Waiting on the Sidelines (Waiting on the Sidelines #1)(45)



“Sunglasses,” I explained when Reed looked over, wondering what I was doing. I pulled them out and slid them on my face and leaned back to admire myself once more. Yes, I was hot today. And I was going to use it to my advantage.



We got to the facility with 15 minutes to spare. Reed speeds a bit, but he never makes me nervous. There were 10 or 12 other lifeguards there with sheets of paper and they started calling out names to gather us into groups for testing. I started in the deep end for treading while Reed’s group started at the lanes for timed swimming and rescue drills. I dropped my bag over in a shady corner and tucked my sunglasses inside. Reed jogged over to hand his to me for safe keeping as well.

“Where’s your purse?” I joked.

“Must’ve left it at home,” he threw right back at me. We were getting good at this type of back-and-forth with one another. It felt comfortable and just right.

I waited for Reed to turn before I slid my shorts down and kicked them to the side. I slipped out of my flip flops and headed to my group at the deep end. When I reached them, I stood at the edge and stretched my arms a bit, dangling them in front of me and relaxing the muscles in my back. When I pulled my head up, I looked at Reed who was looking right back at me with a bit of a wicked smile. I made out the slightest wink and blushed a little from his attention.

Head in the game, Nolan. You’re hot stuff, remember?

We all listened closely to the instructions and were soon jumping into the pool and spreading out to give one another space. We treaded for several minutes before the guards on duty stopped us and then handed us small weights and asked us to do it again. A few of the girls in my group couldn’t keep up and had to drop out then and there. I was breathing hard, but I wasn’t having any trouble holding my weight up.

Whenever I needed a distraction, I would shift my eyes to glance at the racing lanes where Reed stood dripping wet in dark red board shorts and nothing else. In the two years I’d known him, his body somehow filled out even more. His arms were defined and his chest was chiseled like a college football player. I knew he lifted and ran every day, but I never had so long to really take in what was going on underneath those Tshirts and sweatshirts.

Reed caught me staring at least twice, and each time he winked at me, making me laugh and almost lose my weight.



The rest of the testing was a breeze after the treading portion, and I was glad I had that part first. I was the fastest swimmer in my group for the timed sessions. I was getting ready to brag about it to Reed when I looked over the sheets posted on the board and realized I was the second fastest overall. Reed was first.

“I think you need to be tested for performance enhancers,” I joked behind him, snapping my towel at him a bit as he turned around.

“Hey, what’s this with you being this stud swimmer, huh?” he turned, his breath catching a bit when he looked at my full body in a swimsuit. Where I would normally feel embarrassed and want to wrap my towel around me and cover up, I instead felt empowered. I threw it on the bench and just kept talking.

“Yeah, I swam a lot with Mike when we were younger. He swims at the college for exercise all the time and I sometimes join him, but I haven’t gone in a while,” I said. I loved swimming. Would totally join the swim team if we had one at Coolidge High. We didn’t really have a pool in town, so that idea was out.

“Well, you’re a bad-ass,” he smiled. “I’m pretty sure we’re good for the summer gig.”

I sat on the bench and grabbed the towel to dry out my hair some. I pulled the braid out slowly to try to preserve some of the waves left behind. As my head was slung over, I heard one of the lead guards pop the bullhorn on and start talking.

“OK, listen up. If I call your name, stick around cuz we need to have you fill out your hiring paperwork. Not everyone will get hired, so I’m sorry for those of you who won’t be joining us this summer. But, thank you all for trying out.”

I held my breath for just a moment with a brief flash of fear. What if I don’t make it, or Reed doesn’t make it? But the worrying was for naught as our names were the first two they read off. Reed high-fived me and sat down next to me on the bench, our legs touching. He didn’t move and I wouldn’t dare move.



Once the paperwork was done, I pulled out my shorts and slid them back up over my now dry suit. I fished out Reed’s glasses and put mine on, too. We waited at the counter for Penny to work out schedules. I leaned against the counter and Reed stood right next to me, casually slinging his arm around my shoulder, holding his hat over my shoulder in his right hand. I didn’t dare look at him, but I saw Penny chuckle a little at the surprised look on my face.

“OK, you two kids, here are the slots we have open. How you wanna work it? You can sign up together or work splits, whatever works best for you, but grab your spots quick if you want them,” Penny said, sliding over a large clipboard with two months of squares on the papers.

“Together works for me, you?” Reed said, almost sounding hopeful.

“Sure,” I shrugged, playing it off while my insides were doing cartwheels.

We signed our names for mostly Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, the 1-5 p.m. shift. We threw a few Fridays in, too. I let Reed pick because he had places he needed to be, and I was already at the only place I wanted to be this summer.

The next day was a mandatory work day for everyone. It was camp day, so groups of kids were going to come in every hour to use the facility. It wouldn’t be as crowded as normal and would provide some great training, Todd said.

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