Summer Milestone

By the Pool

Chapter 10

~JOSH~

"These past couple of days have been the best fucking days of my life!" I exclaim as we stumble into Zack and Erica's hotel room.

"Ditto to that, bro," Zack agrees as he slams into his bed.

"So what are the plans for tomorrow?" Erica asks as she and Anna sit down on the other bed to turn on the TV.

"Aw, it's our last day," Anna comments sentimentally.

"We could go downtown again?" I suggest, unable to come up with something better.

"Nah, let's do something else..."

"We still haven't visited the Hollywood sign..."

"We also haven't gone to the beach. We could go surfing!" Anna suggests. Unfortunately, that plan doesn't work for all of us, seeing as not all of us know how to surf. And I'm not talking about me. I look back at Zack who's lying on his bed, staring at his phone, and yet he still manages to hear what we're talking about.

"I'm not much of a surfer, but... if you guys wanna go, don't let me spoil the fun."

"No, we should do something all of us can have fun doing," I speak up, not wanting Zack to be left out of the fun.

"Oh come on Zack, it'll be fun. We could teach you," Erica says optimistically.

"No thanks, I'm good. I just don't really like swimming," Zack replies coldly.

"Do you not know how?" Anna asks with a hint of annoyance in her voice. Damn, what's her problem again?

"Nope."

"Well, you should learn. You're 18, you should've learned how to when you were—" Anna continues, and I'm not really appreciating her tone towards him.

"Well I didn't, okay?! Just drop it. It's like I said, you guys can still go, I'm just not gonna participate," Zack says, almost snapping around that first part. He then gets up from his bed.

"We could do that," Anna says insensitively.

Um, how 'bout no.

I then see Zack exit the room through the back french doors that lead to the outer swimming pool, and I immediately know something's touched a nerve for him.

"No. It's not right for us to have fun and leave Zack by himself," Erica says, practically reading my thoughts and I instantly love her. Kinda wish she was my girlfriend instead.

"He was like that at the party, what's his deal with swimming? I mean, it's not hard," Anna says, slightly antagonizing me because of her ignorance and obvious indifference towards Zack. So what if he doesn't like swimming? Just leave him alone!

"That's his business. Just leave him be," I answer, trying my best to contain my annoyance towards her. I then look out through the french doors and see him sitting by himself staring into the pool, as if deep in thought. "I'm gonna go see if he's alright."

Seeing as it's almost eleven at night, I guess I understand why the pool's so empty, but it's still odd that we're literally the only people out here.

"You good?" I ask him as I approach. And as I get a better look at him I see that his eyes are red and wet as they stay fixed on the calm, blue pool water, seemingly not acknowledging my presence. When he doesn't answer right away, I take it as a hint that he doesn't want to be bothered. "Alright, I'll... let you be alone."

Before I get the chance to walk away though, he finally speaks up, "I don't... I don't want to be afraid of it... but..."

"What are you so afraid of?" I ask him, turning back around.

He gives me a silent chuckle and responds with, "Dying? What else?"

"You don't have to be afraid of that if you just learn how to swim. It's honestly not hard to learn. I learned when I was 7. If I can so can you."

"It's like... just being in any sorta water where my feet don't touch the ground terrifies me. It paralyzes me completely..."

"Well everyone experiences that. You just gotta overcome your fears, man."

"When I was 5, I almost drowned. We were on vacation in San Francisco, and we stayed at this hotel where there was a swimming pool. My dad was supposed to be watching me that day, but instead, he decided to go score some drugs. I could've died if weren't for some stranger at the pool. That was also the last day I ever saw my father. My mom had finally had enough. She kicked him out. Now I have no idea what happened to him. He's probably dead by now. Fucking drug addict."

Through this whole time that I've known him, I never thought much about why there was no father in the picture. I don't know why. Didn't imagine there'd be a depressing backstory that tied to his fear of drowning.

"Ever since then, I've never wanted to be anywhere near a body of water. I'm afraid that even if I do learn how to swim, I'll fucking forget or something and no one will be around to save me. My own father didn't even give a shit."

"Some people just aren't meant to be parents. Forget him, especially given that he's part of the reason why you're so afraid about swimming."

He just sniffles as a response. So I continue.

"And besides, you're not gonna forget how to swim once you've learned. It's like riding a bike, or tying your shoes, once you learn you don't forget, trust me."

"I don't know, man. At this point in my life I just... really don't have the patience to learn. Not to mention whenever I even get around a body of water I start having these flashbacks of myself struggling to breathe as I couldn't reach the goddamn surface. I don't want to experience that ever again. That's why I'm so reluctant."

"Listen to me, man..." I say, placing my palms on his shoulders as I face him. "You know I love ya, right?"

"Yes, you've made that quite clear."

"Well, this is me giving you some tough-love sorta advice... stop being a pussy. Face your fucking fears. I mean, come on, if you're serious about joining the Army or whatever, you're gonna need to learn how to overcome fear, because going off into a battlefield is a hell of a lot more terrifying than swimming for fuck's sake. You might even have to learn how to swim before you can even become a soldier, right? I don't know. The point is, you gotta face your fears. Especially now, given that you have the perfect opportunity right here in front of you," I point out the large, empty swimming pool sitting right before us.

"God, you're so fucking right, but I don't know if I'm up for it right now," he mutters, but I am not taking no for an answer. Better to do it right now seeing as there aren't any people around to disturb us.

"Nope! I'm gonna teach you right now while the pool is empty. Don't worry, you'll be safe. You're not gonna fucking die on my watch."

He just rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I still don't know," he says, getting up from the chair to get a better glance at the pool and its depth.

"You're getting into that pool tonight one way or another. Either the easy way or the hard way. Your choice."