Tactics & Teamwork Chapter 21

After Kent parked his car, Mark was still laughing his his ass off and wasn't getting out, so Kent suggested to Carrie that they just let Lyn deal with him and that they should enter the building without them.

"I'm sure Lyn can get him under control soon enough." He said and Carrie responded by locking her arm through his.

"Come on, don't lie, you just want me to get changed into my bikini." She said with a smirk before they walked inside together.

"Maybe." Kent joked back. "Or maybe I just want you to see me shirtless, ever think of that?" Carrie didn't have a chance to respond before Sain butted in and put his arms around the both of them.

"Did my ears deceive me? I think I just heard Kent try and smooth talk a lady. You should have him say it again and record it, it may be the last time anyone hears something like that live." He joked. It was true, Kent wasn't the one to try and be smooth, but he was trying his best for Carrie because he knew she liked it when he did.

"Sain, back off, I thought it was smooth as warm butter. You should give him more credit." Carrie told him.

"Alas, the beautiful young lady is correct." Sain said dramatically. "Like a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, my boon companion might just turn out to be quite the catch for someone like you."

"Says the guy whose never had a stable relationship." Kent joked and Carrie couldn't help but laugh. "Anyways, I'm sure you don't want to follow me into the locker room, so I'll wait for you by yours until you're done."

"And who says that I'm going to take forever?" Carrie said with a fake pout.

"My bad, must be my inner caterpillar." Kent said before leaving with Sain to go get changed. "Sain, tell me the truth, did that come off as awkwardly as I thought it did?"

"Okay, now I'm worried, you're asking me for relationship stuff?" Sain said totally serious. "Dude, you must be really into her if you're asking me."

"Just answer the damn question Sain." Kent said a bit annoyed. He was nervous and it was making his emotions be all out of whack.

"You sounded perfectly normal to me, and Carrie responded well. You need to take her advice and give yourself some more credit. I may joke about it, but you are very good at holding conversations with women without them leaving or slapping you."

"Well, unlike you, I actually use my ears and brain." Kent jested. "But thank you, I know you really mean that and it gives me confidence."

"Hey, what are goofball friends for?" Sain said with a smirk. "But real talk, you aren't going to bail on her like you did Lyn if she wants to get serious, right?" Kent sighed, but it was a legitimate concern of his.

"Honestly, I have no idea Sain." He admitted. "It has to feel right to me, you know? I don't want to give myself to someone who I don't feel completely safe with. I don't want to get hurt, and I don't want to hurt them."

"I understand Kent, you are a better man than me." Sain admitted. He decided that the conversation was getting to heavy though and decided to do what he did best, lighten the mood. "The real question though is how she's going to react to your glasses." Sain commented. Kent wore contacts most of the time, but since it was dangerous to his eyes to swim with them in, and because sometimes he ran out of them, he had a back up pair of glasses.

"If I remember correctly Lyn laughed when she saw them for the first time, can't get any worse than that." Kent said back as he put them on. But he was grateful for the subject change. "And they have to be better looking than goggles." About that time Mark walked into the locker room and looked at Kent.

"Hey, sweet glasses Kent." He said truly thinking that and Sain just shrugged when Kent looked at him in confusion. With that Kent was ready so he left the locker room. He saw Lyn waiting from behind the door and did his best to not think about what she was planning as he walked towards the other locker room where Carrie would be. It only took a few minutes before Carrie came out, she was wearing a lavender bikini that was a tad smaller than average for a woman her size, but not to the size where it would be inappropriate. Kent was going to greet her by telling her how good she looked, but before he could she was poking and inspecting his chest and stomach area.

"There are no way these are real Kent." She said moving her finger up and down his abs. "I mean I knew you were going to be in shape, but this is wow. You are completely ripped." Kent looked around to see if anyone was watching them, because it would have been super embarrassing if they were.

"Well, you know, eating well and exercising will do that for you." He said a bit nervously before Carrie traced her finger over one of his sensitive spots. He let out a small chuckle and Carrie looked up at him with a devilish grin.

"Kent, you wouldn't happen to be ticklish would you?" She asked as she stood up and looked him in the eyes. That's when she noticed the glasses and she froze. "And you can pull off glasses? What did I do right to get someone like you?"

"You like them?" Kent asked rhetorically. "I thought you might think they make me look like more of a nerd than Mark is."

"Hey, I resent that!" Mark said as him and Lyn passed by, which got the two of them to laugh.

"Yeah, they make you look sharp and mature, you should wear them more often." Carrie said after they got a hold of themselves.

"Maybe I will then. To tell you the truth I hate having to poke my eyes every time I put them in. Maybe I'll just wear the contacts during games." Kent pondered to her as they walked towards the pool.

"It's up to you really, I don't want to pressure you." Carrie said, hoping he understood,

"I know, and I appreciate your input. It's just a shame I have to take them off to swim and not get to see you in your full beauty." Kent said as he placed his glasses on a table and got ready to dive in. He got to the edge and did an almost perfect jackknife that took him to the bottom of the pool before he swam back up.

"Showoff." Carrie jested before diving in herself. She knew she couldn't be as graceful as Kent was so she just did a cannonball to try and splash water in his face. After that they did what any two teenagers would do in a pool with friends, swim and have fun. The played a game of chicken with Matthew and Leila, raced each other across the pool, and just talked and waded when they got tired. Eventually Kent was floating on his back with Carrie sitting on his stomach since she was pretty light. "You think Mark is going to come in soon? He's been sitting in that chair for about half an hour?" Carrie asked looking at him.

"He might not know how to swim." Kent mentioned, guessing correctly. "I'm sure Lyn will find a way to get him to have some fun."

"Lyn is so pretty in her bikini, Mark is a lucky guy." Carrie commented. She wasn't fishing for compliments, but Kent decided to anyway.

"Hey, you're pretty too, even my blind eyes and oblivious mind can see that." He said. Carrie got off of his chest and he stood up in the pool and held her close. "Don't go comparing yourself to other people, believe me, that doesn't help at all."

"Well, you've got me there." Carrie said with a smile before she pecked him on the cheek. "Hey, why don't we get a snack to eat, I'm kind of hungry."

"Sounds good to me." Kent answered and the two exited the pool. Carrie went to go get the snacks while Kent found his glasses. Mark was sitting in the chair next to them so he chatted with him for a bit before going to find Carrie. She had the snacks and was sitting at a table, but as soon as he sat down he heard Lyn yell from across the building.

"Sain! He doesn't know how to swim!" Kent noticed that Mark's chair was gone and saw Lyn dive into the pool. He put two and two together and ran over to the pool, but not before letting Sain have it.

"Sain, you idiot!" He yelled at his friend, smacking him in the back of the head before diving in after Lyn. Once again it took him to the bottom of the pool where he saw Mark thrashing around with a chair around his foot. Luckily both him and Lyn got him out of there before he drowned, though Lyn, for some reason, thought it would calm Mark down to kiss him under the water and he had to watch that. It didn't affect him as much as he thought it would though and as Lyn carried Mark off to the locker room like he suggested she do Kent found Carrie as she had come over to see what the commotion was.

"Kent! That was amazing!" She said excitedly since he had just helped save Mark's life. "You were like fish in there you saved him so fast." Kent's only reaction was to hold her close and plant a big kiss on her lips. Part of it was the adrenaline from saving Mark, but most of it was the realization that he was losing the feelings from Lyn he used to have, and it was all because of her. It was like Lyn kissing Mark was the revelation he needed to finally and truly start to let go.

"Sorry, I just had to do that." Kent said a bit sheepishly as he pulled back and let her go. She was blushing really hard and he couldn't help but think it immensely cute.

"Don't be." She said softly as she closed the distance again and kissed him back.

"Hey, why don't we go hang out in the hottub it the corner, it seems more private." Kent said in a low voice after they broke apart again.

"I was just about to suggest the same thing." Carrie replied softly as well. "But bring the glasses along too."

A/N- I totally forgot today was Wednesday. Oops.