“I agree,” Mom said with a little annoyance in her tone.
“It wasn’t horrible,” Dad spoke up, giving me a small smile.
Nate smiled too. “Not completely. Leo’s training needs some fine-tuning.”
Leo raised a brow, a smile on his lips when he realized Nate had addressed him.
“Okay, form, technique, and overall performance left a little to be desired. But, I think I was excellent,” I decided. And that statement was a feat considering all the imperfections and our last place standing.
Leo seemed pleased with my response. Nate seemed even happier that my words made Mom roll her eyes and break away from our mini celebration to shake hands with the other swimmers.
“Excellent,” Leo murmured, low enough for only me to hear. “I’m glad you finally see you’re excellent.”
I smiled at him. “It’s going to take some getting used to, but yeah, I see it.”
“I’ll be here to remind you whenever you don’t,” he promised and pulled a surprising ‘fuck them’ moment by kissing me.
“Okay.” Nate sighed. “That’s… wow, I’m going to…”
Leo and I pulled a part.
“Sorry,” we both said with nervous laughter.
“I’ll figure out how to deal. One day. Maybe,” Nate said. There was a bit of humor in his tone. A bit of acceptance too.
