I'd just graduated high school and was ready to head off to college, but there was a whole summer to get through before that. Most 19-year-olds might've been focused on hanging out with friends or spending their last summer before officially entering adulthood working at some fast-food place, but not me. I didn't really need the extra money from a summer job, and I didn't have any friends to speak of.
Most of my high school years had been spent hiding from the world, just trying to get by my classes and holding out hope that things would change when I went off to school on the other side of the country. I always knew I'd be going to college somewhere on the west coast, and it wasn't really surprising when I got accepted into Stanford in the middle of my senior year. The only thing to do after graduation was wait.
Well, wait and get ready for college girls.
I'd never really been good with girls through high school, but I planned on changing that as soon as I set foot on campus. A lot of the problem stemmed from self-esteem issues, but it didn't really help that my parents were incredibly strict. I'd always had an 8 PM curfew, though it didn't matter much since I never went anywhere, and they kept a close eye on who I talked to when I did have the occasional message from a classmate about a project or some other assignment.
But I knew leaving home meant I'd have more freedom.
Besides that, I'd never really been in shape and the glasses I wore felt like a barrier between me and any potential girlfriends. I was intent on changing that though, starting at the beginning of my senior year. I'd been working out for months in my room, and I planned to ditch the glasses for contacts as soon as I could after getting to California.
In the meantime, I planned to spend the last summer at home refining what had become a light six pack and getting out of the apartment any chance I got. And I decided the best way to accomplish both feats at once would be spending time at the pool in our complex.
I'd learned to swim at a young age, and it was probably the only thing I was really good at. I'd not really been to the pool in a couple of years though, so it was one of my priorities that summer.
The first couple of weeks flew by, and I found the water a lot more crowded than I'd hoped. Families enjoying their time in the sun made it almost impossible to get much room to swim and I was starting to think I'd never get a moment of peace. By the end of June, however, things had quieted down as people left for summer vacations and I finally got a few days basically to myself.
It was on one of those days when I met the woman who would change my life.
I'd been doing laps for about half an hour, enjoying the tranquility and peace of a summer evening, when I heard the gate to the pool open and close. Looking over, assuming I was going to see some parents bringing their kids down to cool off, I was surprised to see a beautiful woman I'd never seen there before walking to one of the lounge chairs.
