“You think I would judge you because of him?”

“Well, maybe not judge—”

“Or him, for that matter?”

“Wouldn’t you?” he asked, rather surprised.

“No. Listen, I don’t know him. All I have to go on is a few very poor attempts at being funny and one lame-ass approach that may or may not have been to apologize.”

It sounded better than saying I didn’t give two shits about his best friend.

“I don’t know enough to judge,” I assured him. “And I certainly wouldn’t extend whatever judgment I had to you.”

“You wouldn’t? Because, you know I would never—”

“Call me psycho?”

He nodded.

“I do.”

“How?”

“You really want to know?”

“Of course I do.”

“I can just tell. Ever since I first saw you… You looked—”

“Yes?”

“Kind.”

“Kind?” he repeated, intrigued.

“Yes. Even around him, you still looked kind. So you can just relax, honest.”

“Was it at the library?” he asked, resuming walking again. “The first time you saw me?”

“Not the library, no.”

“In class?”

“Nope. Before that.”

“And you thought I looked kind?”

“I did.”

I still hope you are.

He smiled, and then he shook his head. “I still can’t believe you don’t remember the meet.”

“Two years ago?”

“Uh-huh.” He nodded.

“It wasn’t my greatest moment, I’m afraid. Or year, for that matter.”

“Well, that’s when I first saw you. That’s actually sort of why I lost that day too.”

“Oh, you’re blaming me now?” I asked, feigning insult.

He huffed. “No, but in my defense, it did kind of play a part.”

“How so?”

He stopped and turned to me. “I remember when you walked out, I couldn’t look away.”

He took a step closer. “I watched as you warmed up, then you turned to the bleachers and there were tons of people cheering you on. They were the loudest people there. But…you didn’t acknowledge them in any way. You just turned and started looking at the water, so focused.”

It was so weird, listening to him talking about this event in my life I had absolutely no recollection of. For a moment, I considered mentioning how, at that particular time, I was probably too numb to focus on anything, so what he thought of as concentration was most likely just me having a flashback involving Liam.

I didn’t though. For two reasons. One, that day had, regardless of any role I may had played, caused some impression that was strong enough to make him smile as he recounted it to me, and two, his version of that day sounded better than anything I remembered feeling at the time.

“Next thing I knew,” he continued, “the buzzer went off, and we were in the water. I ran out of breath before the end of the first fifty yards.”

“You did?”