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Dry Land

VIII

"Go out with me," Are the first words to leave his lips as soon as ours part, leaving me standing there speechless.


"I mean, yeah I guess. Like are you sure though? Like, I'm okay if you like, don't like want to or anything. You're like absolutely sure?" I ask before I can stop myself, making Jonathan laugh.


"Yes Alexis, I'm sure. Are you trying to talk me out of it?"


"No!" I nearly yell," I mean, uh, no. I just, okay." I finally decide to stop talking, my mouth was better shut than open whenever I felt myself making an awkward situation, which is exactly what I was doing.


Before Jonathan can respond, my phone starts to ring, interrupting the dead silence and making me jump. Jonathan starts to laugh again, making me retaliate by hitting him in the shoulder. I answer it while he rubs his 'wound', pouting at me.


"Yeah?"


"Alexis Belinsky I'm kidnapping you tonight for a girl's night. No ifs, ands, or buts. Movies and ice cream in my hotel room. Got it? Good." Is all Elizabeth says before hanging up the phone, leaving me just standing there looking at my phone.


"Who was it?" Jonathan asks.


"Uh, that was Elizabeth. Apparently I'm being kidnapped," I say, laughing a little bit," Problem is, I have no clue where she's staying or what room."


"Well why don't you just call your coach? Tom? Was that his name?"


I laugh at Jonathan's attempt at remembering Bob's name," It's Bob, but yeah. I guess I could do that, he's gonna try and convince me to come back to swimming though."


"You could always just call Elizabeth back too," He suggests.


"Yeah, I suppose you're right," I sigh," Sorry to kiss and run," I say, looking him in the eyes.


"Well, it's not like it's going to be the last time, so I'm cool with it," He tells me, a small smirk forming on his face, making me blush in return.


"Okay slick, whatever you say," I reply, smirking myself while grabbing my coat," Alright, well I guess I have to go. Call whoever and get ready for this girls night."


"Yeah," He sighs as we walk towards the front door to his apartment together," I guess I'll call you later then. We can talk a bit more about that date."


"That we will Mr. Toews," I smirk, turning around to face him as he opens the door," Look at you acting like a gentleman."


He pretends to be offended by my comment," I can totally be the world's best gentleman when I want to be. Maybe next time I won't open the door for you then, if you're going to be like that."


"Alright fine," I say shrugging my shoulders," Maybe there won't be a next time then."


"Maybe there won't be," He continues the teasing before leaning down and kissing me once more. He then pushes me out into the hallway lightly while I just laugh.


"Bye Jonathan."


"See you later Alexis."


--^--


"Wait, hold the phone. He asked you out? Oh my God!" Elizabeth squeals as I recount everything that had happened earlier in the day. I had decided to just call her back and ask her where she was staying and she had told me. Allison Schmitt had shown up as well, seeing as the three of us were really close.


I can't help the blush that rises to my cheeks. I still couldn't quite believe it either, to be honest.


"Wait, where's my phone? Apparently I need to hold it," I joke, looking around for my cell phone which happened to be in my overnight bag while trying to low-key change the subject. I didn't particularly enjoy talking about myself, or what happened in my life. That's why I was so awkward all of the time.


Allison laughs, as does Elizabeth. "Alright, don't go changing the subject. He seriously asked you out? After you guys kissed?" Allison questions.


"Do I need to write it out on a piece of paper? Or...." I trail off, causing Elizabeth to retaliate by hitting me in the shoulder.


"Alright missus smarty-pants, no need for that. We got it. So has Bob talked to you at all lately?" She questions. I shake my head, Bob and I hadn't really spoken for a couple of weeks.


"No, why?" I ask, her question piquing my interest. I had made it quite clear that I wasn't coming back to swimming for awhile, so the fact that Bob might want to talk to be was not only interesting but confusing.


"They're looking for an assistant coach for Russia this summer, and Bob thinks that you would be a good person for the position. Personally I think that if they ask you should do it, I want to have my girl with me," Elizabeth says, making me groan.


"Why does he always have to ask me?"


"Because Alexis, believe it or not, you're good. Really freaking good. Not just at swimming but at coaching too. And for crying out loud if you won't come back and swim, then they're sure as hell going to try and get you to coach at least. However I don't think they'll ever stop trying to get you back in the pool, and this might just be their way of doing it."


Deep down I knew she was right, although I didn't necessarily want her to be. Frank Busch had made it very clear a couple of weeks ago that he would do anything to get me back in the pool for the USA and Bob did as well. It seemed that everybody was wishing against what I wanted these days and I hated it.


"So anyways, how have things been for you two?" I question. We hadn't really seen each other much even though they both had been in Chicago for a couple of weeks now and I knew that there had to be a lot of catching up to do.


"Pretty good, practice has been hard but that's kind of a given. Heading into Christmas training and everything," Allison says while Elizabeth nods her head in agreement.


"Yeah, those Blackhawk guys have been hanging around the pool a bit more. Well, some of them anyways. They're pretty cool guys," Elizabeth says, making me chuckle.


"Yeah, until you spend a little too much time with them. Then they just seem get on your nerves."


--^--


"Alright Bobby, I'm here. What do you want from me?" I (sort of) jokingly ask as I walk on to the pool deck of Northwestern..


"Um, let's see...you back in a practice suit with some goggle and a USA swim cap, a couple more golds, an extent to your career that seemed to be going really well before you quit," He says, getting really real.


I let out a slow whistle," Hot damn Bobby, that's some pretty serious stuff."


"Yeah well I'm pretty serious," He says, making me nod my head.


"Yeah, I don't doubt that. Who knows Bobby, maybe someday," I tell him, shrugging my shoulders.


"Well that's better than a couple months ago, if I remember correctly, it was,' I'm never going to compete again.' So I suppose that's a better answer than what I thought'd it be."


I watch as a couple of the younger swimmers run up to one of the other coaches that was on deck, looking over the set that had been written up on the board while the coach explained it to them. I let out a deep sigh, remembering.


Remembering what it was like to be in their position. Wishing. Hoping. Wanting. Finally getting. I knew what it was like to be one of those kids, somewhat. Being about the age that I was when I first made the national team, that made the situations a bit different. Hell, my entire life was different.


I had been raised almost like a racehorse, primed for competition. It wasn't any question that I was meant to be an Olympian, my parents and Bob had started me early and when I was finally given the choice - around the time that Bob had decided that it was time to get really serious about the future - of whether I wanted to swim or not, it was too late. I had already fallen in love with it. All of it.


The feeling of the water gliding between my fingers. The power I felt pushing off the wall after every flip turn. The rush of energy that flowed through me overtime that I dove off the blocks. The winning. The success. I got caught up in all of it, I allowed myself to become lost in the one thing that felt most like home.


Looking at those kids, I couldn't help but smile at the eagerness on their faces. I knew that each one would have their own success story. Some would make it all the way, and some wouldn't. A certain, special few would find Olympic glory, while others would find their glory somewhere else.


I had found my glory, but like a lot of athletes had allowed myself to get caught up in it all. What those kids were still in love with, I had fallen out of love with. Not completely, but enough that it wasn't fun anymore.


"You miss it," Bob observes.


I sigh once again," I promised myself along time ago that as soon as I stopped having fun, I would stop altogether."


"Fair enough," Bob says," But it's not that hard to fall back in love with something once you fall out of it."


"What are you getting at Bobby?" I question.


"Come coach for me. You can work with some of the younger kids, get back on deck. Who knows? Maybe you'll fall back in love with it again."


I think about it for a second. Was this really something that I wanted to do? Did I want to risk falling back in love with swimming again? Quite honestly, I would give anything to be back in the water again.


"Alright Bobby," I say, finally giving in," I'll do it."

Notes

Comments

great job

It's back! Great update :D

hockeygirl07 hockeygirl07
1/12/16

Please update!!!

Arrow6677 Arrow6677
10/24/14

finally

I've just been reading this and it's so entertaining! You're on to something good here :)

kaks kaks
10/10/14