Intoxicated

The Race

So, I just met Nathan Adrian. A boy I've had a crush on since I was 15 when I first found out about him. Sure there's a 9 year age difference but that doesn't matter to me.. I honestly think he is a great guy. I'm now 19 and still trying to figure things out.. I called my best friend Alena right away. She knows how much I love him and wanted to know all the details. After I told her everything, I finally went down to eat. Of course, I told Emma too because neither of us could sleep. Whenever he comes up or when we see him, she makes those faces at me.. At least she doesn't blurt stuff out to embarrass me.. She's supportive.

"So what do you think we're gonna do?" Emma asked.

"I honestly don't know.. Maybe we'll just swim laps and maybe it'll just be the girls in the pool and they're just gonna assess us, ya know? Find out our strengths and weaknesses." Boy was I wrong.. Everyone was there.. Even the boys.. I kept my head down hoping not to attract attention..

"Ladies and gentlemen, I thought we'd take it easy;" coach Bowman announced. "We're gonna have some fun. All of you will be racing against each other; doesn't matter if you're a boy racing a girl, it'll happen. However, it wouldn't hurt the boys to go easy on the girls. Make sure you all play nice because swimming is not only an individual sport, but it is also a team sport. By the end of the day, we will have our top 3 competitors. Let's get it going!"

Dear lord, all I could think of was how sucky the girls are gonna be against the boys.. Ayayay. All of us girls are totally cool, the older ones are helping Emma and I out and we're all friends. I've only talked to some guys and only because Allison introduced us a little. I don't wanna fail.. Even if the guys are going easy, I'm pretty sure I will still lose. Wish me luck.

I've gone against everyone on my floor except Nathan and Ryan. Michael totally just let everyone win, yet, he still has a smile on his face. I admire how he has tons of fun. It was time to battle out the 3rd place spot & it was me and Ryan now. I was trying to focus but I was also thinking of why I haven't seen Nathan once today. Maybe it wasn't meant to be? Haha silly me.. I finally focused on the race again. I heard Ryan say "You're going down Morgan!" with a smirk on his face. I just smirked back. He and I were dead tied, he would speed up but then slow down to go easy on me. Once I figured his pattern out, I pulled one on him and beat him! "Good swim Lochte, I look up to you, it was an honor." I smiled and he responded with a hug. He then told me we should hang out sometime and that he'd come by soon.

So this was it, I was going up against the other person who managed to beat everyone else too. By this time, I was so tired I didn't really mind getting 2nd. Of all people.. Of all 40-50 people on the US swim team, the person I was against now was Nathan.. I greeted him with a quick hello and he just nodded at me with a smile. The beep went off and we were racing. My heart was racing too.. It has been a complete honor competing against these amazing athletes but now I'm swimming against Nathan?! What a day! I let him win.. I didn't even care, I was so tired, and it was Nathan..

"Ooooo. What happened Morgan??" He said sarcastically with a chuckle.

He remembers my name? "Ha. I totally let you win." I snapped back playfully.

"Oh really? Well how bout we race foreals tomorrow night? You down?"

Was he asking me to hang out? Not a date, I don't think but this was pretty cool. "Sure." I accepted.