"And I'll throw it all away, and watch you fall, into my arms again, and I'll throw it all away"
Gail was bored. Like, very bored. Plus, she was hot and sweaty, she could practically feel the moisture beading up on her face. Her sling was usually mildly to moderately itchy but right now it was causing almost severe discomfort. She glanced up at the clock again, it was only five forty five? Gail could have sworn it was five thirty an hour ago. She cursed herself at jumping so quickly at the opportunity to get out and about. She didn't want to admit it, but her brief jaunt around town with Celery yesterday had been exhausting. Maybe it was because her body had taken such a literal hit, maybe it was because she hadn't done much but lay around in bed for a week, but whatever the reason she had slept until noontime.
Gail looked around but didn't really understand what was going on, and honestly she didn't have much motivation to figure it out. When Gail had finally slinked out of bed that morning she found Holly sitting cross-legged on the couch tapping away on her laptop. She had looked up from the screen with a smile, brushing her glasses up onto her forehead, and made a joke about being about to go in to check her pulse. Holly had said something about going to her sister's swim meet later that afternoon and Gail had tried not to sound too eager for a change of scenery. Now she found herself sitting in the incredibly hot and humid spectator section of the pool area. She had not anticipated the wet, hot air; Holly hadn't mentioned that little detail. It reeked of chlorine and Gail was pretty sure she was slightly allergic. Gail doesn't really do sports. The swimmers were completely indistinguishable from on another as they scuttled around the pool deck in their blue and red caps. Eliminating the Black and Asian swimmers was about as close as Gail had gotten to picking out Summer. Hair color wasn't even helpful since they were all wearing swim caps. Sure, maybe the last twenty seconds of some of the races could get exciting, but other than that Gail had little idea of what was going on and little motivation to learn.
Gail leaned over to her left and put her hand on Holly's knee. Goosebumps erupted down Holly's arm as Gail's whispered breath ghosted over her ear. Holly's mouth ran dry at Gail's words and she blinked rapidly to try and compose herself. "You should um, it's the last one," Holly motioned loosely with her pointer finger towards the swimmers climbing up onto blocks, "Summer's in this one." Holly nudged her glasses up, "lane three."
Gail turned her attention back to pool just as the starting beep sounded. She found lane three, and then the swimmer in it. "Um, Holly?" Gail turned to face her, confused.
"Yeah?" Holly kept her eyes on the pool.
Gail lowered her voice, "since when is your sister black?"
"What?" Holly didn't avert her gaze.
"Lane three?" Gail didn't understand why the problem wasn't obvious, "that's not your sister."
"Oh," Holly's head swiveled as it followed the swimmers from one end of the pool to the other, "it's a relay; she's last, I think."
"Oh, well you should have told me that before," Gail turned her head back towards the pool just as the second leg started to dive in. If Summer was indeed in lane three, which Gail was still a little skeptical about, her team seemed to be leading by a pretty good margin.
"Sorry, I thought it was obvious," Holly seemed to be under some sort of spell as she watched the swimmers splash the water about and Gail wondered if she would even remember this conversation.
"Only to jocks."
As soon as Summer's hand tapped the wall first Gail's jacket was in her hand, "can we go wait in the lobby now?"
When Holly turned to face her Gail was already climbing the steps towards the exit. She waved at her sister, motioning that they'd be in the lobby.
When Holly found Gail in the lobby she was taking long gulps from the water fountain.
"Does anyone actually come to these things for fun?" Gail grumbled as they waited for Summer. She was billowing her shirt, trying to fan herself.
"By 'these things' do you mean sporting events?" Holly checked the time on her watch.
"Sure, same difference," Gail shrugged with one shoulder.
"I had fun," Holly smiled that annoying smile of hers.
"You don't count," Gail dismissed her, "you used to do this, it's different."
"Well, yeah, then the answer is probably no," Holly admitted, "no one really comes to these things unless they know someone."
"Aka why I was dragged here," Gail rolled her eyes dramatically. They both knew that wasn't true.
Holly chuckled, "if that's your story."
Gail pouted until Summer finally made her way down the long hallway from the locker room.
"Hey Sis," Summer gave Holly a hug in greeting, "robo cop," she nodded at Gail, "actually, you know, you look exactly like a lego person in that thing."
Gail appraised herself in the reflection of the tall glass doors before conceding, "that's actually entirely accurate," she cocked her head to the side to confirm. "Yeah, ya know, I really do." It was true, her sling did hold her arm at an angle that was almost exactly like the arms of Lego people.
Holly furrowed her brow, unsure if she agreed, "Evan says 'hey'. Apparently he has midterms coming up this week and couldn't come."
"Asshole," Summer threw her bag over her shoulder. "Kidding," Summer smiled through the glare Holly was sending her way, "he texted me."
"You guys did pretty great today," Holly gave Summer an affectionate squeeze on her shoulder.
"Meh, it was okay," Summer gathered her still damp hair to put it up in a bun in anticipation of heading outside.
"Well, you won, right?" Gail looked to Holly for confirmation, "I thought that's what the scoreboard said." It had been pretty much the only thing she had really understood.
Summer laugh, "yeah, that's right."
"Well it was only your first meet of the season, you've got time to work out the kinks," Holly offered.
"I guess," Summer shrugged as she zipped up her jacket.
"Come on," Holly placed her hands on Gail and Summer's backs, "I'm starving."
"And buying," Summer added as she let herself be thrust out into the evening chill.
"And driving," Gail smiled gleefully; this sling did have it's perks.
"And I'll throw it all away, and watch you fall, into my arms again, and I'll throw it all away"
- Ed Sheeran "This"
A/N: This was super short, kind of a filler, but I didn't want to just skip the entire weekend. The next chapter should be up in a day or two!
Bonus points to anyone who spotted Gail and Holly's recycled canon verbal sparring. I don't own it but I totally wish I did.
xoxoxo
