At the northern end of the pool was a ten-foot-high dive into deep water. Bill was already leaning against the safety rails watching everyone approach. He waved for them to watch before running off the springboard and making a wide splash with his cannonball. Surfacing, he quickly swam to the side ladder so the next person could dive and Nadia met him there as he dripped.
Before the change Nadia was about eye level with Bill, being an inch taller; now that she was several inches shorter and quite a degree slimmer than the husky running back it felt a bit disconcerting to even extend her hand and introduce herself, but she did so anyway. His eyes quickly scoped her out from top to bottom as they shook hands, they lingered on her hips, then tore away to make eye contact again as he returned his introduction.
“Jody told me you were coming,” Bill said, “You’re Nathan’s cousin, is he okay?”
“I hope so,” Nadia rubbed her right cheek, “I- I hope you don’t mind me being here in his place for a while.”
“No, I’m cool with it. I just think he could have said something, if not to me then to Howard. I mean, when do you forget to even say goodbye to your best friends? I mean, no calls? He can’t even send an email or a text, get real.”
“It’s not his fault! I’m just saying he’s going through something big right now and he has a lot to work through and even if he told you what was what you wouldn’t believe him anyhow.”
Bill backed away a little, “I’m sorry, is he dying or something?”
“Sometimes it feels like it,” Nadia mumbled, “I promise to get a hold of him as soon as I can and let him know everyone at home is worried, but I can’t guarantee that he’ll call. I really don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Not a problem, and if anyone gives you any trouble, I got your back.”
She stepped away from the conversation. Something about the way Bill spoke to her made her uncomfortable. It had to be how he felt about hearing from Nathan. She excused herself and walked toward the fence. Behind the diving platform, a cement clearing bordered by a black metal fence separated the patio from rugged pasture lands.
Tame horses grazed a grassy meadow. Nadia never had a great affinity for horses, but two purebred stallions captured her attention. She ignored the diving contest as she reflected on her friends while staring at the horses. She stepped forward to lean into the fence and unwittingly pressed herself against Darrell Fleming, who wore a pair of red swim trunks as he watched the horses.
“Those horses are beautiful,” Nadia said, blushing and pushing sideways, “I can’t believe I’ve never noticed them before.”
“I think they’re majestic. You seem out of it, something wrong?”
“What are you talking about?” Nadia asked, pushing herself back from the fence and fidgeting somewhat.
“You’ve been staring out to pasture since I arrived about ten minutes ago. The way you challenged me before, I didn’t think you’d be so awkward around other people.”
“Awkward?” she said, suddenly finding herself so nervous that she could barely speak. “You really think I’m awkward?”
“Not really, you’re probably just nervous about how to make friends here. Don’t worry about it too much. I don’t know this gang all that much myself. I’m here because Jody invited me. How about this, just be yourself, if that means you like to stand by the fence and watch the horses, that’s fine. You don’t mind if I watch too?”
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She blushed, “For a few minutes maybe, then I’m diving in that pool.”
There was a minute of silence.
“You’re an unusual fencer, nobody has ever beaten me before.”
“I could say the same for you. Your skills are off the charts, I actually had to struggle.”
Nadia tightened her grip on the fence rail, her skin losing a shade of color, but she said nothing and Darrell simply returned to staring out at the horses. She started to say something but thought better of it.
“I’m amazed I can be here today; my parents are a bit strict,” Darrell said.
“Really?” Nadia raised an eyebrow, “My dad can be a real pain in the butt. But he’s not that strict. I guess.”
“My parents are farmers; I have chores all the time. Nothing to brag about I guess, but people do need to eat, right? It’s hard to keep pace with my chores and practice fencing. I was thinking of joining the military. You know, training and all.”
Nadia noticed that he had a thin muscular frame. He was built to near perfection, solidly, with powerful arms and legs. She gave a soft smile, then she pushed Darrell’s shoulder with both hands before bolting for the diving board. She gave her long black hair a flick, climbed the ladder and executed a near perfect dive.
Crystal blue water parted around her as she resurfaced near the middle of the pool. The sounds of the diving board springing and a slight splash came from behind as Darrell dove. It was cold, quite a refreshing contrast to the stifling air of a humid summer day. A tug on her ankle pulled her underwater unexpectedly, though quickly released her. When she surfaced, Darrell popped up beside her laughing, so she splashed his face while scowling only to break into giggling herself. Splashing ensued.
Sparkling droplets of chlorinated water flew out of the pool as a disorganized splash war erupted. It ended when Tish pulled out a giant white and red beach ball for an informal game of volleyball. They played for about an hour with the last game being a match between the girls and the boys.
Torn between sides, she stood at the line looking back and forth, then down. Jody told her to stop spacing out and get with it for the final game. There was no choice but to play on the girl’s team, so she shook her head and tried to overcome her embarrassment as she took her position. A brisk game proved the girls victorious with Nadia being the game MVP. She managed three good saves and always aimed the ball to the most unreachable spots inbounds.
After the games, the party became more relaxed, breaking into smaller groups. Nadia sat at the edge of the pool to rest but found herself involved in a game of pool tag for another hour. She had lost a bit of her edge in swimming because her arms were a little shorter, but she was still quick and a little more agile than almost everyone else. By the time the game ended everyone was near exhausted and Nadia was the only one who remained untagged. Throwing herself into competition allowed her to forget about herself for a little bit.
With everyone beat, Jody, Amanda, and Tish invited her to sit with them; Nadia accepted. She dried her hair with a towel, only to be scolded about how she didn’t pat dry. It was always like this at Tish’s birthday parties, Jody would sit and talk whatever girl talk with her usual group while the guys would sit at the opposite end of the pavilion and talk about whatever guy talk came up. Bill would probably be talking about the type of car he was looking for this year, he already had his permit.
In fact, Harold had his license already but his parents wouldn’t let him use the family car unsupervised and he couldn’t afford one of his own. Nadia tensed and looked towards the boys table, but sat down between Tish and Jody after getting a burger, a hot dog, and a soda. The aroma of a juicy cheeseburger complemented by steak sauce, ketchup, tomato, lettuce, and pickles caused her to devour it without paying much attention to the others. Half of it was gone in a minute.
“Well look at this, Darrell is sitting with Bill and Howard, it would be pretty cool if they became good friends,” Tish said.
Nadia started choking on her burger. Was Darrell pushing Nathan out of his circle!? Amanda jumped up and patted her on the back until she gasped burger back into her mouth. It would have been gross for her to spit food back on to her plate so she simply finished chewing and swallowed it again. That left her a bit out of breath as she looked over to the boys table and broke into a scowl.
She immediately lost her appetite and stared down her plate so maliciously that the others were taken aback by the sudden darkening of her demeanor. Unfair, she thought, Bill and Howard were her friends who she couldn’t talk to and Darrell was moving in on them. Worse, they were laughing about something and having a good time. She found her eyes roving over in that direction until Jody’s voice cut through her brooding.
“Hey Nadia, is something wrong?”
“No. Nothing is wrong. Nothing at all. I’m perfectly fine.”