“Okay, next lap, I’m doing on my own,” I decided.
“Don’t like the challenge?” He wiggled his brow.
“No, actually I don’t,” I confirmed while grabbing onto the edge of the pool to steady myself. “More importantly, I don’t like that you’re treating this like a competition. Now that you told me about your injury, I’m not playing. I need you to be okay.”
He placed his hand on his chest like he was especially touched. “Underneath all the dark glaring, she truly cares.”
“Who else is going to wake up at the crack of dawn in the summer to teach my ass how to swim?” I joked.
“I’m sure if you made a sign-up sheet you’d have an entire list of guys by the end of the day.”
“I agree. But I don’t want an entire list of guys when the one before me is still trying to pay off his debts.”
“Fair.” He nodded with a low chuckle. “What else do you need from me, by the way? I know I still have a way to go in making things up to you.”
I pretended to take a moment and consider my options. “Would an elephant in the room be like a walrus in the pool?”
His eyebrows furrowed yet still, he indulged me. “That sounds about right to me.”
“Good, I thought so too.” I rested my arms on the board and kicked my legs back and forth so I could float around for a bit. “To clear the walrus in the pool, I think I need to ask you a question.”
Leo’s expression sobered a bit like he knew exactly what was coming. “Go for it.”
“Why did you send a lackey instead of telling me you couldn’t teach me yourself?” I turned myself in a circle to not have to keep eye contact as I spoke. It was less intimidating this way.
“Not a smart option,” he noted with a low laugh. “I wasn’t - and I’m still not - that smart of a person.”
“Leo.” I shook my head, disagreeing with his joke.
“Okay, seriously?” His fingers were tapping against one another. “If I told you face-to-face, you would have been able to see right through me.”
“Doubt that.”
He met my gaze, convinced of the opposite. “You would have seen right through me in an instance. I assumed you’d tell Nate. Back then, I would have died of embarrassment at the thought of my best friend knowing I was still crushing on his little sister after he warned me to stay away.”
I gave him a frown. “I would have never told him.”
“You used to tell him a lot of things.”
“Not about stuff like…” I waved my hand between us. “This. You thought I told Nate about my love life?”
He laughed. “When you say it like that, it sounds silly. At the time it was possible. And I felt it was wrong.”
“Do you still feel it’s wrong? Even after last night?” I watched him, hoping he’d have that ‘fuck it’ attitude from before.
“A little,” he confessed. “I don’t want to be your wrong choice. According to your brother, I would have been.”
My frown deepened. “Nate said that to you?”
“It was a joke but I can read between the lines.” Leo pressed the tip of his tongue on his top lip as he shook his head, remembering a conversation from years ago.
I knocked the board away so that I could push myself on the side of the pool next to him. “One more question and then, I think I’m done putting your decision-making under a magnifying glass.”
“Alright.” Leo wiped a few drops of water from my chin. “I’m ready for it.”
“This summer you seem different. Determined to teach me and spend time together but still… avoiding. What changed?”
Leo dipped his gaze down to look in the pool. His leg brushed against mine under the water. “Your response to my problem on the call with Nate. Hearing your voice again made me sweat bullets. Then, hearing your honest reply reminded me of who I’d let go. Who… I still wanted.”
