Swimming Under the Stars

The Lake

As soon as Adam took his hand Ronan started dragging him at a breakneck run down the steep hill toward the water.

"Ronan!" Adam yelled breathlessly, "Slow down! I'm going to fall." Ronan ignored him and kept running. Adam swore under his breath, trying to quiet the practical voice that was yelling in his head that this was a bad idea. Being friends with Ronan was dangerous enough, encouraging his flirting and crazy ideas was even worse. But Adam didn't want to stop, even if part of him was terrified of where this could go.

Ronan let go of Adam's hand as they reached the sandy beach. Adam's thoughts suddenly ground to a halt as Ronan threw off his shirt, dropping it into the sand. He started undoing his pant buckle and Adam thought he might actually have a heart attack right there. He was glad Ronan wasn't looking at him and didn't notice him blushing furiously.

Adam started to undress, feeling awkward and shivering in the cold night air. Adam wasn't sure what he would've done if Ronan had stripped completely, but to his relief Ronan left his boxers on. Ronan turned back to Adam just as he was clumsily trying to pull off his pants, having forgotten to take off his shoes first.

Ronan grinned at him slyly as he watched him struggle with his shoes.

"Let's go slowpoke," he said.

Adam finally freed himself from his shoes and pants and they rushed toward the water, hitting it at the same time and gasping at the cold rush. Ronan dived under as soon as they got deep enough and Adam followed suit. Adam wondered if there were any sea creatures in Ronan's dream lake, but Ronan looked pretty confident swimming out. It must've been a good dream, Adam thought.

Adam watched Ronan swim, impressed at his powerful arms gliding through the water. Adam glimpsed parts of his tattoo snaking across his back and neck as he moved. He suddenly wanted to study the tattoo, and he imagined Ronan lying across his bed so that Adam could trace his fingers down the lines across his back.

Adam ducked his head underwater, trying desperately to clear his thoughts and focus on swimming. His body quickly remembered the rhythm of the strokes and he focused on how good the water felt around him.

Adam caught up to Ronan easily and matched his pace. He felt so much better in the water, like his body was his again. On land he was awkward and lanky and never knew where to put his hands. But in the water he felt fluid and seamless.

The two of them swam side by side for awhile, reaching the other side of the lake and turning back. They were halfway back when Ronan started to slow down.

"Damn you can swim," he said, sounding out of breath.

"Getting tired?" Adam teased, putting on a burst of strength and pulling ahead of Ronan easily. Ronan guffawed and reached out a hand, catching Adam's forearm and pulling him back.

"Hey!" Adam laughed, "Foul play!"

Ronan didn't let go but instead pulled Adam closer, their limbs tangling together as they tried to keep themselves afloat.

Adam laughed. "This is impossible," he said as they kept accidentally kicking each other.

Ronan just grinned and dove underwater, pushing against Adam and emerging from the water a ways away. He started swimming quickly towards land and Adam let out an angry yell as he realized what Ronan had done.

Adam kicked quickly, urging his body to move faster to catch up to the considerable head start Ronan had. He put his head underwater in front crawl, momentarily loosing track of Ronan in the water. He brought his head up to take a breath and saw too late that he had caught up to Ronan and was swimming straight for him. Adam ran into Ronan in a tangle of limbs and spitting of water. Adam started apologizing but Ronan just burst into laughter and Adam couldn't help giggling too.