You Looked Lost (Narry Lifeguard AU)

Chapter 3

I nodded my head as I listened, feeling a little relieved that I’d already seen everything done once while watching the girl ahead of me.  They threw in a couple of different colored pool rings, which floated to the bottom, and could be faintly seen from the surface.

“Alright, you can get started whenever you’re ready.”

I nodded and glanced at the surface one more time, before diving in.  I aimed for a specific ring, not particularly wanting to open my eyes underwater, but I did anyway, not wanting to embarrass myself by missing.  I grabbed the yellow ring and pushed off from the bottom, breaking through the surface and swimming to the edge to place it on the side of the pool.

John nodded at me and smiled.

“Good.  Now, just keep going until you’ve got all of them.”

I pushed off the side and dove back down a second time.  I continued doing this, until I’d retrieved every one; the purple, green, red, and blue.  I held onto the side as I waited for what to do next.  Now that I was actually doing the test, I felt a lot better.  It felt nice to be swimming again.  It was something I enjoyed that I didn’t do very often, mostly because I didn’t have a pool.

“Alright, next you’ll be treading water for two minutes.  You can only use your legs.  Arms have to be at your sides at all times.  We do this to see how well you can exert yourself.  You very well might have to struggle with a guest who can’t swim, only having the use of your legs in that situation.  So, you ready?” John asked me.

“Yeah,” I nodded my head and released my hold on the wall.

I moved more away from the edge, and had already started treading when John started the timer.  I felt kind of awkward just watching them watch me, so I looked at the water and focused on my breathing.  Anything to distract me.  I bet it had only been fifteen seconds (it had felt like five minutes though), when I heard a faint humming.  The humming started turning into words and I looked up at Harry, who was quietly singing to himself, but I could hear it.  I couldn’t exactly recognize the song, but it had a nice tune, and his voice sounded nice.

I was startled when John told me time was up, and that I’d done great.  I silently thanked Harry for distracting me.  Those two minutes had felt like nothing.  I grabbed onto the side of the pool again and waited for instructions.  John was writing something on his clipboard and saying something to Paula, I think was her name.  I turned my head to Harry, whose legs were dangling over the edge into the water, his forearms on his thighs.  He felt my gaze, and looked over at me.  He’d pulled a snapback over his head again, but he would probably have to take it off before he pretended to drown for me.

“So, did you tell your mom where you went?” Harry asked, grinning at me.

“Oh, yeah.  I told her I was out vandalizing people’s property and buying drugs.  She let me off with a warning,” I said and Harry laughed, his head tipped back slightly.

His laugh made me laugh too.

“Nah.  I told her where I was and she was fine.  She just insisted that next time I tell her, before running off without explanation,” I raised my eyebrows at Harry as I said it.

He nodded his head, still smiling to himself.

“That’s lucky.  My mom would kill me,” he dragged out the ‘kill.’

Harry stared at me for a second.

“You forgot to put on sunscreen didn’t you,” he stated matter-of-factly, something like exasperation in his voice.

“Oh, God.  Am I burning?” I groaned, realizing I’d forgotten sunscreen.

Harry laughed and nodded his head dramatically.