Page 54 of Diving In
“Is that one of my old T-shirts from when we were at school?” I accuse her. She has the decency to blush. “I was wondering where it went.”
She twirls in the British Schools T-shirt. “I’m like a magpie, but instead of shiny things I hoard old swimming T-shirts.”
They suit her better than me.
“You won’t make it back from Rio with a single shirt,” she warns and I shrug. I was already planning on her stealing most of them. I look at the bed again. Has it got smaller since I last glanced at it?
“So.” Kath’s eyes dart to her bed, then back at me. “How do you want to…?”
“Whatever you want.”
An awkward pause stretches, as we try to work out who’s going to be next to the wall. But I know it’ll be Kath. She always sleeps on the left side of the bed.
As I go to the bathroom to get ready, I wonder whether platonic bed sharing is one of the worst ideas we’ve ever had. I already know that I’m going to spend the next hour trying to find the ceiling extremely interesting in lieu of watching Kath’s eyes flutter closed.
When I get back, she’s already tucked under the covers, curled into the far corner. Her pillow is angled protectively, almost like a shield. I’d laugh, but it just makes me remember how easy things were in the summer. How I could pull her close before we slept and neither of us would think anything of it.
I slide into my side of the bed. The mattress shifts, and the scent of Kath’s shampoo envelops me. It starts to become incredibly difficult to tell my body that sharing a bed with Kath is not in fact a prelude to something else.
“You OK?” she murmurs.
“Yep.” I think my voice sounds steady. “You?”
“Just tired,” she yawns.
I want to say something about how she used to sleep well when her head was on my chest. About how she said she’d slept better when we shared. I want to turn towards her and say her name in the way I used to over the summer, to see if she’d stillreach for me.
But I can’t do any of those things. Instead, I tangle my fingers in the blanket, take a deep breath and try to think of anything other than how good it feels to have my best friend sleeping beside me again.
Chapter 24
Nineteen years old
Sam
“Are you asleep?” Austin elbows me.
I grunt and drag my brain back from where it was—namely that weekend with Kath, and how she’d curled closer to me in bed without even realising. Instead of remembering how her legs had ended up tangled with mine, I focus on the projector screen at the front of the room, and the professor who’s gesticulating wildly as he paces back and forth.
This lecture is frying my brain. We finished most of the introductory modules last term and whilst I could keep up with Shakespeare, this series we started in February on ‘Literary Morals; Can You Distance the Art from the Artist?’ is veering into philosophy in a way that’s making my head spin.
I love the diversity of the courses here, but it’s so different from back home. I’ve always wanted to focus on literature and history, but I’ve had a chance to do courses on geography, some extra maths and even a sports management course. It helps that I share classes with so many of my friends; a whole bunch of the other swimmers have sports scholarships too.
“That was complicated,” Austin sighs as we exit the lecture hall. “Fletch, we’re definitely going to need to study together for this assignment.”
I nod. I miss Kath. She was the best study partner. And she had colour-coded timetables.
I pull out my phone to text her, and get an almost immediate response.
Kath:I’m sure Austin will be a good study buddy. What was the seminar on?
“How’s Kath?” Austin asks as we go to our room to grab our kit.
“She’s good.” I reach for my bag and start searching under the bed for my missing sliders before sending her another reply.
“When’s she coming to visit?”
“A month. Just after the NCAA Championships. It’ll be nice for her to be here when training isn’t so intense.”
