Chapter 10: A Swimming Pool

Half an hour later, Tony was coming from the basement door of the house with a tray of sandwiches. As he approached the table he noticed that Rebecca and Tina had arrived from their discussion inside. Both were wearing wraps over their bathing suits and getting comfortable in lounge chairs. Most of the rest of the crew were sitting in chairs around a table. The exception was Chrissie, who had stripped down to her one piece suit and was sunning herself on another lounger. Chrissie was fully as tall as Tony, right at six feet. She was slender almost to the point of skinny with small breasts and slim hips. She and Kyle seemed to get along quite well though Tony couldn't shake the feeling that Kyle was probably the only boy in the junior class tall enough to date her. She looked out of place for all her height except when standing next to the 6'4" bass player.

Tony set down the sandwiches and grabbed a soda. He turned back toward Rebecca and froze. She was lying back in the lounger that was adjusted to about a forty-five degree angle. She was wearing, he assumed, the new swimsuit from the mall last night. It was a turquoise string bikini, not the smallest Tony had seen, but far from conservative. The fabric stretched enticingly over her top showing a generous amount of cleavage that was dusted thoroughly with light freckles. The bottom of the cups never quite connected together. They were held together only by the string that ran under her breasts. Tony's eyes traveled downward appreciating how Rebecca's torso rapidly thinned to a tiny waist then flared again slightly to accommodate her slender hips. The bottom of the suit was cut high in front and back and like the top the sections had about an inch of string that separated the panels at the sides of her hips. She was, thought Tony, perfection in a small package.

"I told you he'd like it," chuckled Tina. Rebecca looked up and saw Tony and flashed him a smile.

Tony walked over and sat down on the side of Rebecca's lounger between the two girls. "And you, my beautiful sister, are looking awfully sexy yourself." And she did, Tina's suit mirrored Rebecca's in yellow that stood out against her tan skin.

"Thanks Tony," Tina said sincerely.

Tony reached across Rebecca and cupped his hand to the narrowest part of her waist and gave a little squeeze. "And you," he said looking down at her, "look absolutely delectable." He leaned in and kissed her briefly. Rebecca was having none of it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back down. She moaned when Tony's tongue entered her mouth and sought it out with her own. In just a minute she shuddered briefly. She released Tony and sagged back against the lounger. Tony smiled and got up to move to his own chair.

"Tina," Rebecca whispered, "your brother is breaking the rules again."

"You little hussy," Tina giggled.

After a few minutes in the hot Georgia sun Tony was ready to cool off. He sat up and once again admired Rebecca leaning back in the lounger with her eyes closed. With her complexion he knew she couldn't take more than a few minutes in this sun. He reached out and grabbed her hand. "Hey kiddo, want to cool off for a bit?"

She smiled up at him and stretched out her arms. Tony bent down and scooped her up as she put her arms around his neck. They had done this so much now it had become second nature to both of them. Tony straightened and started carrying her toward the shallow end of the pool.

Rebecca stiffened in his arms. "Tony, what are you doing? I thought we were going inside."

"No, I was going to take you in the pool to cool off."

"No!" she squealed. It was the harshest sound Tony had ever heard from her. He looked down at her face to find that she was terrified.

"Whoa!" he said and stopped at the top of the stairs leading into the pool. "I know you can't swim or at least I seriously doubt you can."

Rebecca was trembling now, her face buried in his chest. Tony sat down on the side of the pool with Rebecca in his lap. His feet were in the water on the top step leading down. Tony lowered his head and kissed her cheek. When that didn't get a response he trailed little kisses down to her jaw then following it back to her ear. He nibbled an ear lobe experimentally. Rebecca shivered. Tony catalogued that reaction for later exploration and whispered. "Rebecca Harris I love you."

Rebecca mewed softly into Tony's neck and squeezed him as tightly as her small frame was capable.

"It really is OK you know. You can come out now. I won't let anything happen to you. Do you trust me when I say that?" Rebecca nodded into Tony's shoulder but otherwise didn't move.

"You're pretty normal you know, I'm the crazy one. I've even been to a shrink or two. They pretty much told me I was crazy. If I had to study something to make a living at I'd be a psychiatrist. It's the easiest job in the world. 'Doctor I have a problem.' 'I see that son, that's because you're nuts!' My parents paid for that."

"You're not afraid," Rebecca said softly.

"Of the water? No, I'm not afraid of the water. I have a rather big advantage over you there. I can swim. I'm pretty sure you can't. Am I wrong?"

"No"

"Then you are absolutely, positively sane. Are you afraid of water?"

"Y-yes"

"Sorry, that was a trick question. I'm certain you really aren't afraid of water." Tony reached down and cupped a handful of water from the pool and poured it over Rebecca's ankle. "That doesn't scare you does it?"

"Well, no"

"Do you like candles? Fireplaces?"

"I love candles."

"You aren't afraid of fire, the same way you aren't afraid of water. Then again you would be afraid of a raging fire if you were too close. You didn't mind the pool until you got too close and thought you might actually end up in it right?"

"Yes"

"Did something happen to you when you were younger? Did you fall into a pool or have a really bad experience with water?"

"No, nothing like that."

"Just as I thought, you are perfectly fine. We can get rid of your fear if you want to. You don't like being afraid of going in the water do you?"

"No, I hate being afraid. I feel stupid about it. How do you stop it though?"

"That's easy, I teach you to swim. Not today, but I will teach you." Tony ran his hand from Rebecca's right ankle to her knee. "Having these in better shape will help. I can probably teach you without them but even if they're just a little bit better you can learn to swim a lot faster than you can learn to walk."

"But I'm scared Tony," Rebecca said.

"Ah, yes you are. I didn't say I could wave a magic wand and have you grow a mermaid flipper. You have your part to play in this as well. The first thing you need is trust. You need to trust me to not let anything happen to you. To do that you'll need to use just a bit of courage. If you can do that I can prove to you it will work. Will you try it?"

"I guess, what do I do?"

"Nothing we haven't done a hundred times before. Just let me carry you. I've never hurt you when I've needed to pick you up or carry you before have I? Now, you are still going to be scared but you also know I won't let anything hurt you."

Tony stood back up with Rebecca in his arms and walked slowly out into the water. She clung tightly to his neck and began trembling again though only slightly. My brave, brave, brave girl he thought. "It's OK Rebecca. I won't let anything happen to you. We won't go any deeper than you can stand." The gaffe hit him immediately. Close behind though was another revelation.