Chapter 10 (Taj)

I woke up with a nice warmth covering me. I opened my eyes to see that Taj and I were wrapped around each other. Our legs were twisted around each other and both of our arms were holding each other tightly. I wasn’t that freaked out like last time. Yukine’s alarm hasn’t gone off yet so I decided to stay like this for a few minutes. He was comfy, warm and safe. It was stuff like these hugs that made me wanna be with him more and more but I was also afraid of what would happen between us if it all went down hill. It always happened, all of my relationships had always ended badly especially, Joshua.

I didn’t care how me and Yukine were intertwined with each other. He felt safe andI loved this feeling. I didn’t wake him up nor did I want to but I knew if I didn’t wake him soon we’d be late. His alarm was already going off and it’s now 7:30am. I shook him a little to wake him. His eyes slowly opened.

“Come on, we’ve gotta wake up or we’ll be late,” I gave him a soft smile and sat up. He smiled back at me.

We both got up and got ready into our uniform. It wasn’t awkward between us at all, I could tell that Yukine and I were getting closer by the day, I think my feelings for him were also growing stronger. I felt guilty because I knew that there was a high chance of our friendship being crushed if he found out about my feelings towards him. It was heartbreaking to know things like this but I guess that’s how life is isn’t it?

Today was Tuesday, so Yukine had swim practice. I’ve never seen him swim before so I was curious what they do in swim practice. Since most of the competitive races for swimming haven’t started Yukine didn’t have to practice everyday. Maybe I could see him during his swim practice to see what they did. It would also be nice to meet the rest of his team and see Henry and Jackson again. I pulled out my phone and decided to text to him if I could maybe come to his swim practice this afternoon. He texted back saying that it would be fine if I came and watched his swim practice but I wasn’t allowed to go in the pool.

In the afternoon I grabbed the rest of my stuff out of my locker and headed to the pool, it was around the size of our gymnasium. When I opened the door to the pool I got hit by a wave of heat it was also very humid. I guess they turned the pool heaters back on since it’s Autumn. No one was really inside as far as I could see. I placed my bag onto the stand next to the pool. They looked like the bleachers that we had on the football field except they were made of concrete. A few minutes of waiting I saw a group of guys come out of the changing rooms, I guess I came while they were changing. I looked down at the guys and saw around ten people walking towards the diving blocks. I saw Yukine, Henry and Jackson walking together, I think he spotted me because he looked up at me and smiled then waved at me, I waved back.

The guys raced in pairs, two other people would time them as well. The whole team seemed to cheer on both of the racers at the same time. It was nice how the whole team was so supportive of each other. After maybe two other pairs raced it was now Yukine’s turn. He was racing up against a much taller guy who seemed to be a bit more muscular than him. They got into position on the diving blocks and when Henry blew the whistle they were off. The race happened so quickly that I could barely see what was going on. Yukine is in the lead and the other guy was behind by a few metres. Yukine was swimming through the water so quickly like lightning but at the same time he looked so majestic when he glided through the water. I can’t find the words to explain it but all I knew was that it was mesmerizing seeing him swim. When the race was finished Yukine got out of the pool and was told his time.

For most of the time they practiced I just read a novel on my computer but when it was Yukine’s turn I watched. I don’t know why but he was the only one that I was interested in when they swam, he was the only one that stood out to me. When they did laps I didn’t really pay attention to the others, it was only Yukine. From time to time I’d watch the others but it was mainly Yukine.

When practice was over and the others walked into the changing rooms Yukine walked up to the stands.

“Hey, I hope you don’t mind but I was thinking of doing some extra laps and was wondering if you could time me, it would be a lot more accurate if someone else timed me,”

“Sure! I’d love to time you!”

“Great! Here take this,”

He handed me a stopwatch that had a strap hanging from it. I shut my laptop and put the stopwatch’s band onto my wrist and followed Yukine over to the diving blocks.

“You know how to use the stopwatch right”

“Of course, I’m not stupid!”

“Okay, okay!”

“Just hurry up and do the lap!”

“Fine!”

He got up onto the block and got into the diving position. I yelled go and he dived into the pool, all I could do was watch him and be mesmerized. When he touched the wall I hit the stop button on the stopwatch and looked at it. 1:15 minutes, it was a good time in my opinion.

“The time is 1:15!”

“I can do better,” I looked up at him and he had this serious face on him, he almost looked disappointed in himself. When it comes to these things he must be pretty hard on himself.

For about an hour and a half he did laps, each time he never looked satisfied.

“Hey it’s starting to get a bit late we should head back,”

“Ok, I’ll get changed just wait on the stands,”

He walked away and into the changing rooms. The whole building was empty and outside it was already dark. I looked down at my watch and saw it was around 8:00pm. I usually thought that they would do swim practice late but now that I think about it he must stay late and do laps by himself.

He walked out of the changing rooms carrying his swim bag and school bag. He walked up to me and I passed the stopwatch back to him.

“Hey so do you usually stay behind to do extra laps?”

“Oh, yeah I do. On Thursdays the whole team usually practice late but on Tuesdays we finish early so I normally just say behind to get some extra laps in,”

“You must be very competitive when it comes to swimming,”

“Yeah, Henry and Jackson used to worry about me because I’d normally not go back to the dorms until about 10:00pm, but ever since you moved in I’ve been finishing up much earlier,”

He finished early for me?

“Well hopefully now that I’m here you can have a healthy schedule!”

On the way back we talked about his swimming. He said that he always won most of his races and if not he’d always be on the victory stand. He strives for first place every time he races. He was so passionate when it came to swimming. It was kind of worrying when I realised he used to train until midnight sometimes. When we reached the dorm I unlocked the door and we put our stuff away.

“Hey, I’m gonna change in the bathroom,”

“Ok,”

I grabbed my clothes and went inside the bathroom to change. When I was finished changing I was gonna walk out but then looked back at the mirror. I opened my drawer and took out my makeup wipes. I removed all the makeup from my face. I remembered what he said to me, ‘I’m sure you’d be more comfortable without it!’, The truth is I am more comfortable without it but only with him, no one else.

I walked out of the bathroom and caught him staring at me again. Was it really that interesting to see my natural face? I walked towards my desk and sat down to work on an english essay that was due next week. We had to write an essay on internet influences between teenagers. We had this topic because we were reading a novel about a girl who is a victim of severe cyber bullying. I pulled out my laptop and started to continue on from where I left off.

“Hey what are you working on?”

“I’m working on the english essay that Mrs. Larcombe assigned us,”

“Oh, ok,”

I looked over my shoulder and saw him sitting on his bed watching something on his laptop. I closed my laptop and walked over to his bed.

“What ya watching?”

“I’m watching the ‘The Haunting of Hill House’,”

“You’re into horror?”

“Yeah horror is the best!”

“I don’t understand you people. How can you watch something so terrifying and still sleep at night?!”

“What does Mr. Emopunkedgelord not like horror?”

“Mr. Emopunkedgelord?!”

“You know it’s true!” He had a massive smirk across his face.

“Well I’m sorry Mr. Swimjockmaster that I don’t have the same tastes as you!”

“What is that name?” He bursted into laughter.

“I can say the same for your name!” We both were laughing until we heard a massive scream come from his laptop. I looked at the screen and saw a ghost thing doing some messed up stuff.

“What the actual fusck!” I screamed and almost fell off the bed after looking at what I just looked at. Yukine paused the video and started to burst out into laughter.

“You sir, have one messed up mind!”

“Aww are you scared of little ghosts?”

“Ghosts are a natural thing to be scared of!”

“Ok fine,”

“Come on let’s watch a movie together!”

“As long as it’s not horror!”

“Ok!”

I laid down next to him and we watched a movie. I was starting to get tired so I laid down onto his pillow and wrapped my arms around him. He then closed the laptop and placed it on his bedside table and wrapped his arms around me. I then slowly drifted off to sleep.