#daxtonet

He laughed and started lifting his shoulders up and down. “200 meter butterfly stroke, it goes like this.” He lifted his shoulders and then his arms, coming up out and over, right in her space. “You’re a little giddy,” Devi noted and Paxton nodded, smiling wide again. “It’s the meet, I always get hype before a race.” He leaned in closer to her, much closer, if he hadn’t been so goofy she might have assumed he was coming in for a kiss because of how close he was coming to her. “Gonna go fast, gonna win,” he whispered. She couldn’t help but laugh. She’d never seen Paxton like this but she liked it a lot.

“Okay well,” she started. “Shouldn’t you go?”

Devi tilted her head towards the pool building.

“You should come,” Paxton said, his smile getting wider. “It’ll be good luck.” “You’re gonna win anyways and I don’t believe in luck.” The statement didn’t damper his mood at all, though and she couldn’t stop smiling at him. “Even if I did believe in luck, I’d probably be bad luck.”

That made his smile falter a little. Oh no, what had she said?

He looked her dead in the eye, serious now, “Only kind of luck you could possibly be is good luck.”

Devi felt her cheeks flush at the compliment. How could she say no now?

“Are you sure?” “Unless you have somewhere to be?” He side stepped her and tugged on her hand, but it was her opposite one, she had to let go so she could walk with him. “Got a hot date or something?” That was the first time he looked unsure in the conversation.

“No, I guess I can come,” she said and his face reverted instantly to that goofy smile he was doing. “So how far is 200 meters like in regular people words?”

“Just a little over a tenth of a mile. Takes Michael Phelps two minutes to do it but I am not that fast,” he paused and looked over at her as they walked into the pool building. “Not yet.”

She smiled and he winked. “You should sit at the top, it’s easier to see me that way,” he said, tilting his chin towards the bleachers. “See you in a few minutes.” There weren’t too many people watching, but she stuck to the end of the bleachers instead of walking towards the middle more, and watched him walk over to where the other swim team guys were standing. He shucked his pants and shirt and shoes, while his coach was talking to him.

“I thought you were just running to your car to get your cap,” she heard the coach say. “Got distracted but I’m back.” He walked over to the water and dipped his swim cap in the water and then stood up abruptly. He jogged towards Devi and came up the bleachers two at a time, stopping at the step under her. (Devi would have fallen on her face taking the bleachers one at a time at that speed.) “Uh,” Devi said, confused as he lifted her hand and slid his wooden beaded bracelets that he wore all the time from his wrist to hers. “Hold onto those for me,” he said, looking up at her through his long lashes. “Keep ‘em safe.”

The way his voice was quiet, the look in his eyes, and the way he was shirtless were too much for Devi’s delicate system. All she could do was nod slowly.

He was back down and dipping his swim cap again in the water so he could get it on his head before she even realized what had happened. She looked down at her wrist and touched the beads absently, looking back at him. The beads were part of Paxton’s permanent look. Devi was surprised he’d handed them off to her to hold. It felt like it meant something. But surely not. No. It couldn’t.

Rows of guys now stood up on starting blocks, bent over, ready to race. Devi picked Paxton out in the third lane and watched as a buzzer went off and every guy dove into the pool. The butterfly stroke looked a lot more majestic and kind of pretty when they were doing it across the pool versus when he tried to show her out of the pool, by her locker. Before she knew what was happening, they were flipping in the water and turning to come back the other way and Paxton was definitely winning.

People started to cheer louder as they were coming back to the edge of the pool where they started and Devi cheered too. She stood up and started to shout, thinking they were almost done, Paxton had this in the bag, but the swimmers flipped again and Devi looked around to make sure no one noticed that she had misunderstood what was happening. They were all still shouting. Okay, she was fine. No one noticed her faux pas. They flipped again and she touched a bead, spinning it on her wrist. By the time Devi turned back to the pool, the swimmers were approaching the middle of the pool. Paxton’s lead was almost nonexistent now and Devi started to worry. She put her hands up to her mouth and started shouting as loud as she could. She was no John McEnroe but she out shouted the people closest to her easily. “Faster Paxton!”

Devi wouldn’t presume to take credit for it, but Paxton did pull out ahead as she was shouting and threw his hand up on the edge of the pool, easily three seconds before anyone else did. She saw him blowing out air, catching his breath, and then watched him pull himself out of the pool as everyone else did the same. He looked over at the electronic scoreboard on the opposite wall and jumped up, throwing his arms in the air when he saw his time. He pulled his cap off and high-fived his coach and a few teammates and then he came rushing back over to Devi. She was still standing and he only had to come up to the bleacher just before her and he was at her level.

He smiled that wide, giddy smile he had the whole time he was talking to her at his locker before he wrapped an arm around her and lifted her up.

Devi squealed. “You’re gonna drop me!” He put her down instantly but now he was looking at her, breathing heavy.

“See, good luck,” he said, before moving just close enough to kiss her.

It wasn’t like the soft, quiet, and charged kiss in his car all those months ago. But it was just as good. She responded quicker this time, wrapping her arms around his neck, and he followed her lead, putting his arm around her back, pulling her closer, no more space between them, meaning she was now damp. But she didn’t care. He tasted like chlorine and she felt drops from his hair fall on her cheeks as they kissed. Paxton nipped at her bottom lip.

“Now you have to do that forever,” he said, against her lips, and she felt him smile.

"You're superstitious," Devi said, touching the beads on her wrist as she held onto his neck.  

"Very." He kissed her again before the coach was shouting for him to come back for the next race.

--

It had been two weeks since the last swim meet and this time Devi was rushing down the hall to the pool. She made it to the lockers just before the door and practically ran into Paxton. He pulled her close and spun her around so she was trapped between him and the lockers.

“Thought you might bail,” Paxton said in between kisses. He ran a hand down her side, lifting her shirt so he could touch the skin at her waist just above her shorts.

“Never,” she said, gasping when he kissed just below her ear. “If I wasn’t here, then you might lose, then I’d feel terrible.” Her hand moved to his neck, then into his hair as she used her other hand to move his chin so he’d come back to kissing her lips.

Since he’d kissed her after winning his race, they hadn’t stopped kissing. He went back down the bleachers and raced in six more individual races and one more relay. He won every race that day and gave her all the credit. Devi knew that was ridiculous, she hadn’t done anything but show up and wear his bracelets, occasionally cheering him on. Okay, cheering him on constantly, her voice was pretty hoarse after the meet, but that was fine because he took her home and they made out in his car some more. Paxton texted her back and forth that night and then kissed her against her locker first thing the next morning before class and that was pretty much the new routine. Devi had zero complaints.

Devi opened her eyes while he was kissing her but just to peek at the clock on the wall. Paxton moved to her neck and she pushed on his shoulder. “Quit that, you’re gonna leave a mark.” But Paxton, giddy from the combination of the meet and making out with his girlfriend, didn't care. He pulled back and smiled, rubbing his thumb along the spot on her neck that he’d definitely just left a hickey on. “Sorry,” he said, but he was lying. She rolled her eyes. “Go, Coach is gonna be mad at you again,” Devi said, sliding out from under his arm and away from the lockers.

“Fine,” he said, pouting. “But I’m gonna win so it’s not like he can be mad at me.”

Devi started to walk towards the door but Paxton grabbed her arm and pulled her close again. “Just one more, I don’t think that last kiss had enough luck in it.”

Devi laughed against his lips, happy to help. He still held her hand and she remembered the bracelets. While still kissing him, she moved the beads from his wrist to hers, smoothly. She’d done it a couple of times now, she’d wear one of them throughout the school day and he’d steal it back at the end of the day, sometimes he didn’t. Sometimes he would drop her off at home with one. “Keep ‘em safe,” he’d say every time. She was basically an expert at moving them between them now. “Thanks,” he said, finally pulling away to head towards the pool.

Before he could get too far, Devi smacked his ass. “Go get ‘em,” she said, smiling too wide.

He turned back to her and laughed. “Paxton, stop flirting, we’re trying to have a meet!” Devi heard Coach chastise him as she walked up to her spot in the bleachers.

“That wasn’t flirting, sir, that was kissing.”

Devi put her head in her hands, embarrassed. He didn't need to be a smartass about it to a teacher!

“If you don’t win this race, you and only you will be pulling the lines in after the meet so your girlfriend will need to get a ride home because you won’t be doing it,” Coach said.

“Guess I better win this one, then, huh?” he said, that giddy smile back on his face.

He did win.

Coach seemed annoyed about that but Devi loved it and took full credit.