Chapter 13: Throw me a Lifesaver
I wake up to the smell of bacon sizzling in the kitchen. I stretch my cramped muscles across the bed and groan at the pleasant soreness in my lower extremities. I pull on an old t-shirt of Ethan's and glance at the clock; it's only 7:30, I figured it was much later. I rinse my mouth out in Ethan's bathroom and head into the kitchen, my stomach fully awake and grumbling.
"Morning." He turns at the sound of my voice and plates the remaining contents of the pan.
"It's about time you rolled your lazy bones out of bed love."
"Please, it's my summer vacation and no one gets up before 10 anyway. Well except for you." My eyebrows knit together for a second while I think about why he really is up this early.
"It's a freak thing. Probably won't happen again for a long time. Plus I woke up sweating because the AC was off." He puts the bacon down on the table and I steel a piece when he turns his back.
"Did it break or something? Because it was pretty cold in their when I got up."
"Or something. It wasn't broken, it was unplugged. I must have gotten up in the middle of the night and tripped on the cord." I freeze with a piece of bacon still partially hanging from my mouth.
"Oops. Now I know what my foot was tangled in." I bite my lip and shy away from his accusing stare.
"Ah, so it is your fault. You and those monstrous feet." He has a good chuckle at his own joke.
"Hey, now! Leave my abnormally large feet out of it. It was late, I was barely awake and I had to use the bathroom. In my haste my foot tangled in something and I pulled it free. I didn't notice the air conditioner turn off. So, excuse me."
"OK. Big foot."
"I heard that." A few bacon crumbs tumble out of my mouth.
"And can you please save me some."
"No, you're evil and I don't like you very much." I playfully grab the plate and guard it from his grubby hands.
"Fine, then I'll eat all the French toast." Well, if he's got French toast hidden somewhere I guess I can surrender my plate and share with him. He joins me at the table with two glasses of juice and we eat our breakfast in relative silence.
He pushes me into the living room, saying he'll do the dishes and clean up. I turn on the TV and the weather forecast is the only thing that's on at this hour It's supposed to be sunny all day with a severe thunderstorm warning for tonight. It's the heat that makes me crinkle my nose in dislike; 102 degrees, but with zero humidity. All I know is that Molly will be a shriveled little prune by the time she's forced to come out of the pool.
I sneak into the bathroom, knowing that if he goes first, I'll end up with an ice bath instead of a hot shower. He decides to join me a few seconds later and he uses the age-old excuse, "We'll save on water." Which we don't, the lathering turns into to rubbing which turns into kissing, which then turns into biting. Then I find myself with my back against the cold tile and Ethan's talented and nimble fingers roaming every inch of my body and I surrender to the sweet torture. I think to myself, 'What a horrible morning this turned out to be.' I giggle at the inward thought and then I'm begging him to stop teasing me.
Of course after our showering escapades, we have to rush back to my house so my mom can get to work on time and Ethan and I can take Molly to lunch and then the country club for a promised day at the pool.
We end up at the front door with plenty of time and as we head inside Alexis is waiting for us with a knowing glare, but a tight smile on her lips. "Are you two love birds, done playing house?" I roll my eyes in mock irritation and place a hand on my hip,
"Yes mother. Geez." I laugh a little and she gathers her purse and her bag full of reports,
"Good, because you're taking Spencer with you to the pool. Nikolas will be by in a few minutes to drop him off." Ethan opens the door for her and she plants a kiss on my head and before she leaves,
"Is there anyone else you forgot to tell me about?"
"Just be grateful Liz and Lucky haven't had the baby yet. I could have persuaded them to take a day off and you could have gotten Jake, Cameron and the new baby."
"Yea, yea. I'll see you later mom." I wave and she's gone.
As fore told, Nik arrives a few minutes later with arms full of pool gear and I barely make out the two little feet beside by uncle. "Seriously? We're going for one day Nik, not twenty." Let me just run through the amount of stuff he has buried under his arms; fold up chairs, inflatable rings, two pairs of swimmies, a life jacket, towels, and extra pair of swim trunks, two shirts, a pair of pants and only god knows what else I can't see is there. I take the swimmies, the extra pair of clothes and two towels and send the rest back home with him. I pack mine, Ethan and Spencer's stuff in my bag. Ethan deflates the swimmies so they will fit as well and Molly grabs the cooler and we are off.
We thought about stopping off at Kelly's for lunch but Molly wants to be at the pool ASAP so we decide we'll just eat when we get there. Ethan pulls into a close parking space. Molly runs into the changing area and I unbuckle Spence from his car seat and help him out. I hand Ethan our pool passes, we gather our bags and head in the same direction as Molly. Once she is changed and lotioned up we head to the pool.
There is not one cloud in the sky. There's a nice breeze and the pool isn't as crowded as I expected. We grab three chairs lounge chairs and Molly makes like a cannon-ball and splashes into the pool. With Ethan lounging on the chairs I put sunscreen on Spencer and take him to the shallow end of the pool. The two of us spend the next hour and a-half splashing around in the pool. I'm convinced by the end of the day, Spencer will be swimming by himself.
Ethan's POV
I was never much of a swimmer and I certainly don't consider myself a sun worshiper, but I'm enjoying my time here. I was never supposed to stay in Port Charles. I wanted to be out long ago. But then I just had to find out that not only did I have a father, but also a brother and a sister. I had a family; drifters don't like family. They complicate things. Even so, once I found out, it became harder and harder each day to walk away. Eventually, days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months turned into a year. Now, I never think about moving on and trying someplace different. I would however consider doing something different with my life. I'm not sure being a bartender the rest of my life will be appealing in a year or two. I watch as Molly dives off the diving board with the greatest of ease a girl of eleven can have. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear Molly was a fish. She's able to round up a few friends and they have a race using the width of the pool and their track. Molly's wins three out of the four times and she looks to me and I give her two thumbs up and her face is beaming with pride. I glance down at my watch and realize everyone's stomach must be growling and as if on cue, Molly comes running over patting her belly. "Ethan, I'm starving." I laugh at her demanding tone and we head off to get lunch, after she pleads for a piggy back ride of course.
"Did you see me Krissy. I won the race three times in a row. I lost the last one because Billy cheated." She takes another bite of her sandwich and Kristina looks at her a bit puzzled,
"How did he cheat?"
"He used my head to push himself off. Duh!"
"Listen little Miss 'Tude. He may have won, but it wasn't fairly so, in my book, that doesn't count."
"I agree with your sister. It's not right to cheat, so if someone wins by cheating, it's not as good a feeling as if you tried your best and won."
"Ethan, have you ever cheated in cards?" Well, it's wrong to lie,
"Yes I have. When I was a little older than you. I was first learning to play poker and I wanted to impress a girl so I cheated. I won the game, but lost the girl. Seems she had a thing for nursing a man's deflated ego." I hear Kris snort and I turn to her, "What's so funny?"
"It's hard to imagine you ever needing to cheat. My Sensei isn't so perfect after all."
"Hey, hey. I never claimed to be perfect. I just can't help that I'm just so good at beating you. I make it look so easy." She throws a French fry at me and then, so does Spencer. I grab him into a tickling match and of course I come out victorious. Soon after, Molly's applying more sunscreen and jumping into the pool, Kristina's lathering herself and Spence and I'm left to clean up. I come back and Molly's in the shallow end with Spencer teaching him to kick his legs and move his arms and Kristina is struggling to get lotion on her back. "Need some help?"
"I would love some help. Do you think you can call over the hot lifeguard?"
"I have someone better in mind."
"Oooh. Who?"
"Me." I grab the bottle and rub the back of her arms, her neck and her shoulders.
"Well, as long as you finish before my boyfriend comes back."
"Your boyfriend, is he a big guy?"
"Big enough. But he's very protective." I finish my task and we sit together for a few minutes before Molly wants to go swim by herself so Kris and I take over with Spence.
I saw it before it happened. Molly and her friends were ready for another race and I glanced over to watch while Kris was showing Spence how to put his face in the water. She was next to the boy that had cheated before and when someone yelled go, I saw the little blonde boy push off using poor Molly's head, only this time her head went under and when she came up she was coughing and wiping her face. Before I could swim over, everyone was coming back, that little cheater gloating that he had won, again. I watch as Molly confronts Billy (the little you-know-what). "You didn't win."
"Um, yes I did."
"No you didn't. At least not fairly. You pushed me under the water."
"You were too close to me. You got what you deserved. Next time, don't be such a baby." Another little girl steps in next to Molly.
"Don't call her a baby. I saw you push her. I call a rematch." This time when the kids line up, Molly is far away from Billy and surprise, surprise, Molly is the winner. The kids break up once again and Molly gets out to go to the bathroom. I watch as Billy scowls by himself in the corner of the pool.
Molly comes back from the bathroom, hangs her towel on our chair and turns toward the diving board. Then Billy appears behind her and as if in slow motion I watch him shove past her and she falls forward, scraping her knees on the concrete beneath her. I hand Spencer back to Kristina and lift myself out of the pool and pick Molly up and sit her on my lap. Her eyes are watery and both her knees are bloody. Luckily for us, Kristina has a very strong mom gene and packed like one. She tells me where the first aid kit is and I clean out her scrapes with Bacitracin and Neosporin. It's pointless to put a band-aid over it and she stays curled in my lap until the bleeding subsides.
Kristina keeps Spencer by the edge of the pool and when I hear her giggle I look up to see a very angry mother holding a very unhappy Billy. "Excuse me; I believe my son has something he'd like to say." She nudges him forward and Molly lifts her head from my shoulder. "I'm sorry." His head is low and his voice is muffled in embarrassment.
"I don't think she heard you Billy."
"I said, I'm sorry for pushing you."
"Apology accepted." Billy and his mother pack up and leave the pool and Molly goes back in and I lounge back in my chair and smile. Spencer is kicking his way towards Kristina, Molly's practicing her diving and I get to enjoy the view. For a man who never thought about family and home, I'm happy to report that although I stumbled upon both, I haven't looked back since.
An old couple takes the table beside me. Kristina motions for me to look at Molly on the diving board as she does and awkward flip into the water. "Did you watch?" I wink at her and tell her to show me again. I feel a gentle tap on my shoulder and turn to face the older woman, her white hair pulled into a bun and one leg crossed over the other. "I don't mean to intrude, but you have a lovely family." An instinctive 'thank you' comes out and I don't have the heart to tell the woman that Kristina is only my girlfriend and Molly and Spence aren't ours. So, instead I smile at the woman and allow myself to have a family. I join Kristina and Spencer and tell her what the woman said and she looks up and waves. For one night Kristina and I allow ourselves to pretend and maybe hope.
By the time we get home, Spencer is sound asleep in his car seat and Molly was starting to doze off. Molly and I bring in the totes while Kristina grabs Spencer and we head into the house. With Molly fully awake, we play a game of 'go-fish' while Spencer snoozes on the couch. I can her Kristina rummaging around in the kitchen and she brings in take-out menus and we unanimously agree on Chinese. She orders enough for even Mac and Alexis sets the table and joins our new game.
Mac and Alexis arrive before the food does. She changes out of her work clothes and both her and Mac watch Kristina kick our butts in Gin. With two wins under her belt, Kristina and I lose the third game to Molly and as another game is about to begin the food arrives, Mac pays the delivery man and I clean up the cards and bring Spence into the kitchen. We don't have a booster seat for the little man so he stays in my lap and manages to drop chicken on my pants once; very impressive.
When Nikolas comes by at 7:30, Spencer is knocked out, doesn't even wake up when his father carries him out to the car. My old man calls with a dilemma and I have to pick up the extra shift. I kiss Kristina and make my way over to the certain chaos I know is waiting for me. Maybe I was never meant to leave Port Charles, maybe this was fates' plan; I was drowning in an ocean of misery and solitude and she threw me a lifesaver; Kristina