My Crush Has Always Been Me novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Lane Six

Jesse joins swim club to be near Nate; Pierce shoves him off the block and Nate dives in.

Jesse showed the note to Hank at six the next morning.

Hank read it twice, holding it up to the bathroom light in his green hoodie and bare feet.

"This is a threat," Hank said. "We should take it to the dorm advisor."

"And say what?" Jesse said. "Someone told me to go home?"

"Yes. Exactly that."

"Then they win," Jesse said. "I'm not leaving."

Hank sighed and took a photo of the note with his phone.

"Fine. But I'm filming everything from now on," he said. "That's my job as your roommate."

"You can't film everything."

"Watch me."

Jesse laughed, and some of his tension eased.

The swim club walk-on tryout was at seven that morning, at the Dunmore Natatorium.

He had signed up the day he got his acceptance letter, and he had told no one why.

The pool was long and bright, with green and gold banners hanging from the ceiling.

The air smelled like chlorine and wet concrete.

Eleven freshmen stood in a row on the deck in cheap suits, shivering.

Nate stood in front of them with a clipboard and a whistle around his neck.

He was wearing only team trunks and a towel across his shoulders, and Jesse looked at the clock on the wall for a long time.

"Morning," Nate said. "I'm Nate. I run the walk-on group. We do four lengths of freestyle, then I fix your stroke."

"Nobody told me there'd be a test," a kid next to Jesse whispered.

"It's a swim tryout," Jesse whispered back.

"I thought it was a club."

"Lane six, Larkin," Nate said, without looking up from the clipboard.

Jesse's ears went hot.

"You know my last name," he said.

"It's on the sheet."

"Right."

Jesse climbed onto the block and fixed his goggles.

He was not a fast swimmer, but he had spent a year hauling lumber for his uncle, and his arms were strong.

The whistle blew.

He dove, and the water closed over him cold and loud.

He swam four lengths with his chest burning and his heart pounding, and he touched the wall and came up gasping.

Nate was crouched at the edge of the pool, watching him.

"Not bad," Nate said. "Your left arm drops on the pull. Come here."

Jesse swam to the wall.

Nate leaned down and took his wrist in one wet hand.

His thumb pressed lightly over the inside of the bone.

"Here," Nate said. "Keep it high and reach before you pull. Like you're putting your hand through a window."

Jesse could not feel the water at all.

He could only feel the exact place where Nate's fingers touched his skin.

"High," Jesse repeated. "Reach. Window."

"Good." Nate let go, slowly. "Try again."

He did it again, and again, and each time Nate crouched at the wall and corrected something small.

A shoulder.

A kick.

A breath.

At one point Nate put a flat hand on his back to show him the line of his body, and Jesse nearly forgot to swim.

"Larkin," Nate said, and he was smiling. "You're staring at me instead of the wall."

"I'm checking my form," Jesse said.

"Uh huh."

"On the clock. Over there. Behind you."

"Of course," Nate said, grinning.

Someone slapped the water behind them, hard.

"Such a nice teacher," Pierce said.

He was standing on the start block above lane six in his team jacket and flip-flops, looking down.

"Pierce, this is a walk-on session," Nate said. "You're not on today."

"I came to support the new talent." Pierce smiled at Jesse. "Little Larkin. Let me show you a real start."

"No," Nate said.

"Relax. I'm just demonstrating."

Jesse reached for the ladder to climb out.

He had one foot on the rung when Pierce stepped down off the block, and his heel came down on Jesse's hand.

Jesse let go.

He fell backward into deep water with a shout, and went under with his goggles knocked sideways.

The pool roared in his ears.

He tried to kick up, but his arms were spent from four hard lengths, and he could not find the surface.

Then a hard arm closed around his chest.

Nate had dived in, still wearing his whistle.

They broke the surface together, and Nate hauled him to the wall and held him there with both arms.

"I've got you," Nate said. "Breathe. Look at me. I've got you."

Jesse coughed up a lungful of chlorine and clung to Nate's shoulders.

Nate's heart was hammering against his chest.

It was not a calm heartbeat at all.

Above them, Pierce stood at the edge, still smiling.

"Accident," Pierce said. "Sorry, Larkin. It happens."

Nate looked up, and Jesse had never seen that expression on his face.

"Get out of my pool," Nate said.

Pierce shrugged and took a step back.

"Sure, Captain," he said. Then, so softly that only the two of them could hear, "Why don't you tell him why you're really here?"

Nate went completely still.

Jesse felt it through the arms around him.

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