Chapter Thirty-Four

"No," she said. "No, no, no. You're wrong."

He shook the handle. "I'm not!"

She ran to the door and wrapped her hand around the handle, shaking it. It refused to budge. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"I'll text the security guards," he said, taking his phone out. He clicked it on and stared at it blankly.

"Well? Text them. Better yet, call them!"

He looked up at her. "I just got this new phone recently. I haven't transferred all the contacts yet."

She gawked at him. "You're joking."

"Like I said, I'm not," he said. He spun around, looking everywhere. "There must be something we can do."

"Yeah. Let's bounce ideas off each other," she said. "Maybe we could - "

After the tenth idea, they sat on the floor before the pool, hands rubbing their upper arms as they shivered. They didn't speak to each other, and didn't want to because when they spoke earlier, it only became increasingly clear to them that they were going to have to spend the night at the school pool.

"How the hell did the kids even manage to do it after school hours here if it gets locked up?"

"I recently told the guards to lock the pool up after school because of those students. They don't normally do it."

"Then how are we locked up when you know they were going to do that?"

"They told me that since they haven't been locking up for a long time, the locks were rusty and they needed to change them. It would take about three days, and it's only been one."

"Well, crap then."

"It'll be okay," he said. "It's just one night. Let's sleep now and when we open our eyes again, we'll be freed."

Her body trembled with cold. "There's no way I can fall asleep," she said. "I'm so fucking cold."

She looked at him and saw him shivering too. "Neither can I."

"It's winter now, isn't it? We're gonna freeze to death. The heaters are off."

"Don't talk like that," he said. Then he got up and neared the edge of the pool. He dipped one finger into the water. "Hey, the pool water is warm."

"Really?"

"Let's get in," he said. She got up too and walked to the edge. Her fingers tried to pull her shirt up from her skirt. "What are you doing?!"

"What?" Alice gawked. "We're entering the pool, aren't we?"

"Leave your clothes on," he said. "Jesus."

"Fine," she said, huffing in frustration as she tucked her shirt back in. They both dropped their legs into the pool from the edge and sank into the water. She followed him deeper into the pool and they stood there, facing each other. "Ah, much better."

"Definitely much better," he said, exhaling.

They gazed at each other. Thoughts ran through her mind as she tried to decipher his expression. He was looking at her like he wanted to say something, and as she wondered about that, she saw the shivering leave his body.

"So any new developments with Jeremy?"

She rolled her eyes. "I don't even know why you think he likes me. I just talked with him today and I can tell he doesn't."

"Trust me, Alice, you know nothing about men."

"Oh, really?"

"Break down bit by bit for me what happened during your interaction with him earlier today."

She looked up to her left. "Well, he chatted me up about my Central Perk tumbler and we got to talking about the sitcoms we love."

"When a guy likes you, he tries to find things he has in common with you."

She scoffed. "Then a lot, a lot of guys must like me," she said. "That's obviously not true."

"What else happened?"

"His phone kept ringing, but he didn't pick it up, then - "

"See. A guy is never on his phone when he's chatting up a girl he likes."

"He was just being polite. Geez."

"You didn't compliment him, did you?"

"I did. I told him he wrote a great essay."

"I'm sorry, but guys never forget compliments. If he didn't already like you, you just made him like you."

"He was complimenting me, so what was I supposed to do?"

"Tell me what else you guys talked about."

"He asked me to tell him a joke."

"Then?"

"I told him I was not a funny person."

"I bet he laughed at that."

Her jaw fell open. "How did you know?"

"Obviously because I know he likes you, and we laugh at the jokes that girls we like tell us."

She paused, letting that sink in. He paused too.

"I mean, generally speaking…"

"Yeah," she said. "I know what you meant."

He kept quiet.

"Keanu, what else does a man do when he likes a girl?"

"Forget it."

"Come on," she said. "We're gonna be here for long, you gotta chat with me."

"Fine," he said. "For starters, he is interested in the things she likes or dislikes."

"Like her hobbies?"

"Yes."

"What else?"

"He is always there for her. He listens carefully to the things she has to say and always supports her, but he is not afraid to stand against her when she is wrong, because he doesn't want to see her hurt in the end."

"And?"

"Let's stop talking about this. It's boring."

"No, I want to know."

"He can't see her flaws," Keanu said. "He thinks she's perfect. When that happens, he's done for."

"I used to date a guy who always reminded me of my flaws."

"Your flaws?"

"Yeah."

Keanu huffed. "What flaws?"

Her breathing came to a halt, the warmth in the pool water surrounding her reaching into her bones. He was gazing at her, and her body ached everywhere. He looked away, huffed again in slight frustration, then returned his attention to her. His lips thinned before they parted. Then he lifted a hand from the water and extended it out to her, his thumb hovering over her bottom lip.