𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐖𝐎

Hope Ashford

I watch as Brenda storms out of my house. I was only gone for a few minutes. What happened? Oh, shit— She had an encounter with Adrian, didn't she? I start looking around for Adrian. I finally spot him near the empty pool.

I walk towards him. "What happened with Brenda?" I ask. "I just saw her leave, and she didn't even say bye to me or anything."

"Nothing happened don't worry about it," Adrian replies. I don't believe him, but I'm not gonna push it. He doesn't fucking trust me, and there's really nothing I can do about it.

"Okay, whatever." I sigh as I look at the pool. An empty pool. If that traumatic incident never happened, this pool would have water in it and perhaps I'd know how to swim. Oh my gosh. I forgot about Sarah and her swim practice and how I said I would go more than a month ago. I'll call her later to agree on a date. Actually, I might as well call her now.

I walk inside and call Sarah. "Hello?" I hear her say.

"Sarah, hi!" I say. "So uh, when's your next swimming practice?" I ask.

"I have one every week," Sarah answers. "Wait Hope, I don't think you should come," Sarah says. "Because of... you know..." she trails off.

"No, I'm fine." To be honest, I'm not even sure if that's true, but I can't be scared of water forever. I have to overcome that shit at some point. "When do you think I can go see you?"

"Next month because I think it's not gonna be as crowded," Sarah replies. "But are you sure? I'd love for you to come but I know you can't be near water."

"It's fine, I want to go." Now that's one hundred percent true. I love spending time with Sarah, and I've been wanting to go see her swim. I know she's amazing at swimming. I wonder if I would be a good swimmer.

"Okay, I'll text you the exact date and I'll see you then?" Sarah asks.

"Yeah, I can't wait," I say as enthusiastically as I can. It's not that I'm not excited. I'm just kinda nervous and not gonna lie, I'm kinda scared. I won't be anywhere near the water though. I'll be sitting on a chair, watching her from a certain distance.

"Where are we going?" I hear Adrian ask from behind me. God, can he like— can he say hi before he appears from out of nowhere!?

"I don't know the exact date but next month, we'll be attending my friend's swimming practice," I state.

"Hope," Adrian starts. "You can't go near water." How the fuck does he— my parents. Of course, they told him. I mean yeah, he's my bodyguard and he's supposed to know but the more people know, the more I feel embarrassed and ashamed of myself. People have called me dramatic for being scared of water.

"I'll be fine Adrian," I assure. "You don't have to worry about me."

"Of course, I'm gonna worry, I care about you," Adrian says. Did I hear that right? It made my heart flutter and my heart skip a beat.

Adrian Newman

I seriously don't know how that slipped out of my mouth. Not that it's a lie. I care about Hope and more than I fucking should. Which is exactly why I don't want her going to that swimming practice.

She turns to look at me and her eyes meet mine. "You care about me?" she asks, a smile forming on her face.

"Like I would for any other client," I lie. I care about my clients. I make sure they don't get hurt, but it's different with Hope. I care more than I should, and that's not right.

"Oh," Hope's smile fades. "But as I said, I'll be fine and I'm sure you won't let anything happen to me either way," Hope says. "As long as you do your job properly, you have nothing to worry about correct?"

"Correct," I affirm. "I also needed to clear something up with you," I say.

"I'm listening," Hope leans against the wall and crosses her arms. "Go ahead."

"Somewhere private," I specify. Hope squints in confusion but then starts walking towards the library. I follow her and close the door once we're inside. She leans against the piano and crosses her arms.

"Okay," I start. "You wanted to know what happened between Brenda and me, didn't you?" Hope sits up straight and nods urging for me to continue. "Because I know that Brenda can fill your head with the wrong idea of me and I don't want that." Which is true. After what happened today, Brenda can try to brainwash Hope into hating me again and I don't want that.

"Listen, I don't want to ruin your friendship with Brenda but I don't want you to have the wrong idea of me," I clarify. Hope nods. I shouldn't be telling her this but I don't want her to hate me again.

"Brenda's dad hired me, and unlike you, she didn't hate me when she first met me," I say causing her to roll her eyes but smile at the same time. "And we got along well, we quickly became friends," I sigh, I'm getting to the part I hate remembering. "Eventually, she and I fell in love, or at least I did I'm not so sure about her."

"What happened then?" Hope asks.

"We started dating in secret," I answer. "One day, she was hanging out with her friends. Some guy started flirting with her and I told him I was her boyfriend." I explain. Hope tilts her head a little. "She said;" I clear my throat. "Excuse me? Don't flatter yourself, just because we've kissed a couple of times, that doesn't make you my boyfriend. I'd rather fall into a ditch than be with a nobody like you."

Hope stares at me in disbelief. "She said that?" Hope asks me, in a tone that sounds like she doesn't believe me. I get it, it's my word against her friend's but I still nod my head yes.

"You don't believe me do you?" I ask.

"No, I do," she says while staring at the ground. "It's just a lot to process," Hope adds. I didn't think she would believe me, but I'm glad she did. I sigh in relief. "I'm really sorry that happened."

"I'm over it Hope," I assure her.

"You said love disappointment you twice," Hope says. "So, who else hurt you, Adrian?" I inhale sharply. "If you don't want to tell me that's okay I was just wondering but I don't want to overstep your boundaries and—"

"My first love, her name's Zoey," I answer. "She's not as bad as Brenda, but she did hurt me too." Hope looks at me with sympathetic eyes. "She led me on to the point where I thought she actually loved me. We dated for a while until she broke it off and said she never romantically loved me," I explain. "She said she never meant to hurt me and she only saw me as a friend, a brother to be more specific."

Hope gets up and wraps her arms around my neck. She's hugging me. I hesitate for a moment before wrapping my arms tightly around her waist.