One Heart

Nathalie's POV

Soon enough everyone was caught in Rae's charm, and after digging around up in my costume room for some more swimming stuff for the guys- since they decided against my warning, and resulted in Rae succeeding in getting each, and everyone single one of them into the pool- we were all scattered around outside. Matt, Johnny, Jimmy and Johnny were currently in the water with Rae while I lazed on the sun loungers with Brian. It wasn't one of the most thrilling of times that I have had, especially when it took him at least an hour to finally pluck up some courage to speak to me now we were alone.

“Nat?”

My gaze shifted to him from behind my sunglasses. “Yes?”

“About last night, I'm-”

“Don't try to apologise now just because there is something else,” I sighed. “Rae shouldn't have to be the reason for you to apologise to me. Say sorry when you truly mean it, not when you feel you have to because the circumstance has changed.”

“But I really am-”

“Brian, for once be a man and just admit that there is a part of you that isn't sorry. I don't expect anything less; it's not like I have been a fantastic person to you.”

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as if he tried to think I was wrong, but reluctantly agreed. “I admit to that. But can I just ask one thing?”

“Shoot.”

“Why did you come back here? Why now?” I didn't answer. “You said I could ask.”

“I never said I would answer it,” I replied stubbornly.

“Humour me.”

He had turned on his side and was looking directly at me then, forcing me to sigh. “I had to come back.”

“Why?”

“I never said I would go into details.”

He laughed, rolling onto his back and folding his arms behind his head, staring up at the sky. “I guess I had that one coming.”

This time, I turned to face him. “Am I allowed to ask you something now?”

“I guess that is only fair.”

I took a breath, giving myself time to choose the right words. “Last night in the club, when you said it felt like before, did you... did you mean it?”

“Yes I did.”

Smiling, I couldn't help but feel angry at myself. This wasn't being fair to him. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that.”

“Don't be sorry. I've waiting over four years for that feeling again.”

Thankfully we didn't stay in the awkward silence that followed for long because Rae came running up to us, her body dripping with water from where she had ran from the pool despite all the times I have told her not to.

“Come play with me!”

I sighed, pushing myself up onto my elbows and removing my sunglasses from over my eyes and placing them on top of my head. “Rae honey, we're talking right now.”

She pouted. “But Mummy-!”

“Come on Nat, we can talk later,” Brian replied, already stepping away from the sun lounger and standing in front of mine, blocking the sun. He held his hand down to me. “Right?”

Sighing I got up, ignoring Brian's hand as I got to my feet. The amount of times I had sighed today was making me feel very, very old. “Fine. Just don't-” She ran off before I could finish my warning, my voice dropping to a useless murmur as I followed her to the pool. “-run to the pool. One day she will fall over and hurt herself.”

“Hey- that's what she has you for, right?”

I glanced at Brian, unable to resist returning his smile with one of my own. “I guess you are right.”

–

“Why don't we play some water basketball?” Zacky suggested after we were all in the water, already having found a ball from somewhere. “We can just split into three teams.”

Jimmy looked around, counting the uneven number of bodies. “There are seven of us here, Zack.”

“I'll be ref,” he replied, swimming to the side and lifting himself on the wall so that he was now sitting on the pool's edge. “Now we are even.”

“Zacky, if we are playing basketball then why do we need three teams? Generally in a sport it is one team against another,” I pointed out. “Why three?”

He grinned. “More chance for carnage.”

Typical guy answer.

“Plus it will be piggy-back style, so three people on each side wouldn't really work.”

As if in on it already, Rae was positioned on the back of Matt's shoulders, catching the ball as Zacky gently threw it to her. “Uncle Shadows and Rae are going to win!”

“I think we’ll have to do something about that,” Jimmy replied with a grin, nudging Johnny on the side. “Looks like it’s me and you little man.”

After they had paired up it left Brian and I to look awkwardly at each other; with neither of us really knowing what to do. I knew there was one thing I didn’t want to do though, but I guessed from the impatient look in my daughter’s eyes that I was going to have to just get on with it.

“Come on mummy!” Rae whined, beginning to bounce the ball off the top of Matt’s head from with an increasing agitation. “I want to play!”

“Well…” Willing to try anything at the time to get out of the current situation I swam over to where Zacky was sitting, propping myself up on the side with my elbows. “Why don’t I ref? I don’t even know this game very well.”

He didn’t look very impressed. “You put a ball in a hoop Nat.”

I opened my mouth to complain about my lack of knowledge when something struck me in the back of the head- namely the basketball which Rae had been holding for the past five minutes.

Rubbing at the back of my head I turned and glared at my daughter. “Rae!” She didn’t say anything, her lip turned down in a pout and her arms crossed over her chest. “Rae! Apologise!”

“I want to play!”

My eyes narrowed. “That is not an apology Rachel.”

She responded by sticking her bottom lip out more, not budging from her defiant stare. In the end Brian intervened, since it was clear that our stubborn traits were equally matched.

“Rae, that wasn’t a very nice thing you did to mummy just then.” He swam over to Matt’s side, looking up at his daughter sitting on his friend’s shoulders. “We can’t play if you don’t say sorry to mummy, since mummy may not play otherwise, then I can’t play either. You don’t want mummy and daddy not to play with you, do you Rae?”

Her stubborn resolve was beginning to crumble as Brian’s soft words broke their way through, slowly breaking her down until the pout began to wobble. “Rae wants you to play.”

“And daddy wants to play with Rae. But I can’t unless you say sorry to mummy.”

Her father’s eyes shone at me in her guilty expression, riding on Matt until she got to my side where she slid off into my arms, gently pressing her hand against the side of my head. “I didn’t mean to hurt you mummy.” Burying her head in my chest, I could feel her body rock with sorrowed sobs. “I just really want to play with my mummy and daddy.”

“Hey…” I cooed, edging her away slightly from me so that I could see her face, propping her up in one arm so I could use the other to brush away a few tears before they hit the water. “I know you just wanted to play, but you shouldn’t do things like that, okay?”

She nodded her head, bottom lip still wobbling. “Are you still going to play mummy? Rae is sorry, she promises!”

I smiled warmly at her. “Yes, mummy will play.”

Squealing from delight she wriggled herself free from my grip and back into the water, easily climbing back upon Matt’s shoulders and screaming her prediction on the outcome once again. “Uncle Shadows and Rae are going to win!”

--

“Quick!” I pointed wildly at Matt and Rae as they began to advance upon our ring, my daughter readying herself to shoot for the winning point.

I’m not entirely sure how long we had been playing this game but it was now only Rae and Matt against Brian and me, since Jimmy and Johnny threw in the towel a while ago in favour of becoming spectators with access to beer. However from the way they directed their cheers to my daughter’s team and boos to us I could tell where their allegiance laid.

“Well you better hang on then!” Brian yelled from underneath me, curling his arms tighter around my legs as he attempted to run- or at least move as fast as possible in the water with someone on your shoulders- in the water, hoping that we could intercept them if we gained enough ground. “Get ready to stop them Nat!”

Trying to boost his speed further as we closed the distance to only a few feet or so his feet suddenly slipped out from underneath him as Rae shot for the ring, resulting in the pair of us crashing into the water just as the ball slipping through, earning them the match point and handing them the game.

“Nat?” Brian had already managed to break the surface of the water before I had, obviously looking around for me. In the next moment I felt a hand pull me up the open air, spluttering as I tried to clear the water that I had accidentally consumed when I fell. “Hey Nat, are you alright?” The hand had belonged to the concerned eyes of my team-mate. “Nat?”

Before I had managed to bring my eyes back to focus he then began to shake me by the shoulders, stopping only when I started to protest. “Hey, calm it! It’s not easy to get my head together when you’re shaking it!”

“Sorry,” he mumbled. His hands instantly dropped as he backed away, retreating to the side. When I finally got around to finding my head again I noticed his gaze was avoiding mine, even as he spoke again. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Swimming over to the side I lifted myself onto the wall of the pool, prodding at the tender spot on my head that felt disconnected from the rest of my body. “I must have hit my head on something when I fell though.” Increasing the pressure slightly I winced as I applied it. “Definitely hit something.”

“Let me see.” Following suit and sitting on the wall of the pool next to me he motioned for me to turn my head to the side, lightly brushing his fingers across the lump forming underneath my sodden hair. I couldn’t help grimacing as he pushed it a bit too hard and jerked away from his touch, looking up at him. For some reason I couldn’t stop myself from this meaningless stare, broken only when he turned away, looking uncomfortable.

“I’ll go get you some ice for your head,” he mumbled, picking himself up and onto his feet. Throughout all of this, he didn’t look back at me, his gaze elsewhere. “You still make those ice trays in the small freezer don’t you?”

“It’s all the same as before.”

He left without another word, and soon Jimmy took up his place next to me, looking at me curiously. “Are you sure you are alright?”

“Yeah, I am,” I replied, my gaze torn between Jimmy and stealing glances up at the male walking back up to my house. I shook my head at myself and laughed quietly, dropping my voice to a murmur. “What are you doing to yourself Nat?” I got up and walked a few paces away, well aware of the worried stares from everyone because of my odd behaviour as I hung my head back and stared upwards at the sky.

Stop being an idiot. It can’t happen again.

Brian returned at that moment, pressing some ice wrapped up in a cloth into my hand. He picked up on the odd atmosphere and looked at me with a confused expression as I brought my gaze back down to reality. “Nat?”

“You shouldn’t worry about me Brian,” I murmured, taking the ice pack and gently setting it against my head. “It won’t happen again.”

Removing my eyes from his, the wistful smile I had slowly slipped away.

We can’t happen again.