53- Swimming in the Summertime
Summary: Dustin saves El from drowning.
Requested by: NostalgiaInTheCity
It was supposed to be a fun thing.
El had been learning how to swim over the summer, a goal she'd had for quite some time.
They didn't want to take her to the public pool, all the people would have scared her.
Steve had sort of tried to forget about the fact that he had a pool ever since Barb died, but when the kids came over and begged him to let them use it, he was glad that it would be put to a new use.
The first time El tried to swim was shaky. She'd only let Steve and Mike help her, everyone else cheering her on. It didn't help the fact that she'd been put through what made her hate swimming again two months before.
But as the summer continued, El began to feel more comfortable in the water. When Max finally got out of her casts and was able to swim, El loved being in the water.
One hot day in July, there was a knock-on Dustin's door.
Dustin opened it and saw El standing there.
"Swim." was all she said.
Dustin instantly got what she was talking about.
"We're swimming later today, El. Can you wait?" Dusitn asked.
El shook her head.
"I want to do it alone, but Steve said that I have to have someone in the pool, and he doesn't want to get in. And we haven't hung out all that much lately so I thought we could swim." El explained.
Dustin was a little touched that El picked him over everyone else, especially Mike and Max.
"Steve also said that even though he wouldn't be outside, he would be watching us. And then he did that finger point that reminded me of that time Joyce was scolding that boy for trying to steal from Melvald's." El continued.
Dustin let out a chuckle imagining Steve doing the finger pointing thing. It was so easy to do.
"Alright, alright." Dustin held his hands up in surrender. "Let me get my stuff and then we can go swimming."
El gave Dustin a huge grin, then turned and gave Steve, who was watching the interaction from his car, a thumbs up, indicating that Dustin would be coming over.
"Come on, Dustin!" El shouted as she ran down the stairs in her blue and white polka dot one piece.
"I'm coming!" Dustin called back, coming out of the bathroom in his pineapple trunks.
"Don't run around the pool!" Steve yelled at them from the kitchen.
"Yes mom!" Dustin said to him as the two ran past him and out the door.
El and Dustin slowed down as they neared the pool, following Steve's directions.
They set down their towels and kicked their flip flops off by the lawn chairs.
El went over to the diving board.
"Have you been practicing your cannonball?" Dustin asked.
El nodded and grinned. Then she ran onto the diving board, bounced off the board, and cannonballed into the water.
It made a large splash, lightly dousing Dustin in water.
El popped back up, laughing.
"Good job!" Dustin cheered. "Let me try!"
El scooted over from the middle of the pool and held on to the edge of the pool.
"CANNONBALL!" Dustin screamed before he plunged into the water.
Dustin shot back up and found El giving him a look while laughing.
"What?" Dustin asked.
"You just drenched me!" El squealed then pushed of the wall and swam towards him.
"You were already wet!" Dustin defended.
"But I didn't want to get splashed!" El said between laughs.
Then she did the unthinkable.
El splashed Dustin right in the face.
Dustin spluttered backwards, staring at El incredulously.
"Oh, you're gonna get it!" Dustin shouted, splashing her.
So, a splash war ensued, and El ended up winning when she used her powers to soak Dustin.
They then played Marco Polo, Whirlpool, and other fun games.
They were diving for quarters when Steve appeared from the house.
"Time to come in!" he told them.
"Just let us get all the quarters!" Dustin called.
"Okay! I have to get something out of my car, so be careful!" Steve turned and head back into the house.
"We will!" both kids yelled to his back.
2 minutes later, they were down to the last quarter.
"You can get this one, El." Dustin told the girl, then climbed out of the pool and head towards the towels.
El nodded, then dived down to get the quarter.
She seemed to have gotten down to the bottom of the pool, but she stopped.
"El?" Dustin called down to the water.
Dustin felt concern bubble up in the back of his throat.
El started thrashing under the water.
Dustin's mind shut down as he dove into the water.
Dustin didn't wait for the bubbles to vanish from his vision, he swam straight to El and wrapped his arms around her.
He swam toward the surface, ignoring how limp El felt in his arms.
When he surfaced, he realized that he couldn't get out of the pool with El in arms without hurting her.
"Come on, El! Wake up! Wake up!" Dustin did some sort of Helmich maneuver on her.
El finally lurched forward, spluttering and coughing out water.
"Get it out. There you go. It's okay, El. You're okay El." Dustin rambled as he helped the panting girl out of the pool.
"Thanks." El whispered once she was finally out of the pool and wrapped in towel, sitting down in a lawn chair.
"No problem." Dustin answered. "What happened down there?"
"I don't know. Suddenly my mind went back to the lab when I was diving. It hasn't done that in a while." El explained, eyes closed.
Dustin gave her a worried look.
"I don't know if you should go swimming later today." Dustin told her quietly.
El's eyes sprung open.
"No! Please don't tell anyone! I've come so far, and everyone's worked so hard. I can swim still. If not, I'll tell everyone. Promise!" El begged.
Dustin was still contemplating her request when Steve came running up.
"I heard screaming! Was it silly screaming or..."
Dustin glance at El, who was giving him puppy dog eyes.
"Yeah, it's just when El was getting out I splashed her, and she wasn't expecting it. I ended up getting a lecture." Dustin lied.
Dustin was a horrible liar, but Steve bought this one. Well, sorta. He was still looking at the two skeptically.
"Okay, just making sure." Steve put his hands up in surrender. "Come on. I just made some lemonade."
Steve turned and El mouthed a thank you to Dustin. He returned it with a nod.
El was right.
Later, when they were swimming, El was fine.
She did stay super close to Dustin the whole time, though.
AN: Hope you liked it, NostalgiaInTheCity! Happy Martin Luther King Day! And Happy Birthday to Natalia Dyer 3 days later! Requests are open everyone!