The next couple of weeks passed pretty much as I’d expected. I made friends with the other two lifeguards, Gina and Teresa. Surprisingly, neither of them are interested in Ethan or Mitch. Teresa has a boyfriend and Gina has a girlfriend. There are a couple of pool bunnies that show up on a pretty regular basis.
They’re different from poolrats because the bunnies only show up when there are hot lifeguards, and they don't show up every day. I was thinking that this might be the summer where I'd get a life outside of the pool, but with Mitch and Ethan working there, how can I stay away? Even if it means I end up masturbating every night.
Ethan seems to have resigned himself to my daily presence, although he's still not friendly. He tolerates me. I can hang out at the lifeguard table, it just means that he ends up being pretty quiet. At least he's not outright mean or teasing me anymore, I figure that's a step up. Mitch, as usual, is super friendly and a lot of fun to hang out with. He's turned into a major flirt, and he flirts with everyone—me, his fellow lifeguards, the pool bunnies... It makes my heart flutter even though I know it doesn't mean anything. From overhearing bathroom talk I know he's already gotten it on with at least one of the pool bunnies.
Listening made me jealous, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't also turn me on. Shockingly, as far as I know, Ethan hasn't followed suit. He just broods and does his job. Why I find the moody brooding so hot is completely inexplicable, but there it is. Every so often, usually when I'm in the middle of a particularlyhot scene on my e-reader, I get the weird feeling that he's checking me out, but when I look up at him he never is. Still, it's a fun little fantasy to have. Makes me feel all squirmy inside.
Once or twice I've gone into the bathroom just to play with myself because I can't wait until I get home.
As usually happens, eventually the summer storms start rolling in. When they do, the lifeguards send everyone home, but the older poolrats are usually offered shelter in the lifeguard office, which otherwise never gets used. It's got a small couch, some armchairs, the unused lounge chairs from around the pool, and the kickboards that the swim team uses. I'm the only poolrat given a consistent invitation to come in and play cards when the thunder and lightning starts, usually from Mitch.
One day I showed up while it was already raining.
"Are you kidding me?" Ethan groaned when I appeared in the doorway of the lifeguard office, umbrella in one hand and pool pass in the other.
I gave him a dirty look. "There's no lightening or thunder yet. No reason I can't go in the pool."
"He might have a point, you know," Mitch said, chuckling, as his long, hard body unfolded from the chair he'd been sitting in. They'd obviously already started to set up a card game. "Sometimes you take the poolrat thing a little far."
"If I'm not here every day, rain or shine, then I don't deserve the title of poolrat," I said. Just as I spoke, two of my fellow poolrats came up behind me, both girls in their early teens who were constantly mooning over Ethan and Mitch. Not that I could blame them.
Just as they reached us we all heard the ominous roll of thunder.
"Sorry girls," Mitch said with his most charming smile as Ethan heaved a sigh of relief behind him. "You know the rules, that's a half-hour wait."
Both of the girls groaned and turned to go. I just gave Mitch a pleading look.
"Let me guess," he said with a deep chuckle that did delightful things to my insides. "You want to come in and wait it out with us."
"Well it takes me fifteen minutes to walk home," I pointed out. "At which point I'll immediately turn around to come back here as long as there's no more thunder."
"Alright," he said with an exaggerated sigh as Ethan grumbled behind him. "Come on in, sweetheart." He opened the door for me, playing the gentleman in a mockingly teasing way that had me giggling.
Ethan just ignored my entrance and turned on the radio.
There was no chance of any of the other poolrats showing up, we all knew what thunder meant. We might come out in the rain, but no one liked being sent home due to lightening or thunder. Anyone who hadn't arrived yet was either already turning around to head back home or was staying put until the wait was over.
I played a couple rounds of poker with them before I got tired of Ethan's churlish attitude. The thunder had continued coming at odd intervals and finally we spotted some lightening, so I was just about to leave when the radio made that awful beeping sound that signaled a weather advisory. All three of us groaned as the radio said that it was a severe storm warning and people should stay where they were until it lessened.
"Sorry guys," I said, with an apologetic shrug.
Mitch smiled at me and Ethan just shrugged.
"Want to play another hand?" Mitch asked.
"Nah, I think I'm just going to read for a bit," I said.
I figured Ethan was probably tired of playing cards with me anyway, and I could let him and Mitch just hang for a bit. Besides, I'd gotten to a particularly good part in my book beforeleaving for the pool this morning and I'd been looking forward to reading more while I was at the pool. Of course, I hadn't figured on being trapped in the office for so long—the weather report this morning had said scattered thunderstorms but I'd been hoping they'd be scattered elsewhere.
When I'm reading a book that I'm really into, it's like the rest of the world falls away. Even if the rest of the world is two total hunks that I'm picturing in my head even as I'm reading. Their voices dimmed to a muted buzz and then disappeared as I became completely engrossed in another world entirely.
So it was a rude shock when my e-reader was suddenly grabbed out of my hands from behind me. I was cuddled into an armchair which meant that I couldn't even spin around very quickly, the bulk of the chair and the high back kept me from being able to grab the device back. All the blood drained from my face as Ethan, my high school tormentor who loved nothing better than to tease me, danced backed with a huge grin on his face, looking at the screen.
"So whatcha reading, cupcake?"
"Give it back!" I clutched at the back of the armchair, up on my knees. Impending doom was racing down on me and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Mitch was no help. He just sat at the card table watching with an amused smile on his face. To my horror, instead of just teasing me with his possession of my e-reader, Ethan did exactly what I was most hoping he wouldn't. He looked at the screen and started to read out loud.
