Tweetie

59

"You know," she continued, turning to face Oscar with a weakened smile as he brushed his wet hair from his face with one hand and tugged at the soaked graphic-tee that now clung to his skin with the other, "I'm glad you at least know how to swim."

"What were you doing!?" He yelled out, his mind whirling with the panic she should have felt, but she was in such an awful state, that nothing she thought about really clicked in her head.

"I was-" she coughed again, feeling the sting of chlorine in the back of her throat. Her panic was catching up to her. "Oh god..."

He didn't say anything, instead, he dropped onto her and grasped her in a tight hug, knowing no other words that could show his relief that she was still there. She returned the hug with shaking hands, both grasping each other and sharing the water that soaked them between each other until the water turned warm from their temperatures.

"Did you," she spoke into him, pausing to try and clear her head, "did you happen to see Ricky?"

"He ran into the changing rooms," Oscar said, his voice soft as he trembled, neither making any moves to let go because despite them both being inside, they were freezing. "I locked him in, he should be stuck there for a while until he kicks it open."

"Why did you lock him in?"

"I saw an opportunity and I took it," he laughed in a long breath. "Are you okay?"

"I- I don't know," she said, "I'm kinda having a bit of a meltdown and I'm freezing and my throat hurts but I can't move and- gah... no, not really."

"That's okay," he said gently, "you don't need to be okay. But, do you mind if we stay like this for a few minutes? It's cold and you're warmer than the water and I don't think going outside while we're freezing is a good idea."

"We can stay," she agreed, "I need a minute anyway..."

He smiled, tightening his grasp on her before they fell quiet, letting the sound of dripping, waving water and a distant crowd engulf them until they decided they could speak more.

"You know," he decided to fill the silence, letting her rest her voice while he talked instead, "locking Ricky in the changing room felt good."

"How come? Besides the obvious."

"I did it for my brother. Ricky is a shitty person and he makes my brothers life so much harder than it has to be."

"You care about your brother a lot, huh?"

"Yeah," he nodded, neither of them budging even an inch from where they laid beside the pool. "I know this isn't the best time to explain things, but-"

"Don't worry," she breathed, "if not now, then when?"

"Well, you almost died-"

"Oscy, just explain. I don't mind, I'd rather not think about the whole drowning thing."

"Well," he sighed, "my dad and brother had a pretty bad life for a while. I mean, my mum was horrible. She'd hit them both all the time but neither would do anything about it. I spent a lot of my life hidden away, she liked me so she didn't touch me. But I must have annoyed her once and she did hit me. I was really upset, so I told school and they got the police involved and things ended up getting sorted. But it wasn't fun, y'know? I was alone for a long time and the whole situation stupidly made me cautious around girls because I thought all girls were like that. She was the only female in my life and that's all I saw. But, it changed my dad and brother a lot too. So knowing that Ricky and his friends would pick on my brother because of all of that, it just, it's really really upsetting..."