Chapter 06: Boy Meets Girl

After endless hours of going over the events in her head, Christina came to the conclusion of her rescuers’ identity. It had to be Remington Cantrell. The blue eyed, tanned swim God she’d first seen on her tour of the campus. His eyes were gorgeous and she’d never seen a color so pure before. If she was wrong then she’d have egg on her face and feel like a complete ass for even assuming he’d talk to her let alone pull her from a certain death. But if she was right then she had to thank him for what he did and let him know how much she appreciated his act of heroism.

Christina knocked twice and waited for an answer on the other side of the door. It took her all morning to gather enough courage to even make it to his room and now that she was here she wasn’t leaving until she got what she came for. Knocking again she pressed her ear to the door and sighed, maybe he was out. Great, she thought as she started down the hall, all that pep talk for nothing.

Just as she’d reached the stairwell she heard the cracking of the hinges behind her and turned with a start. “Hey! Um I…” she moved back towards him as he peeked through a small crack. She thought the look on his face was annoyance and that didn’t help much considering she was already nervous enough. “I wanted to…uh…what happened at the um…at the pool.”

Remington opened his door giving her full view of his bare chest as he stood in the arch. He’d apparently just gotten out of the shower; his hair was drenched, his skin was damp and he had a towel wrapped around his waist. His rippling muscles glistened beneath the tiny beads of water still accumulated on his body and she watched as a few drops slipped all the way down his chest stopping within the seam of his towel. Christina’s eyes followed the path his happy trail led towards the hem of the partially soaked cloth and she sighed. 

He was ripped; more so than she’d originally gathered from her previous view of his chest. His arms were toned and perfectly proportioned, his chest was exuding maleness with the gorgeous strength of his pecs and even his abs had abs! Not realizing she had been undressing him with her eyes, not that there was much left to remove, hearing him clear his throat pulled her attention from his hips and her thoughts from what could be hiding just inches away. “You were saying?”

“I’m sorry uh…I…,” she stumbled to get her mind back on track and the reason she even bothered to make the trek across campus to see him. Naughty thoughts of tackling the pool boy began playing in her mind and she did her best not to run through every scenario and risk being accused of rape. Though with a victim so fine she began to even wonder if that would be a bad thing. “The pool!” she shouted as it finally clicked. “I wanted to thank you for what you did for me back at the pool.”

He gave her a bewildered expression and for a moment she thought she’d had the wrong person until his frown gave way to a slight smile. “You know you shouldn’t go playing around water if you don’t know how to swim.”

“I wasn’t playing I was sitting with Amber watching her prepare for her meet.” She stepped back defensively. “Anyway I just wanted to let you know what you did was appreciated. You saved my life.” She started back towards the stairs again and stopped as he started speaking once more.

“You know it’s easy to learn.” He stepped back from his door indicating he wanted her to enter with a smile. Christina walked back slowly towards his room as he disappeared inside. Closing the door behind her she watched as he moved into his clothes hamper for a change of clothing. “If you want to anyway.” 

“Want to what?” she asked taking a seat on the sofa and doing her best to cover her eyes as he changed in front of her. He peeked over his shoulder towards her as he removed his towel and pulled on a pair of shorts. Christina’s eyes brightened as he shifted his package with his hand to allow himself freedom in movement. The definite bulge at the front of his shorts made her mouth go dry. Even soft and through the fabric, she could see he was larger than all of the men she’d ever been with. Remy chuckled and watched her, raising one brow at her eager inspection of his body as he felt her gaze explore his muscular physique. Grabbing a plain gray tee from the floor beside the hamper he tossed it on and pulled a seat in front of her.

“Learn to swim. It’s just as easy as moving one arm in front of the other and propelling yourself with your feet. Do you do any physical activities?” He showed her what he meant taking her hands and slowly bicycling them in the air against the weight of his arms.

Christina’s face turned down into a frown as his eyes scanned her body as if trying to determine whether she was in shape or not. She pulled her hands away and rubbed them along her jeans in annoyance. “Yes I do actually! I’m a dancer!”

“Whoa!” Remington chuckled and pulled away. “No need to get so defensive I was only asking.” He rummaged around the mini fridge on the counter in a small kitchen to his right and came back with two bottles of juice. Offering one to her, he popped the cap and placed the straw in for her before doing the same for his own. “So what kind of dancing do you do?”

“Contemporary. I’m into hip-hop movements but with the influences of jazz and swing. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a dance team here and according to Jordan the classes they offer are taught by a dinosaur stuck in the 50’s. I’m petitioning Dean Myers to allow me to start up a class or something myself though,” she smiled proudly.

“You’re the offspring of an alum right?”

“Two actually; my mom and dad both attended and graduated from here.”

“Oh well in that case you’re as good as golden. Just remind the Dean what colors runs through your veins, blue and silver, and he’ll be on his knees in front of you!” He drew a laugh from her and smiled as he watched her eyes sparkle. Something about the way she covered her lips to hide her laugh spoke to him; the innocence of the act was sweet and seemed to fit her well. 

“You know you’re not what I expected.”

“Oh yeah? And what exactly did you expect?”

Shrugging Christina placed her juice on the table beside him and thought about her answer. “I don’t know. You’re the ‘big man on campus’ right? Those types are always snobby, uppity, womanizing assholes. You seem more down to earth than most of the ones I knew back home.”

“Ok well I’ll take that as a compliment, though I’m not exactly sure it was.”

She laughed again and shot him a comforting smile, “It was trust me. You have a much more likeable personality than other BMOCs.”

“Well don’t let the handsome exterior fool you. Inside is a snobby, uppity, womanizing asshole that likes to swim. I just hide it better than most.”

Christina giggled and eyed the single dwelling with a sigh as she thought about her joint dorm room with Jordan and how cramped they were for space. “So this is how the other half lives huh? You get the key to the city if you bring home the gold a few times I’m guessing.”

“Well it’s a little more than that but yes, the school does reward its champions. I can’t complain. I’m not much for a large crowd so to have my own place is a definite plus.”

“Oh yeah of course. Every Superhero needs a lair to run off to when they’re not out saving helpless damsels in distress,” she smiled. “It suits you perfectly but you’re missing a cape. And you need to work on your exit strategy a bit more. I’m not used to guys running off after they kiss me. It sort of sends the wrong message.”

“Well I wouldn’t call what I was doing kissing. It was more like lifesaving CPR. Trust me you’d know the difference if ever you were so lucky.”

“Oh yeah, no, that’s not what I…um…”

“So if they don’t run off afterwards, what do they do?” he smirked watching her fluster again as he leaned forward and brushed her hair behind her ear. 

Christina found her composure and smiled. “Well if ever you were so lucky you’d find that out on your own!” She backed away and showed herself around the numerous plaques and awards on the wall behind her. “Wow there are so many!”

Remington followed keeping his eyes on her every move. “Yeah I like to keep track of the school and or competitor I recently smash. Keeps my ego healthy,” he laughed as she turned to him with a frown. “So do you have a boyfriend?”

“Ha you just get right to it don’t you? Uh, no I’m not currently seeing anyone but…”

“But what? You have options already? Boy you move fast. Talk about me! You just got here a minute ago!”

“And what a girl can’t browse the menu while she eats her appetizer?”

“Well sure as long as you know the best meals take time to prepare!”

“Yeah but I’d rather not starve as I wait on the perfect chef capable of handling my appetite.”

“Ok well when you put it like that, are you busy this Saturday?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Good!” He sauntered towards her and Christina held her breath as his body grazed against her. She placed her hands against his chest to balance herself and felt just how hard the muscles were beneath the thin fabric of his shirt. Leaning forward he wrote something in a journal on his desk and smiled up at her yet made no effort to pull back from her fingers as they danced over his abs. “I want to take you somewhere.”

“Somewhere where?”

“I don’t think you’d know even if I told you. Just dress casually and bring some swimwear.”

“I don’t have swimwear, I don’t swim.”

“Correction, you ‘didn’t’ swim. We’re going to change that come Saturday,” he graced her with another of those gorgeous smiles that had her repeating her name replacing her last with his and imagining what their kids would look like. 

But before she allowed herself the flight of another fantasy, Christina glanced at the clock on his desk and hurriedly pulled away. “I have to get running, I have a class in twenty minutes.” He started after her towards the door and opened it for her.

“Don’t forget, this Saturday and come ready to work.”

“Yeah,” she smiled brightly and gazed at his chest once more. “You just be ready with the CPR.”

“Well don’t you worry. I’m well practiced in that as well.” Christina felt herself blush for the third time in his company and hastily made a beeline towards the stairs.

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