She's My Kinda Girl

“I don’t know if I can do this, Alex,” Devan said, her hands gripping his in a white-knuckle death-grip.

“You’ll be okay, I promise,” Alex told her. “Now put your feet on the floor, okay?”

Taking a tentative step and inwardly wincing at the cool water around her, Devan set her feet on the floor of the pool, praying she wasn’t pushing herself too far.

“You good?”

She nodded.

Alex took a step back, increasing the distance between them. “Take a step towards me.”

Devan glanced up at him, looking for any sign of malice or any sign that this wasn’t a good idea. But she couldn’t find one. All she saw was positivity and a look in his eyes that she couldn’t place. And she couldn’t ignore the feeling in her gut that Alex wasn’t going to hurt her or put her in a dangerous situation. She took a step, expecting pain or agony or anything in the same family, but she didn’t. She was met with an overwhelming sensation of pride in her own abilities—something she wasn’t expecting.

Alex smiled. “Now another one.”

She did so, repeating the actions and following Alex around the entire pool. When they approached the area where they started, she paused and looked up at him.

“I’m so proud of you, Dev,” Alex told her, the smile lighting up his whole face.

Devan smiled with him. “Maybe I’ll be prepared for physical therapy now,” she muttered.

“You’re gonna kick physical therapy’s ass,” he assured her.

“Can we do it again?”

He nodded. “Let me know when you get tired. I don’t want to push you too far too soon.”

She nodded and started the same routine over again. Once she completed three more laps around the pool, she was starting to feel it—the ache in her hips and the general feeling of fatigue.

“Wanna take a break?”

“No, I can do one more,” Devan said.

Alex shook his head. “Let me rephrase—we’re taking a break,” he told her.

Devan frowned. “But—“

“Did I stutter?” Alex asked, picking her up in the water and carrying her to the raft that was floating around. He set her on it before pulling the raft closer to himself. “How are you feeling?”

Devan shrugged. “A little tired,” she admitted.

“Hence the break,” Alex told her with a cheeky little grin, the one that he was known for around the school.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, Alex knows best,” she muttered sarcastically.

“Thank you for finally admitting it. I’m so proud of you. And since you were such a big girl, I’ll get you ice cream when we’re done.”

Devan laughed, a sound that actually caused her stomach to ache, and she shook her head. “You’re such a douche.”

Alex grinned. “I’ve heard that before.”

After a few minutes of silence and floating in the sunshine, Devan turned to look at Alex. “How did you know to start off in water?”

Alex shrugged. “I might or might not have looked it up online.”

“Might or might not?” she inquired, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Alex shrugged again.

Devan didn’t miss the very faint flush of pink spreading to his lips and she decided to let it go. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I didn’t push you too far, did I?”

She shrugged herself. “Guess I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

Alex smiled. “When do you start physical therapy?”

“Three days,” she said with a groan. “I can’t want to go.”

“What if I convince your dad to let me bring you home these next few days? Then we can do this for a little bit and start building your strength up slowly?” he offered.

Devan laughed. “Yeah. Okay. If you can convince my dad, sure. But I doubt you’ll be able to.”

“Hey, dads love me!” Alex protested.

Devan only laughed again—yeah, she didn’t believe that in the slightest.

Alex splashed some water on her. “They do!”

Devan splashed him back. “I don’t believe you at all, Alex!”

“They love me!” he told her, dragging her off the raft and holding her against his chest. “Now agree with me or you’re going under.”

“I’m not afraid of a little bit of water, Alex.”

“Agree with me!”

“Never!”

Alex sucked in a deep breath before pushing them both under the water, bringing them back up and shaking the hair out of his eyes.

Devan laughed. “You can’t make me!”

“Yes, I can!” he told her before repeating the action.

“You’ll never take me alive!”

Alex paused, glancing down at her before laughing. “Are you serious with that?”

Devan nodded, turning around in his arms. “Jealous that I topped you with my supreme wit and charm?” she asked him.

Alex smiled. “Just a little bit.”

Devan laughed. “I always knew that you were jealous of me.”

“I’m jealous of no one. People are jealous of me,” Alex declared.

She paused. “Are you serious with that?”

He nodded proudly. “See how ridiculous it sounds?”

Devan elbowed him in the side. “It sounded better when I said it.”

“I’m sure it did,” Alex replied sarcastically.

Devan ignored that comment and decided to try to walk on her own around the perimeter of the pool.

Alex watched for a minute before rolling her eyes and swimming to get in front of her, reaching for her hands. “Don’t hurt yourself, Dev. The last thing I need is your dad to ask what happened. And since you probably wouldn’t lie, then he’d really hate me. And how am I supposed to convince him to let me take you home the rest of this week if he thinks I’m corrupting you?” he asked.

“You are corrupting me,” Devan said evenly.

He bit back a smile. “I would never corrupt someone as innocent, as pure—“

“Right,” she said while rolling her eyes.

“So pure of heart! I could never defile you,” Alex declared.

Devan laughed. “You’re full of shit.”

He smiled. “Really, though, Dev, take it easy. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“I believe you,” she said quietly.

Alex watched her for a brief moment before reaching out and brushing his knuckles over the side of her face. “Good. I couldn’t live with myself if anything else happened to you.”

Devan’s eyes narrowed. “Alex—“

“You ready to go inside?”

“I don’t—“

“Yeah, let’s go inside,” he decided before leading her over to the side of the pool.

“What if I don’t want to go inside?” she asked.

Alex shrugged before picking her up. “I’d say that you don’t have a choice.”

+

“I’ll just wait out here until my dad comes to get me,” Devan told him as he wheeled her back towards the school.

“I’ll wait with you.”

“Alex, you don’t have to.”

“What else am I going to do, Dev?” Alex asked with a smile, sitting down on the ground next to her.

She shrugged. “Do I look like I’ve been swimming?” she asked.

Alex laughed. “Can’t tell at all.”

“Cool.”

“Hey Alex, hey Dev,” Rian greeted as he walked out of school.

“Has the bell rang already?” Alex asked.

Rian nodded. “It’s amazing what you miss when you skip school.”

Devan bit her lip. “I won’t make this a habit, I promise—“

“There’s two weeks left in school, Dev, you can skip as much as you want,” Alex told her.

“I’d rather not,” Devan said.

“I’ll meet you at the car, Alex,” Rian said, tossing a crumbled piece of paper onto his friend’s lap. “Hurry up.”

Alex frowned, knowing that the hurry up wasn’t in reference to waiting with Devan.

“You can go if Rian has somewhere to be, Alex,” Devan told him.

Alex unfolded the piece of paper and smoothed it out.

have you told dev yet?

Devan couldn’t resist the urge to lean over and read the paper herself. So she did. Frowning, she shook her head. “Told me what?”

Alex paused. “Uh—“

“Alex,” Devan said, her tone changing, “what is he talking about?”