Free Substitute Boyfriend by Jade C. Jamison Page A

knew we’d wind up doing something fun.  I arrived at Roman’s place after ten, our agreed-upon time that night.  We both had lots of grading to do.  Summer classes were not only more intense for students due to how compact they were, but they were tougher for instructors too for the same reason.  It wasn’t like we could teach less just because there were fewer weeks in the semester.  So we decided work first, then play, and sometimes that meant much later in the day.
    It was hot out and I had an older car.  The A/C hadn’t worked in years.  Ordinarily, I would just drive with the windows down and that would be good enough, but the last two days had been hotter than usual.  Roman had asked if I’d wanted to check out the pool and hot tub at his apartment complex.  I said no way to the hot tub, but the pool sounded like it might be welcome relief.  I had a bikini in my purse—one that I hadn’t worn in probably four years, because, even though I liked swimming, it just wasn’t something I thought about doing.  My gym even had a pool but the thought rarely crossed my mind.
    In this heat, though, water sounded perfect.
    So I got to Roman’s place and he opened the door.  He saw me in shorts and a Bring Me the Horizon t-shirt and said, “Nice outfit, but you’re not gonna swim in that, are you?”
    I sighed as I walked through the door.  “No, of course not.  But I wasn’t going to drive across town in a string bikini.”  He raised his eyebrows but said nothing.  “I’m going to use your bathroom really fast.”  Okay, yeah, so it was silly to undress and dress in private, but part of me still felt like we were friends only.  The other part of me—the one that was more rational—knew that if I undressed in front of Roman, we’d likely never make it to the pool.
    I was a little nervous.  Would the royal blue bikini still fit okay?  I hadn’t gained any weight since I’d worn it last, but everything had shifted and I’d built up more muscle.  It had been stupid to not try it on before leaving my place, but there wasn’t much I could do about it now.  If it didn’t fit, I’d just swim in my underwear.
    It fit, though, and it hugged me.  It barely covered anything—just the parts that would take me from acceptable to indecent by legal definitions—but I was already a little cooler.  I came out of the bathroom and immediately felt self-conscious again, because I could tell Roman appreciated it.  I gave him a look and said, “Are we swimming or not?”
    He acted annoyed.  “Yeah.”  He pulled his t-shirt off and threw it on the couch.  He was wearing shorts, but they didn’t look like swimming trunks—they just looked like regular shorts.  “I have a towel for you,” he said, picking up two off the coffee table and tossing one at me.  “Let’s go.”
    It wasn’t cool out.  Sure, it was cooler than it had been when the sun had been beating down on us a few hours earlier, but the darkness didn’t offer much relief.  I could hear a few crickets in the distance celebrating who knew what, but I could also hear voices scattered throughout his complex.  It was a busy place with lots of sociable people, and I knew then that the pool area might be crowded.  It was a Thursday night, though, so I expected the noise to die down soon.  Surely some folks there had work the next day.  I knew I did, even though my class was later in the morning.  We walked between a few buildings and I realized then that they weren’t all rowdy.  Some were quiet and lots of apartments had most of their lights off.
    When we got to the pool building, though, all the lights were out.  I’d never been to the pool area at his complex, so I hadn’t known what to expect, but from what I could see, the two longer walls were almost entirely glass whereas the walls on the sides were solid.  I could tell that during the day, the pool area must have been beautiful with all that clear, natural light