Summer Milestone

Late Night Swim Lesson

Chapter 11

~JOSH~

Once we're both dressed in swimwear, we head into the shallow section of the pool with only a depth of three feet. We take it slow and I try to teach him how to float once we get to five-foot depth, so that if it doesn't work out he can easily stand up. At first, he grabs the ledge of the pool for support but eventually, he steadily lets go.

"You see, you're gettin' it," I say proudly as I watch him awkwardly float with my hands positioned right beneath him to catch him if he starts to sink.

"Yeah, I think I am," he says nervously, fearing that he's gonna sink any minute now.

"Alright, so now try floating on your stomach," I say. "Don't worry I gotcha." I then put my hands along the edge of his abdomen, holding him up so that he doesn't fall right away. Damn, his heart's racing!

I eventually start to steadily release, but unfortunately, his body doesn't stick to the surface. "Fuck!" he mumbles before his face plunges into the water. And that's when he starts to lose his cool, splashing around in the water, reminding me of Anna back at the beach.

"It's okay! It's okay! I gotcha, calm down!" I say grabbing a hold of him tightly before he has a panic attack or something.

"Fucking shit!" he says angrily as his feet finally catch the ground and he's able to simply stand. "God, I can't do this shit, man!"

"Yes, you can. Not everyone gets it their first try. Let's keep going, you can do it!"

"Ugh, fine."

After several attempts, he finally gets it, though he's pretty agitated by the end. "Alright, can we stop now?"

"You haven't even learned how to swim yet. Floating is just the first step."

"Ugh. Come on, man, it's almost midnight, we gotta get to sleep."

"Once you learn how to swim! Let's start with your legs. Grab ahold of the ledge and practice kicking your legs," I instruct, first demonstrating myself, to which he rolls his eyes.

"No, I'll look ridiculous."

"There's nobody here, dude! Just do it and stop being a baby!"

After a bit of reluctance, he finally does as I instruct him to. Though his position looks really awkward. It's pretty cute actually.

"Try a flutter kick. Ya know, point your toes kinda like a ballerina. Keep your legs straight and alternate them as you make small kicks."

"How is this helping me if I'm still holding onto the damn ledge?" He complains, redfaced over how funny he looks.

"You have to know how to use your legs first, so just shut up and listen to what I say."

Once he gets a pretty good idea of what he's doing, I show him what to do with his arms, and he practices as I hold him up by his abdomen because I'm pretty sure he's not quite ready to be on his own just yet.

Now, what happens next is just excruciatingly awkward and don't ask me how this happened but at one point while he's practicing both his arm and leg movements, I move my hands around to get a better grip and my palm ever so slightly touches his groin, provoking him to flip out. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the hell?!" He exclaims, causing a commotion in the water as he jumps out of my grasp.