this fire

chapter fourteen

The new year arrived faster than Laney expected. She'd gone home to London for Christmas and her birthday (which was three days after the holiday) and flown back to Texas for New Year's. She was sitting in her dorm room with Brooke and a six pack of Diet Pepsi (neither of them felt like getting drunk). They were watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, and commenting on the fact that it was a testament to swimming's growing popularity that Michael Phelps was going to be on, as well as Amanda Beard.

Laney took a sip of her soda and grabbed a book off her desk. "What?" she asked Brooke, who was staring at her like she'd grown two heads.

"You're reading? When Phelpsy could be on at any moment?"

"I'm friends with him," Laney reminded her.

Brooke shook her head and her gaze found Laney's right wrist. "God. I can't believe he gave you that."

"What?" Laney looked at her silver bracelet. "Oh yeah. Me either."

Aaron had, in a very surprising move, given Laney a silver bracelet for her birthday and Christmas. No strings attached, he promised. But Laney wasn't sure. After all, even though they'd agreed to forget about it, he kissed her. And not that she was complaining, because she'd rather enjoyed the kiss, but she had second thoughts about the supposed innocent nature of the bracelet. She'd accepted it only after a lot of protest on her part. "Do you think it means something?" Brooke asked for the fifth time since Laney'd started wearing it.

"He said it didn't."

"He said 'no strings attached,' not that it didn't mean anything."

Laney was silent for a minute. "Damn. I don't know. You think it does?"

"He did kiss you. And then he ran, which is a sure sign that it meant...well, at least more than he wanted it to."

"Nah," Laney said. "We're just friends. Sometimes friends kiss each other."

A minute later, she asked, "Don't they?"

Brooke nodded, trying to look convincing, but both girls knew she was just humouring Laney. "Of course. Definitely friends kiss each other sometimes. I'm sure it was more of a brother-sister kiss."

"Yeah. That's it. Purely platonic. He just left afterwards because he had to pee or something."

"Right. It didn't mean anything really serious." The girls sat in silence for a few minutes. "Hey, your new best friend is on," Brooke said, pointing at the screen. Amanda Beard was on, standing with Dick Clark. Laney rolled her eyes and started to read, half paying attention to the interview.

"Do you have anyone to kiss at midnight?" Dick Clark asked. Laney snorted.

"I do, but he's in Texas, so we'll have to save it for next week," Amanda answered with a big smile.

"Is he a swimmer?"

"Best backstroker in the world," she said. She smiled at the screen. "Hi, Aaron!"

Laney dropped her book.

Brooke turned the TV off and stared at her. "She could be–"

"Don't," Laney said. She forced a laugh. "I don't care. Why would I care? We're just friends. Like brother and sister." Brooke sat next to Laney and put an arm around her shoulders. "I don't care."

"Sucks, doesn't it?"

Laney looked at her roommate. "Have you been watching Center Stage again?"

"Shut up, I'm trying to help here."

"Sorry," Laney said, leaning into her friend's embrace. They sat there in silence for a long time.

*

"Laney! Laney!"

Laney sighed and stopped, plastering a smile on her face before she turned around. "Hi," she said cheerfully.

"Hey," Aaron replied, falling into step with her. "I haven't seen you all week."

"Yeah...I wasn't feeling very well," she told him, feeling strangely guilty about telling him a half-truth. He frowned.

"Cold?"

"Yeah, maybe. Whatever it was, it was not fun and I was quite upset about it."

She wasn't lying, not really. She had felt like shit and she was very upset. But she didn't know how to ask him about it without making it seem like she was jealous. She was, but she wasn't about to tell him that. "How was your New Year?" he asked as they walked toward the arena for Laney's first swim since she'd come back from London.

She saw an opening and took it. "Not bad. Yours?"

"Pretty good. Mostly I partied. Did you do anything exciting?"

"Not really. I hung out with brook and watched TV. I guess you didn't see Phelps and Beard on Dick Clark, right?"

Aaron shook his head. "I think I was drunk."

"Oh." There was an awkward silence. They stopped by the blocks and Laney took off her sweat pants and jacket. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, Aaron shift uncomfortably in the chair he was sitting in. She watched him as she stretched, trying to figure out the best way to ask him about Amanda. And if it was possible for her to ask him like she was just curious. Even though she was jealous.

She jumped in the water.

Dammit, she wasn't supposed to care, and certainly not this much. But every time she thought about it, she felt sick. And she couldn't stop thinking about it. It was the reason she hadn't had a swim all week – she knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate.

Taking a deep breath, she dived under and swam four leisurely freestyle laps before surfacing. Aaron was still there.

He held the bracelet. She'd taken it off so the chlorine wouldn't ruin it.

After New Year's, she taken it off. But it only lasted about twenty-four hours.

"You wear this?" he asked with a smile, looking at it.

"Only when I'm not swimming."

He looked up at her as she pushed herself out of the pool. "Really?"

She nodded. "It's a beautiful bracelet." She sat on the edge of the pool and let her feet dangle in the water. "I love it."

She felt herself tense up when he sat down next to her. "I'll race you," he offered. She looked at him, surprised. He was grinning at her and wearing a Speedo. Her stomach flipped.

"No, I...I don't feel like racing." She said, turning away before her face became a tomato.

His smile faded. "Are you ok?"

"Fine."

"Laney..." he leaned forward and looked at her. "You're not."

"I am," she informed him. "I'm fucking perfect, and how would you know anyway?" She felt guilty for snapping at him almost as soon as she did it. "I'm sorry," she said, taking a deep breath. "I'm feeling a little cranky. Just getting over a cold; you know. Plus...PMS," she offered by way of explanation. It seemed to satisfy him, because he smirked at her. She smiled. What the hell, she thought. "So I meant to ask you. How long have you been dating Amanda Beard?"

"What?" he asked after a minute of surprised silence.

"I said–"

"I heard what you said. I'm just not sure why you said it."

"She said it on TV. On New Year's Eve." She reiterated the interview. "So how long has that been going on?" she repeated, trying to sound as much like a buddy asking a question as she could.

"It's not."

"Not what?"

"Not going on. I've never dated her and I don't plan to start now. Or ever." He shook his head. "She really said that?" Laney nodded. "I could kill her."

"Don't you think that's a bit harsh?"

"I guess. But Jesus, she made you...she made everyone think we're dating. Again."

"I didn't care," she lied over the lump in her throat. "I just wondered why you hadn't said anything."

He didn't say anything for a few minutes. "You want to go do something?"

"I was going to swim, since I haven't in over a week."

"Good idea. I think I'll join you." He stood up and dived into the water. Laney, shaking her head but immensely relieved, jumped in after him.