Though Alice knew the chances that he wasn’t Joe were pretty slim, she still felt her shoulders sag a little in relief when he confirmed it. Joe Cartwright. He wasn’t nearly as intimidating as she feared when she saw the word ‘senior’ on Coach Harrity’s email. He had a very kind face. A little laugh bubbled out of her at his admission about calling Kristine ‘Coach Harrity’ for so long. “Okay. Kristine,” she repeated with a single nod, trying to say it with more confidence than she felt. “I can do Kristine. Or, I can try to run with ‘Kristine’ here and now but who knows what’ll happen the first time I see her in person? There’s an equal chance I’ll freeze up and end up calling her ma’am all the time instead.” She nodded again as he explained the plan for the afternoon, straightening herself up a bit and furrowed her brow a little as she listened. Not only did she want to pay attention, but she wanted to appear as if she were paying a great deal of attention. First impressions and all. The tiny snort she let out at the pun was not part of the plan, but there was no way to hold it back either.
“Good. That all sounds really good. Thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out. I promise I’m a quick learner,” she said, which was maybe half-a-fib in general but not so much in this area, since she’d been a lifeguard back home so she knew the basics. “Before this, I was a lifeguard at a local pond over the summer and then at this, like, fitness center that was sort of bougie during the school year. Little kids and old people. That kind of thing. I’m going to have to contend with the fact that the… pool of regulars here look a little different.” She smiled indulgently at her own pun. “That’s probably going to be my most significant learning curve.” Alice picked absently at the nailfold of her thumb, then curled her fingers to make herself stop. “Oh, good!” she said sincerely. “We have that in common. I mean — I’m sober, but definitely… a little nervous. First day jitters.” First week of college jitters. First week without her dad or her cat or her lilac-painted bedroom or her bin of vinyl that used to be her mom’s or the hydrangeas in the backyard or the dilapidated swing set her uncle put together for her when she was four. No familiar faces (except Shiloh’s, of course). No old haunts. Lots of new new new. It was a lot of change, and she felt a kernel of her true self buried underneath it all. “But, um. Lead the way. I’m ready to go whenever.”
alice's firm nodd reminded him of abby. he hoped she was getting on okay at queen's but he knew she was doing fine and didn't need him fussing over her. she was fearless or at least better at pretending to be than joe was at eighteen. he got out of kristine's creaky office chair before answering alice's question."if you think repeating kristine until it doesn't sound like a real name anymore will help then knock yourself out. it sounds like a good plan." ,he replied. he added a thumbs up for good measure just in case alice thought he sounded sarcastic. he didn't think he sounded sarcastic (his problem was sounding overly earnest) but he knew he couldn't fully control the way he was perceived no matter how hard he tried.
he wanted to laugh at alice's comment but he suppressed his chuckle, letting out a small huff instead. he was worried that she'd think he was laughing at her instead of with her. he knew that it was easy to get the wrong impression when you were nervous. "i don't think she'd be psyched about being called ma'am but she'll probably find it kinda funny. not like in a mean way ; in an endeared kind of way , you know?" he hoped she knew what he meant and endeared was the right word to get his point across. he tried to use as little words as possible even though he didn't succeed. sure, he learned a ton of words in the last four years but dropping the word amygdala in a conversation wouldn't help him be understood. he needed to find words that worked for specific situations.
he nodded slightly when alice said she was a quick learner. that would make his job easier. not that it really felt like a job. he was happy to show around. he loved any excuse to meet new people and be useful. plus, it felt like he was adopting a rookie. "no way, that's so cool and you're more prepared than i was when i was a newbie." he stated but he didn't elaborate. she didn't need to know that he had no lifeguard experience before coming to essex but had wilderness and standard first aid training from scouts. alice definitely didn't need to know that in junior year of high school he tried to convince himself that his motivation for getting a bronze cross award was completely unrelated to the embarrassing crush he had on the instructor. "trust me,it's easier working here than at a pool with kids. i was a lifeguard at the rec centre in my hometown the summer of sophomore year. i was constantly on the verge of a heart attack and regretted not working at the curling rink instead." his words were in complete contrast to the found smile on his face. it was a stressful job but stopping twelve year olds from playing who can hold their breath underwater the longest was better than walking on egg shells with his parents and being afraid of questions he couldn't give the right answers to.
joe frowned deeply and twirled the pen he'd forgotten to put down. he wished there was something he could do to get rid of her nerves but he was out of luck. she had to overcome them herself. there wasn't a pool noodle to help with first day jitters."hey, it's gonna be okay. everybody gets first day jitters but you've got nothing to worry about. today's meant to be an easy intro and you'll get used to how things work around here in no time." he was reminded of the similar speech he gave abby recently. she just scoffed and told him to stop pretending to be ted lasso but he could tell deep down she appreciated his advice. he threw the pen onto an empty part of kristine's desk then clapped his hands together. "cool, let's go. anything in particular you want to start with? the admin stuff is in here but it might be a bit overwhelming. we could start with a general walk around the poolside then the equipment shed but it's entirely up to you." he wavered slightly, worried that he was being too vague. but he didn't want to give a structured tour in case that was overwhelming and made him seem like a hardass wannabe mentor.
