IceBerg - 6. Chapter 6

‘So are you free this Saturday?’

I stared at the message.

My chest puffed up and I took a sharp intake of breath. The light was suddenly so much brighter in the room, stretching out to all shadows, clawing at every angle.

‘I can be. Anything you want to do?’

‘That swim thing you just mentioned sounds fun. We could be in the pool for a bit.’

‘Would I have to shave though?’

‘If you came with any hair less than what you have now, the date is already over.’

Date? A slow smile crept on my face.

‘Yes,’ he added. ‘I know I said date. A date in a pool. I’m weird. I I’ve told you that before, right?’

My smile widened, my teeth show through.

I typed, ‘So, on this date, whereabouts would I be meeting you?’

                          ***

I didn’t remember the chlorine smelling this strong last time I swam. But then, that was years ago when I was in a pool.

Taking a sharp sniff, I hugged my arms around myself. The rough bump of each tile was so weird under my foot, but then again, I was never usually barefooted. Or my skin uncovered this much. The chlorine filled the humid air. Children gave little screams of joy in the background followed by claps of water splashing. Claps of water splashing? Come on, Nathanial.

I looked down on my trunks. They were a dark colour, mush of dark blue, black, green. They were cheap and everyone could see that. He had said the back pool. Out of the way of people. So, I had to walk past three large pool areas.

I carried on walking past everyone, every step a slow one. I felt like I was walking on pebbles. Bowing my head down, I hugged my chest tighter. I tried to walk faster so I could get away from being so exposed.

I saw him. My breathing stopped for a moment. He climbed out the pool, stretching out into tall body, he lifted his goggles over his head and walked over with such a confident smile. Gosh, he was so tall. Built so well.

Half of me began to wonder if he would just walk right past me.

‘He should do,’ hissed a small Jake.

Not now!

‘You came!’

His teeth flashed before my eyes, a pure white. Agh. He was coming closer.

He hoovered over me, his smile never changing. His hands changed from being on his hips to putting them together before he set them down again on his hips again. I was instantly draw downwards.

He was wearing speedos. Of course, he was.

I snapped my head up and put my arms to my side. He was still smiling. His six-pack had silenced me.

I needed to say something. I hadn’t spoken yet.

Before I opened my mouth, Alex gave out a hearty laugh. Wow, he was so masculine. Like an action hero.

He seemed different from before when we bumped into each other at work. He wasn’t just a poster image robot.

I almost shrunk into myself, my body nearly caved in. I stooped my head low, my shoulders shrinking.

‘You are nervous as I am now, right?’ he said.

My eyes widened and I blurted out without thinking, ‘You are good at hiding the nerves!’

His eyes sparkled and he nodded over to the water, ‘Ready to swim?’

‘Oh,’ my voice faltered a bit. ‘Are we full on swimming or just being in the pool?’

‘It is your choice,’ he walked and climbed into the pool. ‘Whatever makes you feel comfortable.’ He smiled back at me, a little smile.

He sounded like every word he said was absolutely genuine.

I bit my lip and my brain began a slight itch. My hands went up to my face.

No. Don’t do that, you freak, I scolded myself.

‘That is weird, no one else does that, you know that right?’ I could hear Jake chipping away.

‘You, okay?’ Alex’s forehead frowned slightly.

‘Yeah’ I said, forcing myself to walk over. ‘Just nerves, sorry for being weird, ha.’

He already found it annoying. Messed up within five minutes.

‘I am glad you didn’t shave the beard,’ he commented.

‘Ha!’ The laugh escaped my lips, like bubbles into the air.

The water could have been warmer. I bounced once I was in, my arms swaying on top of the waves. It was just us in the back pool.

‘I didn’t realise it would be busy today,’ he appeared next to me, crouching in the water so he could be shoulder to shoulder with me.

He was really trying.

I muttered and teased, ‘Can’t believe you are wearing speedos.’

I turned to him and gave him a sideways grin.

Splashing a little water at me, he replied, ‘All good swimmers wear them.’

‘Makes sense. That’s why I am wearing this,’ I looked down on the grey blur under the water.

‘You can pull them off’ he winked. Then his face looked aghast and he stuttered, ‘I mean you can pull the look off, not that…’

‘You are damn right, ha,’ I replied with a small smirk.

He didn’t need to feel embarrassed. First Charlie Conray now Alex W. Scott. Have these men even looked in a mirror? They didn’t need to feel embarrassed in front of me. Alex was way too good to feel embarrassed.

He said nothing and splashed at me again.

Splashing him back, I added, ‘So you think you are the fastest swimmer in the UK? Pft!’

‘Pft?’ He edged closer to me.

I raised an eyebrow and said, ‘You clearly haven’t raced against me yet.’

‘No?’ he laughed, amused.

‘Come on,’ My fingertips stretched out behind me and I lifted my feet up. ‘Time for you to finally get beat.’

He stuck his tongue out, a pink flash. His eyes were still sparkling.

‘Okay,’ he put his goggles on. ‘I’ll go easy on you.’

‘That’s loser talk, AJ.’

He looked startled for a moment before gearing himself up next to me.

                                                                 ***

‘I am just too nice. Letting you win three races in a row. It shows you how nice I am,’ I panted.

I laughed and coughed, wiping my face with the back of my hand.

He pulled up next to me, with hardly any effort, and said, ‘Well, you’re the nicest guy I’ve ever been on a date with.’

‘You know what,’ I turned to him, catching my breath. ‘This is actually, ha, um, really fun. I am glad you invited me out.’

His face brightened, shining like his medals. That’s because of what I had said to him. Wow.

All this energy surged through me and my hands sparked out and splashed him. I laughed as he rubbed his face.

He gave his own devilish grin at me, and splashed me back, a big wallop into the water.

Grabbing my arm, he pulled me around. It was hard to laugh with all the chlorine burning my nose. Alex grabbed me from behind, his hands strong on my shoulders and pushed me down.

Coming back up, I coughed and spluttered, ‘Arse!’

I could feel his chest on my back, rising with each laugh that danced out of his mouth. It was so smooth and warm.

‘Come on, Winner, fancy another race,’ he backed off, cocking his head, smirking.

Turning around, with small coughs, I replied, ‘You sure your ego can take it?’

                                                   ***

‘Then you went out, ate steak and that was it?’

I sighed, taking a slice of pizza out of the box, ‘The steak was amazing.’

‘So, you’ve told me twice,’ he said.

‘It was good, and Alex got us the best table! I thought our conversation would be weird, but he kept making me laugh.’

‘Damn it, Waldo!’ he interrupted. ‘If I was in that changing room with that piece of arse.’

‘Oli!’

‘What?’ his mouth curled. He pulled up his legs and rested his feet up on the couch, next to me. ‘You two official now?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I thought you didn’t,’ he air quoted. ‘‘do hook ups.’’

I rolled my eyes at him and took a heavy bite of my slice. He knew I hated that, air quoting.

‘I wanted to surprise you, by the way,’ he reached over and flicked through the channel.

‘The surprise is we are not watching Desperate Housewives tonight?’

‘Don’t sound too excited,’ he snapped back. ‘I heard this was on tonight and thought you would like to see it.’

‘See…?’

He stopped at a channel. The lady version of Jerry Springer was talking.

‘Oh, she has a new chat show now?’ I quipped.

‘Watch,’ he ordered, mouth half full of pizza.

She talked for a while at the camera, ‘Back stage are my three guests tonight, the fabulous singer, Chantelle Matthews.’

The crowd clapped and cheered as a young slim woman pulled a face and smiled.

I turned to Oli and said, ‘Is she the one who did ‘Blue Poster Girl’?’

Kicking me hard, he pointed to the T.V.

‘The phenomenal Alex W. Scott!’

My head span forward, watching Alex laugh. His head was bowed down; his stance was very humbling. The crowd cheered higher and there were high-pitched wolf whistles.

Wow. The camera really didn’t do him justice, especially his skin. It was not as sparkling and strong as when I saw him. He didn’t seem real on TV. Just a flat square cut out of an action figure character on bright screen.

‘And finally, going for the third F.’

I frowned as the audience laughed. I didn’t get it.

‘The fantastic Charlie Conray!’

My mouth dropped a little.

Oli stared at me in the corner of his eye with a slow grin on his face.

Charlie leaned forward and gave a cheeky wink to the camera and laughed. All three guests were sat next to each other, like a misfit bunch squashed together on the couch.

Chantelle Matthews was sat in the middle, with a short blue dress. Charlie was so casual, his legs spread apart and his hands resting on his hips, wearing jeans and a jacket. Alex was sat up straight, wearing a sharp suit.

They couldn’t have looked further apart.

Oli gave a low whistle at me. He remarked, ‘Well, you certainly picked two of the finest men on television right now.’

I said nothing, my face alight with heat. Nothing could take my eyes away from the screen.

The next few weeks flew by, and Alex and I constantly talked online. I still met up with Charlie a few more times at the café. But due to his busy schedule with his new show, he could only meet for an hour on certain days. Which fitted perfect for an unsocial man, like myself.

So, the story telling was a slow progress. But I couldn’t complain. He seemed rushed too. Every time we meet, he was flushed, out of breath, tired. He gave me his phone number.

We had text daily to repeatedly agree on when we were definitely going to meet up. I thought about writing a story with someone would be fun but it seemed a little tiring. Guess that’s what the creative world is really like. But with Alex, meeting face to face hadn’t put a halt in our conversations; he was still the old AJ online.

Well, not entirely the old AJ.

‘I don’t get the AJ part,’ I typed on Thursday after a tedious long shift at work.

‘My mother’s maid name is Johnson.’

Oh. There we go.

‘Fair enough. That is pretty clever.’ I couldn’t come up with a witty remark. Then it came to me, and I typed ‘I bet people don’t even have to kneel down when you get pleasure.’ I sent a wink emoji.

He sent one right back. Our conversations were a bit different now. Not entirely innocent anymore.

‘The perks of being a giant,’ he replied. ‘You managed to get your shirt on today or do you want me to track you down to help?’

‘You would like that, wouldn’t you?’

‘So, would you.’

I bit my lip at that.

‘You’re biting you lip right now, aren’t you?’

I laughed, out loud, cheeks flushing at being caught.

‘What? It’s my sensual look’ I typed.

He sent nothing but a wink emoji.

My stomach felt giddy, staring at the cartoonish wink, my toes curled up in excitement, a wild grin exploded without any control on my face.

‘I’m glad you like the look.’ I paused and added, ‘You don’t need any look, you look so good, like, all the time.’

Yes, I said ‘like’ in a sentence like a teenager. So, what? I didn’t care if Jake mocked me for it. But he wasn’t around today. So today was a good day.

‘You’re ridiculously adorable. You know that, right?’

Giddy bubbles giggled out of my lips.

Before I could reply to that, a new email popped up. Pausing from the giddiness, I looked at the email. It was from Charlie.