Waking Up Underwater

The martini was neon pink and tasted like artificial strawberries and regret. Sarah swirled the glass, watching the olive spiral like her career ambitions—going nowhere fast.

"You look like shit," Mark said, sliding into the booth across from her. He wasn't wrong. Three years of eighty-hour weeks had turned her into something that vaguely resembled a person but moved like a zombie, powered by caffeine and mounting student loan payments.

"Thanks, Mark. You really know how to make a girl feel special."

He shrugged, his suit jacket straining at the buttons. They'd been friends since college, back when they'd thought they'd change the world instead of designing ad campaigns for predatory loans. Now they just wanted to make it to Friday without cracking.

"Let's go swimming," he said suddenly.

Sarah blinked. "It's November. It's midnight. We're thirty-four years old."

"My building has a heated pool. No one ever uses it. Come on." Something in his eyes—desperation, maybe, or a last grasp at joy before middle age consumed them completely.

They found themselves there an hour later, two partially dressed adults slipping into warm water under fluorescent lights. The silence was heavy with things they'd never said. Sarah swam laps while Mark floated on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"Sometimes I think I'm already dead," he whispered when she finally paused beside him, treading water. "Like I died somewhere around 2019 and my body just kept going to work."

Sarah reached for his hand under the water. His fingers were pruned against hers. "I know. Me too."

"So what do we do about it?"

She pulled him closer, their bodies buoyant and weightless in the heated dark. "We keep swimming, I guess. We don't sink. We don't let them turn us into actual zombies. We stay here, in the water, where it's warm and we can still feel something."

Mark's breath hitched. He didn't pull away. "Just friends swimming?"

"Two friends who aren't dead yet. That's enough for tonight."

They stayed until dawn, two small bodies in a large pool, refusing to drown on dry land.