Wine Red
Her hair is in a halo all around her head. She can feel herself floating away from her body, watching Cody dive into the pool and splash Zeke as he comes up. She doesn’t have the heart to tell Zeke that she’s actually a very strong swimmer, but the deep end now terrifies her.
She remembers the day clearly. She’d been at the pool with friends, and they had been drinking. Her friend Ileana was worse off than all of them—especially Eli, who had only drank enough to get the giggles—and was laughing and joking with all of them, her drink sloshing around as she walked. Eli didn’t know why, but suddenly Ian—Ileana. It was a joke between them to call each other boys names, Eli’isha shortened to Eli and Ileana shortened to Ian—decided it would be fun to go swimming. She stumbled as she made her way to the pool, and she fell. Eli laughed. She thought it was a joke. She thought she was okay. She laughed harder as the cup floated to the surface.
She stopped laughing as the pool bubbled red
Chapter 4: Breathe
Eli sits up as she feels strong fingers on her back and water on her face. She gasps, and Zeke is staring at her, water already drying from his hair and freckled shoulders. Cody is staring beside him, panicked.
“What happened?” Zeke scoffs, “What happened? You were floating, zoned out and sank! Are you okay?”
“She’s fine. But who are you?” The patio door slides open, then closes as a girl in a rainbow swimsuit with an hourglass shape walks up. Her caramel skin seems to shine in the sunlight, and her hair is tied back like Eli’s. Zeke watches Cody’s eyebrow raise and he smirks his lady-killing, panty snatching smirk.
“I’m Cody. This is Zeke. Who are you?”
“Ileana. Call me Ian.” Zeke furrows his brow, “What is it with you two and going by boys names?”
“It’s our thing. You can let her go, she’ll float.” Zeke feels a surge of anger. Ian, as if sensing it, sighs and speaks, her tone softer.
“She zones out sometimes. It’s because of some things that happened in our past. Don’t worry about her, okay?” Her sentence leaves him with the impression that he shouldn’t ask any further. His fingers leave her back and he dunks his head in the water, “Are you good to go?” Eli nods, his fingers have left impossibly cold spots on her back where they had been, despite the cold water. Ian slips into the pool and said, “Deep end?” She nods, and her fingers close around Zeke’s arm, “Sorry for scaring you. Is that offer still good to cling to you in the deep end if I need it?” He nods, and for a second he sees that child again. She swims down to the deep end and splashes at him, “Come on! If you’re not scared I mean.” He smiles and splashes back.
“I’m never scared.”
