#Chapter 06 A Team
1462 Words
Again. Alex has somehow come to my rescue. Once is a happenstance. Twice, a coincidence.
I’m cold and dripping wet, my face against his neck, but he holds me so easily. When I feel my body start to move, I open my mouth.
“...Books.”
“Huh?”
“My books… In the…on the chair.”
“...Are you seriously worried about your books right now?”
I back my head away from the lovely pine smell and stare up at him with lidded eyes. He stares back at me, then he sighs, shaking his head.
“Nerd.”
He finds where I’d tucked my backpack and picks it up, going back into the dark pool room. Somehow, he cradles me with a single arm and fills my book bag with the other. Is all of his strength really from hockey?
Suddenly, he pauses. Before I can ask why, I hear a bunch of footsteps rushing up to the broken door.
“She’s in here! In here!” Danielle’s voice rings out. “I saw her steal the keys to the pool room and—!!”
When she enters, she’s followed by three of her friends and two security guards. At first, she immediately looks toward the pool, but upon seeing it empty, she glances around. Our eyes lock, and her confidence turns into full confusion.
One of the security guards turns on the light while the other immediately looks for us, his brows furrowed. However, when he sees Alex, something in the man pauses, and his irritation melts into…resignation.
“...You again, huh?”
Alex shrugs, “Depends on what you’re accusing me of, Officer Giles.”
I glance up at him. To be on a known-name basis with security guards… Some of the rumors about his troublesome streak aren’t fabricated.
Officer Giles rubs his fingers against the bridge of his nose.
“Okay. Why were you two here?”
“Ah, I took the keys from the hockey team. It’s raining outside, so I can’t do my field running. I figured swimming’s not too different. In fact, isn’t it better in some ways?”
“You can’t just use the pool as you please, Hewlett… What happened to the door?”
“That? Oh, I found it like that. Didn’t have to use the keys at all!” he laughed.
The man grumbles once more, looking at Alex like he’s suspicious. However, he ends up waving his hand dismissively.
“Since the door was already open, fine. But quit making so much trouble.”
“I can’t promise that, but I’ll do my best,” Alex grins, swinging my backpack strap onto his shoulder.
Danielle’s mouth drops open, outrage coloring her pretty face.
“Wait a minute! Officer! How could Alex be training when he has a girl with him? And look at her! She’s soaked!”
Alex just shrugs at the accusation.
“I invited her to come watch since it’s dangerous to swim alone,” he sasses, his eyes narrowing snidely. “She just got a bit too close while I was splashing.”
One of the other girls jolt slightly, then she points at us accusingly.
“That doesn’t sound like training. That sounds like a date!”
I wait for a moment to see what Alex will come up with next. However, I blink, realizing he’s not saying anything else. When I look up at him, he’s just staring at them.
“Would that matter?” he finally says.
I feel like I’m about to have an aneurysm.
Immediately, the girls are scowling and protesting, their hateful gazes landing on me.
Ah. I’m never going to have peace again.
Alex just shrugs and approaches, passing them all as Officer Giles and the other one try to calm the girls down. Danielle reaches up and arm grabs him.
“Now, hold on a moment, you—”
Alex is walking by the pool’s edge pretty closely. perhaps on purpose, he suddenly turns on her heel and gravity pulls her toward the edge.
A moment later, there’s a splash as Danielle screams, her friends crying out in alarm.
“Agh!! Gugh—!”
“Oh my god, Danielle!!”
“Ah, Hell,” Officer Giles grumbles under his breath, bending down to grab her.
Meanwhile, Alex just stares down his nose at her for a moment. Then, with me in tow, we escape from the situation without any more fanfare.
— — —
The hockey team’s locker room smells like sweat. As a girl, I really shouldn’t be here, but it was the best place I could go.
My clothes are entirely too soaked to keep wearing. After taking a warm shower to stop shivering, he lends me some clothes he kept as backups in his locker.
If the only thing I had left wasn’t a wet bra and panties, I would’ve refused. But that’s all I have left.
So now, I’m swimming in his high-quality cotton sweater and some sweatpants that are entirely too long for me. My hair sits all over my head in wild, damp brown waves.
I stare down at the shirt I’m in.
That pine smell… I smelled it so strongly while holding him. Now it seems to be gone.
Just to check, I pull the neckline of his shirt up and sniff it, hoping to find that comforting scent. However, it’s nothing but cotton and a dim essence of room sweat.
“Uh…”
I blink and look up. Alex stares at me, bewildered. Cautiously, he waggles a stick of deodorant in his hand.
I stare back, my face feeling entirely too hot for my body. One of these days, I’ll finally melt and evaporate.
“Do those stink?” he asks. “Ah…sorry. Clothes pick up room smells and all.”
My fingers barely brush his hand as I snatch the deodorant away. I turn my back to him, wiggling my arms into the shirt to put the antiperspirant on without lifting it.
Though my back is turned, I hear and feel him sit down on the bench.
“You always seem to be in a mess whenever I see you. Are you a magnet for it or something?” He laughs, though it’s not so lighthearted. “...You should really stand up for yourself some time. Like, tell a teacher. Or a parent. s**t like that.”
“W…Won’t, work.”
“Hmm?”
“Won’t work. Do you…win hockey games alone?”
“Eh…no? It’s a team sport. Kinda the whole point to not work alone.”
“Exactly.”
When I turn around, he’s frowning. Right…the look of a guy who has never gotten bullied in his life.
“Bullying victims…uhm… It’s not just…bullies. Bystanders…uhm…guardians…people around. If they don’t help, then…victims can’t…fight back.”
“...Fighting bullying is a team sport.”
I nod, sticking my arms back out through the sleeves. We stare at each other for a tad longer than comfortable.
“...Hmh. Alright.” Alex starts to smile. “How about…we make a team, then?”
“Eh?”
He leans forward, prompting me to lean back.
“You and me, a team. I’m tired of girls trying to grab me at every moment. You’re tired of dealing with bullying. If we’re dating, doesn’t that knock out two birds with one stone?”
My face goes red.
“I’m going to knock you out with a stone—” comes out of my mouth before I can help myself.
“No, seriously! Hear me out.” His fingers splay, excited. “I have an important game coming up. Redmond Chillers vs the Bernard Saints. If we get past this, my team will be two games closer to rounding out the season. We could go into the playoffs with a high rank.
But all this clingy mess is messing with the team, even though I’ve been clear I’m not dating. If we act like we’re going steady, I can focus on training, and you can not get bullied. No one would dare bully someone I’m with.”
I listen to him, somewhat astonished. This is…too much. Oliver’s betrayal is so fresh, and he wants to…date me? For…fake?
Like, fake dating?
“It’s not like we’ll really be together. It’s just a…contract. Yeah, a contractual relationship. We both get what we need out of it, and since this only works because we’re working together, I won’t betray you. Not like Oliver.”
He stabs right into my sore spot without remorse.
“Don’t reject this too quick. Just think about it.”
He really looks like he’s had an epiphany, smile bright and full of teeth.
“We can really make this work.”
- Writer
