Page 8

Austin

Austin wasn’t sure what to expect, as he made his way towards the Aquatic Facility. He didn’t know why on earth Jesse would do something stupid like invite a total stranger to live with him—especially one that could even be dangerous—but that was part of why he’d insisted on today’s meeting.

If Jesse was getting himself into trouble, it was Austin’s job to pull him back out.

Reaching the entrance, he casually leaned against the wall to wait. Well, to wait and to rest. Those who didn’t know him wouldn’t suspect he needed the support, but he knew better than to push his luck. He was more or less pain free right now, but that could easily change if he overdid it.

Just when he was about to check the time on his phone, he spotted Jesse and Jamie, the two looking oddly similar with their dark hair and the fact that the stranger was wearing Jesse’s clothes.

Of course, they still looked a little different; Jamie was shorter than Jesse, his hair was longer and more wavy, and his eyes were noticeably rounder than the monolid eyes Jesse had inherited from his Korean side.

There was something about the stranger that made him stand out even more, however, that Austin couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Maybe it was the intense gaze on his face as he stared at Austin as he and Jesse approached, or maybe it was the slight pink in his cheeks that came from the brisk February air, or the fact that Jesse’s spare jacket was clearly a little too big for him.

Either way, Austin was already intrigued as the two reached him by the door.

“So, you must be Jamie,” he said at once, taking a few steps forward to offer a hand for the stranger to shake. “The name’s Austin Reese, I’m Jesse’s oldest and most awesome friend. ”

Jamie continued to stare at him, without shaking his hand. “Why are you walking like that?”

Wow.

People were usually more delicate than this, no matter how surprised they were by his limp. Jamie’s bluntness took him by surprise—and a small snort escaped before he could help it.

“Jamie,” Jesse whispered with a wince, giving Austin an apologetic look. “It’s rude to say things like that.”

“Really?” Jamie’s eyes widened further as he stiffened. “I didn’t mean to be rude, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Austin assured him. The only thing worse than being stared at like a sideshow freak was having people walk on eggshells around him.

Still, he was glad that his swimming shirt and trunks weren’t going to reveal the deep scars from his surgeries, once they hit the pool.

He had come a long way since the early days after his accident, and wasn’t ashamed of those scars anymore…

but that didn’t mean he liked it when strangers stared and made a big deal about it.

“It’s an old injury, you know?” he explained to Jamie.

“The nerves in my back don’t respond correctly to the signals from my brain, so my mobility simply isn’t what it used to be. ”

Jamie looked lost at this explanation, and Austin remembered what Jesse had told him about the guy’s apparent lack of…

pretty much all knowledge. He’d have to offer a bit more of an explanation, he realized; probably the one he gave to the random kids who asked him the same question whenever he was out in public.

“My legs don’t do what they’re told,” he simplified. “So, it makes me walk different.”

“Oh,” Jamie said, glancing down at Austin’s legs again. “I’m so sorry, I really didn’t mean to be rude.”

“It’s fine,” Austin said again. “Let’s just get inside and get swimming, yeah?”

Jamie nodded in response.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s not such a good idea,” Jesse suddenly said, biting his lip as he cast a look through the large windows and into the pool beyond. “We don’t even know if Jamie can swim. Maybe we should just grab some lunch somewhere instead, that’s safer.”

“What, you’re not afraid he’ll eat too fast and choke?” Austin scoffed. “Come on, we’ll both be here the whole time. Besides, if he doesn’t know how to swim, shouldn’t we teach him?”

Jesse just stared at him for a few seconds, until he seemed to realize that Austin had a valid point. “…You’re right,” he gave in, taking a deep breath and turning to lead the way into the center.

Good. Austin didn’t get to do many fun things anymore, now that it was hard to get around and be on his feet too much. Swimming was one of the few activities he still got to do with Jesse. It would’ve sucked if it got called off completely.

Inside the center, it was quiet. They weren’t the only people here, of course, but the pool’s open-hours weren’t ever too populated in the winter season.

The subtle scent of chlorine filled the air, which was welcomingly warm coming in off the street, and Austin felt his muscles relax already as they made their way to the admissions window.

The center had a therapy pool in the back, and he’d spent many hours here after his accident, as he slowly recovered.

Now, it was one of his favorite spots in town.

“Hello,” greeted the attendant, offering them a smile as they approached. “Three adults?”

“Yeah, I think,” Austin said, though as he looked back at Jamie, he found he wasn’t quite sure. “How old are you, Jamie?”

“Uh…” Jamie hesitated, and then turned to Jesse.

“It’s… hard to say,” Jesse admitted. “But we figure he’s probably eighteen or nineteen. Without his memories and ID, we can only guess, after all.”

“But I’m certainly not any younger,” Jamie spoke up with a slight frown. “Maybe I’m even older than that?”

“Well, I highly doubt you’re twenty or older,” Austin told him. “You look fresh out of high school.”

Jamie blinked at him. “What’s high school? ”

“Three adults!” Jesse anxiously told the attendant, who was now staring at Jamie with an uncertain, suspicious look on her face. “How much?”

“Let me get it,” Austin said, pulling his wallet from his bag. “I’ll just put you two on my pass. Go on ahead to the changing rooms and get ready.”

Jesse took hold of Jamie’s arm, and started whispering to him as he led him over to said changing rooms—no doubt explaining the idea of high school and warning him not to reveal how little he knew in front of strangers.

And no wonder; if Austin had been in the attendant’s shoes, with no idea who Jesse was or what the circumstances were with Jamie, he would have been suspicious, too.

After he got the admissions fee settled, he went and got changed himself.

His trunks and shirt hid his scars well enough, as he’d already predicted.

But as he stepped out of the changing stall and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he still felt oddly uncomfortable about his appearance.

He couldn’t help but notice how much he had changed over the past two and a half years.

Not only had his forehead been scarred as well—albeit harder to see beneath his thick mane of what Jesse called his ‘hobbit hair’—but he had also clearly put on weight.

At age nineteen, he had been spry, lean, and toned—thank you, varsity soccer in high-school—but now it was hard enough just to get around for daily life, let alone maintain an active exercise regimen.

He wasn’t ‘plus-sized,’ though he wasn’t thin, either.

But he was trying very hard to not turn bitter. He took in a deep breath, talked himself into thinking he looked fine as hell anyway, and headed out to the main pool where Jesse and Jamie were waiting.

And damn, Jamie was toned! Very skinny, perhaps too skinny, but by no means weak. Every muscle of his abs and arms was perfectly sculpted, as if he’d been carved out of marble, and his waistline was honestly to die for. Not that Austin would actually literally ‘die for it,’ of course.

And Jesse’s face was red, as he pointedly tried not to look at Jamie.

Uh oh .

“What’s wrong? You spotted a shark or what?” Austin joked as he reached the two, mainly to try and give poor Jesse a distraction. “You weren’t waiting for me, were ya?”

“Well, it just didn’t feel fair to get in without you,” Jesse told him, seeming more than just a little relieved and grateful as he offered Austin a smile.

After all, Austin was one of the only people in the world who knew about Jesse’s orientation—and Jesse was one of the few who knew Austin’s.

Times were changing, there was no denying that, but not fast enough; and as the only gay man and only bisexual in their friend groups (even though the number of Austin’s friends had decreased a lot after his accident), they had to look out for each other.

And if this was how Jesse reacted to his new roommate at a public pool, he’d probably have an even harder time living in the same apartment.

Austin would have to watch out for that, and made a mental note to text him more often. Just to help keep him grounded.

Though… Jamie didn’t seem all that bothered by it, Austin noticed.

As the group got into the pool, Jamie almost seemed to be glued to Jesse at the hip; barely willing to drift more than a few feet away from him first, and constantly glancing over as if to make sure Jesse was watching him.

And although Austin knew from texts that Jamie had come to view Jesse as some kind of guardian, they did not have the excuse of a concern over Jamie’s safety in the water.

As worried as Jesse had initially been, it was clear within minutes that Jamie was a natural.

He swam gracefully, his movements fluid and practiced, as if he’d lived in the water all his life.

Even some of the instructors Austin had known these past few years didn’t swim as well as Jamie, and he certainly made Jesse and Austin look like total beginners as the three treaded water in the deep end.

“So, Jamie,” Austin asked at one point, after they’d been swimming together for a while. “Where’d you learn to swim like this?”

“I don’t know,” Jamie told him, frowning. “Did you forget I have amnesia? ”