Page 8 of Absorbed

Desiree flared her nostrils. Whatever was going on, there was some serious sexual tension between them. Desiree stood, unsuccessfully tugging up on the spaghetti strap of her babydoll dress, which emphasized her significant cleavage and thin legs. Stacey found herself panicking on Desiree’s behalf that one of her straps could break, which the guys in the room were probably attempting to cause through Jedi mind-tricks.

Crossing her arm over her waist, she held her strap with her other hand. “I’m Desiree,” she snapped at Chad, then blinked several times and smiled around the room. “I also just graduated and this is my first summer lifeguarding as well. I was in ASB with Chad and I’m going to USC.” Desiree sat, pulling her dress under her, and smiled sweetly. When Chad reached for her thigh again, she swatted his hand away, then crossed her arms, leaning back into her corner of the couch.

Everyone’s attention shifted to Jessie.

He’d been held back at some point early on, so he was almost nineteen. A bicep tribal tattoo peeked out from under his T-shirt. Stacey had heard a rumor that he referred to it as his crown of thorns.

“Hi! I’m Jessie,” he said, flipping his wavy, sun-bleached hair out of his face. “I’m finished with high school now, too. I actually guarded last summer at the Y in Red Hills, but that’s an indoor pool. It totally sucked being inside all summer, so it’s awesome being here. I really don’t know what I’m doing this fall, but it will for sure involve a half-pipe and my guitar.”

Stacey fixated on how Jessie’s folded arms made his triceps stand out, and how the hairs on his forearm were golden from hours in the sun. Her eyes traveled up and found Jessie grinning, staring directly at her. Stacey jerked her gaze away.

Six more pairs of eyes watched Stacey expectantly.

“Batter up, Chapman,” Bob said.

Stacey sucked air through her teeth and pushed away from the wall. Pulling her long blonde hair to the front on one side, she combed through it with all ten fingers. “Uh… hi. I’m Stacey. Um… I’m a junio… sorry, I mean… I guess, I’m a…senior…now. And, yeah, this is my…first time, too.” She could feel her whole face flush bright red, and felt like there was a giant boulder in her stomach. “My… my first-time lifeguarding, I mean.”

The expressions of the other guards ranged from dumbfounded shock to pure pity given the level of loser Stacey had exposed herself to be. She wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

“Okay,” Bob said, in a gameshow-host voice, clapping his hands together without skipping a beat. “Let’s start learning the ropes!”

Bob played the Beach Boys over the PA’s tinny speakers through a dusty old stereo. The crew took turns pulling the covers off the pool, put a few lane lines in, and learned how the valves in the equipment room worked. They used metal grabbers and buckets to collect Hubba Bubba wrappers and soggy socks from under the bleachers. Then Mark showed them the bottles in the chemical closet for the pool and a pink powder antibacterial substance to shake across the floor of the bathrooms to supposedly disinfect them.

“Never get this crap in your eyes,” Mark said, tapping the side of the bottle. “It burns like a mother!”

Stacey tried to imagine how Mark found that out, and she instinctively backed away. They all left the chemical room and Bob handed his keys to Tiffany to lock the door.

“Finally, before we open each day,” Bob said, leaning against the railing of the diving board and pointing toward the water,“someone has to dive down to the deep-end drain and clear it of any debris.”

Stacey peered over the edge of the pool and grimaced at a messy pile stuck at the bottom of the deep end.

Jessie, in board shorts and a puka-shell necklace, kicked off his flip-flops and threw his T-shirt aside, saying, “I got this.”

Stacey surged with excitement seeing Jessie’s bare chest for the first time, and the way his shorts hung just low enough to reveal where his tan ended.

Running off the edge of the pool, Jessie kicked his feet into a gainer flip, arching his back and grabbing his ankles behind him. His body rotated in a full circle before entering the water feet first, and he immediately dropped to the bottom of the pool.

His small splash sprinkled water onto Stacey’s shins and feet. She was in awe of his confidence and how perfectly he executed the flip without even using the diving board.

A few seconds later Jessie came up with a fistful of leaves, strands of long dark hair, and a couple of Band-Aids. He dropped the mess on the side of the deck in front of Melissa’s feet like a cat’s hairball and she leaped back from the pile, disgusted.

Every muscle in Jessie’s arms flexed as he pushed himself out of the water, and Stacey’s heart raced. Oh. My. God. With her hand at her mouth and a fingernail between her teeth, her gaze followed droplets sliding over goosebumps on his torso and clinging to the fine hairs forming a trail above his drawstring. Holding her breath, with her little finger touching the tip of her tongue, she focused on the tight nubs of his small, purplish-red nipples, and she felt overwhelmed by a desire to reach out and touch them.

“Whew,” Jessie said, shaking his hair out and pulling his shorts away from his skin. “Chilly!”

Stacey didn’t even blink as the water from his hair sprinkled her cheeks. Then he caught her staring at him. Quickly, she turned away, pulling her hand from her mouth, and reached behind her back to grab hold of her other arm.

“Impressive,” Bob said, laughing. He picked up the pile with a trash grabber and dropped it into a bucket. “But next time use gloves, okay, Jess? We’ve pulled some pretty nasty things out over the years.”

Mark tossed Jessie’s T-shirt at him and shook his head.

The crew returned to the guard shack and went over the first week’s schedule. Tiffany and Mark were working practically non-stop, with the rest of the guards filling in the second and third posts until everyone was trained. Melissa was up first, and removed her tank top and shorts without hesitation, revealing her miniscule red two piece beneath. She’s got a red bikini, too?

Stacey didn’t want to admit to Gabe how right she’d been about the fit-ness of the other guards. Tiffany and Melissa had perfect bodies. And Desiree appeared to have curves in all the right places. Stacey’s first shift would be the next afternoon, so she was grateful she had another day to resolve her swimsuit worries. She felt giddy, though, when she saw her name next to Jessie’s on the schedule for Tuesday’s night swim.

“That reminds me,” Bob said, clearing his throat and turning to grab a stack of flyers on the desk. “Anyone in need of appropriate lifeguard gear, a warehouse in Riverside is offering a 30% discount.”

Relieved, Stacey took a flyer. Chad, Desiree, and Jessie each grabbed one as well. From the address and hours listed in the corner, Stacey figured it was about twenty-five miles away, and only open on weekdays. She folded the paper into a square and shoved it in her back pocket.

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