“I thought reading week was supposed to ease the pressure.”
Adam let his head drop to the desk, a dull thunk sounding through the trailer as his forehead struck the open Research Methods: Concepts and Connections textbook.
Eli ripped another page of written definitions from the notebook and tossed it at the small mountain of cue cards stacked on the corner of his desk, dragging a hand over his face in a desperate attempt to wipe some of the exhaustion from his face.
“If I have to describe another variation of moss on this damn island, I’m going to lose all sense of calm.”
“I’ll trade you moss for research methods.” Adam pulled his phone from the pencil holder he’d stashed it in earlier to keep from scrolling through the VIU meme page he’d been invited to the other week.
“Screw that. You chose your bed. You lie in it.” Eli pushed back from his desk and rose from his seat, stepping over the shaggy rug of a mutt that was Hamilton, and headed for the kitchen island. A carton of strawberries, purchased in the last shopping trip with the intent to make breakfast smoothies with them, sat beside an open container of Cool Whip.
Adam watched him dip a strawberry into the imitation whipped cream, contemplating whether it was worth the effort to join his friend in this study snack. “What if we take a quick break? Take Hammy for a W-A-L-K?”
The dogs’ ears perked at the mention of his name, tail sweeping back and forth over the wood floor as he peered up at Adam.
“We’ve only been studying for,” Eli looked to the stove, a look of frustration crossing his face, “15 minutes? What the hell?”
“One hour and fifteen. We haven’t changed that clock yet.” A bing brought Adam’s attention to his phone as Eli headed for the stove and punched at various buttons, trying to suss out what combination was needed to access the time function.
“Alright, if it’s been that long, I could be talked into going for a break. I need to get these damn botany terms down though if I want any hope of passing the next module.”
“What if… we studied a little longer and then went for a big break?” Adam tapped at his phone, a grin slowly growing on his face.
“C’mon, dude,” Eli tossed an orphaned bottle cap at him. “You get us all stoked for a walk and then change your mind?”
With the mention of a key word, Hamilton was up in a flash, head snapping back and forth as his attention shifted between the two boys.
“Hey, don’t look at me.” Eli pointed at Adam. “He was the one that first said it.”
“I’m just saying,” Adam held his hands up in defence, waving his phone in the air. “A new option has presented itself.”
“Oh yeah?” Eli leaned against the island, ruffling Hamilton’s ears as the dog leaned into his leg with a pleading wine. “And what could possibly be better than a jaunt around the lovely trailer park?”
“Reading Week dry party. Carrie’s reserved the whole pool and the whole Psych department is invited. And we can bring extras.”
“How come my student rep never does something cool like that?”
“Probably because they’re too busy writing up incident reports about dorks like you falling out of trees.”
Eli chuckled at his friends’ word switch, reaching over to snag another strawberry. “I fill out my own incident reports, thank you very much.”
“So, you down?”
“How come you’re so gung-ho to go? By the time we get there, we’ll have… half an hour before we gotta make the final bus back?”
“C’mon, a bunch of my classmates will be there. I’ll ask a ride off one of them or something. Or we cab home.”
Eli gave Adam a questioning stare as Adam’s foot bounced up and down. “How come you’re so eager to go?”
Adam could feel the heat rising ever so slightly in his face and gave a quick shrug to try and distract from the growing blush.
“Steph is the one that invited me.”
It wasn’t a chuckle this time, but a well pronounced laugh that burst from Eli. “You dog.”
As eager as Eli was to be Adam’s wingman for the night, the thought of public swimming had him pumping on the breaks. He hadn’t been swimming since the summer before last. Even then, public swimming in Miniota consisted of either the ancient, concrete, hole-in-the-ground of a public pool tucked behind the gas strip in Virden or dips down at Oak Lake. Easy enough to swim in bike shorts and a couple of t-shirts without people asking too many questions.
He’d purchased a swim binder the moment they had arrived in Nanaimo back in August, both boys having eyed up the river that was a short trek from their new home. But the binder had stayed tucked away in the back of his closet since arriving, the rush of first semester offering little time to try it out.
Eli wasn’t exactly eager for the swim binders’ maiden voyage to be at a pool that would be crowded with various university students. Dropping in on Adam’s study sessions in the library had shown Eli that they were on the younger side of the age range in Adam’s classes. Apparently not everyone started university straight out of high school. And some of the folks in Adam’s classes were way older than Eli and Adam. And Eli already looked like a pre-pubescent teenager, he didn’t need to be in a pool surrounded by folks who were actually older than he was.
“Are you seriously going to go just for a girl?” Eli scrambled for a way to convince Adam out of the plan. It wasn’t exactly fair, but the growing anxiety didn’t really care.
“I’m going to hang out with some classmates.” Adam rolled his eyes. “We’ve been here three months. Let’s get out and do things!”
“We do lots of things. Hiked the mountain, floated the river, how many trips downto—”
“Do things with other people.”
Eli’s right hand tugged at the front of his shirt, an instinctual tick at this point. Adam’s gaze dropped to the action and a wide-eyed look crossed his face.
“We’ll get ready here, swim trunks and everything, and then throw pants and a coat on and head down,” Adam offered. “And, I dunno, there might be a family or a neutral change room we can duck into?”
The thought of changing in front of others had yet to cross Eli’s mind, he was too focused on the actual being around people. The fact that Adam was already thinking about solutions created a slight ease in the tightness of Eli’s chest. It wasn’t like he was exactly alone in all of this. And if his friend was willing to put that much thought into this, there weren’t many options left.
And it wasn’t as if this event wouldn’t give Eli a new crop of things to rib Adam about. “You really like this girl, don’t you?”
They got off the 40 at the VIU bus loop, the driver informing everyone he was quite early to the stop and would be idling for a while.
“Going to be faster just to walk over from here.” Adam tapped Eli and stood, swinging the small gym bag, full of towels and spare clothes just in case, over his shoulder. Eli didn’t follow, hands crossed oddly in his lap as he chewed at his lip.
“Hey, what’s up?” Adam nudged him with his foot.
Eli glanced around the somewhat deserted bus and then mumbled out the side of his mouth, “Does it look like I have a boner?” He shifted his hands, revealing the slight bulge in his pants.
Nothing had ever really prepped Adam for these moments in his life. Yeah, boys back in Miniota had eagerly pointed out when someone else had popped one. But it wasn’t until Eli had started packing that Adam had come to realize how hard it was to shoot a look at your friends’ crotch without the whole thing feeling quite odd.
“You’re fine, c’mon.” He tugged at Eli’s sweater and headed for the door, giving a wave to the driver.
“I can’t tell, dude. It feels weird.” Eli did an odd waddle jog to catch up, legs kicking out to the sides a bit more than usual. “It feels like….” He gestured vaguely.
“Like you’ve got a dick in your shorts?”
A hand swatted his shoulder as Eli tried to match Adam’s movements; eyes observing the shift in torso and hips with every step.
“I don’t think it’s something you can mimic, Eli. It’s just something you get used to.”
“Well, I’ve got just under half a kilometre to get used to it.” Eli eyed the distance from the top of the bus loop down to the aquatic center.
“Why did you even wear it? You barely pack anyway.”
“I really don’t want to get outed at the pool, y’know?”
“Fair, fair point,” Adam eased the speed of his step, allowing Eli to adopt a smaller shuffle as they headed for the brightly lit building.
The lady at the front desk waved them in the moment student ID was revealed.
“Thanks!” Adam tucked his back into his shorts. “Are there family change rooms?”
The lady gave them both a harder look, eyes landing on Eli and gaze squinting. “Are you a university student?”
“Yes ma’am.” Eli presented his ID again.
“Looking a little young, sorry. Was wondering if that’s your older brother now.” The lady pointed to the hall beside the booth. “Middle door is family change rooms.”
“Thank you.” Adam flashed a warm smile as they headed for the change rooms.
The pool hall was already thundering with chatter, laughter, and music. A sizeable crowd filled the hot tub, while a game of water polo was taking place in the lane pool. Foam boats, likely designed for the enjoyment of kids, were barely bobbing above the surface of the dive tank as students paddled along with hands across the pool in an agonizingly slow race.
“Where the hell are you even supposed to find her in all of this?” Eli pulled at the VIU sport shirt that covered his binder, fighting the urge to adjust the packing underwear he wore under the baggy swim trunks.
Adam gave a small shrug of his shoulders, scanning the numerous faces in attempt to spot Steph amongst the swell of bodies. A guy he recognized from his Child Development class waved from the exit of the water slides. Adam gave a small wave back and strolled the edge of the wave pool.
The snap of the dive boards drew Eli’s attention, and he followed behind Adam as he watched a line of guys climb the ladders and make a run for the edge of the boards. “That’s a tad bit higher than the Oak Dock.”
“Yeah, but there’s no rocks to worry about when you hit the bottom.”
“Adam!”
A call brought their attention to the doors of the wet sauna, a familiar face coming to focus as the steam cleared away. Steph’s pixie cut was sticking in various directions, a clump of it plastered over her eye as she waved.
“There’s ya girl,” Eli gave Adam a quick jab in the ribs, a coy smile spreading across his face as they headed to meet Steph.
“Give it a rest,” Adam hissed before adopting that warm smile once again as Steph pushed hair and water out of her face.
“You came!” She said excitedly.
Adam gave a small shrug, “You invited.”
“And how could he say no to you?” Eli took the opportunity that was presented.
Steph laughed, offering a hand to Eli. “I’m Steph, Psych department student rep. And you are?”
“He’s my friend from back east.” Adam cut Eli off before another sly comment could be made. “My Forest Resource guy I was talking about the other day.”
Steph gave a bewildered look, shaking her head a bit as she gave Eli another look over. “You’re at VIU? Oh jeez, I’m sorry. I thought….”
“I was his baby brother?” Eli gave a chuckle and shrug, more than familiar with this act.
Steph gave them both a sheepish smile. “I guess you get that a lot?”
“If we had a nickel every time, we’d have tuition paid for the semester.” It was the newest iteration of what was becoming an old joke, but the laughs still came. And it was a reaction Eli thrived on.
Steph turned her attention to Adam. “I was talking to Niko about that one paper you were working through. The circular mirroring one? He wants to pick your brain on the topic. We’re working on a similar line of study in the 322 class this semester.”
Adam nodded, eyes lighting up with the possibility to swap info with upper level students. Beside him, Eli gave a supressed groan. A fun time rarely involved sitting on the sidelines as his friend nerded out about brains or something.
“I’m gonna go try the dive tank for a bit.” He tapped Adam’s arm. “I’ll come find ya when I’m done.”
“Don’t die.” Adam gave Eli a gentle shove towards the dive tank.
“Hey, there’s no rocks to worry about.”
What Eli really did for the first bit was watch the older students (he might as well be real with himself; they were men) launch themselves from the boards and twist in the air. The most one could safely do in Miniota was a belly flop with prayers that you didn’t drive a rock into your gut each time you launched from the bridge.
The various flips and dives these guys were doing was completely alien to Eli. And he wasn’t about to go up there and look like the scared little kid everyone would see him as. He needed to nail this right off the bat.
“Li’l man! You going to give it a try?” A student pulled himself onto the pool edge near Eli, nodding towards the boards.
Eli tried to pull off a nonchalant shrug, rolling his gaze up to the boards. “Just trying to gauge the kick in them.”
The guy gave a small nod, a look of confusion evident. “Well, they’ve got a quick snap, if that’s what you mean. I keep thinking I’m going to overshoot the pool and end up in the lanes.”
“Sounds like a fun time.”
The guy laughed, standing up and making his way to the line. Eli followed behind, adopting the same gait that was somehow stiff and loose. Hips never moved, but legs sort of kicked out and came around with each step.
“You tag along with someone?” The guy leaned against the wall, nodding at Eli.
“My roommate in Psych got the invite. I’m in Forestry and was bitching that we don’t get anything fun like this.”
The guy laughed, hand swinging out to smack Eli’s chest. He tried to give a laugh as well, fighting to keep the panic down of this guy noticing the odd shift of chest under his strike. Nothing appeared to have tipped the guy off, and he offered a hand to Eli.
“I’m Joe. Fourth year Psych major.”
“Eli. I’m… first semester? Forestry Tech.”
They edged forward, Joe nodding at Eli’s answer, “That’s a two-year program, right?”
“Yeah, they burn us through pretty quick.”
“Well, we’ll be grad buddies!”
Eli gave him a puzzled look and Joe gave another laugh.
“I got things screwed up last year and need one more year to tie up loose ends.”
The notion of not completing in the timeframe that had been laid out gave Eli a moment of panic, as Joe reached for the ladder and pulled himself up to the top. Eli was panicking about his projected plan to graduate being screwed up when Joe executed a backflip from the board. And Eli was stressing over what that could possibly do to any long term plan he might come up with in the following months if graduation was delayed as he climbed the ladder and strode to the edge of the board. He gave a testing bob, working to keep the façade that he knew what he was doing up there, and then pushed down and launched himself into the air.
The board surely did have enough kick to send Eli into a forward roll. A move he hadn’t intended to perform at any point up to that moment. But roll with it he did, legs kicking out in a sort of mid-air split as he rolled forward for a second time and tried to pull himself into a dive. The arms got into position easy enough, the body failed to follow. Nonetheless, Eli could hear the cheers from the watchers as he entered the water. Or maybe that was the sound of water crashing against his eardrum.
Speed propelled him to just past the halfway point of the pool depth, legs kicking frantically in an effort to get himself turned around. He was increasingly aware of how tight the binder was around his chest, how little air he’d actually been able to pull in before making the jump. Eli kicked for the surface and something in his shorts shifted. He kicked again, reaching for the air just above him, and felt something slide along his leg and bump against his foot.
Eli looked down quickly, eyes catching sight of the unique shaped, skin coloured object as it lazily floated to the bottom of the tank.
“You’re not pulling some weird Dorian Gray on me, are you?” Steph splashed at Adam.
“I’m not a creepy old man, I promise.” Adam laughed, leaning against the wall of the hot tub. Niko had disappeared from the hot tub area before they could find him, and Steph had quickly proclaimed the situation futile and claimed a spot in the hot tub. They had chatted about her project since, Steph trying to wring as much info that Adam could remember.
“Y’know, I can just send you the paper.” He draped an arm over the edge of the hot tub, twisting in Steph’s direction. “I probably could backtrack through my history and find it.”
“Wait, you can do that?” Steph gave a surprised look.
“Oh yeah, easy. It’s a simple search through my history.”
“I didn’t know you could actually do that.”
Adam gave a chuckle, “C’mon, you never used the history to go back to a game after pretending you were researching when your mom walked in?”
“That would mean games that were readily accessible for dial-up internet.”
The mention of dial-up gave Adam pause. “Oh. I didn’t realize you lived on… what’s that little island? Thetis?”
“No, no. I’m from Nanaimo. Dial up was what my family had back then.” Steph laughed but quickly stopped as she noticed the look of confusion on Adam’s face.
“I… thought.” He was struggling to form words to match with the racing conclusion of his mind. Steph made the leap and beat him to it.
“Adam, how old do you think I am?”
“Early twenties.” He was finding it very warm in this hot tub, it must have been all the people in it who were most likely staring at him now.
Steph laughed, loud and clear. “You’re too sweet!” She looked at him with a coy smile that quickly faded when she registered the look of confusion on his face. “Adam, how old are you?”
“Nineteen,” he mumbled out, well aware of the growing red in his face.
A sharp tap on his shoulder had him whip around to catch site of an agitated Eli forcibly smiling at them both.
“Hey kids! Can I snag this lovely man from ya for a moment?” Eli grabbed Adam’s arm and pulled at him to exit the tub. “I promise to bring him right back.”
Steph gave a small nod as Adam stumbled over the wall of the hot tub and onto the deck. Eli wasted no time in throwing an arm over Adam’s shoulder and pulling him close in.
“Buddy, ol’ pal. You know how you’re the best diver out of everyone in Miniota?”
“That’s pretty easy, considering what we had to work with.” Adam stumbled along, trying to process the information he had just received.
“Okay, well, you know how you can expand your chest with lots of oxygen because your chest has never been constricted by a binder?”
“Yeah, what’s that got to do with anything?”
Eli gave a quick fist bump to a Senior Adam recognized from lectures and then turned his attention back to Adam. “I need you to dive to the bottom of the tank and retrieve a certain package down there.”
It took Adam half a step, but he made the leap and pulled up to a halt, a shocked look clear across his face.
“Are you serious?”
“Look, it slipped out, I don’t know how, I just need you to get my damn dick back before someone realizes what the hell is down there. Cool?”
Adam tried to act all unphased as he leaned towards the pool a bit and spotted a tiny flesh colour speck sitting on the tank floor.
“Cool. Cool. Cool.” He wondered how many attempts it would take to actually reach the bottom of the pool, and turned to look at his friend, who was staring at the same speck at the bottom of the pool with a mournful gaze.
“Hey, once we get your… package back, let’s say we head for the bus? Call it an early night?”