Carlo

Being pissed at Escalante was something I wanted to do for maybe a week but after listening to Alex talk on about forgiving him even when he didn't know what Es did, I came to a conclusion. I was only going to forgive him if he admitted what he did was wrong because half the time he was talking yesterday, I didn't understand him. One minute he was telling me he touched people against their will and the other he was telling me he touched them because they wanted it.

I had every right to be confused and I really needed to think things over because I found out that I was deeply in love with him. Because no matter how bad I made the situation look, I still wanted to be with him. I still wanted him to love me. And I might have failed to mention but I really wanted to do the deed with him. I wanted to feel him in me so badly I might have over prepared for it. And to think I hated myself for depending on him too much, now I despised myself for falling so deep in love with that damn pervert.

Making my way into the swimming center wasn't exactly easy but I blamed my hesitant self. I had stopped countless times and just wanted to go back to the cabin because I didn't know how Escalante was going to look at me. When we had made eye contact during breakfast, I felt my heart crumble at the sight of him. He looked helpless, confused and frustrated all in one. I wanted to run to him and tell him everything was going to be all right but instead I looked away from him like I hadn't even seen him. Back then, I wanted to murder myself for doing such a thing to Es. Seeing that I had done that to him by any chance, made me want to rip myself apart.

Finally finding the courage in me, I tore through the crowd until I was at the very front. The swimming hall was filled more than it had been with the fencing. The bleachers were completely filled and crowds formed at every corner of the hall. Exhaling when I finally found a good spot to stand behind the standing platform, I looked for Escalante in the crowd of swimmers. I needed to tell him good luck at least.

Swimming to Es was surprisingly a big thing. Back when we were still in high school, Es practiced constantly, hoping someday the coach would pick him on the swim team so they could go out for competitions. Sadly, on the day coach was picking, his fellow swimmers pulled a prank on him and he lost his swimsuit. He begged the coach but he wasn't exactly a sweetheart and the team was already complete so Es never made the team. He could write an essay about how much he hated swimming but I knew he loved it and everything about it. His favorite phrase was even "I love my men wet." If that didn't give you a hint about the kind of person Escalante was, then I don't know what will.

"Carlo?" Someone called to me and I followed the sound until I made contact with Preston.

My entire being grew hot with anger and it only got worse when he smiled cheekily at me. That gave me a pause.

Was it safe to say Preston had two personalities because the aura he was giving off was clearly different from the one I got yesterday? Yesterday's was dark and mean. The type that said, 'I gonna kill your mother and bath in her blood.' Today's was light and cool. The type that said, 'Oh let's go pick roses together." What the fuck is that?

"What do you want?" I frowned at him, happy when his smile fell.

He looked away from me to something at the far end of the pool then back at me. "I'm sorry, Carlo. I know what I did was wrong and I deserve whatever hate you have towards me."

See, the Preston I knew wouldn't have told me sorry that way. But whatever, I couldn't let my guard down with him. "Where's Es?"

Preston looked away from him and I followed his gaze until I saw someone walking up to him. Just like Preston was dressed in black swim shorts, goggles and swim cap, this person was dressed in the same way and I would have thought it was Es if only the person had checked Preston out. He only mumbled off a silent good luck before moving backwards towards me and accidentally bumping against me.

I was so ready to yell if the person didn't turn back and pull off his goggles. "Shit, I'm so- Carlo?"

"Escalante. Hi."

It might have been minutes but it felt like hours with the way he was staring at me. He slowly grew a smile and he said, "You came."

"I definitely would have murdered myself if I didn't." I looked down at his body and the heat quickly ran to my cheeks because the moment I saw that body, I imagined it with an apron.

"Carlo, I am so sorry about yesterday and what I did to those people. It's not right and I shouldn't have defended myself."

"Es, it's fine. The highest I could ever do to you is be mad at you. I've always loved you and I will always love you. Remember that." I poked his firm chest that was surprisingly firmer than mine since I was the one who normally did the work out.

Es's grin widened, cupped my cheeks and pulled me in for a kiss. My eyes widened at the sudden display of emotions and I started to push him back but froze when I touched his wet firm chest. Without even noticing, I had melted to the kiss and was pressing my body against his wet one. Not even caring if the people around me were looking because I loved Escalante and I needed him to know.

Someone called Es's name and we pulled away to look at her. It was Birdie, and Dave along with Preston were stand beside her. She had on the female swimsuit and was leaned on one leg as she grinned between us. "I just saw the hottest couple alive make out." Her grinned widened that it almost looked scary. "Y'all should call me when ya wanna get a little more intimate. My dream to be that woman from sense8 that saw those gays must come true."

The part that baffled was the fact that she was serious.

"Good. Carlo made it." Dave grinned and added, "Es, it's time for the relay. If we come first, we might actually win this."

"You guys aren't winning?" I asked, surprised.

Dave shrugged, throwing his hands on his waist, "I can swim but that doesn't mean I'm fast. Besides, the team was a two man team which would have been disqualified. They took points for delaying them."

I looked at Es and he shrugged, smiling at me, "If we come last or first, it doesn't matter. I'm just glad you came to watch me."

My heart warmed at that and his words slowly fixed up the crumped pieces. I cupped his face and said, "You can do this Es."

"Yup. Listen to the boyfriend, Es. We are not allowed to take last place. Third, sure but fourth? Guy's we've got to think of something." Dave panicked making me laugh.

"How about we do it in the order of slowest to fastest. That'll be Dave, me, Es then Preston." Birdie suggested when everyone fell silent.

"What? What made you think I was the slowest?" Dave frowned at her.

"I just know puppy. Plus they timed us."

"Wait, Preston is faster than Es?" I frowned at Preston and he looked away, moving farther from the group.

"He taught me free so he's better. I just learnt the style under the short time we dated." Es said, snaking his arm around me and making me look up at him just when he turned and nuzzled our nose together. God, I loved him so much.

"Can we focus? Please." Dave frowned at Preston but Es just smiled and pulled me closer, earning a blush from me.

"The both of you are so beautiful together." Birdie gushed and that just made me blush more.

"Guys!" Dave scowled at all of them and I realized my presence wasn't helping them plot their last game.

Praying Es didn't take it the wrong way, I pulled away from him and said, "I'm going to go because if I stayed here, you guys won't make any effort to win the last match."

Es started to say something but thought better of it and kissed me instead and it wasn't the simple kiss in the lip. It was the one that took me to mars and back and still left me in a haze. He pecked my forehead than pulled his groupmates somewhere so they could brain storm. It was until the referee blew the whistle that I was able to snap out of it.

Moving back until I was with the crowd, I watched the last match start. Dave dived in first and I had to say, it was an impressive dive since he went almost half the pool, putting him ahead of a couple of people who later caught up to him by the time the got to the end. Dave turned quickly and tried to swim faster so at least he won't be the last to come out of the pool. He hit the starting platform and Birdie jumped in immediately.

Sadly, her dive wasn't as great as Dave's but that didn't stop her for gaining speed and being the third in the race. She hit the starting platform and Escalante dove into the water making me gasp at his magnificent form. No offense but Escalante was better than Dave and Birdie and he managed to get to get the group to the second place.

I wanted to run and hug him for a job well done and have his lips on me, but then I saw Preston dive into the pool. If there was any word to describe his form when he dove, it would be beautiful. His form was perfect which didn't let him go all too deep or all too shallow and he managed to reach half the pool. Watching Preston swim was amazing.

Swimming has never really been that sport that caught my interest until Escalante started swimming. But even though, it still wasn't something I would put on to watch on a normal day, Preston was changing all that. The way he swam so neatly and beautifully even though he was using freestyle was alluring. I could almost not hate him from watching all that.

And then he did it.

The crowd applauded the moment he left the pool taking first place. His teammates even ran to hug him except Es who just smiled at him. It made me raise a brow at his behavior but I made a mental note to ask him later.

The applause calmed down and the judges made their speech and eventually announced the winners from the third place. "Wasn't that a good game to watch? I'm going to commend you all on a wonderful performance and having a good sportsmanship."

The teammates were made to stand beside each other, each group easily distinguished by the color of their swimsuit. I was going to assume their team name was black.

Ariesa, the camp manager and some dude I didn't know, came up to them and shook their hands. It's funny how I noticed the glare Mr. King shot at Preston and his smile faded. Funny.

"And the third place winner of this year's individual swimming goes to... Willy Monka." The crowd cheered at the petite guy that stepped up to take his ribbon from the blue team.

"Second place goes to... Mariam Smittle." A girl from the red team came up and took her ribbon as the crowd cheered.

"And the winner is... Preston Bock." An applause started again but this one resounded louder than the others. Even I clapped because Preston was clearly wonderful when it came to swimming.

They announced a couple more winners. Dave came out for best dive and Escalante volunteered to take the team's ribbon for coming first place in the relay. It was now time to announce the overall winners of the swimming competition. The judge had the microphone to his mouth and he said into it, "This was hard to decide but eventually, we came to a conclusion. The third place goes to the yellow team." The crowd hooted for them as the team hugged each other with excitement. Ariesa handed them the trophy and they moved aside for the photographer could take pictures of them.

"Second place goes to the black team." I couldn't contain my excitement and I found myself screaming along with the crowd around me. My leg quickly found themselves and I ran to hug Escalante who welcomed me with open arms.

"Oh my god. You did it." I grinned up at him and he returned it.

"It's all because you came, Carlo. I was so close to dropping out." He said then kissed me on my nose before staring back at me.

I swear, I would have stared into his eyes for days if the photographer hadn't called them to have their pictures taken.

Escalante looked back at me, kissed my cheeks before saying, "How about we take this to my room?"

My jaw dropped at what he was insinuating and my cheeks flushed from my mind running with dirty thoughts. I rubbed my face with my hand to try and ease the blush but it only got worse when Es nibbled my ear lobe and whispered to me in the most sexual way possible, "You know what I mean."

And of course, I knew exactly what he meant.