Disequilibrium

Part 2: Sophomore Year - Scene 5

Oh.

"I didn't ignore you because of that, though," Casper says quickly. "I don't care who you like. I just got real pissed at the fact that he would say something like that, you know?"

I know. "So you don't trust him?"

Casper takes another bite then and shrugs. "I don't know. The whole situation's weird. Aaron can get pretty dramatic sometimes, I will admit, but this? I don't know, man. Both of you seem so unlikely to do these things."

I can't help but smile at that. Do you trust me?  I want to ask him, but I figure that'd be too weird. So instead I say, "Are we good then?"

He shrugs again. "I guess." Casper shifts to get a good look of me, mouth full of ham, cheese, and bread. "Hey, why don't you come to the community centre with us today? We'll be swimming laps then grab burgers after. We can resolve this whole thing once and for all."

I scrunch my nose. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"To be honest, I don't think so. But we're doing it anyway. You will come, won't you? Because Aaron isn't bad. He just has a few quirks about him."

It pisses me off that he's defending the bastard, but I still tell him I'm all right with it even though I'm not. I can't help it. He's looking at me with those eyes again; the same ones that made me go to that damned swim meet.

He's a little naïve, I figure. Not because he trusts me, but because he still thinks Aaron isn't as bad as he really is. Bad quirks need to be weeded out, I want to tell him. But I don't. Trust is all that matters to him, and I can't risk fucking that up.

 ***

Aaron nearly shits rocks when he sees me at the community centre. He has this idiotic look on his face when he finds Casper and I waiting for him at the doorway. Two other guys on the team are there as well, but they don't care for me much. Winston skipped out.

"What the hell are you doing here?" is the first thing he says. His eyes are blazing a furious blue, something I would've liked to watch if they were on any other person. But not him. Either way, I still smile like I don't want to shove his head in the pool.

"He'll be joining us for burgers after," Casper explains. "That isn't a problem, is it?"

"But he's not even on--"

"Aaron, seriously. Lay off."

He makes a move to say something but stops at the sight of Casper's eyes. They're hard as hell. Aaron's eyes shift from him to me over and over before he lets out an angry gruff. "Whatever," he says and roughly pulls out a notebook from his bag. "Let's just do the headcount."

Casper tries explaining why a handful of guys are too lazy to show up, but I'm not exactly listening. I'm too busy watching the way Aaron writes down the names. It's pretty annoying, to be honest. It's a chicken scratch, the letters don't stay the same size, and his pencil never touches the line.

The work of a coward. I can understand that much.

When he's done, the guys make their way down to the change rooms. I stay on the bleachers with the rest of the mothers watching their little ones play at the shallow end of the pool. There's one mother in particular I wish I could drown alongside Aaron. Every now and then she'd start screaming, Kyle! Kyle, do not drink the water! That's a no-no! I don't know why she's wasting her time. The kid looks like he doesn't give a shit about whatever she's screeching.

It doesn't take long for the swimmers to come out. They all test the water first before doing laps, some going the extra mile to impress any girl they can see. But I don't care much for them. I don't even look at Aaron. All I can stare at is him and his glory, completely mesmerised even though he's not swimming competitively. Hell, he's not swimming much at all.