Hey everyone! Here’s an extract from my new summer romance fic, featuring in equal measure Avatrice and MaryShannon! If you like what you read, the link to the full chapter will be at the end!
On the other side of the pool, Ava was paddling away from the shallow part. She ignored the pain in her limbs and pressed on, all the while Mary was calling from the side of the pool.
“Ava, come back on this side. Don’t you want to learn how to swim properly, rather than… whatever you’re doing?”
Ava shrugged off her comments.
“I’m fine,” she shouted back.
She was in the middle of the pool now, where the ground was so deep that she couldn’t feel it even with the tip of her toes. She was paddling her arms and legs as fast as she could to keep her head above the water. On the side of the pool, a young woman in a black swimming suit stepped up to the diving board. She had long, strong legs. Her hair was hidden beneath a black swimming cap, though a few small one still peaked out, plastered on the nape of her neck. Droplets of water had collected in the hollow of her throat, now running over to the edge of her swimsuit.
Ava forgot to paddle. She stared. It lasted only long enough that she felt herself sinking beneath the water. Panic rose in her chest and she kicked the water hard. She couldn’t calm down. Every kick of her legs only seem to drag her further under the water. She tried calling for help, but water filled her mouth and smothered her voice.
She didn’t hear the splash, only felt someone grabbing her and pulling her to the surface. She continued to struggle, but her rescuer was strong.
“You’re okay,” the voice of a young woman told her. “You’re okay.”
Ava finally snapped out of her panic. She was being pulled toward the ladder, held firmly above the water. Once she could finally grab the ladder to keep herself from drowning, she pulled away from her savior. Her heart sputtered in her chest when she realized it was the girl from the diving board.
“I’m…”
Ava wasn’t sure what she was trying to say. They stood so close to one another that she could see the freckles on the other girl’s face. I’m grateful? I’m Ava?
“I’m dead,” she thought and said at the same time, because she had to be.
The girl frowned.
“No, I… I pulled you out,” she replied with confusion.
“Yeah, no, obviously. I’m not dead, dead. I’m just… I’m Ava.”
Before the other girl could introduce herself, Mary arrived just in time to drag Ava out of the pool.
“I told you to stay in the shallow part. I warned you, didn’t I?”
Ava rolled her eyes and exited the pool. Mary threw her towel at her and Ava brushed the chlorine water out of her eyes.
“I was fine. I did it on purpose again.”
Then, she saw her rescuer was climbing after her, and giving her strange look, and Ava was quick to respond.
“I mean I didn’t do it on purpose to scare anyone. I had everything under control, totally.”
“That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said,” Mary replied, earning herself a glare.
A moment later, another woman joined them. She wasn’t wearing a swimsuit, but shorts and a tank top, her long brown hair held in a ponytail.
“Everything alright?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, Miss Masters,” Ava’s rescuer said. “I thought she was drowning, I…”
“You did good, don’t worry.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Mary intervened. “Ava doesn’t know when a joke has gone too far.”
“It’s fine. Better safe than sorry.”
“I just got tired all of a sudden is all,” Ava tried to defend herself against Mary’s glare without passing for a complete loser in front of the cute girl.
Full chapter 1 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45141238/chapters/113558530
Chapter 2: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45141238/chapters/114008935