And Posture • •

[chloe yvette haynes]

Sometimes Chloe wondered how she found time to do everything. She worked the bar at the Hard Rock Café, attended the university four out of seven days of the week and every day found time to be in the pool, practising her dives. Along with that she had to do her artwork and study for her classes. She still managed to get to her ballet class too and fit in a daily work-out on top of all of that. The petite brunette definitely lived an active lifestyle, but even she had to question how she kept up with it all sometimes.

Today, she spent the free afternoon after her class in the art rooms, adding some more pages to her project sketchbook and touching up one of her projects for the end of the year. She had been covered in ink and paint before the afternoon was over, the tips of her braided hair temporarily dyed crimson after she leaned over the paint pot a little too closely. She kept her eye on the time, storing her art equipment carefully, along with her canvas project in the art locker that had been assigned to her at the start of the semester. Luckily there was still time to go and use the gym showers before her dive practice to get the flashes of colour from her skin and hair. On her way across to the sports building, Chloe stopped off to buy a bottle of lemon ice tea from the almost deserted dining hall. Popping the top, she chugged most of it back as the winter air hit her skin and cooled her down.

Even after her shower there was a small amount of time to kill, so Chloe swam a few laps of the pool before the rest of the dive team began to arrive one at a time. She climbed from the pool and dried herself off with her chamois before chatting to one of the other girls who often joined her on the dive board when the team were practising the synchronised dives. They weren’t Chloe’s favourite and she much preferred to dive solo, but she did find her name down for one or two of the competitions when other members were unable to compete from the 10m height. Soon, the practice began and they lined up one by one for their dives, some on the springboards, and the rest at various heights over the deep cerulean water. She climbed the steps to the highest platform with ease, the height never scaring her. Ever since she had been ill for so long, Chloe tried not to let things scare her, reminding herself how short life could be and how she didn’t want to waste a moment of it. Taking her place at the end of the platform, she bent over, pushing herself slowly up into the speciality handstand, getting her balance just right before letting herself drop into the double somersault twist, straightening her body out tightly just before she hit the surface of the pool and lost herself in the depths. Nothing quite met the rush of diving for the young girl.

The rest of the dive team dispersed into the locker rooms for showers and head on home, but Chloe stayed in the pool. She swam a few more laps and then chose to test out a few more dives that she hadn't done in practice tonight. At first she worked off the springboards, neatening up a few of her tucks and entrances to the water before climbing back up to that 10m platform where Chloe truly felt at home. Maybe it was a free-fall that gave her the rush she adored, or maybe it was the way the air whipped around her before she gracefully slipped beneath the water's surface. Chloe never tried to overthink it when she knew it was just something she loved. It was her first love and these days her only love. Climbing the steps slowly she got to the top and closed her eyes. Her body was feeling the exhaustion from the physical strain she had been putting on it, but her mind kept telling her to go. Chloe didn’t dive, not yet, but just took the time to enjoy the feeling of being so high up. She was tired, but if she stopped then she’d start thinking about everything and Chloe didn’t want to have to answer to her thoughts.

• • •

TAGGED! Eric Henry Jacobs
WORDS! 741!
OUTFIT! Darling Diver!
LYRICS! A Comet Appears - - - The Shins
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Eric Henry Jacobs]

Eric was a busy guy on the best of days. He had his classes, work, the volunteer hours with the inner city kids music programme, not to mention he hit the gym, took a Karate class and took up an art class to try his hand at designing his next tattoo. And in all that time, he managed to find time to see his friends and have a good laugh with them. So he might not have done all those things every single day but he did enough in a day that he often wondered when he slept. But then, he'd been an energetic person his entire life so it wasn't really anything new; these days he just switched out the innocent activities for more adult ones. By the end of the day Eric just wanted to hit the gym, unwind and head home to Treble and the walk the sheepdog deserved.

Fortunately for him, Treble was a great dog and didn't mind when his owner got delayed any. It was later than he would have usually been at the gym by the time he got there but he still got changed into shorts and put himself through a tougher work out routine. By the time he hit the showers, he was feeling a lot better and more than a little exhausted. It was a good thing, it was his night off or he might not have been able to make it through his shift! Back tossed over a shoulder, Eric was walking through the sports complex when he passed by the pool and happened to look in, checking out what was going on in there and spotted a familiar face, climbing up to the diving board. Eric didn't know thing about diving other than the very basics of it that everyone knew. But he did know Chloe and she was always willing to answer his questions about her favourite sport.

It was late and Eric knew when Chloe was done, she would be walking home to her apartment alone. They lived close enough that taking a car to campus was more hindrance than helpful unless there was a big project or something. Eric slipped inside the pool and took a seat on a bench off tot he side to watch. He didn't often get the chance to see the swim team in action but it was always mesmorising when he could get the chance to see a match or even a practice. He didn't know if the team had even had a practice that night but he did know Chloe tried to get into the pool as often as she could. She was dedicated, that much was obvious. He waited until she dove into the water, amazed that she was so graceful. If it would have been him, it would have been a mess, especially since he knew he would end up having some sort of dizzy spell at the top and just falling in or have to climb back down. He would be at the edge of the pool when she emerged but until she took that dive and surfaced again, he would stick to the background so he wouldn't distract her.

Tag || chloe yvette haynes
Words || 534
Clothes || Impressed Gent
Music || Postcard From Paris --The Band Perry
Notes || <3

[chloe yvette haynes]

Chloe liked keeping busy but lately she had been deliberately wrapping her head up in extra practice and even more projects for class. She didn’t want to give herself time to think about Leander’s vanishing act or Spencer’s own sudden exit. At least with Spencer there had been a reason she could understand, but her brother had never done something so, well, ridiculous in his life as just upping and leaving everything and everyone he had in New York like that. Chloe couldn’t even remember a time when she had been so mad at him before now, and dwelling on it was just a trigger to make her feel self-destructive. She thought it was best to just stick to what she knew; art and diving, and making it to her hospital appointments.

Chloe was coping, in a sense, but even with a few friends left in the city, she was starting to feel like the people she grew closest to were just leaving her. After being sick just a short few years ago, Chloe was still figuring a lot out about life. She had missed out on a lot of the life lessons that kids learn in high school and though she seemed confident in many ways now, Chloe was still very self-conscious about a number of things, and that was why she never openly spoke about her fight with ALL. She had it in her head that it would work only to scare people off, make them freak out and treat her like some piece of fine china that needed to be handled with care. She had been through that and she didn’t want to go through that again; especially not with someone she might care about.

Taking her place on the edge of the board, Chloe moved herself into a handstand and took a second before launching herself into a series of twists, straightening out in time to hit the water clean. Chloe loved the feeling of spinning through the air and pulling off such a neat dive, so she was pleased with herself as she swam under the water, moving down the pool slowly. Surfacing when she needed air, Chloe pushed the strands of hair fallen from her ponytail back from her face and blinked the water out of her eyes. She was just thankful that the chlorine didn’t sting them anymore; she had grown used to it long ago when she had first taken up the sport. Oblivious to anyone else being in the pool, Chloe headed back to the steps, intent on climbing back up to the platform for another high dive. She couldn’t see the point in heading home just yet since she thought there was nothing there for her, but a silent home just reminded her of how people seemed to be leaving her, and how it was all she really had to go back to in the evenings.

• • •

TAGGED! Eric Henry Jacobs
WORDS! 529!
OUTFIT! Darling Diver!
LYRICS! A Comet Appears - - - The Shins
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Eric Henry Jacobs]

Eric was a busy guy on the best of days. He had classes, work, the volunteer hours he put in with the inner city kids music class, not to mention hitting the gym, taking those Karate classes and the art class he took up to try his hand and designing his next tattoo. He was a busy guy but he still made time for friends and veg sessions with video games. Engineering was a pain in the ass major and it had Eric wondering why in the hell he wanted to do something do demanding but he loved it all and he knew if he had changed his major when he’d had the chance, he would be hating it all. Sure, it would have been fun at first, something new, something different but he would always be wondering what was going on in the lab or with the department. So in the end Eric was happy he hadn’t changed his mind and gone with something that gave him a little more time. He was always trying to fit twenty five hours of work into every day and still find a good time to get some sleep in there, too.

Of course he wouldn’t change a single second of any of it. Without pushing himself so hard, he probably wouldn’t have been able to do half the things he had since moving to New York. And he probably wouldn’t have met half the people he had. Though there was one he would have met anyway, Chloe. Since they’d become neighbours, Eric had found a friend across the hall. Cold pizzas and bad television when they both needed a few minutes away from their real lives. It was nice to laugh with someone who wasn’t around because of a project or work. He should have already been on his way home by now. He’d finished his workout, was feeling a hell of a lot better and thought he could get the rest of that assignment done before he crashed for the night. It wouldn’t leave him up much longer after he returned home. And he would find himself with more than four hours of sleep, which was always a nice treat.

Eric stood up from his spot on the bench when Chloe hit the water so he would be at the edge of the pool by the ladder when she surfaced again. He’d left his things on the bench so he could crouch down without worrying about his things falling into the water by accident. “Nice move. Been working on it long?” He asked when she was close enough he knew she could hear him. He was always impressed with Chloe’s talent. He could never do anything like what she could. If he were being honest with himself, he might have admitted he was afraid of heights or of the free fall that followed a dive off the board but he wasn’t about to admit that to himself or anyone else; especially not anytime soon.

Tag || chloe yvette haynes
Words || 529
Clothes || Impressed Gent
Music || Postcard From Paris --The Band Perry
Notes || <3

[chloe yvette haynes]

After spending so long curled up in bed too sick to actually do anything, Chloe didn’t like taking it easy now. She knew she didn’t need to push herself so hard or cram her days with quite so much stuff, but the one person she would normally turn to to talk to was gone. She didn’t really want to open up to her parents, as close as she was to them, because there were just some things she didn’t want to share with them. Her mind was full of things and so many would have her parents worrying, stressing about their daughter and the rest of her life that she had fought so hard to get back. Chloe didn’t really know what she was doing anymore. She said she was happy, wore a smile most of the time, but she didn’t honestly know if she was. So much had happened in such a short space of time and changes in the lives of the people around her had resulted in changes in her own. She wasn’t expecting them, and she wasn’t ready for them. She thought there wasn’t a surprise or shock she couldn’t handle after everything she had been through, but apparently she had been wrong.

Chloe couldn’t even begin to work through her thoughts or problems. She didn’t know where they began or what they really were. She was angry, upset, but then she couldn’t figure out why she had a right to be. People were living their lives and doing what they wanted to do. No one had to ask her for permission or consider her in their plans. She was living her life, too, but recently she didn’t know what she wanted from it anymore. She was diving, dancing, playing volleyball and focusing on her art, but it was all just so she couldn’t find herself alone with the voices in her head. Chloe didn’t want to have to think about everything that was happening, or how it was changing her. She was so afraid of losing people that she feared the next person she reached out to would only tell her that they were running off someplace else, too. She hadn’t got better just to lose everyone else.

She didn’t see Eric until she heard him. Her mind was that focused on getting back up to the top of the ten metre platform that the building probably could have been on fire and she wouldn’t have realised until the flames hit her. Startled, she fell back into the water, which thankfully she was already in, and smiled up at him, barely. “How long have you been here?” She asked, aware that she was totally clueless to anyone coming or going lately. She had been living in her own little bubble lately and even telling herself that it wasn’t good for her had done so very little to change things. “I’m always working on it. And the rest. Until it’s the perfect score, there’s room for improvement.” She wasn’t a perfectionist per se, but when it came to her sports, especially diving, she took it more seriously than she probably took her art classes.

• • •

TAGGED! Eric Henry Jacobs
WORDS! 532!
OUTFIT! Darling Diver!
LYRICS! A Comet Appears - - - The Shins
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Eric Henry Jacobs]

Eric had noticed something a little off with Chloe when he saw her in the hallway of their apartment building and when he saw her around campus but he hadn’t really wanted to pry. They only had knowing each other, attending the same school and their shared apartment building in common but they were still somehow friends. And Eric liked Chloe but she’d always be unattainable with a busy schedule and she had a boyfriend; or at least she spent quite a bit of time with a man that was not her brother. He’d met him a time or two, liked him well enough in the since that he liked him simply because he was Chloe’s brother and no other reason. He adored the spitfire of a sister-in-law that had almost always been around. The Irish girl didn’t seem to hold anything at all back and Eric liked that kind of personality. Of course, he was also the tiniest bit jealous of her because she also got to spend so much time with Chloe and they didn’t.

Sure, they grabbed pizza every once in a while, he helped her get into her apartment with the spare key she’d given him for those instances and vice versa. But Eric could only be there for Chloe if she needed anything at all. He didn’t want to overstep any boundaries, obvious or otherwise so he kept back and he let her know he was there in case she ever needed anything and then continued on with his own business. He wanted to get home so he could get a head start on the crap going on around his place. He’d been neglecting the cleaning because he hated the chore but it had to be done. And in fairness, he could spend the twenty minutes it would take to go through the place before he went on to finish up the coursework he still had left and the video games that had been calling his name lately.

But a detour never hurt anyone and Eric loved watching Chloe dive. She was incredible to watch. “Only a couple minutes.” He told her, grinning. He’d only be sat down for a few minutes before she’d taken the dive into the cool, blue waters. “Well, it looked incredible. If I were a judge, I’d give you top marks.” It was just a shame he had absolutely no idea how to judge a dive of any kind. He didn’t know a damn thing about diving except that Chloe loved it and and that it was an Olympic sport. “How long have you been here?” He asked, concerned she’d spent most of her time in the water and not enough getting food into her system. She was looking a little thinner than usual and shew as already a petite girl to begin with.

Tag || chloe yvette haynes
Words || 508
Clothes || Impressed Gent
Music || Postcard From Paris --The Band Perry
Notes || <3

[chloe yvette haynes]

Chloe didn’t really realise just how off she had been lately, at least not around other people. She thought she was doing a good job at acting normal around them. No one had mentioned it to her yet, or even asked if she was okay, but then Chloe hadn’t really given them much of a chance. Her family only saw her for short dinners every few weeks, something she brushed off saying school was keeping her busy. As for friends, she didn’t really feel like she had too many of them left lately. Her friends from the dive team saw her regularly at practice, but they were always focused on the practice and then Chloe almost always stuck around a little longer or took off to fit in some time at the gym before she went home. Jay was practically gone from her life now, and then beyond that there was only Eric left, and she hadn’t seen him in a long time because she was so caught up in her own head and trying to avoid dealing with all the problems that were just piling up. They weren’t even problems, it was just a long list of things that Chloe didn’t want to face up to, and she was realising more and more that she didn’t have much of a choice because they would always be there, just waiting for her to slow down for a moment and then – bam – she’d collide with them and probably feel crushed by the sheer weight of all that she was running from right now.

It had only been a few things in the very beginning, but then with Leander and Spencer and Jay vanishing from her life, too, it had all been too much. Chloe didn’t want to be the person who turned to someone and just poured all of her worries and complaints out to them. She hadn’t done that when she had been seriously ill, and she didn’t want to start now. Plus, she realised that the only person she had left who she might talk to was Eric, and it felt so long since she had spent time with him that it made her feel even worse, so she buried that somewhere in her pile of things to ignore and decided to run a little further and a little harder first thing in the morning before heading to the college campus. Exercise was her way of dealing with things, but if she wasn’t careful it was going to break her. It was a fact Chloe – again – didn’t want to think about. The list was getting increasingly long and she was fighting a losing battle against it. It was a timebomb and when it exploded, and it would, Chloe would be buried at the bottom of something she couldn’t dive, or paint, or run, or swim, or dance her way out of. She’d just be an exhausted, broken young woman with very few places to turn to.

She smiled from the edge of the pool, sinking her shoulders below the warm water and taking a moment to catch her breath. Her body ached, and it was going beyond the point of the rewarding ache from a good workout. It was reaching tiredness and exhaustion, and Chloe was usually good at listening to her body and giving it what it needed, but lately she was deaf to that, too. “A judge will probably find something wrong with it. Too much splash, a slight over rotation, I came out too soon…” She could go on, but instead trailed off and shrugged, feeling the dull ache setting in. She either needed to dive again or stop for the night. “Oh, just a little while. I wanted to get some extra training in.” She said offhandedly, honestly not knowing. She’d been swimming before practice and then stuck around after. She couldn’t be certain but she had to have put close to three hours in the pool this evening, which would have been shocking to the old Chloe, but right now she was numb to the thought of overexertion. She had bruises from messed up dives from previous nights and she wasn’t even bothering to worry about them, though they coloured her arms and legs like patchwork.

• • •

TAGGED! Eric Henry Jacobs
WORDS! 716!
OUTFIT! Darling Diver!
LYRICS! A Comet Appears - - - The Shins
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Eric Henry Jacobs]

Eric had known Chloe for a while now and noticed little things about his neighbour. It was hard not to hang out with someone, live next door to them and not pick up bits like the basic routines and the like. So he'd noticed when she stopped going out with Irish girl, when she started dragging her gym bag out more and more or started going out entirely less and less. She was pushing herself too hard and he saw how it was effecting her. She has dark circles under her eyes too often and Eric didn't know what to do to fix any of it. He liked Chloe a lot, wanted to be there for her. He was her friend and yet he was absolutely clueless as to what was really going on in her life. He supposed he could have tracked down Jay, the Irish one he'd met a few times before she'd disappeared.

And of course, he would find her at the pool on campus, training. She was always training. He honestly didn't know where she found the time to do any of it. He hadn't been actively looking for Chloe, he'd been at the gym, getting a good work out in because he had a couple papers due and a legitimate project on his hands that needed a clear head to finish off. He always felt like his mind got too jumbled with everything and it always helped to get rid of it all with a good workout before he settled in with the homework that would see him into his final year of university. It was a little crazy to realise he was going to be a senior when school started up again. But he was okay with that. The sooner he was out there, doing what he wanted the better. But his plans for the night coups be put on hold for another day, it wouldn't hurt anything. He could spend the time hanging out with Chloe, seeing what was wrong with her lately and maybe trying to help fix it.

He wasn't particularly good at fixing problems bit with as many sisters as he had, he was good at listening to their problems. Sometimes being that ear that was vented to was enough for the solutions to come flowing just as easily as water. "Well the judge's are stupid if they don't give you a perfect score." He said with a shake of his head. He didn't know much about anything that had to do with diving, except that it took a lot of training and that Eric himself didn't have the motivation to throw himself off a short plank and add in some spins and twirls for flair. "What do you say about calling it a night and running down to the diner with me, I'm starving." He asked her with a tilt of his head. She looked completely exhausted and Eric would hate himself if something happened to her that he could have prevented. She had to have been practicing for a while now and it was probably beyond the time she get out and dry off before she becomes permanently pruned.

Tag || chloe yvette haynes
Words || 531
Clothes || Impressed Gent
Music || Postcard From Paris --The Band Perry
Notes || <3

[chloe yvette haynes]

Chloe liked being strong. She liked proving that she could be independent and take care of herself. Mostly it was for her parents and Leander, since they had been the people to see her when she could barely sit up in her own bed. It had become a point of pride though now to do everything for herself. She shouldered her own worries, be them big or small, and took on the world because she didn’t want to have to be that girl who needed someone to lift her up again. Of course, Leander was gone now, so he wasn’t going to knock on her door and warn her about doing too much, even if she was perfectly fine. Maybe that was Chloe was doing this. Maybe she wanted to see if there was a point where someone would grab her by the arms and shake her silly. Maybe she wanted to push herself and hurt to find out if anyone would actually care enough to stop her.

She didn’t know how to be alone. Chloe had never been without someone nearby in her life who she could call at a moment’s notice. Her family had fussed for obvious reasons during and after her battle with ALL, and her friends had been dear to her. If anyone had told Chloe that her nearest and dearest would all pack up and go one after the other she never would have believed them. Now she didn’t know how to cope. The only thing she had were her sports, and running, swimming, diving were all brilliant ways to just shut off her thoughts until her body was screaming at her to stop. Even then she only granted her muscles a short break before she challenged them again. She wasn’t looking after herself, but in a dark corner of her mind she was asking herself who she had to look after herself for?

Chloe smiled at Eric, but just shook her head. “You should come to a competition sometime. You’ll see what I mean. Some of the divers there can make me look like an amateur.” She worked hard and it was rare for her to walk away from a competition feeling like she’d done poorly, even if she didn’t win. Still, some of the people she saw there were just amazing, and she wished she could be as polished as they were on the springboard. Chloe took the high dives with ease, but her springboard was where she needed a lot more work before it would be at competition level. She could do some fancy dives, but they were untidy. “I’ll have to shower and change first.” She said hesistantly, part of her not wanting to leave Eric waiting, and another part worried about what he might say when he saw the bruises when she got out of the pool. Her fellow divers had been briefly concerned, but they had shared their own number of bad slips and hits on the boards, so understood when Chloe waved them off like they were nothing, even if they were the worst she had ever had. Food did sound amazing right now though, and she knew already that her apartment cupboards were sparse. All the same, her arms were aching, so she gave in and pulled herself out of the water and onto the poolside, doing her best to try to keep as many of her green and purple bruises out of sight. It was impossible given that she was in a swimsuit.

• • •

TAGGED! Eric Henry Jacobs
WORDS! 591!
OUTFIT! Darling Diver!
LYRICS! A Comet Appears - - - The Shins
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Eric Henry Jacobs]

Eric wasn't usually someone who put his nose in other people's business. He couldn't honestly care less about the gossip coming from the mill or the people who perpetuated it all. Hell, he couldn't picture half the people he heard about, nevermind actually knowing any of them. He kept to his own circle of friends and when he was told things in confidence, it went no further than from their lips to his ears. He'd been to a lot of schools, learned a lot of languages and knew the best way to avoid being a perpetual peg in the rumour mill was to keep to yourself, learn and leave again. Of course, that in itself was something to have them all talking, too. It was in no way a win-win situation but he'd made it work and learned early on to only give them the important information. He didn't need the rumour mill to know when something was up with his neighbour and friend. Chloe hadn't been herself for a while now though Eric hadn't yet been able to figure out what the real problem was.

He could guess and he would probably be wrong but having four sisters, he could also be spot on. Then again, he had more than one sibling and he knew a single phone call to one would have the entire pack descending on him the second they could co-ordinate their schedules. Didn't help he was the baby and any problems he had, they all thought they could solve. It was a bit of a traumatic experience growing up and Eric had realised he'd actually been lucky he didn't have all his siblings in school with him at once; it would have been a nightmare. But he'd also learned that he missed his siblings something fierce when he was feeling a little down and he was the only one in New York; which was yet another reason he'd made himself so many friends. Someone was always available when he didn't want to be alone. And it was usually Chloe. He cared quite a bit for the athletic brunette, so he noticed things.

Things like her not taking proper care of herself, pushing herself a little too much. He'd hardly seen her in the last little while and that in itself spoke volumes. He could always text her or just knock on her door and he would get a response; usually. "You'll have to tell me when the next one is. I'll make a sign!" He told her with a grin. If she told him ahead of time, he would absolutely make a sign, there was no way he'd pass up that opportunity. And if she knew him the slightest bit, she would tell him as she was leaving for the meet; which would mean he should make a sign anyway, just in case. "Go on, I'm in no hurry." He told her and proved his point by pulling his phone free and checking up on the Jacobs' World. He was on few social media platforms so his news usually came to him through text messages, more often than not telling him to check out Facebook or whatever else he had accounts for that he "forgot" to check. "Diving isn't as smooth as it looks, is it?" He asked, looking up as Chloe pulled herself from the pool. It was hard to miss the bruises and their various states of healing.

Tag || chloe yvette haynes
Words || 575
Clothes || Impressed Gent
Music || Postcard From Paris --The Band Perry
Notes || <3

[chloe yvette haynes]

Chloe had been keeping to herself a lot lately. It was easier when she was burying herself in her diving and her art, working and pushing herself to the limit and then testing to see if she could just push herself just that little bit further still. She wanted to feel the ache in her bones from exhausting her muscles, from tiring herself out. She believed it was the only way she was going to find a dreamless sleep. Chloe didn’t want to dream of her brother or Spencer. She didn’t want to think of all the things in her life that could make her angry or upset right before she fell asleep. She just wanted to pass out, to fall into a dreamless abyss where nothing could bother her. She woke up with bruises from the day before, muscles screaming for a day of rest, but Chloe didn’t want to risk taking a break in case her mind went into overdrive and forced her to confront all of the things she as doing her best to ignore.

A small part of her knew she couldn’t avoid it forever, but damn it if she wasn’t going to try. Chloe was stubborn and a fighter. She might not go out and try to get into a brawl with anyone, but she certainly fought herself. It didn’t matter if it was good for her or not. Chloe’s pride was her weakness. She could never admit when she was in need or help or when life had her feeling low. Even when she was sick she still tried to say she was fine! She just couldn’t stand the idea of relying on other people, especially not now that she was better and out in the world living her life; a life she had once only ever dreamt of having.

Right now Chloe lived for her diving contests. A part of her felt like they were all she had to look forward to in her life. The brunette knew better than that, but while she was stuck in this dark rut she couldn’t shake those thoughts away. They haunted her whenever she wasn’t training, working out or getting ready to head for the pool. “Two weeks this Saturday.” She grinned, pushing some of her wet hair back from her face. “Enough time for a sign?” She asked playfully, tipping herself backwards into the water, floating on her back while keeping her gaze fixed on Eric. Climbing out of the pool was embarrassing when it was someone who wasn’t a diver watching. She felt like it was harder to lie about how easily she had bruised and how hard she was working. Her face felt hot and she quickly moved to where her towel was to cover herself up with the pretence of feeling the cold despite how warm the pool was. “Yeah, we land hard when we mess up.” She mumbled, making sure she had her bag before turning towards the locker room. “I’ll be as quick as I can.” She promised, secretly glad to be away from Eric for a little while so she could change into something that would cover her battered skin.

Chloe washed the chlorine off her body, rinsing her hair out twice after lathering it with coconut shampoo. She dried it with a towel and braided it down her back while it was still damp, and changed into her comfy clothes, rolling her costume into the damp towel until she was home and able to deal with it properly. At least now she just looked tired, her eyes darker than they ought to be. Typically makeup could disguise that, but she wasn’t a girl who carried it around with her. Sighing at her reflection, which was better than she had seen it on some days, Chloe shouldered her bag and headed to find Eric. “I’m ready.”

• • •

TAGGED! Eric Henry Jacobs
WORDS! 656!
OUTFIT! Darling Diver!
LYRICS! A Comet Appears - - - The Shins
NOTES! <3 <3 <3