“If that finger touches the air, you’re computer’s going to mysteriously come down with a virus and all your porn’s going to be gone.”
The finger stayed in place, and the hand was lowered back to his side, but he still glared at me.
The rest of the little dudes inched away from me. The one who tried to touch my ass suddenly looked like the pizza had gone down the wrong tube.
“Whatever.” Austin shrugged, saving face, and then they grabbed the rest of the pizza, some pop, and headed back downstairs.
Shelley was fighting back a grin and burst out laughing the second they were around the corner.
“Oh, dear. I shouldn’t be laughing, but I’ve never seen Austin handled like that. I’ve never been able to get him to do anything.”
I shrugged and went to my own room. It should’ve been her job, not mine or Mandy’s. We weren’t the parents.
When I got to my room, I sat at my desk and did homework. I worked for a good hour straight, getting most of everything done, including a paper that’s due at the end of the semester in psychology. Mrs. Maslow would be so proud—it was on Pavlov’s behavioral conditioning. Ivan and his dogs had nothing on him and those little rats.
“Taryn.” Shelley knocked and poked her head through. “You think you’ll be ready to go pretty soon?”
I checked my phone, no calls. Thank God.
“Yeah, give me five minutes,” I replied, starting to look forward to a good swim.
A moment later we were in the car and Shelley was pulling back out into the road. She was so excited, swimming just cleared her head and she loved that it was something we could do together. And she loved how Austin and I seemed to have bonded. Really. His friends couldn’t shut up about me, they thought I was so cool. She’d heard it herself, when she went down to hang out with them and watch a movie. She talked the entire way. I stayed silent.
Holy hell, the water felt great. It felt great to do my own thing again. I spent an hour on the diving boards and two hours doing laps. I felt alive when I pulled myself out.
I saw Shelley at a patio table, talking with a slim, older guy. He looked to be in his thirties, and he didn’t look half bad. I saw the shoulders and knew he was a swimmer or had been a swimmer.
“Taryn!” Shelley gushed, extending a hand to me and pulling me to her side. “This is Mr. Greenly. You know, the coach I was telling you about.”
“Hi,” I said stiffly, feeling uncomfortable. Didn’t Shelley know I hated to be hugged by now?
“Prescott saw you on the diving boards. He’d like you to try out for the swim team. Isn’t that magnificent?”
“Uh—” I must’ve looked in pain, because Prescott chuckled.
He murmured, “Coach Greenly.” He extended a hand out and shook mine. “You have a lot of talent. If you’re interested in getting pushed and training to your potential, come talk to me. My office is in the rec center, just off the pool.”
It actually sounded tempting, but I couldn’t think about it right now. I had enough on my mind.
On the way home, Shelley was already planning my future: what scholarship I was going to get, what schools I should apply to.
I sighed in relief when I finally managed to escape to my room. I closed the door and quickly laid on my bed, exhaustion seeping into every bone.
I must’ve fallen asleep, because I woke up to my phone ringing. It was ten at night and the hallway was dark under my door.
Rolling over, I grabbed it—Mandy.
“Hello?” I asked, disoriented.
“Hey, where are you?” she asked.
“At home.”
“Mom and Dad home?”
“I dunno. We went swimming and then I fell asleep, but I think everyone’s asleep. The hallway’s dark and I don’t hear anything.”
“Thank God.” She breathed in relief. “Listen, if Mom and Dad ask, tell them I came home late and left early.”