Chapter 4

"You aren't helping!" Elspeth snapped, crossly, flat on her back on the bed with her leg up on pillows.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh." Shawna giggled, and Elspeth finally managed a rueful chuckle herself.

"It was... painful."

"So what are you going to do about Briana?"

"I don't know... give up, I think. She made it fairly clear she's not interested, and even if she were I think I blew that chance with talking to Marcus like that."

"What are you going to do about him? Apologise?"

"I don't know... I might just go."

"Really! I thought you didn't go for guys."

"How do I know until I've tried, right."

"You know." Shawna assured her, scooting the chair away from her desk. "Don't feel pressured into conforming to other people's labels — that's Marcus' line, by the way, not mine."

"What if it's... I like Marcus, he's a nice guy, he'll treat me well. Why shouldn't it work?"

"If that was all there was to it, Marcus and I would be married with three kids by now." Shawna pointed out. "It needs to have passion, it needs to have, frankly, sex."

"And Marcus doesn't?"

"Not for me. Nor for you, from the way you're talking."

"No... not really." She admitted. "Sometimes it would be so much easier if I were normal."

"You are normal."

"I'm gay, Shawna..."

"Right? And why isn't that normal?"

"How long have you got?"

"Damn — you need to talk to Marcus about this, you really do. I don't know how he does it — let's face it, he's a long, long way from what most people would consider normal — but he manages to make the differences seem irrelevant."

"Oh, hell..."

"What?"

"Marcus... he said he'd help me tomorrow, with some physiotherapy."

"So?"

"So! I need to shave my legs. Can you help me, I need to get to the bathroom."

"You're going to shave?"

"Hell yeah... even if... oh hell, alright, I'm gay, and Marcus wouldn't work. I still don't want him to see me with hairy legs, OK."

"Have you tried waxing?"

"No..."

"You should, it lasts so much longer."

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"A little... not as much as some people make out, but it isn't painless. Just... try a bit somewhere first to make sure you don't react badly to the wax, don't go over the same bit more than once or twice, and be prepared to have to use tweezers on the few that you miss."

Elspeth hobbled out onto the poolside with the help of one of the lifeguards, knowing that with the amount of time it had taken her to get there, Marcus would already be out. Sure enough, she saw him just springing off the diving board, twisting and spinning as he neatly tucked through a few somersaults and ripped into the water with barely a splash.

"Wow... you're good." She noted, when he surfaced next to the pool's edge.

"Not bad... I'll never make world champion, but it feels good to get back to it. Come on in." He kept his body in the water, up to the neck, and reached onto the side for an old t-shirt that he quickly pulled on.

"What's that for?" she asked, gasping a little at the cold as she slipped in.

"Well, partly because I'm likely to be standing up and don't want to get cold, and partly because... well... frankly... um..."

"It's not like you to be shy."

"I've not done this with someone that just asked me out before, either."

"Oh... yeah... look... um... can I... oh shitshitshitshit!"

"Did you want to pretend it never happened?"

"Can we?"

"If you'd like."

"I'm sorry... it was..."

"You don't have to explain."

"Really?"

"This is me, I'd probably not really understand anyway, and it would just get more and more awkward for both of us if I were to try and get you to explain."

"Thank you." She managed, after a moment.

"That's OK... but, like I say, I'll need to hold you up for some bits of it, and... not everyone wants to be held in the water by a half-dressed man, you know."

"OK... thanks." They went through the routine, and by the end of it her ankle was even more painful than when they started. Walking her up poolside they looked up to see Briana in the spectator area watching them.

"What's she here for?" Elspeth asked, curiously.

"I don't know... I'll see after you're changed, OK."

Outside the changing rooms, Marcus found Briana waiting for him, and wasn't completely surprised.

"Morning." He managed. "What brings you out here?"

"Are we still alright for... can I still get that lift this morning?"

"Of course." He looked confused. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, you know... Elspeth and me... and now you and Elspeth."

"That's... that's not happening."