Lost & Found

The Fall

Kicking his legs furiously under the water, he made the final push towards the pool wall, his feet finding the floor once his fingers pressed against the concrete and his head lifted from the water. Pulling his goggles from his eyes with one hand, he tangled his fingers into his wet hair with the other, shaking his head and spraying water in all directions.

"I swear you get faster every time I watch you."

He squinted into the setting sun as he lifted his chin to set his gaze on Lucy, who was holding out a large green towel in his direction. Tossing his goggles over the side of the pool, he planted his palms on the concrete to pull himself out of the water, grabbing the towel from his best friend and nodding in gratitude as he began to dry himself off. "What are you doing here?"

That came off sounding much ruder than he intended, but he wasn't particularly in the mood for laughs. Which, now that he thought about it, was probably why Lucy was standing beside his backyard pool in the first place. No doubt Justin had called her and asked her to come over, because if anyone could lift Tyler's spirits, it was Daniel's perpetually happy daughter.

And maybe Tyler should have known that he was always going to have to have this conversation with Lucy eventually, but he was hoping it would be later rather than sooner.

"Uncle Justin is worried about you," she replied, confirming his suspicions. "He says you did a hundred laps."

Generally speaking, Tyler swimming on his day off wasn't that surprising. The water called to him, even when training was optional, so he'd often take a dip and leisurely swim up and down the pool. But what he had been doing this afternoon was anything but relaxing. His strokes had been precise and hard and quick, as though he was under his coach's watchful eye, because he had hoped that keeping himself focused and tiring himself out would help him forget about, well, everything else.

"I'm just wired up," Tyler shrugged, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible as he rubbed the towel in his hair. "Needed to get out some of my pent up energy."

"Mhmm," Lucy hummed, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at him pointedly, apparently unconvinced. "Pent up energy or pent up anger?"

"I'm not angry," he shot back immediately. "I'm just confused and...you know what, I don't really feel like talking about this right now."

Staring him down, she contemplated whether or not to push the issue before deciding against it and shrugging. "Okay."

He was actually surprised that she backed down that quickly, but he supposed it was because she figured he would tell her everything eventually. Tyler and Lucy had never kept secrets from each other and they weren't about to start now.

Not that his current situation was really a secret, his problem was more that he didn't know how to express how he felt. He needed some perspective, and maybe some advice from someone who had been through a similar situation, which is why he turned to Jamie.

"Hey," Jamie lifted his eyebrows as he pulled open the door and gestured for Tyler to enter, a little surprised to find the swimmer at his doorstep, but not at all unhappy with the unannounced visit. His first instinct was to offer Tyler a beer, figuring he'd just come by to hang out, but Jamie stopped short before the words could escape his lips, furrowing his eyebrows in concern at the sadness in the younger boy's expression. "You alright, bro? What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," Tyler admitted, plopping down on the couch and waiting until Jamie sat in the chair next to him to continue. "I just needed some brotherly advice."

"Of course," Jamie nodded, always flattered to hear that Tyler considered him to be a brother. "What's up?"

"So you know how Cassie went back to school early..."