Page 58 of Lovebug
“I can understand that,” he says with seriousness.
We row a bit more. Well, he rows. I watch him.
“Aren’t you afraid to be in a boat with no life jacket?” I ask after some silence.
“Nah. It’s a safe lake. Not deep. No undertow. Plus, I swim the length of it every morning when I wake up.”
“You swim the entirelengthof it?”
“Three times, actually. Forward and back.” He says this as if it’s no big deal.
“Wow! Well, I guess that explains your whole…”
“My whole…?”
“Just the way your upper body is so…”
“So…?”
“Ya know… Dooszh!” I hold my arms out wideas a visual to accompany thedooszhsound.
“Dooszh, huh?” He laughs.
“Yeah.” I feel my face flush. “Whatever, I don’t know how else to describe it.”
“Dooszh is fine,” he says with faux seriousness. “I’ll take dooszh. Yeah, been a swimmer my whole life. Swam competitively throughout high school and college. That’ll keep you in pretty dooszh shape, especially in the upper body. You just gotta make sure you hit the gym too and work your body evenly, or else you start to look like a triangle.” He pauses a moment, and this may be the first time I’ve ever seen him look the slightest bit uncomfortable. “Let’s, uh, let’s change the subject. I’m starting to sound like a real basic bro, and we can’t have that.”
“What’s your favorite stroke, bro?” I laugh.
He scoffs. “Not exactly a subject change, but okay. Butterfly.”
“Why are you calling me butterfly?” My voice goes soft.
“No. My favorite stroke. It’s the butterfly,” he responds.
“Oh! Okay, yes. Butterfly!” I exclaim. “Sorry, people give me a lot of buggy nicknames. Comes with the territory, I guess. Truth be told, though? Despite its obviously awesome name, the butterfly stroke has always made me uncomfortable.”
"Why is that?”
“I’d rather not say.”
“Alright. Not sure why you brought it up then…”
“Because it looks like the person doing it is humping the water,” I blurt, the words just flying out of my mouth without my permission.
Silence.
“Did you just sayhumping?”
“I did.”
“Humping! Hahaha!” Then he proceeds to lose his mind with laughter. “Oh, you slay me. Lady, you are full of surprises!”
“Happy to amuse you, I guess.”
“I’m amused, yeah.” His laughter starts to taper off. “But honestly? Now I’m also concerned about you.”
“Why?”
