11 years ago
"Attention Patrons!" My boss Gina calls over a megaphone. "The pool is now temporarily closed for weather. Please gather your belongings and exit the pool deck quickly. Thank you!" The sky releases another boom of thunder at that moment as if to really sell her point.
All around me families are gathering towels and coolers and making their way to the front gate. Casey and I are in charge of securing lids on all the trash cans. Charlie is checking and locking the bathrooms. Payton and Melinda are making sure all the fanny packs and lifeguard tubes make it into the guard shack. Several of our coworkers also race around completing tasks in hopes of beating the rain.
With another round of thunder, the clouds release their fury. Casey and I race around the pool to get to the lifeguard room and out of the rain. Of course everyone else is doing the exact same thing. 10 lifeguards and one door means some of us are bound to get rained on.
We all settle in to spaces around the guard room. This is the third thunderstorm we've encountered this June so we all have our routines, I'm sitting on the second floor with my feet dangling over the edge. I'm working on weaving my newest friendship bracelet. Casey, Payton and Melinda are playing uno with Gina and a few other guards. Charlie and the boys are hooking up the Game Cube to use Super Smash Brothers to pass the time. A few are quietly reading books around the the building. There is a happy buzz throughout the space as the thunder crashes outside.
Time flies and soon there is only an hour left until we can all go home. The rain has stopped but there are still a few light grumblings of thunder in the distance. We are all itching to go outside after being in this little building together for 2 hours. Boredom is beginning to set in when Gina announces "That's it. It's time for a round of extreme hide and go seek. Who is in?"
There is a chorus of yeses around me when Payton asks "What is extreme hide and go seek?"
"A good time," Gina says while laughing. "Basically anywhere in the pool area is fair game. The guard building, bathrooms, pool deck, filter room, roof. You name it! People get really creative with where they hide so in can get very extreme."
"I'm sorry, did you just say the roof?" Casey asks.
"Yeah she did!" Mark says. "Last year, I built a super straw and used it to breathe while I hid in the pool under the ramp. It took an hour for someone to find me."
"That was epic!" Gina says! "Plus the more people you find, the more people you have to help you look. It's a lot of fun. And let's be honest. The parking lot is empty except for our cars. No one will be coming back to the pool before we close. Let's do this thing!"
"Sure, I'll give it a try." I say. "But I suck at hiding. I wouldn't have the first idea where to start."
Gina gets a grin on her face. "Then you can be it first! Maybe seeing where other people hide first will help you get some ideas. Just count to 100 from the the couch upstairs and we'll all hide. Ready?"
I make my way over and sit on the old brown couch. "Ready, set, go!" I hear the sound of flip flops and bare feet racing across the pavement outside as people get to their spots. I try not to think about all the lifeguard hook-ups that have probably occurred on this very couch as I sit with my eyes closed. The faint music from the paused Super Smash Bros game hits accompanies my counting to 100. When I get to 100, I go down stairs and grab the megaphone. I press the button and say "Ready or not, here I come!"
I start by doing a quick search of the guard building. I don't think I heard anyone moving around as I was counting, but it can't hurt to check. I move on to the girls bathroom next. I find Casey sitting on a toilet in one of the stalls. Not using it or anything, just waiting quietly.
"Ugh! You found me first?" she says. "This is harder than it looks."
"Yeah. You're telling me!" I respond. "Are you the only one in here?"
"I'm pretty sure." Casey tells me. "Why don't we check the boys room next."
We walk around to the other side of the building and stand at the entrance to the boys bathroom. "Anyone in here?"
Casey snickers at me. "Like that's going to work." It's called hide and seek. NO one is just going to come out from their spots when you beckon."
"I know that," I roll my eyes at her as we walk inside. " I just wanted to give fair warning in case, you know, someone was actually using it. You know?"
As our flip flops smack against the concrete floor, the smell of urine overwhelms our nostrils. "Yuck! It smells like someone definitely did." Casey waves her hand and plugs her nose.
"Oh they sure did alright," I agree. "What a pity that none of it made it in the urinal. Smells like some animal pissed all over the floor. Probably Matt to be honest."
I hear laughter coming from above me by the window sill. "Aha! I know you're up there! I found you. I'm not going to climb on these nasty-ass toilets to get to you though. Come down now!"
"Alright alright, I'm coming." I watch as Charlie hurls himself over the ledge of the windowsill onto the shower wall before jumping 6 feet down to the floor next to us.
"Alright Spiderman, how in the world did you get up there?" I ask absoluetly shocked.
Charlie laughs as he rinses his dusty hands in the sink. "Lots and lots of practice."
Casey huffs. " Yeah, I'm sure that skill will look great on college applications."
I giggle. "C'mon. I have 7 other people to find."
After 20 minutes of searching I find, Payton inside an umbrella, Melinda between the hung up lap lanes, Mark hiding under the front counter, Gina sitting underneath the wheelchair lift cover, and the other 3 boys chilling behind the flyer room smoking a joint.
This time, it's Casey's turn to find us. As she goes up to the couch to begin counting, I feel Charlies' hand grab my wrist. He whispers in my ear "Come with me. I know a great place we can hide."
I follow Charlie quickly to the filter room. He leads me down the staircase and behind a giant tank of water in which the pool filters do their cleaning. It's noise fills the space that is otherwise occupied by darkness. The space behind the filter pool is cramped but just big enough for two people to squeeze into while standing up. The only light above us come from the main door and leaks through the metal grating on the floor above us. We are basically impossible to see.
"No one is ever going to find us here," Charlie says to me. I can just make out his mischievous smile in the bar of light sneaking through the grates above. I give him a smile back, but I'm not sure he can see it.
My back is to the door as we wait silently in our hiding spot. This gives me a lot of time to think about my current situation. Do to the size of our hiding spot, we are very close together. We're practically chest to chest. We are as close as we can get without actually physically touching.
We've taken to making faces at each other to pass the time until we are found. Charlie has just made a particularly silly one as I suddenly stifle a giggle. there are footsteps on the grates above us. We silently look up as 3 people walk on the flooring a 4 feet above our heads. 2 people move some boxes and pool supplies around upstairs as someone climbs down the stairs. As they descend, I feel Charlie wrap his arm on my waist and pull me closer to him. Our bodies are now pushed up together as we hold our breath while whoever it is looks around and climbs upstairs.
The three people leave the filter room before Charlie and I let out the breaths we were holding. "That was a close one," I whisper to Charlie whose face is only a few inches away from my own.
"Yeah, it was." Charlie nodded in agreement. "I hope you didn't mind me bringing you further in. I wanted to make sure whoever was looking couldn't see you at all. I'm rather enjoying this game and I don't want it to end just yet."
"Not at all. I am too!" I smile as I find a new gratitude for the filters, their noise drowning out the excessive beating of my heart. Please, please tell me Charlie can't feel it through where our bodies touch. I have never been this close to a boy before. Why does he keep looking at my lips like that? Is he about to kiss me?
At this moment, I realize Charlie's hand is still on my hip. I see his Adam's apple bob as he swallows. "We make a really good team, don't we?"
I nod my head, my hair covering my face as we do. "That we do."
We're looking into each other's eyes as I notice Charlie's other hand reaching towards my face. He is just about to brush the strand of hair out of my face when a bright stream of light shines in our faces. "Yes! I found the lovebirds!" Gina calls outside as she shines her phone's flashlight in our faces.
We slowly squeeze out of our hiding places and up the stairs. As we make it outside, the rest of the staff is hooting and hollering at us. Someone whistles and I turn a deep shade of red. I have never been this embarrassed in my life. But thenI turn to look at Charlie and see hs face is just as red as my own.