When I'd walked past Matt, he'd stopped talking in the middle of his conversation and just stared. That's when I had not played at cool and waited for him to recognize me, but instead taken off running. He was staring again now but this time he definitely had the upper hand. "Get up."
I waited for him to move. He didn't. I just stared.
"Do not make me tell you again."
I gulped at the steel in his voice and then scrambled to crawl out from under him. I might, as well have been naked, my bikini moved so much. But if I hadn't crawled, I would have inevitably bumped into his crotch with my face and then...
After apologizing the whole time I got up, as soon as I was standing I started to walk away slowly, praying I would not start running. again. I felt his hand immediately circle my left wrist and tighten, drawing me back. My breath caught.
"Not so fast, Alyana, I'm not through with you yet."
"Y-you know who I am?" I couldn't believe it. Other than scolding me for running around on the wet pavement, he'd never given me the time of day.
"Yeah. Not saying it didn't take me a minute to recognize you in that get-up, Ms. Stevens, but you've been coming to the pool and breaking the rules for over five years now ... so yeah, I know you and that is not a good thing." He dropped my wrist and let the reminder of my bad behavior hang in the air. I felt tears forming. I was in love with him and he thought of me as nothing more than a naughty child.
I swallowed hard, trying to hold them back, but I just couldn't and I felt a drop of wetness slide down my cheek. I just looked at him then, hurt and vulnerable. He stared back, calm, but without a trace of sympathy.
He looked away and called out to one of the other lifeguards, "Tim, I need to take the rest of the day off, can you watch the pool? We're double staffed and I've got something I need to take care of." Tim said sure and Matt turned back to me.
"What," I spoke slowly, forcing myself not to cry or stutter, "are you going to do with me now?"
He moved a step closer and raked his eyes over me again. I'd never felt more naked in my life. I would have given anything for my frumpy one piece back.
