Owen dove into the pool on Saturday morning, enjoying the cold shock of the water against his skin. He quickly pulled to the surface, then loosened up by doing a few quick butterfly strokes before launching into an easy freestyle. He always loved how he could really have time to think, uninterrupted, while he swam. And he definitely had a lot to think about. Namely, that everything about him and Kelsey was wrong. It felt right—physically. But emotionally… it was impossible to deny that there was nothing really there. They’d never so much as had a real conversation. Once he reached the end of the wall, he pulled himself into a tight turn, only to be stopped by someone pulling on his ankle. What?
Owen stopped and stood in the shallow water.
“Hi!” There, crouching by the end of the pool and looking completely inappropriate in a black sweaterdress, tights, and high-heeled suede boots, was Kelsey.
“Someone brought their cheering section,” a male voice boomed.
Owen’s stomach sank as he saw Coach jauntily walk out of the locker room, twirling his whistle.
“Sorry, sir!” Owen didn’t want Coach to think he was blowing off his captain duties, especially after their conversation on Thursday. He hurriedly pulled himself out of the pool and hustled over to Kelsey. “You shouldn’t be here,” Owen hissed. The meet didn’t start for an hour, but Owen had come early to warm up before the rest of the team arrived. They already hated him, and seeing him with Kelsey would make them even less likely to listen to him.
“Well, should we go someplace else?” Kelsey smiled wickedly, then stood on tiptoe to nibble Owen’s earlobe. Something about her attitude was so… desperate. Had she always been such a nympho?
Um, it takes two to tear each other’s clothes off without exchanging names….
“Come here,” he muttered, pulling her in the direction of the girls’ locker room, knowing it’d be empty. The pool was closed for the meet this morning.
Instead of dented blue lockers, the girls’ locker room was filled with pink ones, but it still had the familiar smell of BO and chlorine. Not very romantic, which was probably a good thing. Just to be sure no one would see them, Owen escorted Kelsey inside an equipment closet that housed kickboards and flippers.
Kelsey’s eyes widened in lusty delight and she placed her hands against Owen’s chest. Could she feel how fast his heart was beating?
“Listen… we can’t,” Owen said heavily, leaning against a soggy mountain of kickboards. He felt like he’d spent more time breaking up with Kelsey in the past few weeks than they’d actually spent having fun together. He wrapped his thumb and index finger easily around one of her wrists.
“Why?” Kelsey asked, her lower lip trembling slightly.
Fuck! Why did this have to be so hard? Why couldn’t he just grow some balls and do the honorable thing?
“Kelsey, please.” He pulled away. “We can’t be together. For real this time.” His voice broke slightly. Kelsey’s lip was quivering more, and tears were shining in her eyes, just about to fall.
“Why?” she asked again. “I don’t understand.” She reached to put her arms around Owen’s neck.
“It’s…” Owen paused. “It’s this,” he said suddenly, pulling away from Kelsey and feeling his entire body relax. It was like they were like magnets. They couldn’t be close without touching. But that wasn’t the way a relationship worked. A real relationship was about more than physical connection.
Kelsey bit her bottom lip. Owen continued to back away from her. He couldn’t touch her.
“Owen?” Kelsey asked, hugging her arms to her chest. She looked like she was about to cry.
Owen wanted to run his hands through her strawberry blond hair and tell her everything would be okay. He wanted to touch the small of her back and pull her to him. But he couldn’t. “You deserve to be with someone who really knows you,” he said in a rush of words as he practically sprinted out of the equipment room, leaving her standing among a bunch of kickboards. He knew she’d be confused at first, but that eventually she’d get it and be better off. As he left the locker room, he’d never felt more certain that he’d done the right thing.