Summer Boy Ch. 01

He could see the air seep out of her as she lost herself in thought. After a moment, he scrolled through the menu of his phone and then clicked on something. A tinny audio track started to play through the tiny speaker.

Lynn frowned. Sensing something familiar about the sound she leaned over and asked, "What is that?"

The two of them looked at the little screen of the cell-phone while a video-clip played. There was a lot of muffled laughter, unintelligible talking, and other audio garbage, and the poor resolution video jostled about wildly with frenetic action. Lynn had to listen carefully and squint. She leaned up against Adam's shoulder to gain the best viewing vantage on the glossy screen.

After a moment, her mouth stretched into a wide-open, delighted smile. "Oh my God! Is that from last year's Staff Challenge day?" she asked.

Adam nodded.

"My hair was longer then. Didn't like it," Lynn said, pulling one side of her currently shoulder-length dark strands around her ear. "This was the final event, wasn't it?"

Adam nodded again "Yeah, it's the tug-of-war. That's when we kicked the supervisors' asses," he joked.

"Hey! Not nice," Lynn scowled playfully, "Half our team was made up of women. You guys loaded up your side."

There was some shouting and more laughter coming from the video-clip as one-by-one, the supervisors were dragged into a pool of water and mud. Two hoses sprayed them down mercilessly. Lynn winced at the memory but couldn't help but laugh. She pointed at the screen and said, "We actually held our own for a pretty long time. See? There, I'm the last one, still pulling, hanging on for dear life!"

Adam grinned crookedly then said, "But then..."

Suddenly, Adam appeared on the screen and came up behind Lynn. He grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up. The supervisor screeched and everyone else laughed as he carried her into the spray of the hose. She continued to yell and struggle in Adam's clutches as she was doused relentlessly with water.

"That was you?" Lynn's smile softened as she watched the video.

"You couldn't tell?" Adam cocked his head. "Wait. You didn't know that it was me?"

She shook her head, "My eyes were closed because of the water spraying in my face and I was laughing so hard, I couldn't hear or see who had picked me up like that."

Adam sort of expected Lynn to blow up on him as she realized only now who had done that to her. Yet, instead, she continued to watch intently as the video showed him dumping her unceremoniously into the mud-pool with everyone around them breaking into hysterics.

Lynn cocked her head slightly as she watched. The water had been so cold. The memory of someone holding her from behind in a solid clutch was still a fresh one. It had been Adam. A year later, the young man was even bigger than he was in the video, stronger.

Adam's own broad grin eased slightly as he looked at Lynn, a shifting, subtle frown on her face as she watched the video. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. His own memory of the event came to mind. She had been lighter than he expected, so easy to lift, but he noticed her slender and soft-skinned form beneath her shirt, the smell of her hair, the hysterical yet easy laughter of her voice. He had actually held her as long as he could before it seemed too obvious to the others watching that he was enjoying holding her a little too much.

"Sorry 'bout that," he said with a genuine contrite tone that seemed to surprise them both.

Lynn simply shook her head and offered him a tight, closed lip smile. "No, it's okay," she said, as she took the phone from him, "It was all in fun. It's actually kind of hilarious."

Adam's cocky grin returned. "Yeah, you know Lynn, you look pretty good covered in mud," he joked, "Have you ever thought of doing some bikini mud wrestling?"

"No, I 'aven't'!" She clicked her tongue dismissively and eyed him. "Sick perverted puppy. Still such a boy," she said. She looked at the phone again and added, "I can't believe you saved this."

"It's always good to have something on your boss. Don't know when you'll need to cash in with a little blackmail, eh?" Adam said, nudging her shoulder.

"Yeah well, forget that, little boy," Lynn remarked as she began to thumb the phone's buttons, "How do you delete stuff on this?"

"Hey! No way! Give that back!" Adam quickly reached for his phone. The woman tried to keep it away from him but he snatched it from her hands.

"Adam!" Lynn laughed, "You have to delete that! It's humiliating!"

"No kidding!" the young man goaded with a goofball, wild-eyed glance, "Why the hell do you think I want to keep it?"

"Come on!" Lynn pleaded, a pained smile on her face, "I'm serious! Give it up!"

Adam leaned to his side and held his phone away with his arm outstretched as Lynn tried to grab it. She reached across him grasping for the phone. She pushed and poked him and they both laughed as Adam continued with his game of keep away.

"Adam!" Lynn chuckled, her eyes creasing to fine, upward curved lines as she smiled. "I'm not kidding!"

"How much do you want it? How much do you want it, huh?" he teased, making goldfish kissing motions with his lips.

"You're such a brat!" she scolded through her laughter.

She leaned harder against him and he slipped to his side onto the ground with her falling against him.

They both lay there for a moment laughing, Lynn still pawing for the phone. Finally, she gasped and inhaled deeply, catching her breath and composing herself. She opened her eyes, focused, and immediately looked into the crystalline green eyes of Adam, just a few inches away. The grin on his lips, the narrowing of his eyes and angle of his brow reminded her of the look he gave her during the birthday party. She could smell the chlorine from the pool on his skin, could feel the ruggedness of a young, lean body beneath his clothes. She gasped again and quickly pulled herself off of him. She shifted slightly in her seat putting obvious distance between her and Adam.

He sat up, still keeping his eyes on her even though she was turned slightly away from him. He could see her breathing deeply as she adjusted her shirt and fixed her hair.

"Adam," Lynn said softly, her face still turned away, "Can you delete that? Please?"

He smirked and chuckled, "Yeah, right. I'm not touching..."

"I want you to delete it."

"Uh-uh."

"Adam!" she snapped. She stood up and over him. As she looked down, there was nothing but a serious mask on her face. She demanded, "I'm telling you to delete that -- NOW!"

His grin softened as he looked up towards her for a long moment. With a curt nod, he sucked in his lips, and keyed something into his phone. Then he held it up to her, proving that the file had been erased.

Lynn breathed out deeply. "Your break is over in 15 minutes," she said flatly, "Make sure you gargle or brush your teeth. Your breath smells of smoke. And stop distracting the other staff."

The supervisor turned on her heels and strode away. Adam watched her go from his seated position. "Sorry for being a distraction, Lynn," he called out, his grin returning.

Lynn didn't stop walking. When she disappeared around a corner, Adam returned to staring across the parking lot.

He couldn't stop smiling.

**********

"You want to call Dominic?" Olivia asked thru a partially winded breath, "Why all of a sudden?"

"I don't know," Lynn replied, wiping a bit of sweat over her brow, "Just...I don't know. I don't know what I'm thinking anymore."

Olivia shrugged as they turned a corner around the track. Every Wednesday night right after their shifts ended, the two women would finish their day with 40 laps around the field outside of the community centre. For Lynn, it was a relatively average distance. It gave them a chance to unwind and often to vent about the day. It was cooler in the evening, but not much. Even after just lap 10, the warm summer air had them both sweating freely.

"I don't think that's such a great idea," Olivia said, "I thought you were just letting go now. What good reason do you have to call him? Just to yell at him more? Not that he doesn't deserve it."

Lynn repeated, "I don't know. Just to talk. We never talked after..."

Olivia picked up on Lynn's train of thought, "After he broke up with you."

"Yes. After he broke up with me. Thank-you. Your bluntness is so refreshing," Lynn said, smirking.

Olivia shook her head. "I think you just feel like you have no other option at the moment. There will be other guys, Lynn -- better ones. You're not racing any sort of clock if that's what you're worried about. You're just screwed up a bit because of turning 30."

Again with the age thing. Lynn had always told herself that, leading up to her 30th birthday, she would simply plough through that supposed milestone just as exuberant and positive as she had ever been. Physically, she was in better shape and more energetic than when she was a teenager or in college. Mentally, she was more than ready to take on a new decade in her life. She was always an easy-going, come-what-may type. If she was with someone, fine. If she wasn't, all the better.

It was always easy to say that until she actually found herself in a relationship.

Then Dominic dumped her and every brick that she had put up to strengthen her resolve came crumbling down. She was convinced it was more the way Dominic had broken up with her, the specific events of that night. It left her questioning a lot of things about herself.

Lynn frowned as she thought about it even more. That wasn't entirely it, either. There was also something more immediate that was troubling her. Ever since the time she had spent with Adam earlier that day, she had been feeling anxious. Like trying to place a finger on a moving spot of light, it was impossible to sort out exactly why she was feeling that way. Adam was irrelevant to her. So why was she thinking about him, still? She desperately wanted to cleanse her head of those muddled thoughts.

"Yeah, I guess it doesn't really make sense to call him," she agreed, but she had known that to be case even before she had blurted out the ridiculous idea.

When she really thought about it, Dominic was the most recent guy she had allowed herself to get close to, to be intimate with. It had all come crashing down so quickly, but after a break up, it was always hard for her to imagine becoming so excited again.

After a few more laps, they rounded another turn. They passed near the parking lot and saw a group of staff getting into a couple of cars, including Cassie's red hatchback and Trevor's jeep.

"I guess they're all going out to celebrate Adam's birthday?" Olivia mused.

Lynn scanned the group, but as they rounded another quarter turn and ran away from the parking lot, she hadn't actually been able to catch a glimpse of the birthday boy. "Probably," she smirked, "I hope they don't get too hammered tonight. They'd better show up tomorrow."

She hated to admit it to herself, but she was relieved to know that Adam had left. Everything about their conversation at noon was awkward to think about now. The way she had behaved around him --talking to him so casually, playing keep away with him with the phone, then suddenly snapping on him about deleting the video -- it was totally improper conduct as a supervisor. It was just totally improper, period. She needed to put distance between the young man and herself.

"Boundaries," she said aloud.

"What?" Olivia asked.

Lynn blinked realizing her thoughts were coming out in the open. "Nothing," she said with an anxious smile. She quickened her pace around the track.

A little while later, the women strolled slowly back to the parking lot, wiping themselves down with towels.

"Want to join me for a swim?" Lynn asked.

Olivia stopped at her car and shook her head. "Not tonight. Sorry," Olivia replied, "I told Alex I wouldn't be out too late and that I'd tuck Gigi into bed. Maybe if I go home all sweaty and smelly like this, he'll let me buy some new workout clothes."

"You're always planning ahead," Lynn snickered, squinting at the other woman, "Your poor husband doesn't know what a conniving woman he has living with him."

Olivia laughed and said good-night. Lynn stood and watched, waving as her friend backed out then drove out of the parking lot. She then made her way to the back entrance of the community centre.

One of the unofficial perks of being a supervisor was to have a key to the complex and secluded access to the facilities, namely the pool. Pappi, the elderly night custodian, didn't mind it at all whenever Lynn dropped in after hours. He always seemed to welcome the company and flirted harmlessly with her.

She unlocked the door and stepped in, quickly making her way to the alarm panel and punching in the all clear code.

"Safe," she breathed, always nervous about the alarm going off.

"Hey."

Lynn gasped and whirled around at the sound of the voice behind her. She felt the blood drain from her startled face as she jumped back against the wall. "Oh shit!" she blurted, "I...uh...Ah...Adam?"

The young man stood before her with his hands in his shorts pockets and a bemused look on his face.

Tilting her head and knitting her brow, Lynn shook the shock from her head and said, "Don't do that!"

Adam chuckled and shrugged. "Sorry," he said, "I heard someone come in through the back door so I came to check it out."

"What the hell are you..." Lynn spat then abruptly caught herself, trying to gather her words and thoughts, "Why are you still here?"

"Well, as long as it doesn't get Paps into any trouble," Adam replied, "When he came in, he was telling me he needed to go somewhere tonight but couldn't get the time off, so I told him that I'd cover. You know, just get some stuff cleaned up for the old guy."

"Oh." Lynn knew that this wasn't normally acceptable, but she really liked Pappi, and would never want to put the sweetheart of a man through any trouble. Besides, she wasn't exactly allowed to be sneaking in and using the facilities, either.

"What are you doing here?" Adam asked.

Lynn winced slightly. It was as if he was reading her mind. "Sometimes..." she began to say. Pausing to sigh, she finally continued, "Sometimes I come in for an after hours swim in the pool."

He nodded. "Cool," he said.

"Wait," Lynn called to him as she followed behind, "Aside from helping out Pappi, why are you here? I thought you'd be going out with your friends tonight for your birthday."

He smirked and joked, "No one ever arrives early to their own party."

"Oh, of course. Silly me."

"Besides, Paps said he'd pay me his wages for the night. I could use the cash."

"Let me guess," Lynn retorted, "Booze, cigarettes, and women?"

"Naw, got all those, already," he replied, scratching the back of his head, "Gotta save up for next semester."

"Well, that's very grown up of you," Lynn remarked. She didn't know why she was being so sarcastic.

Adam turned away and headed out of the office.

Lynn frowned as she thought. She should have just turned around, forgot about swimming that night, and left. Instead, she shrugged and said, "Well, I'm just going for a quick swim then I'm heading home. I think you should leave then, as well."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever," he answered, "I'll just go empty out the waste bins."

Adam turned a corner. Lynn listened to his footsteps fade down the corridor. Hesitating for a moment, she made her way to the change rooms.

Quickly peeling out of her damp running gear and slipping into her swimsuit, she walked out to the pool. As she entered the indoor pool area she immediately noticed Adam seated by the poolside, reading his magazine.

"What are you doing?" she asked sternly.

Adam looked up and pointed to a sign on the wall behind her head. Lynn turned to read the pool safety regulations.

"No unattended swimming allowed," he said, "So I'm attending."

Lynn grimaced. "That's not necessary."

"Don't want to get into trouble with my supervisor," he replied. He said it with a poker-face which just served to wind up Lynn even more.

"Adam...," Lynn sighed, pushing her fingers through her perspiration dampened hair. She really didn't have the energy for this and just wanted to get into the pool already.

Adam chuckled, "Look, I'm just sitting here doing my job. I'm not going to do anything stupid."

Lynn smirked, "Yes, we had a conversation about being stupeed earlier, didn't we? You didn't seem to be so adverse to it then."

He sat back in the chair, casually folding his fingers together on his tummy. "Okay, so are you going to swim or not, then?" he cajoled, "I'm getting paid either way."

She eyed him then finally dropped her towel.

Adam watched as she stepped around to one end of the pool, discreetly adjusting the bottom of her swimsuit with her back to him. Then, without a word, she dove in and began to swim the length of the pool. She did 4 laps.

When she made her final turn and came back, she saw Adam waiting, crouched down at the end of her swimming lane. She swam up to the edge and stopped. Clearing the water from her eyes and mouth and nose, she asked, "What is it?"

"Your form is a bit loose," Adam offered as he looked down over her, "You're splashing around a lot. You should tighten up your arm strokes and set a rhythm for your breaths."

"Oh should I? Thanks a lot for the advice 'Michael Phelps'," she replied sarcastically, "I just ran for over an hour before this, you know!"

"Yeah, well, I guess you get slower as you get older," he teased.

Lynn glared at him. She knew he was deliberately trying to crank her.

"First the legs, then the eyesight," Adam continued, rolling his eyes around the ceiling, "Then the memory goes and your breasts sag to your belly-button. My God, how do you manage, Lynn?"

"You...," Lynn growled then caught herself. More calmly she said, "How about you come in here and show me?"

"Well, it is my job, n'est pas?" he said, grinning. "And I do my job so very well, don't you think?"

There was a piercing gleam in Lynn's small, dark eyes. She reached up and grabbed his collar.

He angled his brow. "Ah, so you finally want to get back at me for the dousing you got a year ago?" he said, "Try it."

Lynn stared back at him. He was asking for it. She couldn't help but smile at the thought of doing so. It must have been obvious to him how precarious his position was, yet he didn't move. Crouching there on the edge, she could tell that he wanted her to pull him into the pool, just yank him in then dunk him. That realization troubled her if only because, if she were truthful to herself, it excited her so damn much.

After a long moment, she released his collar. Slowly, silently, she waded back, away from the edge, away from Adam but always keeping her eyes on him.

"So you know a lot about swimming," she said, shrugging, "I thought boys your age only had one thing on your mind."

Adam rose to his feet and stood at the edge of the pool. "I think it's more like 99% of the time," he conceded, "We need the other 1% to maintain the basic daily functions and activities."

"That's really deep," Lynn scoffed, "Did you also learn that from your magazines?"

Adam pouted his lower lip and nodded thoughtfully. "Among other things...but then there are some things you can only learn first hand," he said, "Ce n'est pas à un vieux singe qu'on apprend à faire la grimace."

"Yeah, that's way too much French for me to handle," Lynn conceded.

"There is no substitute for experience," Adam said.

Still treading water, Lynn thought about her next words carefully. Despite herself, she asked, "And you've had a lot of first hand...experience, have you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, maybe," he replied, "Still a young guy. Still lots I definitely want to try."