Page 80 of Cheater and the Saint
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Saint
My head had been all over the place lately. With school; with Leo. Going to the gym that day was more for my sanity than anything else. As I swam laps in the pool, I welcomed the calm that washed over me, the one that gave me the clarity I sought. As my muscles began to burn with each stroke, I pushed away my fears. My doubts.
Leo’s warm brown eyes flashed in my mind, and he sported that cocky smile he seemed to always have.
We’d been together—officially—for nearly three weeks. And within that time, he hadn’t given me any reason to doubt his fidelity. Some fears were difficult to put to rest, though, especially when the wholehistory repeats itselfthing kept buzzing in my skull. He’d cheated onallof his boyfriends and girlfriends.
Why would I be the exception to that pattern?
“You’re different,”he’d once told me.
I didn’t believe in blind faith. I believed in facts. And the fact of the matter was that Leo was a playboy who partied way too much and didn’t take life serious enough. But on the other hand, I took lifetooseriously.
Leo had taught me to loosen up a little, and by how much he’d studied lately, I guess I’d taught him to apply himself more in his education.
We balanced each other out.
Opening up to people was hard for me. Trusting them was even harder. I’d let my guard down around Leo, and he hadn’t done anything to make me regret it yet. He made me happy, so even though I didn’t know how it’d turn out, it was a risk worth taking.
After swimming another lap, I raised myself out of the pool and sat on the ledge.
“Hi, again,” a quiet voice said.
The mousy haired girl with the round face smiled at me and gave a small wave. A towel was over one of her shoulders, and she wore a one-piece bathing suit. She was more on the curvy side and really beautiful, even if that shy way of looking away from me said she didn’t believe so.
“Hey.” I stood, grabbed my towel, and approached her. It was about time we introduced ourselves. She was clearly too shy to say much more thanhito me, and I felt bad for the girl. “I’m Saint.”
Her green eyes lit up, and she shifted her weight to her other side. “I’m Beth.”
“Well, it’s lovely to meet you, Beth.” I ran the towel over my face and through my hair before draping it across my shoulders. “Enjoy your swim.”
“Would you like to get coffee sometime?” she blurted out and immediately went red in the face.
“That’d be nice,” I answered. “Just so it’s not awkward later on, I should tell you that I have a boyfriend. We can still go for coffee if you want, though.”
“Boyfriend?” Instantly, her behavior shifted. The self-conscious girl vanished as disgust smeared across her face. “Wow. If I knew you were a fag, I wouldn’t have crushed on you so hard.”
Her reaction was like a kick to the gut, but not all that unexpected. Bigots came in all forms—big, small, young, and old. Male and female. She’d seemed so nice, too. People in the south weren’t all bad, but there were many who couldn’t get out of that hatred. I felt sadder for them than I did for myself.
“Sorry you feel that way,” I said before walking out of the pool area.
I wasn’t ashamed of the person I was. That was something my mom had always drilled into my head.“Pumpkin, you’re beautiful and perfect just the way you are. Anyone who tells you differently has their own problems.”
Thinking of her, I called her after I dressed and left the locker room.
“Hey, Mom,” I said. “I have some news.”
I told her about Leo. She’d already known I was kind of seeing him, but I let her know that we were together.
“Your first boyfriend, pumpkin!” she exclaimed into the phone. By the sound of it, she was at work, too. So her employees had probably heard her. They all knew me now, anyway, because I’d taken Mom up on her offer—demand—that I go into the store for some fall and winter clothes.
I could’ve died of embarrassment.
“Yep,” I said and sucked in a breath. “Okay, well I gotta go.”
“Wait,” she said and the phone rustled as if she was walking. “Thanksgiving is next week. You’re coming over, right?”
