The swimming pool incident

Callum steps off the bus with Alice just behind, temporarily carrying her gym bag whilst she messed around in her handbag. "Yeah, it's in there."

"You hate it that much?" Callum queries, handing her the bag strap and watching her sling it over her shoulders.

"You mean to say people like to get sunburnt?" Alice returns his question with a question. "With my skin it's a very painful, and very unhealthy infliction. Do I want to get cancer before I'm thirty? The answer is no."

Callum shrugs. "Point taken. Don't it wash off in water?"

"Oil-based sunscreen. So no."

"Great, so there's no excuses for not diving in with me" Callum challenges.

Alice snorts "I do not need an excuse, I'm going to be in there like a dolphin."

Callum does a perfect impression of a cackling dolphin, causing Alice to laugh out loud and swat at him. This is why she liked him, for his corny jokes and cheeky teasing, annoying too yet he's funny. Above all he's interested in her, for the person inside not for the body or the sense of achievement.

His own downside is his **** to fully commit. Alice wasn't the jumping into things type, she's comfortable taking their time. But she was ready to commit to being his girlfriend within three months, and yet she needn't have bothered it seems. They were still meeting up in secret, still acting like strangers when friends were around, and she doubted his parents and family even know she exists.

And she was reminded of this again when Callum stops just outside the entrance to the leisure centre. He looks at the huge sign above the door like it said BEWARE or something. "Maybe we shouldn't go in together. I can wait in the queue behind you, then when we get to the pool you get in the shallow end and I'll get in the deep end."

Alice rolls her eyes and adds grumpily "and then just swim in a large circle so we never come near each other."

"I know this sucks-" he tries to reason with her but she's not in the mood to be reasonable. "What is it this time? Are you worried the pizza delivery guy who came to my house last night, will be in the pool and recognises us? Are you afraid he'll call out to everybody swimming and say "look, those two are dating, everybody take a picture?""

Callum tuts dismissively "don't be so dramatic, I'm only a little bit nervous that someone I actually know could be here."

"And I'm asking who that would be?" Alice returned. "You said all your friends are grounded this weekend."

"They could've snuck out, it's not like they're being kept in a penitentiary. But anyway I wasn't talking about them. My family swim here a lot."

Alice grew even more frustrated, because a negative thing for him is a positive for her. "Excellent. The perfect opportunity to introduce me. Why is that such a problem?"

Callum looks down at the ground, avoiding her gaze entirely. "It's not. I just...wanna be better prepared."

"Like hell, you're just embarrassed. I'm that nerdy girl at the library. You don't want to be seen with her" Alice accuses.

"That isn't true!" Callum checks himself when a group of teens passed by, raising their eyebrows at the brief glimpse of their public dispute. "Look, let's get in and get changed. I'll go in first and have a look around, if I don't see any of my family after five minutes I'll come out again. We'll go in together after that, I promise."

Alice wasn't happy with the unnecessary espionage, but she ought to cut him some slack. It's clear he resents his family, and so it's understandable that he is protective of what they've got.

And Alice came here to swim, she certainly wasn't catching the bus back on her own. Not even Callum could deter the pervs eyes away, so she'd be a rabbit amongst the foxes if she went home alone.

"Alright, if you promise then you go in first and look. Can we get inside now?"

They parted ways after signing in, Alice towards the women's changing room and Callum heading through a side door into the pool area. In the changing rooms there was two sets of lockers running perpendicularly along two walls.

A long narrow island bench, occupied only by a young undressed girl with a set of armbands on. Her mother was in her swimming costume, she was knelt before the child and was applying sunscreen to the girls legs.

Then along one side of the room there were six cubicles. All of them occupied.

There was a parting beside one of the wall-length lockers, that undoubtedly led to another changing room. Though Alice, having had the notion to put her costume on under her casual clothes, needn't worry about modesty. She would just slip her top and skirt off here by the bench.

She did take the protection of her property very seriously, so the moment she was fully changed her gym bag went straight into the locker and secured safely inside. Now all she had to do was wait for Callum's signal. She immersed herself in her phone, whilst women and girls entered and exited.

Eventually she noticed that all the cubicles had new or no occupants. Except for the furthest one. It had been locked when she arrived, and hadn't opened once since. Of course, that's nothing too unusual. The unusual part of it was the accumulation of bags and belongings sitting on the bench directly outside.

Alice didn't claim to be an expert on the correct changing routine, but she did know that a bag is of better use inside the cubicle than outside. There was no table or hangers in the cubicles, so any dry clothes they would surely be changing back into or out of, are most certainly being dumped on the very likely wet floor.

Furthermore, it means people can't steal or tamper with your belongings whilst you're busy dressing. If they do have a bag in there with them, put the other stuff in the lockers. They've been in there too long to be considered unfortunate, if they discover their items are missing.

It wasn't Alice's place to criticise, but it wasn't her responsibility to care either. She realised this. But still, it didn't take long for her considerate nature to rise to the surface. Begrudgingly she lifted off the bench and trekked to the far corner, lightly rapping on the door to whoever was in there. "Excuse me, I noticed you've been in there quite a while, and your stuff is out here. Would you like me to put them in a locker for you?"

Alice could hear breathing, heavy yet muffled. Every few seconds she'd hear a tiny giggle or whispered word she couldn't make out. Her already thin patience was being tested. "Hello? Did you hear me? Your stuff is here and anybody could just take it."

The breaths grew a little quiet and the giggling stopped. A few seconds later she got an official response. "Yeah...just lock it away...here's the key."

A numbered locker key slid under the gap of the cubicle and Alice bent to retrieve it. The giggling and breathing continued. She wasn't naive, she knew what was going on in there. She certainly wouldn't **** the rules and facilities for that kind of fun, but to them who's business it is, they clearly get a thrill out of it.

Alice quickly put the things away in the locker and sealed it. She unceremoniously slid the key back under their cubicle, tempted to say something but deciding against it.

Almost as soon as she sat down her phone rang and Alice answered. "Cal...so are they here or not?"

If she'd been listening to the background noise of the room, she'd had noticed that the heavy breathing stopped once again. Quickly followed by a small cry of disapproval that was quickly smothered.

"You saw who?...And who is she?...Did you speak to her?...she winked at you?..." Between Alice's responses, whilst she was listening to him on his end of the call, voices were going back and forth in the cubicle as well. One outraged, the other trying to quieten the other in any way they could.

"Well if your sister was here, wouldn't she be out there somewhere...well, I don't know what she looks like dumby...ahuh...ahuh...okay...no I haven't seen anyone like that in here...No I'm not looking in the lavatories for her, what am I a creep or something..."

Meanwhile in the cubicle, the action seems to have stopped completely. One person getting progressively angry, and the other almost ignoring her. Eventually the door unlocks and one occupant, a sexy blonde bombshell stumbles out angrily and dashes towards the lockers. Casually wiping her mouth free of excess substances.

Alice is oblivious to the background activity, and certainly unaware that an individual was peeking round the edge of the cubicle door, staring directly at her. She was silently listening to every word.

"Poke my head in, how about you go jump in a river...the shower is even worse!...yeah, even in the twenty-first century it's indecent to ogle women whilst they shower...of course it applies to me, you..."

The eyes raked up and down Alice's body. Sticking primarily to the tight ass on display. Like orbs of cream with a streak of raspberry running between and round her hips. Topped with cherry hair running freely down her back in a perfect sleeky fashion. These eyes certainly didn't care what was indecent or not.

“If I go in there and don't find her, then I swear I'm dunking your head a thousand times Callum...alright...yes, I forgive you, only if this is the last time we'll speak of it...good...yeah, meet you there...bye”

The blonde girl was long gone. The onlooker still hiding. She guessed that the shower area was through the little side passage, which means passing by the last cubicle again. As she does she notices the door was slightly ajar.

She stopped, looked back at the lockers and discovered the one she had locked on their behalf was open. She sighed in relief, at least she'd done one good deed today.

“Looking for someone” The voice behind her made her jump so violently she clattered the edge of the bench with her shin. Crying in pain and falling to the floor, was accompanied by another girl stooping down to aide her. “Jesus, sorry, that wasn't part of my plan. Are you alright? Did it break the skin?”

Her initial anger abated once she realised the person to induce her injuries had the decency to apologise and help her. But her voice was still strained with a pained tone. “No...it looks like it'll bruise...hit it on the bone. You didn't have to scare me like that?”

“Again I'm sorry. And thanks with the stuff earlier, it weren't mine but I guess she owes you one” Alice finally got a good look at the girl and immediately her eyes opened wide. Not just out of realisation, but because this girl was instantly attractive. She couldn't pinpoint exactly why she was so attractive. She wasn't the perfect specimen, but the accumulation of all her qualities turned her from average to a beaut.

The familiar eyes was the central part of her discovery. Almost identical to the eyes she looked into just five minutes ago on the street. Her hair was the same colour as his was, but obviously much longer and maintained. Perhaps a little darker than his too. She was taller than him, which made her a giant compared to herself.

She was half-dressed, her clothes indeed wet probably from being left on the floor. This however exposed her figure, without showing everything. Her breasts were slightly smaller than Alice’s, her butt flatter and thinner, her legs slender like a spider. Especially in those black leggings. She was, without a doubt, some kind of athlete.

And her voice, her smile. Her mouth in general. It was anything but Callum. Dazzling, wholesome, capturing. Kinda goofy were her front teeth, but pure white and looked after. Malleable lips rippled and bounced like memory foam, yet they weren't too fat or fleshy. Her voice was a killer. A captivator. Deeper than Alice expected, but casual and warm like the rest of her.

Alice spent a long time taking her in, and the girl allowed her the time, enjoying the attention. Eventually though it was the new girl who moved things along. “I was just saying...are you looking for someone.”

This brought Alice crashing down in an avalanche of embarrassment. “Ye...No...no, I...was just about to...the loo.”

“You were about to the-loo?” The dark-haired girl queried.

“Go. Gototheloo” Alice returns.

“Well toodle-oo to you too” The girls smile is so infectious. “But don't go yet, I can help you find the person you are looking for.”

Alice's voice, breaths and heart all jumped simultaneously. “How did you...I wasn't looking for anyone?”

“You’re looking for something.”

_“_I really am not” Alice insists. She wishes she could've gotten her voice to sound more convincing than that.

The girl, Alice now knows is the sister Callum wanted her to find, looks down at her injured leg. “Think you can walk yet?”

Alice nods because she's finding speaking a difficult challenge. “Try standing up. Here”

This girls touch was magical. This time Alice’s embarrassment faded and instead she swooned. Not that she knew that, her body reacted but her mind just thought the sensation was nice.

“Well you can stand, should we try walking” The girl suggests.

There was no pain. Hadn't been for a minute or so. But as far as Alice was concerned, the sister didn't know that. She's just trying to be helpful. If Alice wanted to display respect she should've told her the pain was gone.

She didn't do that. She let a stranger lure her by the hand and walks her around the bench. They circle it two or three times, testing the ‘injured leg’.

Only the loud entrance of two younger girls enjoying themselves, stopped them circling a third time. The sister drops Alice’s hand and speaks quietly by her ear “I think you'll live. You can go now if you have places to be?”

She did. Callum was waiting for her somewhere outside. Alice’s role was to locate or disclaim the presence of his sister. She had found her. She didn't know who Alice was, or that she was here with Callum. It was time to go and call the day a miss. Honestly, Alice didn't even feel up to swimming anymore.

But was that because the tedious events had ruined the excitement of the day? Or was it because Alice was invested in the introduction she's had with Callum’s sister? The longer she stands there hesitating, the more she's sure of the latter.

The sister smiles that incredible smile again. “Or...how about we do some swimming...together? I assume that's what you're here to do.”

Alice knew that's the very thing Callum didn't want to do, swim with his sister present that is. His sister probably wouldn't take offence if she did say she came with someone, and really ought to stick with them. But swimming suddenly became exciting again, so Alice decided that's exactly what's going to happen. What's the worst that can happen? They might have fun? How unfortunate

"Sure" Alice found her voice and brought her confidence forward with it. "My name is Alice in case you were wondering."

"It's a real pleasure to meet you Alice. My name is Catherine."