Page 52 of The Star

The light turns on, making me squint my eyes as the entirety of the back patio is illuminated. I’m far enough away that when Carson steps out of the backdoor, he doesn’t see me right away. He throws a towel down on one of the chairs, then pulls his shirt over his head before diving into the dark pool.

I watch him, tucking my legs against my body and wrapping my arms around them, as he does laps. Back and forth, back and forth, he swims leisurely, his powerful arms making him travel underneath the water.

I count as he goes, and when I reach thirty, he stops at the edge of the pool and catches his breath with his back to me. All the muscles in his wide shoulders flex as he holds onto the side of the pool and breathes, and I must be high as hell because I can’t tear my eyes away. He’s sculpted and chiseled in all the right ways, his back a work of art.

Once his breathing slows back to a normal rate, he lets go of the wall and falls under the water again.

He didn’t turn the pool light on, so I can’t see him when he floats down to the bottom, but I shuffle on my seat to try to get a glimpse of him. When I finally see his body under the water, it’s too late for me to hide again. He pops up at the edge of the pool closest to me, opening his eyes as he grins up at me.

“Are you watching me?” Water drops from his hair, so he runs a hand over his face to brush it away.

I scoot backwards on my chair a little, trying to put some more distance between us. “Yes.”

He shakes his hair out. “What are you doing out here?”

I point a finger at him. “What areyoudoing out here?”

His eyebrows pull down. “Swimming?”

I laugh then, feeling bubbles fizzing through my veins. “Oh.”

He laughs too. “Sooo… Why are you out here?”

“Uh…” I search my mind for an excuse, but it feels like my brain has turned to a liquid instead of a solid, so I decide on the truth. “I was smoking.”

He lets go of the wall, lying back so he’s floating on the surface of the water. “That shit will kill you.”

I shrug. “Life will kill you. Why not have fun while you’re living?”

He looks at me out of the corner of his eye, then his lips pull down like he’s impressed with my words. “Wanna swim with me?”

I sit back against the back of the chair. “No, thanks.”

Looking back up at the sky as he floats, I see his mouth twist into a grin before he speaks again. “Wanna have sex?”

I laugh, crossing my legs. “Do you ever think about anything besides sex?”

He moves then, making the water ripple as he does, grabbing onto the side of the pool again so he can look at me. “Yes, lots of stuff.”

I lean my head back, closing my eyes. “Like what?”

I hear him climb out of the water, but I don’t open my eyes to look at him, I just listen as he pads across the deck to grab his towel, then he sits down in the chair next to me.

“I think about football,” he says once he’s gotten comfortable.

I turn my head to look at him, resting my face against the chair. “Wow, that’sinspiring.”

He snorts at my sarcasm. “What do you think about?”

I turn back to the sky, closing my eyes as I blow out a long breath. “I think about a lot of things. My friends, school, the future. Normal stuff.”

He mimics me,“Wow, inspiring.”

I huff a laugh, and we fall into silence. The wind blows, making goosebumps pop up on my bare legs, but it feels refreshing. The night is calm, and I come to the realization that if I was in Franklin right now, it wouldn’t be this quiet and serene outside. There would be chaos somewhere, there always is, and I probably wouldn’t feel so safe sitting outside in the middle of the night.

“What’re you thinking?” Carson’s voice breaks through my mental barrier, making me turn to look at him.

“I’m thinking that I should go to bed.”

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