Silly Of Me

Amelia tries her best to keep her eyes open, one eye would shut, the other follows. Then she shakes her head and both eyes are open again. For the last twenty minutes, her eyes have been drooping. She’s trying to fight off that sleepy, sluggish feeling, but she’s beginning to lose. Even though she slept quite early, well if you call three in the morning early, she still got eight hours of sleep. But yet, here she is now, sleepy as can be. She wished that she only had three hours of sleep, she seems to function much better with lack of sleep.

This is it. She’s going to let sleep win. A quick ten minute shouldn’t be so horrible, even if it’s at a public place, specifically outside a coffee shop. People are sure to sleep outside a coffee shop all the time. Her head is already cradled in her arms, her eyes closed, dreamland is minutes away, but the sound of books slamming on the table jolts her awake.

She looks up, her eyes meeting the familiar ocean blue eyes of Aaron Peirsol.

“I hope I didn’t wake you,” Aaron says to her, making Amelia narrow her eyes at him.

“No, of course not, just frustrated.” She replies, trying to be upset at Aaron for waking her up. But she’s a bit thankful so she can at least do some reading before picking up Elyse and Ryan.

“What’s up?” Aaron sits down in front of Amelia, placing his bag beside him.

“I’m just exhausted,” she sighs, pouting slightly. Aaron can’t help but think how adorable she looks with her lips all pouty, her chin propped up on her hand.

“Makes the two of us,” Aaron takes a sip of his coffee, placing it by his books. “This is just too much reading.” He points at the International relations book in front of him, shaking his head. “If I knew learning about the government would require so much reading, I would have majored in something related to swimming.”

“Marine Biology is still calling for you.” Amelia smiles making Aaron laugh.

“That’s a bit harsh, Lia,” he tells her. “Just because I like the ocean doesn’t essentially mean I should major in Marine Biology.”

“No, you’re right, you shouldn’t.” Amelia eyes drift over to her book. “You should just become Aquaman.”

Aaron looks at Amelia for a moment. She lifts up her eyes, meeting his. They both burst out in laughter, knowing it’s an ongoing joke between the two of them.

They had been watching Teen Titans one faithful night as they waited for Chris to bring home dinner and Aquaman made an appearance. Jokingly, Amelia told Aaron that he should drop everything and be a superhero, specifically Aquaman since he loves the ocean and all. For a moment they were silent, until finally, the both started laughing, with Aaron agreeing he should quit school and become Aquaman.

“As tempting as that is, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy your company if I were to become Aquaman, I highly doubt you would come visit me.” His comment makes Amelia blush, but she hides it with her book, holding it up so she can read. Inside, she’s screaming. Aaron always makes little comments like this and it would always kill her inside, the urge to scream out loud is always strong.

“How are you so sure?”

“You’re afraid of the water, Amelia.” Aaron points out. It’s not a secret that Amelia’s been petrified of the water ever since she was five years old. An accident caused her to just shy away from any big bodies of water, even swimming pools. She can watch races, people swimming, but when it comes to her going in, it’s not even possible. She almost died when she was five, falling into the pool. Her father saved her, but it still traumatized her. After that, she couldn’t go near it. She feared that it would envelop her like how it did years ago. “And you don’t know how to swim.”

“I would get over it,” she crosses her arms over her chest. She would get over it, as long as she got to see him again. Well, maybe she’ll get over it. It’s a long shot, but she would try, for him she would.

‘This is wrong, Amelia. Remember, Eva.’ She scolds herself.

“Well that makes me happy, you should just let me teach you how to swim.” Aaron offers. “I wouldn’t let you drown.”

“I know you won’t, but I can’t.” Amelia picks up her book, trying to read once more. She’s been failing for the last hour, she’s not sure how Aaron’s undeniable presence would help her focus on reading.

“It wouldn’t hurt to try.”

“Aaron, please stop,” she pleads.

Aaron sighs. “Sorry, Lia. I know I can be a bit pushy, but it’s a bit crazy for me how you can despise water, yet half of your friends are swimmers.”

“I dislike the water, not the people who use it.” Amelia smiles. “Cause if that’s the case, I would hate you with every fiber of my being.”

“Well I’m glad you don’t then.” Aaron opens his book, trying to read along with Amelia. But both were having trouble.

Every time Amelia was around, Aaron always had the urge to talk to her. To make her laugh so he would be able to hear her melodic laugh and watch her face light up with that beautiful smile. Her eyes - they sparkled and Aaron loved getting lost in her dark blue eyes. Watching her was the most calming thing besides swimming. Even after practice, whenever she would wait for him, Aaron would sit by her just to be close to her. He wasn’t sure as to why she would wait but she did and the twenty minutes he spent sitting next to her was the best part of his day.

He sounds pathetic, he knows, like some love sick teenager, but that’s how he feels about her. Sitting near her now, he’s having a hard time focusing, but eventually he gets the hang of things and begins concentrating on the material before him. They’re in college for God’s sakes and here he is, unable to make a move. This is pathetic.

“Amelia, I was wondering, since the final for our class is in two weeks, would you like to start studying next week? Discuss the essay prompts or what not? The lecture and all that good stuff?” Aaron asks.

“Sure, you’re always over at our apartment, might as well do something productive when you come over.” Amelia teases him.

“Hey, I resent that, I do productive things when I’m at your place.” Aaron scoffs. “Video games count.”

Amelia laughs. “Definitely,”

“Hey, come on, I used to be over Brendan’s a lot, but that’s difficult now since he has a wife and all. I love Martha, great girl, but they need their time alone of course.” Aaron replies.

“Believe me, I love Hansen as much as the next girl, but he’s definitely lucky to land Martha.” Amelia comments.

Aaron chuckles. “Are you trying to say Brendan is not good looking?”

“Brendan is a very handsome guy, cute, I had a crush on him during my freshman year.” Amelia confesses, surprising Aaron.

“You what?” Aaron questions.

“Yeah, because you know when I first came here, Brendan was one of the people I first met. I bumped into him while I was touring the campus and he was really nice.” Amelia remembers that day quite well. She was supposed to meet up with Aaron and her older brother somewhere in the campus, but she got lost. She would have called them, but her phone died. Brendan bumped into her by accident, which caused her to fall on the ground. Being the gentleman that he is, he helped her up and offered some help. He finally showed her to the right building and left her at the entrance since he was late for a meeting with his coach. After that day, Amelia developed a crush on him and it grew a bit when she hung out with him and the other two members of the Texas Trio, Aaron Peirsol and Ian Crocker.

Eventually that crush faded since she began to see Brendan as a brotherly figure. It was what she hoped to see Aaron as, but to this day, she still has feelings for him and seeing him as her brother just disgusted her. She would never have feelings for her older brother.

“He just wanted to get in your bed.” Aaron replies, rolling his eyes. He knows he shouldn’t be jealous of Brendan, especially since he’s married now, but he couldn’t help it.

“Now, now, Mr. Peirsol, you shouldn’t talk about your best friend like that. Brendan didn’t want to get in my pants.” Amelia places her book down, giving up on her attempts of reading. “Brendan never tried to go out on a date with me or anything that would even make it seem like he was trying to get in my pants.”

“Fine, but still, I’m sure Brendan had other thoughts for you.”

“Jealousy looks good on you, Aaron.”

This catches Aaron off guard. He looks like a deer caught in headlights. He sits there, as Amelia sits in front of him a smile plastered on her face.

“Je-jealous? Me? Pssh, no, why would I be jealous?” Aaron asks, trying to sound as convincing as he can be, but yet he fails.

“Its okay, Aaron, I wasn’t going to take Brendan away from you.” She winks.

Aaron breathes a sigh of relief. She thought he was jealous of her taking Brendan away? She can take Brendan away all she wants, but as long as Brendan doesn’t take her from him, then everything is good and dandy.

“How’s Eva?” Aaron questions. He knows he hasn’t talked about this particular ex-girlfriend for quite some time, but he never really saw a reason to do so. Right now, the only reason he brought her up is to see if Amelia still speaks to her. Amelia on the other hand is thinking a whole different reason. To her, Aaron is still not over Eva.

“She’s good, busy with her career or whatnot.” She tries to not sound bitter or jealous of his curiosity, but she should have expected this. Though, she expected him to ask much earlier than two years after she left.

“That’s good, I’m glad everything is working out for her.” Aaron smiles, returning to his book. And somehow with that conversation, Amelia is finally able to focus on her book. She knows her and Aaron could never happen, it just sucks that he still has feelings for his ex-girlfriend, who also happens to be a friend of hers. The world just does amazing things at times.

“Are you picking up Lochte and Elyse?” Aaron breaks the thirty minute silence between them.

“Unfortunately,” Amelia frowns. “Love the two, but I can’t handle them alone right now.”

Aaron laughs. “Well I’m not doing anything, you want me to come with to pick them up?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind.”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I had better things to do.”

Amelia gives him a smile, which he returns. They resume reading, a comfortable silence enveloping them. Though, it’s broken by a voice calling out Amelia’s name. Aaron knows that voice and he knows it well. Both Amelia and Aaron look up and found Brendan Hansen making his way over to them.

“Baby Mia!” He calls out, opening his arms wide.

Before Amelia could even hug Brendan, Aaron slid in, hugging his best friend instead.

“Brendan, good to see you man.” Aaron says to him as he pulls away.

“Yeah, you too Peirsol, I just saw you at the pool an hour ago.” Brendan rolls his eyes, knowing why Aaron did the sudden gesture. He moves aside, wrapping his arm around Amelia. He holds up a two thumbs up sign behind Amelia’s back, while Aaron shakes his head. Brendan bites back a laugh before releasing the young woman in his arms.

“How are you?” He questions, sitting at the vacant sit in between Amelia and Aaron.

“I’m,” Amelia looks down at her book. “I’m surviving, and you?”

“Married life is absolute bliss.” Brendan turns to Aaron. “When are you asking Amelia to marry you?”

There’s nothing in this world that Aaron wanted more than to punch Brendan in the face. He’s always been blunt, which had its positives and negatives. This is definitely a negative. Aaron watches Amelia’s surprised expression before she looks down, blushing. He’s not sure if he should take that as a good sign, but he’ll take it as a good sign.

“Marry Amelia? Come on, you know Amelia still has a future ahead of her. Maybe after she graduates.” Somehow, Aaron recovers. He shoots a deadly glare to Brendan causing his best friend to give him a sheepish smile.

“So, Amelia, seeing anyone?” Aaron knew that Brendan had a purpose in his life. For this simple question, Brendan has redeemed himself.

“No, haven’t had time lately.” She loves Brendan, she does, but he knows about Amelia’s feelings for Aaron. It’s a wonder how Brendan hasn’t tried to hook the two up. But Brendan knows how the two are, he rather give them space, let them flow on their own. And maybe Martha, his beautiful and amazing wife, had something to do with Brendan keeping his lips shut. After all, Amelia told Martha, who spilled the beans to Brendan because of her excitement.

But it’s been long enough for Brendan.

It’s go time.

“You know who hasn’t had time either? Aaron Peirsol,” Brendan pats his best friend’s back. “You should date Aaron.” And just like that, Brendan is on Aaron’s shit list again.

Aaron and Amelia’s jaws drop at Brendan’s suggestion. They both avoid each other’s gazes, unsure of what to say to Brendan or to one another.

Once Amelia recovers, she clears her throat. “Uh, Brendan, you see,” she stumbles with her words.

“Why not Amelia? You can’t say no. Aaron is an attractive guy, intelligent, and hilarious, definitely your type of guy.” Brendan insists.

At this point, Aaron’s not sure what he should do with Brendan. Aaron is never nervous around girls, talking to them comes naturally. But with Amelia, at first, talking to her was a piece of cake, it was natural. Lately, it’s a whole different story. After discovering his feelings, Aaron, at some point and time had difficulty talking to her. He would stutter, say lame jokes, the list is endless.

“Because,” Amelia feels cornered. She’s not sure what to say. She wants to tell the truth, yet, it wouldn’t be right to date Aaron, especially if he still has feelings for Eva, at least she thinks he does.

“Are you not attracted to him?” Brendan continues his interrogation.

“Of course, Aaron is a very good looking guy with a beautiful smile and his eyes are just ridiculously blue.” Aaron and Amelia both couldn’t believe she said that. Amelia wanted to smack her lips for letting the words flow out freely. Did her mouth not have a filter? Brendan smirks victoriously, while Aaron smiles and slightly blushes because of Amelia’s brief of confession.

“So? What’s holding you back then?” Brendan asks.

Aaron is watching her now, observing her every move, hopeful that she would give something away. Any hints, sign or anything. Amelia remains quiet, thinking of ways to get herself out of this hole that Brendan is digging for her.

“I’m not really interested in dating right now. Besides, Aaron is my brother’s best friend,” Amelia reasons. “I don’t think my brother would like me dating a guy who’s practically like another older brother to me.”

“I’m like an older brother to you.” Brendan counters.

“You, Ian and Aaron, all three of you are.” Amelia replies, well maybe Aaron being an older brother is a lie, but she couldn’t exactly say that.

“Is there someone else?” Brendan questions.

Amelia immediately looks up at Aaron then to Brendan. “No, there’s no one.”

Aaron could see how uncomfortable Amelia is feeling. As much as he loves Brendan, though he’s making a list of ways to torture Brendan for his mischievous ways today, he had to get Amelia out of there. He wants to know her answer, but he feels like this isn’t the way to get it out of her.

“Hansen, we have to pick up Lochte and Elyse,” Aaron announces. Amelia gives him a thankful smile before packing her things up.

“But we’re not done discussing this, I’ll come with.” Brendan offers.

“NO.” Amelia and Aaron both answer at the same time, making Brendan smile.

“Yeah, I have to get to practice anyway.” Brendan looks over at Aaron. “Sure you don’t want to come out of retirement.”

“Goodbye Brendan,” Aaron dismisses him.

Brendan chuckles. “Baby Mia, I love you, please don’t hate me.” He whispers into her ear as he hugs her. “I’m not trying to kill you, just trying to nudge you two towards the right path.” With that he waves goodbye to Aaron before making his way to the pool.

Aaron and Amelia look at one another, giving each other shy smiles as they made their way towards Amelia’s car.

“I should drive, you should get a nap.” Aaron offers.

“Thanks Aaron,” Amelia hands him her keys.

Once they reach Amelia’s car, she places her bag at the front passenger floor, sliding in. She closes the door behind her, Aaron sliding in beside her on the driver’s side. He turns on the car before moving out of the parking space and making his way out of the parking lot.

“Before you fall asleep, you want to make a bet?” Aaron questions.

Amelia sits up straight, looking over at Aaron. “A bet? I’m intrigue, go on.”

“Okay, let’s make the conditions first.” Aaron smiles. “If I win, you let me teach you how to swim.” He looks over at her briefly, before returning his eyes on the road. “But if you win, I’ll lay off trying to get you in the water for good.”

“You’re not very forceful about that certain subject.” She points out.

“I could be, especially since I really want you to learn.” He replies.

“Okay, game, what are we betting on?”

“I bet you that Elyse and Ryan are going to be arguing when we pick them up.” Aaron places the bet on the table.

Amelia is silent for a moment before she bursts out in laughter. “Aaron, that’s such a lame bet, we both know they’re going to be arguing.”

“Because Ryan hit on another passenger,” Aaron adds on to the bet.

“For you its passenger? For me, flight attendant.” Amelia shakes her head. “I guess you won’t be pestering me about swimming anymore.”

“We’ll see, Levesque.” Aaron smirks.

Amelia smiles before turning slightly on her side, resting her head on the seatbelt. Aaron looks over at her, smiling to himself as he watch her drifting off to sleep.

He watched as her eyes slowly drooped and her long eyelashes rested on her soft cheeks. Her pink lips, slightly open while her breaths were slow and even. Reaching over, Aaron brushes aside a piece of her hair before pulling back as she moved in her sleep. Even when she was sleeping, Amelia was beautiful and Aaron knew deep down. He wanted to be the only one to ever witness her like this.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Honestly Elyse, I didn’t get that girl’s number.” Ryan argues as they make their way through the terminal. It’s not like Elyse is jealous or angry, but this how Ryan gets the psycho stalkers he gets. He gives them that wink, turning the full charm on and they were goners.

“Ryan, I don’t care if you gave her your number, my point is that you should be careful. Situations like this is the reason I’m going with you to Texas in the first place.” Elyse rolls her eyes as Ryan trails behind her with their luggage.

“Elyse, you’re being ridiculous, she slipped me her number.”

“You know how this could have been avoided? If you just didn’t wink at her, spoken to her or even acknowledge her.” Elyse exits the airport, Ryan following closely behind her. “Honestly, it’s getting a little tiring breaking up with all these girls after you’re done with them.”

It’s a shameful job, Elyse knows that. Karma is going bite her on the ass for this, but she does absolutely everything for Ryan, even breaking up with his girlfriends. Ryan has a cycle with girls. Completely infatuated, the beginning stage of a relationship where Ryan’s full attention is on the girl and the girl alone. Liking her, in this stage, he slowly breaks away, gives time to his family and friends once again, but still spending time with the girl. In the okay stage, the girl will get much more less time. When he gets to the ‘I’m bored’ stage that’s when Elyse steps in.

At times, Ryan doesn’t know how to break up with his girlfriend, flavor of the week, flavor of the month, so he calls his lovely and trusty best friend Elyse, to assure she handles the girl for him. Usually the girl accuses her of being the other woman or influencing Ryan, but some girls know its coming and brush it off. It’s a dirty job, Elyse knows, but its Ryan.

“If it makes you feel better, she’ll just be a fling and you wouldn’t have to break with her for me.” Ryan offers.

Elyse rolls her eyes, looking around for any sign of Amelia. Even though Amelia is five feet and ten inches tall, she couldn’t spot her. But instead, she spots Aaron Peirsol, talking to a couple of people as he stands by Amelia’s car. She smiles seeing Aaron with Amelia, plans on getting the two together are already brewing in her mind.

“Elyse, come on,” Ryan calls out after her as she makes her way towards Aaron.

Aaron hears Ryan’s whiny voice and a couple of girly squeals, which obviously announces the arrival of the two best friends.

“Aaron!” Elyse calls out.

He looks over at her and to his surprise, she’s wearing shorts, not basketball shorts, but you can call them ‘Daisy’ dukes, except not too short. Ryan wasn’t exactly ecstatic that his best friend would wear such shorts, but her argument for every clothing critique he has is simple.

‘Your ex-girlfriend’s are much worst.’

That usually does the trick and Ryan lays off of her. It’s not like he tries controlling what she wears, but he knows how guys are. Daisy dukes aren’t exactly repellents against guys.

“Elyse, hey,” he opens his arms, allowing the young woman before him to be wrapped around his embrace. “How was the flight?”

“Annoying,” Elyse rolls her eyes as she hears Ryan approaching, a couple of girls talking to him as he does. Aaron slightly smiles at Elyse’s statement, knowing his chance of getting Amelia to swim has risen.

“What’s up man,” Ryan greets Aaron, giving him a handshake.

Aaron and Ryan put the luggage in the trunk, before quickly getting inside the car before they get stuck there talking to their fans. Ryan sits at the back with Elyse, since Amelia is still sleeping at the front passenger seat.

“Why is she so tired, Peirsol?” Ryan asks, nodding his head towards Amelia. “Finally hitting it?” He questions as he wiggles his eyebrows.

Elyse’s mouth drops, while Aaron’s grip on the steering wheel tightens. Ryan doesn’t exactly see his wrong doing, so he just waits for an answer from Aaron.

“You are an asshole.” Elyse says out loud, causing Ryan to look over at her.

“Because of the flight attendant?” Ryan questions.

Aaron wants to kill Ryan. He thought Brendan was horrible, but Ryan always finds a way to top someone. And to make Ryan just so much better on his list, he decides to hit on a flight attendant instead of another passenger. Elyse doesn’t know about his feelings for Amelia, well, at least he doesn’t think she does. And for Ryan to say it in the car, with Amelia present, it just infuriates Aaron, but he couldn’t exactly show it in the car.

“No because of your idiotic comment about Aaron. He’s not like you when it comes to women.” Elyse points out. “Sex actually is an intimate thing for Aaron, not something he uses to past the time or when he’s bored.”

Ryan’s mouth drops open with Elyse’s harsh words. It’s not like Elyse has never said anything like this before, they’re best friends, honesty is always the best policy for them. But he has to admit that she’s being a little too harsh on him.

“Sex is an intimate thing for me, but I’m an adult, Elyse. It’s not like sex is not a part of everyone’s life. I’m sure Aaron has had his fun, he’s not exactly attached to Amelia.” Ryan bites back. “And it was a joke.”

“Your joke was a bit inappropriate.” Elyse counters.

“For you,” Ryan retorts.

“Oh no, for me as well, especially since Elyse wouldn’t exactly appreciate you talking about her cousin in that way,” Aaron interrupts.

“I don’t mind,” Elyse shrugs. “I know you have the hots for her.” She wiggles her eyebrows as well at Aaron through the rear view mirror.

Aaron turns around and looks over at Ryan. “Lochte, honestly, one secret, you couldn’t keep it?” Well, if Aaron is being honest to himself, he knows that Ryan would have told Elyse and he actually wouldn’t mind if he did. Knowing how the two girls share everything with one another, he hoped that Elyse would tell Amelia and it would push her to him. But it has yet to happen.

“Hey, don’t give me that, Elyse tricked it out of me.” Ryan holds his hands up.

Aaron’s eyes drift over to Elyse through the rear view mirror. She nods her head confirming Ryan’s statement.

“I actually did,” Elyse smiles. “It was recent, a week ago to be more exact.”

“Wow, Lochte, took you this long to tell her?” Aaron is quite impressed, yet he’s disappointed.

“Hey, I can keep secrets, alright? I knew this was something you wanted to keep between the boys, so I never told Elyse.” Ryan stops his sentence right there, fearing he’ll reveal Amelia’s true feelings to Aaron. “How can you discuss this so openly right now? Amelia is in the car.”

“Amelia’s a heavy sleeper, I assure you, she’s not hearing anything.” Elyse says.

“So, Ryan, why’d you have to hit on the flight attendant? No other good looking passengers?” Aaron quickly changes the subject, just in case Amelia does wake-up.

“You should have seen her man, she was smoking hot. Brunette, her uniform showed her body well and if I say so myself, her eyes were absolutely gorgeous.” Ryan brightens up as he speaks about the young woman.

Elyse rolls her eyes, while Aaron laughs.

“Oh Lochte, always so excited when it comes to women,” Aaron shakes his head. “What’s her name?”

Ryan’s mouth shuts, which makes Elyse laugh. Aaron laughs along with her when he realizes that Ryan doesn’t even know the girls name.

“Wow, she gave you her number and you don’t know her name. How are you going to call her?” Elyse laughs a bit harder. “You’re going to be like, ‘Hey girl, you slipped me your number, this is Ryan Lochte, what’s your name?’ and the sad part is, she’s not even going to hang up on you. She’ll tell you her name instead.”

“It’s just the way life works,” Ryan shrugs.

“Your ego never fails to amaze me.”

Aaron laughs at Elyse’s comments. “Amelia and I had a bet and thanks to Ryan’s decision to hit on the flight attendant, I lost.”

“A bet? What kind of bet?” Elyse questions.

“Well, we know how you two are so I told her that the reason you two would be quarrelling when we pick you up is because Ryan was hitting on someone.” Aaron begins to explain. “Amelia said that he would be hitting on a flight attendant, while I said he would be hitting on another passenger.”

“And what would you get if you won? A date?” Ryan asks.

Elyse smacks him on the arm, Ryan rubs his arm, shooting Elyse a look.

“No, Lochte,” Aaron rolls his eyes. “If I won, Amelia would have let me teach her how to swim, but if she won, I would have to lay off her about swimming lessons.”

Elyse groans, smacking Ryan once again. “See what you did? You should have just hit on another passenger.”

“Oh yes, definitely, I’m sure the muscular guy sitting beside me would appreciate me trying to flirt with him.” Ryan rolls his eyes at his best friend. “Amelia doesn’t have to know, Aaron. We can pretend I hit on another passenger.”

Aaron looks over at Ryan, he never thought Lochte would be able to say something that actually made sense. “You’re right, she doesn’t have to know.” He smirks.

“Come on boys, honestly, there’s no point of lying to her.” Elyse cuts in.

“Elyse, this lie would never hurt Amelia. I won’t let her drown.” Aaron reasons with her. Besides, are you not on my side?”

“I am,” Elyse replies. “Alright, what the heck, one white lie wouldn’t hurt.”

Amelia moves, causing the other three passengers to look over at her. She stretches out her legs, her eyes slightly opening and landing on Aaron. He gives her a smile, in which she returns in her sleepy state.

“Are we almost at the airport?” Amelia questions after letting out a yawn.

“We already got them,” Aaron replies.

Amelia’s eyes open widely, before looking behind her. She finds Elyse and Ryan sitting down talking among themselves before turning over to her.

“Amelia!” Elyse yells out.

“Elyse!” Amelia pouts, noticing she can’t give her cousin a hug. “You should have woke me up.”

“I did, but you weren’t budging. Thought you died for a moment, but I remember you’re a heavy sleeper.” Aaron slightly chuckles. “Besides, you can always greet her when we get to the restaurant.”

“Where are we eating?” Ryan questions.

“This Italian place Amelia likes, Chris is going to meet us there.” Aaron replies.

“How was your flight?” Amelia asks, surprise that the two weren’t fighting like she and Aaron predicted.

Elyse rolls her eyes. “Predictable, Ryan hits on a girl, gets her number, and at the end of it all, I’ll have to break-up with her.” Ryan chuckles at Elyse’s words. Even though she gives him a hard time when he would hit on other girls, he knows that Elyse is only trying to look out for his happiness. Even though he knows that these girls aren’t long term, having a little fun never hurts anyone.

“Are you two fighting?” Amelia didn’t like sounding hopeful about two people fighting, but she wants to win this bet. Though swimming with a half-naked Aaron Peirsol is a tempting thought, her fear overrides everything.

“To some extent, if Ryan would just stop hitting on everything that has an ass and boobs, then maybe, just maybe I wouldn’t be here today.” Elyse replies before looking over at Ryan. “Honestly Ry, I want you to find a girlfriend, get married, have babies, the whole shebang, but these random girls has got to stop.”

“Yeah, how do you expect to find a girlfriend if all you do is sleep around?” Amelia adds.

“Hey, I resent that Amelia, you know and Elyse does to that there’s more to me than that.” Ryan defends himself. He understands the girls concern, but he’s young, he has time to settle down.

“We know that Ryan and we know how much more bearable you are when you have a girlfriend.” Elyse replies.

“Aaron, a little help here?” Ryan looks over at his former Team USA teammate.

“On your own, Lochte,” Aaron’s eyes remain at the road before him, not wanting to get in the conversation. It’s not like he doesn’t care, but Lochte needs a steady girlfriend.

“Who did he hit on now?” Amelia questions.

“I hit on a flight attendant,” Ryan bites his tongue after his reply. Aaron rolls his eyes, while Elyse laughs out loud at Ryan’s mistake.

“Ha! I won Peirsol!” Amelia announces victoriously.

“Wow, man, you just couldn’t take one for the team.” Elyse shakes her head, laughing slightly harder.

“Take one for the team?” Amelia turns around to Elyse.

“While you were sleeping, Aaron told us about your bet. We all agreed on telling you that Ryan hit on a flight attendant so you can learn how to swim. Ryan even suggested this deceitful plan, but as you can tell, he fucked up.” Elyse pats Ryan’s back. “I still love you.”

Ryan frowns as his heart rate speeds up at Elyse's words. “I love you too.” It’s an odd feeling for him to have his heart speed up like that, but lately whenever Elyse says ‘I love you,’ or something incredibly sweet, his heart would speed up. Her words always has control over him, actually she always has control over him for some reason. It’s the benefits for knowing him for so long, she has him wrapped around her finger.