Poolside Ghosts

The community pool closed at dusk, but that's when I found him.

I'd been looking for Jordan everywhere. Texting, calling, even sliding into his older sister's DMs like a total creep — anything to figure out why my best friend had been ghosting me for two weeks straight. The anxiety spiral was real.

Then I noticed his bedroom window was dark, but the pool fence gate was unlatched. My heart did this thing where it sped up and dropped at the same time.

Jordan was in the water, doing laps. No lights except the moon reflecting off the surface like broken silver.

"What are you doing?" I called out, and he practically jumped out of his skin.

"Marcus?" He treaded water, looking guilty as hell. "You can't be here."

"I could say the same thing." I sat on the edge, letting my feet hang over. "You've been MIA, Jordan. I was literally running through every worst-case scenario. Did I do something? Are you moving? What's going on?"

He swam to the edge and pulled himself up, water streaming down his face like he'd been crying. But he hadn't. Probably.

"My dad says I need to make varsity swim team or I can't go to Arizona with you guys senior year," he said so quietly I almost missed it. "He's been making me do extra practice. After school. At night. I'm exhausted, Marcus. And I'm scared I'm not gonna make it."

The silence stretched between us, heavy with everything we never said.

"Bro," I said finally. "You could have told me. I would've been there. I would've brought snacks and yelled motivational quotes at you from the deck like the annoying friend I am."

Jordan cracked a smile. "You're the worst."

"I know." I pulled my shoes off. "Move over."

"What? No, it's freezing —"

"Move. Over."

I jumped in, and the shock of cold water knocked the air out of me. We surfaced together, shivering and laughing, and I realized something: Jordan wasn't pulling away because he wanted to. He was just afraid.

"We're gonna figure this out," I said. "Varsity team. Arizona. Whatever. You're not doing this alone."

That night, we didn't solve everything. But as we sat on the pool deck, feet dangling in the water, watching the sky turn from black to gray, I knew some friendships could survive even the things you're too scared to say out loud.

Even chlorine-soaked, exhausted, and terrified of the future — we were okay.