Learning to Swim(15)

I answered the phone with a mouthful of toothpaste. “Yep?” I mumbled in my best annoyed voice.

“Stef? This is Keith.”

Still holding the phone to my ear, I ran to the sink and spit out the toothpaste. (Actually, it was more like barfing than spitting.)

“Hello? Stef?”

I suddenly realized I hadn't even said hello yet. “Uh… h-hi,” I stammered.

“I got your number from the employee directory. I hope you don't mind me calling,” he said.

Keith could have gotten my number from an Internet porn site and I still wouldn't have minded him calling.

“It's nice to hear from you,” I warbled.

“Listen, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Okay,” I said nervously, hoping that the next words out of his mouth would be “Will you marry me?” It was a stretch, but somehow at the time anything seemed possible.

“Are you taking these swim lessons because of me?” he asked.

It felt as though every particle in my body was about to combust.

“Um… no,” I replied unconvincingly.

“I don't want you to feel pressured, though. Just because I think you should learn how to swim doesn't mean that you have to. And honestly, if your heart isn't in it and you'd rather be doing something else, like hanging out with your boyfriend or whatever, then it will just be a big waste of your time.”


I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. For one, Keith was being so sweet that I could barely stand it. Up until then, I'd only daydreamt about talking to him on the phone, and suddenly, it was happening and he was even nicer than I had imagined. For two, he had the TV blaring so loudly in the background, it was actually a little hard to hear him—how great was that? For three, he thought I was good enough to have a boyfriend, which I was, only the boy in question should have been him.

“I really want to learn how to swim, Keith. I was just busy tonight.” My voice cracked a bit, and I winced.

Keith kind of chuckled, which seemed odd. I hadn't said anything funny. “That's cool. What were you up to?”

I walked out into the messy living/dining/TV room and eyed the TV. This was my idea of busy? But before I could make up a good story, I realized something. The sound coming from Keith's end of the line was completely matching up with the visual from my TV.

Holy crap.

We were both watching America's Funniest Home Videos!

I heard Keith stifle another chuckle. Oh my God, this was unbelievable.

“Sorry, Stef. There's this marathon on ABC Family,” Keith said through his charming laugh.

“I know. I'm watching it too!” I chimed in, unable to hide my enthusiasm.

“Really?”

I couldn't believe what I was about to say. “This is my favorite show of all time.”

“I'm totally with you,” he agreed. “Which host do you like better? That dude from Full House or Daisy Fuentes and her dorky male sidekick?”

I pinched myself really hard, just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. “There's no comparison. Bob Saget is God.”

Had I just said Bob Saget was God?

Apparently Keith thought my remark was off-the-wall too, because he laughed again. “You know what? I'm having a party tomorrow night. You should come and hang out.”

My particles finally combusted. “Tomorrow night?”

“Yeah. My dad and his wife are going out of town so I'm having some friends over.”

“Okay,” I said through a gigantic grin.

“Great,” he replied. “Mora and her crew aren't going to be around either, so I hope you don't mind being in the girl minority.”

Whoa. No Mora.

“I live at 715 Tulare Stre—”

“I know where you live,” I interrupted. “Across the creek from Alice.”

The thought of Mora not being around to chaperone Keith had obviously affected my common sense, or else I wouldn't have said something that made me sound like a psychopath.

“Right,” he said after a brief hesitation. “So I'll see you tomorrow. Around seven?”

I caught a glimmer of my reflection in the TV. I may not have looked anything like my mother, but I had her plastic smile on my face.

“See you then,” I answered.

After I hung up the phone, I turned off the TV. Only then did I notice that I was humming.





6


The first thought that entered my mind when my head hit the pillow was this: Telling Keith that I would come over to his house when Mora wasn't around to act as a buffer had been a colossal mistake. It was like I had agreed to walk into the lion's den of love lunacy holding a rack of lamb. Was I completely out of my mind?

On the other hand, I couldn't get rid of this series of thoughts either: Did Keith invite me to this party because he liked me-liked me (girlfriend potential) or just liked me (only wanted to be friends)? Even though I knew that chances were overwhelmingly good that he just liked me, what would I do if it turned out that he actually liked me-liked me?

After tossing and turning for what seemed like hours, I finally followed Alice's advice and made a list of all the scenarios that were floating inside my head:

Possibilities:

I walk into Keith's house only to discover I am the party. It is just the two of us. He has planned a romantic evening to confess his love.