In she went, half laughing and half shrieking.

Eliza stayed under water for about five seconds.

“That was a big splash,” I said when she surfaced. “You could totally beat Austin.”

Water rained over me as she kicked it in my face.

She flipped her braid over her shoulder and started floating on her back. I lay on the surface with her.

“Did you know that otters hold hands when they’re sleeping?” I asked.

“What?”

“So they don’t drift apart.”

“That’s adorable.”

So are you, I wanted to say. Instead I reached out to touch her fingers.

“Wonder what the chemistry term for that is.”

“There’s that smooth Nick Maguire we all know.”

We stayed like that for a few peaceful minutes. Her volleyball jersey clung to her, lifting enough to reveal the fading tan on her stomach.

Things finally felt right enough for me to say, “I’m sorry. I’ll stop saying stupid things I don’t mean, I never wanted to make you uncomfortable.”

“I know.”

She stood. I hadn’t realized we’d drifted to the shallow end.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable either,” she said. “I like when you surprise me and kiss me without asking.”

Our bodies were dangerously close together, and she placed her fingers on my naked chest, one by one. We’d been this close before, but now it was skin against skin.

I kissed her nose, then dove underneath her, surfacing with her legs around my shoulders. I grabbed her ankles, water streaming down my cheeks as she shook my hair.

Her laughs echoed across the pool. My cheeks hurt from grinning like an idiot. The eerily fluorescent lights shone down on us. It was the least romantic backdrop ever, but also perfect.

All of that I knew.

And if I’d taken the time to look around me, instead of being completely distracted by the pressure of Eliza on my shoulders, I would have seen the person standing at the pool’s entrance, looking through its glass windows. Watching us.

RULE NUMBER 16

A bro shalt always check his phone.

We played in the pool for a long time.

“Gotta get you home,” I said, eventually, “before Carter kicks my ass.”

“I’d definitely be worried if I were you.”

“Great, thanks.”

My triceps ached as I climbed out of the pool, and even more as I pulled on my sweaty T-shirt.

“Aw,” said Eliza, “I was enjoying the view.”

“Guess we’ll have to do this again sometime.”

After a quick detour to my locker for my spare sweatpants, I met her outside the girls’ changing room. It was almost seven, and we were already enveloped by the setting sky and shifting seasons. A few cars were left in the parking lot, but Carter’s minivan was long gone. Eliza curled into my passenger seat and crossed her legs, bobbing as we drove over manholes and little rocks. One Direction blasted on the radio.

“You’re wrong,” she said, “they’re seriously good. It sucked when they broke up; they were on track to be the next Beatles.”