Forbidden Fruits

Chapter 3: Blade

The girl in the pool is small. That's the first thing I notice. Of course, from my vantage point on the second story of the gym, everyone in the pool looks reasonably small. Perspectives, and all that. But this girl is especially small. If I had to guess, if I was down there and standing right next to her, she'd come up to my shoulder.

So yeah, tiny. The girl is tiny.

I blame my inability to stop looking at her on that fact. It's not every day you see a college girl who's that short. That's why I meet her gaze, unable to look away. Not because she's one of the most stunning creatures I've ever laid my eyes on.

She seems to have questions about me as well judging off the fact that I think she's been watching me far longer than I've been watching her.

I had been minding my own business, getting some practice in at the school's boxing room. Ray's Gym, the place I usually go to workout, was closed for the week because Ray was taking his daughter to DisneyWorld. So I had no choice but to come to the school recreation center instead. I figured that at 9:00 PM, no one would be out.

I was deep in my set, using the shitty punching bag the school had hung up when I had first felt eyes on me. When I finally let myself look at who it was that was watching me, I definitely wasn't expecting it to be some small girl floating in the pool. I definitely didn't expect it to be some small, beautiful girl. Her hair was a golden halo around her head, though it was darker thanks to the water from the pool. I was curious to see what it looked like completely dry. If it would complete the angelic look she already had going for her.

There was something about her I couldn't put my finger on. I had never had this reaction to seeing a girl before. Not at parties when girls would crowd around me, not after matches when they would run their manicured fingers down my arm and coo how much they liked my tattoos, not ever. There was never a girl that captured my interest like this girl was.

I wanted to keep looking at her, I wanted to talk to her. That was even weirder. I don't enjoy talking to anyone other than my sister and sometimes Ray. I've never wanted to talk to anyone before. Some part of me appreciated that the girl down there seemed to be just as interested.

I could hear the piercing shrill of the whistle ever behind the glass. Tiny in the pool snapped her head around to look at the lifeguard who blew the whistle. I couldn't hear what he said, but I was assuming that he was closing the pool. A quick glance over at a clock confirmed that. The pool closed at 10:00 PM, it was now 10:01. When I looked back, Tiny was hustling her little body out of the pool.

I couldn't stop myself from chuckling a little. It was cute watching her fight against the water to clamber out. When she emerged I finally saw her swimsuit. I was never one to really notice or care what other people wore, but it seems this girl is already causing all new experiences and feelings.

Her swimsuit was cute. The bright lamps around the pool were the only thing that allowed me to see it, and the color clearly. It was mainly white with peachy pink highlights. I liked it. The shade of pink suited her really well.

I cursed myself. Who the fuck was I? Considering how well a shade of pink worked when some random girl wore it? I have never once in my life even considered how good colors look on anyone, not even myself.

Yet, part of me enjoyed it.

That part of me, I realized, only enjoyed it because it was all about her.

My feet started moving on their own, I didn't even really know what I was doing. I tried to convey some sort of mind signal to the girl to wait. I needed to talk to her, to learn her name. To hear her voice. I started throwing shit back into my gym bag, not caring about actually cleaning up. I was just moving as fast as I could to get to her before she was gone.

I was out of the room in a couple seconds, dashing through the gym like a mad man. I barrelled down the stairs, hoping and praying that Tiny out there was taking real long to dry off. In no time flat, I was bursting out one of the back doors into the poolside. I looked around, searching for her.

Except, she was gone.

"Hey dude, pools closed you gotta go," the mundane voice of the lifeguard called out.

I cursed under my breath, retreating back inside to try and intersect her path out of the gym. Even as I made it to the front entrance, there was no sign of her. My chest tightened as I realized I lost her.

In a last ditch effort, I left the gym and searched the sidewalks for her frame, but there was no use. She must have ran out of the gym and back to wherever she came from. The dorms, most likely.

I knew I could try to track her down. Ask around the dorms if anyone had seen her. She sorta stuck out, and people are usually quick to answer questions when I ask, so it wouldn't be hard. But, I had no place to start. I could guess her year, a freshman I think, but even that would barely narrow it down. It'd be a wild duck chase, and a creepy one at that.

The last thing I wanted to do was scare this girl. If she is a freshman like I think, she's probably got enough stress and anxiety already regarding move in. I don't need to be adding onto that just because she... I don't know, made me feel something for a moment?

There was no point. We were nothing more than two comets, briefly crossing paths. Whatever infatuation we had for each other back there was weird and out of place. It's a full moon, I think. People do weird shit on full moons, right?

I looked up at the sky to confirm only to find that no, it's not a full moon. The crescent in the sky seemed to laugh at me as I floundered for an explanation for what I just experienced.

With a sigh and a shake of my head, I set off down the path towards where my car is parked. What I need is to have a drink and forget all about it. My first fight back for the school year is in three days on Friday, and I have to be focused. Hanging onto shit like this will only distract me and bring me down.

I walk along the dimly lit path, allowing myself to forget about my off-handed interaction with the girl in the pool. 

A/N: Finally, Hubby's perspective! These chapters will prob be shorter. He's just harder to write for I'm so sorry </3