Dr River Gray

    luana walked inside finishing up a call with her mother– that was the day she liked to start the day. it was still pretty early but they shared each other’s activities for the day and in that day in particular, the woman decided to swim a little bit since she had the day off. “ okay, mami.  buenos días, bendiciones. te amo. ” she said before hanging up and grabbing her little tote bag– phone in and towel out. the deep voice startled her a little bit, making her turn around to see the other already at the pool. “ fuck. you scared me a little bit– sorry, i didn’t see you before. thanks for the tip. ”

He stared at her for a moment realizing he had accidentally startled her. “Sorry.. thought you saw me.” He stretched his arms over his head then reached for his water bottle. “ I don’t normally see people up this early... “ He said softly before running his hand through his hair to try to avoid water dripping into his eyes. 

        jessica had no idea why anyone would willingly be up so early, let alone at the swimming pool. she had woken up in the middle of the night and hadn’t been able to return to sleep and figured she could get some exercise. “great! just as i like it,” she replied making her way over to drop off her bag and slipping off her dress. “swimming in any lane in particular or?” she asked a she made her way over to the edge of the pool.

He turned and rolled his eyes as she said she wanted the water cold. Great. “I don’t think it matters. I’m usually the only one ever here at this hour, so wherever.” He splashed water over his shoulders and looked at the clock. He could possibly end swimming early and try to go for a run instead, but he’d have to go get an entire change of clothes and it would take away from his workout time. 

Andrea furrowed her brows a little at the dismissal from the stranger, thinking he was actually rather rude. She could tolerate many things (more than she’d like to admit) but something she couldn’t bear was rude people. It doesn’t take much effort for someone to be nice, at least that’s what she always told herself. “Okay…” She murmured, looking down at the water as she sat on the step, trying to get used to the temperature before going right in. His next question caused a confused expression to form on her face. “Well, yes… but I want to be in the pool. It’s a shared space, if you didn’t know.”

He sighed, feeling somewhat bad for snapping. “I don’t mean to be rude... I just get here extremely early so I can just.. focus and have some alone time.” He said before stretching one arm across his chest. “ I do that on surgery days.” He said before lifting himself halfway out of the pool to reach for the water bottle he had brought. 

“Thanks.” Victor replies, offering the man a genuine smile. They were pretty excited about the news. Victor loved children, which was pretty obvious by the fact that they were a pediatrician. “Work can be pretty exciting though, if you love what you do. They always say if you love your job, then it doesn’t feel like work.” 

“What is it you do again?” He asked curiously. Maybe their job led to a clue as to how he knew them. Or maybe he didn’t know them and they just had a familiar face. The corners of River’s lips went up only the tiniest bit, in a look that could barely be described as a smile. His facial expressions always seemed to confuse people. “I run the vet clinic down the street...” He offered, his tone not as harsh as before. 

“Only if you let it be,” she reminded him, resting the back of her neck against the pool’s ledge in an attempt to relax. That proved useless because she couldn’t calm herself enough when the guy was pouting about not having the pool to himself anymore. “Oh for fuck’s sake…” she muttered before she too got out of the pool. “Look, I get it, but stress is a common factor in many resident’s lives. Not just yours. But it seems like neither one of us is going to get any relief from it with the way things are going. You were here first, so it’s only right that I leave you to it. Maybe I’ll get a moment of serenity later. Sorry for obviously disturbing you.”

He shook his head, having never fully understood the trend in the ‘daddy’ kink. He adjusted his towel and tilted his head “Oh and what sort of stressful job are you going into after this?  A babysitting gig?” He had already grabbed his things to leave, and he wasn’t about to get back into that pool now that he had already been interrupted. “I will find something else to do.”

It wasn’t often that Andrea was up this early, but due to her job, she worked at unusual hours and sometimes couldn’t always fall asleep when she really needed to, which was why she was up at sunrise, taking a dip in the shared pool. She was rather surprised to see someone else already there… obviously they had the same idea.

His words caused her to nod, giving the man a small smile. “Thanks for telling me. I was actually wondering that.” She replied as she stepped into the pool, bracing herself for the iciness of the water. “I didn’t expect someone to be out here this early. Great minds think alike, right?”      

River stared at her blankly. He could hardly contain the roll of his eyes as the perky woman entered his space. That was the last thing he wanted first thing in the morning. A perky smily person invading his space before he had even had his coffee. “Yeah sure.” He shook his head, and quickly did a lap, hoping maybe she was terrible with stamina and would leave soon enough. He paused after five laps and leaned against the wall of the pool. “You know, they have like.. yoga classes and other things in the morning, right?”

“Good. Glad to see we’re on the same page,” she said simply. All she wanted was a relaxing, stressfree hour at most. Clearly, that wasn’t going to happen with this guy who apparently wasn’t taught to share as a child. She was trying her best to ignore him and the attitude he brought forth, but he just kept talking with a voice that was deep enough and an accent so rich that it was impossible to ignore. “I already told you, that you don’t have to worry about that. But here you are, letting it dwell in your mind,” she shrugged. “It appears that regardless of what time I swim, you’re going to have a problem with it. So why don’t you just let me be and enjoy this very small portion of the pool, while you go Michael Phelps it up with the rest of the space?”

“Because it’s a revolting idea.” He said as he walked to the edge of the pool to lift himself out. He walked over towards where he had put his things and grabbed them, letting the water drip down his body. “Some people swim at this hour to have the pool to themselves. To focus, and have some alone time before they have to go in to a stressful day job.” He said wrapping the towel around his hips. 

She could sense his annoyance with her, but it wasn’t going to stop her from enjoying an amenity that was just as much hers as it was his. The pool was big enough for the both of them, and he was just going to have to get over the fact that he had to share a small portion of it. His comment made her smirk. It was the age old joke about her size. Sure she was a tiny human, and heard them all before, but this one was surprisingly new. “If this is some trick to get me to call you ‘daddy,’ it’s not going to happen,” she shot back, before ducking her head underwater, and swimming to the other side of the pool.

He scrunched his face in disgust as she spoke. “Uh definitely not.” He said right before she swam to the other side. He kept his eyes on the second hand on the clock at the end of the pool. Once the hand got all the way around the clock, he shoved off the wall with impressive form. Swimming part way down the pool underwater, he popped up swimming butterfly down and back. Standing at the end, he glanced to see the time. “Yeah.” He said quickly. “I would appreciate if you never call me that.” He looked at her “You know the pool is open at night too. So that’s an option to swim then instead of right now. “

Those that knew Reese, knew that she was constantly working. Though with the new year and those stupid traditions of ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ she thought she’d at least attempt to stick to one - that one being taking some time for herself. What better way than to check out the pool rather than go to a packed gym with the ‘new year, new me, I’ll try this for a week, realize I can’t eat pizza every day and quit’ people. She set her towel and a small bag on one of the lounges and almost immediately proceeded to descend down the steps of the pool, letting the water immerse her, taking the stresses of life away even if for a moment. The other’s deep voice penetrated her ears, disturbing her peace. Opening up one eye and looking in the direction of it, “Thanks for the heads up. I’m sure my body will adjust eventually.”

River watched as she got into the pool. He didn’t know why it was so annoying to him, it just was. Gesturing to the sign on the door, he spoke again. “Shouldn’t you have a parent or a guardian with you?” He said, wiping water from his face. River had a knack for at least frustrating people enough that they would leave him alone. He splashed some water over his shoulders before leaning against the wall, blue eyes staring at her.

“i could give you a deal on the diesel, thirty for the eighth, but next week i’ll have better stuff, so expect a price climb.” she explained, digging through her backpack. granted, she didn’t feel the best about meeting in a park, but sometimes options were tight. being caught wasn’t such a big deal to her; she’d been arrested for worse. as long as she carried less than two ounces, she was fine. “do we have a deal?” she was more afraid of suburban moms than the police.

@bostonstarters

River stared at the woman who approached. He was simply taking a break from his evening jog. Frankly he had no idea what she was talking about at first. Then it finally clicked. “Wrong person.” He hissed, his blue eyes boring into her. He didn’t care at all what she was selling, it was more that his peace and silence was so suddenly interrupted. “For the record, you are terrible at your so-called job” 

“So today I found that I’m going to be an uncle. Which is super exciting, obviously, but it also really makes me miss my sister. I feel like I’m so far away, you know?” Victor asks, a sigh escaping their lips. “I keep trying to convince her to come move out here with me, but so far it’s a no go. I mean, wouldn’t you want to be closer to your pediatrician sibling if you’re having a baby?” They say, chuckling at their own words. “Ah, here I am going on about myself. Enough of that, how have you been? Anything exciting going on with you?”

@bostonstarters​

River looked up at his phone, hearing someone speak to him. He glanced at them over the top of his sunglasses, silently looking over their clothes. He was sure he had met them before... but where? River nodded, not being an extremely talkative man. He pushed his sunglasses up, and finished his email before turning to them to reply. “Alright...” He couldn’t think of their name, but frankly, it wasn’t a big deal. “Just the typical. Work, come home, glass of wine, read the paper, run then sleep. Congrats on your.. niece or nephew.” He said, coldly. His British accent couldn’t be missed, as it caressed every word he spoke.