Baby Remind Me

It was a party, the first time we’d went out with all of our friends as a couple. It had been out at the lake, and while Ashley didn’t swim – she’d had a near-drowning experience as a child – she’d agreed to come with me. I’d been ecstatic; I couldn’t wait to show her off to my friends. I’d been pussyfooting around asking her out for a month or so, always chickening out at the last second. And even more so I’d been shocked when she’d said yes. She had every guy in school worshipping the ground she walked on, so when she’d agreed to go out with a so-called ‘wannabe’ NHL player like me I’d been taken by surprise.

We’d already been dating for about a month by this point, and as I drove the old Dodge out to the lake she’d given me a nervous look.

“Promise I won’t have to swim?”

“I promise babe; you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” I assured her, putting my hand on her knee and giving it a light squeeze.

“Thanks Marc,” she’d whispered, embarrassed at her fear but unable to conquer it. I’d understood, and we’d had a lot of fun at the party. Of course I hadn’t been able to keep my hands off of her; anywhere we went my arms were around her, or my hands on her hips, and more than once we’d been told to ‘get a room’ when our friends had caught us making out. I couldn’t resist myself; she was so beautiful, and not just her pale skin, emerald eyes and blonde hair; it was her smile, the way her eyes lit up when she laughed, it was everything.
When we’d decided to leave I had a brilliant idea, and instead of turning onto the grid to go home turned onto the dirt trail that would end up at the dock.

“Marc where are we going?” she asked, curiously looking around at the unfamiliar scenery. I’d never brought a girl out here, although Eric had assured me it was ‘romantic’. His sense of the word had never quite equaled mine though, so I hoped it didn’t disappoint.

“Marc, you know I don’t like to swim,” she told me, her voice nervous as I walked onto the dock, her hand firmly in mine.

“We aren’t gonna swim; it’s just beautiful out here, and if you dangle your feet in the water you’ll be fine – you won’t melt,” I rolled my eyes, making her giggle before adding “Right?” she burst out laughing at that, the moonlight reflecting off those beautiful green eyes and making them dance.

“What? You think I’m the Wicked Witch of the West or something?” she teased, making me grin.

“Nope, but I figured I better be sure,” I replied, not missing a beat as I sat down on the edge of the dock.

“I don’t even know what about it that scares me,” she sighed a moment later, staring out across the lake.

“I’d be scared if the same thing happened to me,” I shrugged.

“No you wouldn’t. You would’ve went out there the week after, waded in up to your arm pits and then forced yourself to swim under the water until it didn’t bother you,” she informed me, and I knew she was right.

“Well,” I said, stripping off my shirt and after a moment standing up and shucking off my jeans. Her eyes widened, and I blushed, glad it was dark enough out to hide the pink in my cheeks at her seeing me in just my boxers. I stepped into the water; gasping a little at how cold it was and hoping to not suffer any major shrinkage before turning to her.

“We can work on that, if you want,” I offered, holding my hand out to her. She looked mortified, and shook her head.

“Marc I-I want to, but I can’t,” she choked out. I stood between her legs and wrapped my arms around her.

“Yes you can; you’re one hell of a girl Ash, you can do anything,” I whispered in her ear, and moments later she pushed lightly on my chest. I took a step back, and watched in complete awe as she pulled her T-shirt off. It wasn’t like I’d never seen a girl without a shirt before, but I’d never seen her without one. And when she’d shimmied out of her jeans I knew I would’ve popped a boner had I not been in insanely cold water at the time.

“Marc,” her voice held panic and I stepped back to the edge of the dock, holding both of her hands as she slowly slipped into the water. I never let her out of my reach, and in the light of the moon as she came up from under the water realized that I’d never seen anything so beautiful in all my life.

“I did it,” she seemed surprised, to which I just smiled.

“Told you you could,” I grinned, and she wrapped her arms around me and kissed me hard.

That was the first time I realized the lengths she would go to for me. She’d been deathly afraid of the water and yet for me she’d went swimming.

I sighed, before getting up and heading to the kitchen, getting a glass of water and downing it with some Advil, knowing I’d probably have a headache in the morning. After that I tried to get comfortable on the couch again before drifting off into an uneasy sleep.