Diana

I was wondering around the university's book store, idly picking up thick textbooks bearing labels of Schaum's Outline of Biochemistry and Dictionary of Vetinary Nursing, and thinner novels designed for the English students, their titles bearing the names such as The Book of Fate and The Last of the Vostyachs proudly. I replaced the novels back on the shelves as Jessica whined at me yet again about her subject choice.

'Don't major in anything,' I said unhelpfully, walking down the next row of shelves.

'How about photography and early American history?' Jess asked, pulling two volumes off the shelf. One thing I had to say about this book store was that it was very badly organized. Everything seemed to be placed any where it wanted to be, regardless of category and the level it was aimed at.

'You almost failed history last year.' I pointed out, continuing to browse. Bored, I ran my fingers over the spines and selected one at random, pulling it out, opening to a new page and reading aloud a passage.

'Is that a German book?' Inquired Jessica as I stumbled over the foreign words and sentence structure.

'So? I can't learn a new language?' I asked back, hastily placing the book back. Jessica looked around the end of the bookshelf, frowning at me.

'No, it's just an observation. Not many people open up books in an entirely new language and start reading them.' I shrugged at her comment.

'I'm not many.' Jessica rolled her eyes.

'I think I'll major in arts. A bachelor degree in arts is good enough for me.' She grabbed what I assumed was the required textbooks and went up to the front to pay for them. I, on the other hand, walked out of the store to wait for her in the warm Californian weather. She came out a few moments later, taking me by the arm and walking back to the dorm.

'What do you want to do?' She asked, shifting her books from one arm to the other. The bag banged against our legs as we walked. I shrugged at her question. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was fine with whatever. She sighed. 'Do you want to go to the pool? Swim some laps?' Again, I shrugged.

'Sure.'
Jessica seemed pleased with my half-hearted answer and began walking with more of a pep in her step.

- - -

We reached the pool, the scent of chlorine making me sneeze. After I had recovered from my nose freak out and opened my eyes, I saw a few other students already taking advantage of the luxury. Namely, Alan. I sighed and since Jessica had already dumped her stuff and was in the process of diving into the pool, I took it and went over to the bench on the side and watched. I hadn't any desire to go swimming anyway. Maybe later, at the beach. Just me and the waves.
Instead, I watched Alan swim, the clean strokes of his freestyle cutting through the choppy water, caused by his faster than average speed. His tumble turns were quick and precise, and it seemed as if he didn't need any air as he dolphin kicked his way to the surface.

He had tried to pull his hair back in a hair tie to keep it out of his face, but he had failed with it being too short to all be restrained at once. He was only is swimming trunks, displaying his muscled upper body nicely. A few tattoos littered his arm, but not many.

His kicks were short and fast, a small splash of water following as he moved from one end of the lane to the other. He moved almost soundlessly, breathing every five strokes, testing his lung capacity.

I had no clue how long I watched him swim, long enough though for him to tire and stop at one end of the pool. I heard Jessica calling my name, she too had tired of the sport and was ready to leave. She knew I had had no desire to swim, and let me be. Alan took a sweeping gaze of the pool area, as I stood up and started walking over to Jessica's lane, my bag slung across my body and hers in my hands, as I frantically searched for the towel. Once Jessica was dried, she chucked on her shirt and wrapped the towel around her waist, throwing her hair up in a bun.

'Let's go, yeah?' She asked, her voice distant. I nodded mutely. I looked over at Alan's lane to see if he had continued his graceful swimming. He had already left.