I'm really enjoying this story. It's very unique. I don't own anything. This is a very fluffy chapter. By the way if mention Trish, that's who Taylor is, she is now Trish, I need to fit her in here!
Chapter Seven
When I couldn't sleep, I'd sneak down to the pool to swim, I'd start doing laps and I'd keep going until I felt tired. When I went to bed, my muscles felt nice and sore, but heavy and relaxed. I loved bundling up after a swim in one of Mimi's blue bath sheets,
Two summers ago, Mimi had found me swimming, some nights she'd swim with me. I'd be under the water, doing a lap, and I feel her dive in and start to swim on the other side of the pool. We wouldn't talk, we'd just swim. It was a comforting feeling to have her there. It was the only times that summer I saw her without her wig.
Back then, because of the chemo, Mimi wore her wig all the time. No one ever saw her without it, not even my mom. Mimi had the most beautiful hair in the world, long and a soft gold color. Her wig didn't even come close, even though it had real hair and was the best money could buy. After the chemo, her hair grew back, but she kept it short, right below the chin. It was pretty, but not the same, if you looked at her now, you would never be able to guess that she used to have hair long like a teenagers, like mine.
The first night I couldn't sleep. It always took me a night or two to get used to the bed again. I tossed and turned for a while, until I couldn't take it anymore. I changed into my bathing suit and headed for the pool.
I swam back and forth for a while, on my fourth lap, I started to flip turn, but I hit something solid. I came up for air and saw it was Austin's leg. He was sitting at the edge of the pool, with his feet dangling in the water. He'd been watching me the whole time.
I stayed under water to my chin, suddenly aware of how small my bathing suit was. No way was I getting out of the water with him still here.
"What are you doing here?" I asked accusingly. He had that amused Austin look on his face, the one that drove me crazy. "I couldn't sleep so I went out for a walk," He said shrugging.
"How'd you know I was out here?" I demanded.
"You always swim out here at night, Ally. Come on."
He knew I swam at night? I thought it was my special secret, mine and Mimi's. I wondered how long he had known. I wondered if anybody else knew. I don't even know why it mattered, but it did. To me, it did. "Okay, fine."
The air felt different all of a sudden. It felt charged, electric, like I had been zapped. I let go of the edge and started to tread water, away from him. It felt like forever before he spoke. "Good night, Ally. Don't stay out here too late. You know what kind of monsters come out at night."
Everything felt normal again. I splashed water at his leg as he walked away. "Screw you," I said to his back.
A long time ago, Austin and Riker and Jack had convinced me that there was a child killer loose, the kind who liked little girls with brown hair, and brown eyes.
He didn't answer me, he just laughed. I could tell by the way his shoulders shook as he closed the gate.
After he left, I fell back into the water and floated. I could feel my heart beating through my ears. Austin was different. I'd sensed something at dinner, before he'd told me about Brooke. He had changed. And yet, the way he affected me was still the same, exactly the same. Like I was on top of a roller coaster, right about to go down the first hill.
"Ally, have you called your dad yet?" my mom asked me the next day.
"No."
"I think you should call him and tell him how you're doing."
I rolled my eyes. "I doubt he's sitting at home worrying about it."
"Still,"
"Have you made Jack call him?" I countered.
"No, I haven't," she said, her tone level. "Your dad and Jack are about to spend two weeks together looking at colleges. You won't get to see him until the end of summer."
Why did she have to be so reasonable? Everything was like that with her. My mom was only person I knew who could have a reasonable divorce. My mom handed me the phone. "Call your father," she said and left the room. She always left the room when I called my dad, like she was giving me privacy. As if I was telling him secrets that I couldn't tell him in front of her.
I didn't call him. I put the phone on it's cradle. He should be the one calling me, not me calling him. He was the father, and I was his kid. Anyways, dads didn't belong in the summer house. Not my dad, and not Mr. Moon. Sure, they'd come visit but it was their place. They didn't belong to it. Not the way we did, the mothers and the kids.
