Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 48306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 193(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 193(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Needless to say, he accepted.
Mom did take the position at NYU, which was actually pretty bittersweet. It’s a fantastic job, and really much more of what she wanted to be doing anyways, so I was happy for her, but also sad. After all, it’d been just the two of us for so long.
“Think of it as practice,” she’d said as I helped her pack. “For you going to college.”
Then she’d laughed and made a joke about this being all backwards, me helping her pack for college and not the other way around before making a really awkward comment about me making sure I used protection.
Ew.
I moved into the dorms—a single room, thank you very much—but it didn’t take me long to basically be living at Camden’s. See, I ended up living right down the hall from Zara Bateman, Winchester’s resident bad-ass musician chick who happened to be in this actually signed band with a couple of the guys on the football team. We ended up becoming pretty close friends, and she soon clued me in to this whole secret staircase thing hidden behind the wall of a maintenance closet on our floor that would basically let you sneak out any time.
That was basically giving me the keys to the kingdom, and after that, I slept in my own dorm room maybe once a month. And the rest of the time, I was with Camden.
And after everything, we managed to leave Winchester without a scandal. Okay, eventually, Sasha and and Brynn found out. By which I mean, there’s a small chance I eventually told them. But, besides Sasha squealing a lot, they both played it totally cool. Besides, Brynn eventually had her own little—or not so little—scandal to deal with. I mean, I may have been sleeping with my coach, but she was…
Well, I’ll leave that particularly juicy little bit for another time.
But that was all a year ago. Now?
Well, now we’re in Miami, training.
Spoiler alert, Camden made it onto Team USA. Yeah, most of the other guys trying out were basically my age, but he blew them out of the water. And in a year, he’ll be swimming for the gold.
Actually, let me rephrase that: we’ll be swimming for the gold.
…Yeah, I, uh, made the team too. Surprise.
It was Camden who got me to sign up for a tryout. I mean, I knew I was a really good swimmer, but he was the one who saw it as more than that.
“Remember that time you almost broke a world record at a high school pool in a bikini?”
“Yeah, but I had pretty good motivation.”
He’d chuckled and pulled me close, and told me if I made the team, he’d make sure to motivate me in the same way, every night.
…He’s a very good motivator.
Cornell was happy to defer my enrollment—after all, having an Olympian at their school and swimming on the team, medal or not, is huge. And honestly, I know there are a lot of pro athletes out there who say “oh it’s not about winning, it’s about playing” but then in secret it really is all about winning. But for me, I’m just here for the ride. After all, I already won with Camden.
And anyways, tonight isn’t about swimming. Tonight, we’ve actually got the night off, which is why we planned this weekend for my mom to come down and visit. Camden’s taking us all out to this awesome new Cuban spot, and I’m honestly dying to catch up with my mom.
Oh, and show her the ring in person, of course.
…I guess you could say I really did already get a gold.
In the end—win or lose—it’s all about fighting for what you want. When you jump in, you either sink, or you decide you’re going to try, and you swim. And if you really want it, you swim your ass off, and you don’t stop until you get there. And somehow in the water, I found him, and he found me.
And that’s all we need.
* * *
The End.