Skinny Dipping (13 page)

“No kickboard. No rail. It feels very unsafe.” She absorbed the facts, not particularly tempting for a land creature like herself.

“I’ll be here if anything happens.”

She scrunched her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and felt feverish. One finger released the rail, then the next and with courage she dropped her arm. She felt unbalanced, as if she were dancing on a ship, caught in rough seas. She could feel her breathing, and tried not to panic. She grabbed the noodle from him, gripping it to her, her new piece of safety equipment.

“I want us to walk toward the wall, you’ll have the noodle, and I’ve got the other side. The water is very shallow.” It was true; the water here only came to her waist.

She scrunched her toes on the tiles, not sure if she wanted to move from the spot.

“Luckily, standing isn’t considered swimming. You should be fine standing, have a go.”

“I can do this,” Sophie said enthusiastically, trying to appear more confident than she really felt.

“Yes, you can,” said Matthew with a warm smile. “Now, I want you to take your first step forward. A baby step. But a huge step forward into you becoming a great swimmer.” His eyes twinkled as he spoke. “Take a step toward me, and we’ll go to the wall.”

She moved her foot, wiggled it really, moving no further than an inch. Her toes scrunched on the tiles trying desperately to grip the ground.

“Try to uncoil your toes.”

“You sure?”

“Trust me.”

“Trust you?” Sophie felt like laughing, how could she trust any man, especially when Derek who supposedly loved her had hurt her so much?

Matthew gave her a hurt look, and she suddenly felt her cheeks redden, a sense of shame rippled through her. Maybe Matthew was a different type of man, at least in the water, and she was after all putting her life in his hands.

“Sorry, of course I can,” she said, not able to say the actual word. The big ‘T’ for trust. Trust was compacted somewhere inside her being, reserved, blocked off, in case she got hurt. Nobody, including this seemingly lovely man was going to win her trust without some type of trial period. Matthew was on probation. Yes, probation, and his true colours would come out soon enough.

She flattened her feet to the ground. She took a second step, moving closer to where he was leading her to the wall. She noticed his washboard stomach, flat, of course, not an ounce of fat. She diverted her eyes back to his face, concentrating on his words. That’s what she needed to do in the water, concentrate, not check out her swimming coach. She took a few steps and got to the wall. A thrill went up her spine, and she realized her breathing was hard.

She flashed him a smile. “We got here.”

He nodded. “I told you, you could do it, didn’t I?”

She bit her lip. “Yes. This is a very safe spot.” She felt an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. She was safe.

“How do you feel about getting your head underwater?”

“I don’t really like that.” There was no point pretending. “Going underwater I’ll just drown.” One of her hands came to her bathing cap, checking it was still pulled over her ears, and she felt her goggles, still pulled tight.

“What we’re going to do next is learn how to relax in the shallow water, and practice breath control. So with two arms holding onto the wall we’re going to both do a series of bobs.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll show you.” He held the wall with both his hands. “Watch my demonstration. I take a deep breath through my mouth, while holding onto the wall and I try and become as relaxed as possible.” She could hear him sucking in air. “With the air in my lungs, I find a sense of calm, and holding my breath, I bob under.” He dropped suddenly into the water, his arms still holding the wall, but his head was underneath the surface. After a few seconds he shot back up and blew out a big breath. “Did you see that I blew a breath out?”

Sophie nodding, feeling her arms begin to tighten. “But what if I run out of breath? What if I need the air when I come up?”

“If you only go down for a few seconds, you won’t run out of breath.”

She felt her chest tighten, apprehension flooding her being.

“When you go underwater, you get lots of water around you, on your face, on your arms, on your forehead, on your hair. When you bob up, the water spills over you. So if you breathe in as soon as you come up, what do you think happens to all of this water?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I suck it in?”

He nodded. “That’s right. Breathing in through your nose or mouth will encourage water to go up your nose.”

“Oh. I don’t like that at all.” A flashing image of her drowning, water funnelling up her nose, came into her mind.

“But if you breathe out, what do you think will happen?”

“Water goes in the opposite direction?”

“Yeah, that’s right. It makes sense doesn’t it? You’re actually forcing the water to spill off your face, out of your nose and away from your mouth faster. Sounds logical, doesn’t it?”

“I suppose so.” Her heart was racing, she was hoping this was just a demonstration and she would simply hold the wall today.

“You couldn’t see what I was doing under the water. But I had my eyes open and I looked at the wall, and took a look around the pool.”

Sophie shivered, the very thought of bobbing under the water felt something quite extraordinary.

“You’ve got goggles on right?”

She swallowed. “Yes.”

“The goggles will help keep the water out of your eyes. So you should feel absolutely comfortable looking around. Why don’t we give it a try?”

Sophie shook her head violently. “I’ll get water up my nose.” She also knew the bathing cap was not as waterproof as a person might think. Water would stream into the sides, wetting her hair and quite possibly even flow into her ears.

“On the count of three we’re going to go under. Remember you’re holding onto the wall. You can stand up immediately if you feel uncomfortable.”

She could feel the sound of her heart beating, hear Matthew’s breathing, she felt physically sick. “What if I mess it up? What if I drown?”

“You won’t. Besides you have this solid wall right here. It’s strong and you can definitely pull yourself up.”

Using every piece of courage she possessed, Sophie inhaled through her mouth. She was in control now, in charge of her descent into the depths.

“Take a deep breath before you go under,” he said. “Relax, and if you feel comfortable, look around when you’re under, then bob back up and blow the air out of your mouth.”

“One,” he started. She inhaled. “Two.” Air was filling every space of her lungs, her body filling like a balloon. “Three,” he concluded the count.

Her legs folded beneath her, water was on her chest, neck, mouth, and head. She submerged.

She shut her eyes, and it took all her effort to open her eyes, gaze darting around. Her heart was beating so fast in her chest, she felt her temples pulsing. Matthew was beside her, amplified by her goggles, a large male figure, with hair sticking up like reeds, or wet straw. He loomed, like a drowned scarecrow, and held two thumbs up. He thrust himself up, and she couldn’t be quicker to follow.

She thrust out of the water, ecstatic to have the wall, and for her head to be out.

“Breathe out of your mouth,” Matthew instructed, and she blew out quickly, sounding like she would hyperventilate.

“Well done. You did that perfectly. Now breathe calmly, normally.”

She wiped her nose, not wanting any drips to choke her. She found her chest starting to normalize, as the realization dawned on her that she was against the wall, standing and not choking to death.

“It’s like a miracle,” she said, in a low voice. He was smiling like she had done something absolutely extraordinary. Her feet were firm on the tiles.

“Breathe and find your calm. You’re doing great.”

Everything was fine, and she was safe.

“We’ll wait for you to get your heart rate back to normal. But you did really great.”

A shiver of pleasure ran up her spine. She’d done great. Her in the water.

She felt a sense of calm settle upon her, and she looked up at him and smiled.

“Do you think you’re up for another bob? I think you’ve got more in you?”

She bit her lip, her heart starting again. “Okay,” she murmured, feeling she could do it again. “Thanks, for not pushing me too far. I appreciate that,” she spoke softly.

She gazed at him, and became violently aware of his male presence, his near nakedness, only in his swimming trunks. She swallowed, faced the wall, ready to do another bob, focusing on the breathing, and finding her sense of calm. Relax. She needed to relax. Staring starry-eyed at Matthew wasn’t helping, nor would getting preoccupied, and all heady. She was the pool nerd, not the pool flirt, and if she was very lucky she might even be the teachers pet.

Chapter 9

First thing Monday morning, huddled round the whiteboard in the idea think tank area stood Desmond, Flora, Harry and Sophie. Sophie reiterated the Silver Account brief and the details she’d recently discussed with Matthew at the
Highbury Aquatic Centre
. The new campaign needed to be sexy and sassy. The ‘
Swimming is for Living
’ campaign
Clarks
did for Matthew the previous year was targeted at parents, encouraging them to enrol their children in swimming lessons. With the recession gripping England, purses were tight and parents pushed the financial burden of swimming lessons onto schools, hoping the school budget was enough for their children to learn through the educational system.

Matthew couldn’t control economics, so another campaign targeted at parents was risky. Memberships wouldn’t necessarily increase, especially when parents always felt the pinch in an economic slowdown.

Sophie wrote on the white board, large black capital letters: DINKYs.

“That’s the target market: DINKYs.”

Jessica sat riveted to her seat, watching the meeting from her desk outside Bradley’s office. She stretched her neck out, like a giraffe, cocking her head to hear every word. Waving her hand for attention, she called out from her desk. “What’s a DINKY?” Jessica’s head darted to the group, and back to Bradley’s closed door. She held a small postage package up towards Sophie. It was another of her internet purchases.

“Double Income No Kids Yet,” Sophie said. Jessica nodded and with a brief look back at Bradley’s door she inched her chair into the corridor, closer to the whiteboard, bringing the package with her. “Oh I get it,” Jessica nodded, enthusiasm infectious in her voice. “He wants young professionals with deep pockets.” She gave the team a wobbly smile, nervous, and turning her hands over in her lap, worried the team would think less of her if she didn’t get the concept. She placed the package with Sophie’s name on it on a spare table.

Little manipulator. But at least she has guts,
Sophie thought. She was still waiting on her exercise ball and that might be the very thing in the package on the spare table.

“That pretty much sums it up, because with no kids, the employed DINKYs still have excess money to spend,” Sophie smiled back, Jessica was bright. She could be useful to the team. Besides they were friends and she would like to give her a hand in her career. “We’re targeting their capacity to spend whilst everyone is tightening their belts.”

“What if these DINKYs aren’t into health, exercise or getting a pool membership?” Jessica looked around.

Desmond sighed. “Our job is to sell an image, a desire,” he said, in a know-it-all voice. “We’re not necessarily selling laps at the pool, or the health benefits of exercise. We’re selling the possibility of a perfect body. For women, a bikini body, for a man, increased stamina or even a washboard stomach.”

“How does that relate to more memberships?” Jessica frowned, confusion flashing across her face. “Isn’t that the point of this campaign?”

“Consider a product that you buy – let’s take lipstick as an example. Why do most women buy lipstick?” Flora suggested, kindly.

“To look pretty.” Jessica answered with a knee jerk response.

“Girls all want to be beautiful, and attractive to someone. If you have a model wearing a brand of lipstick, and then at the end of the advert, she ends up with a handsome man, the ad is selling the idea that the lipstick helps someone get love or a man.”

“But what has that got to do with lipstick?”

“A good ad makes the person watching it think subconsciously, if they buy the same lipstick, then their lips will be as full, luscious, and lovely enough to look just like the model and get a very sexy man. While the girl watching the ad might not look at all like the model, we’re selling the concept that the lipstick will help them look that little bit more like the model.”

“I see,” Jessica said slowly. “We sell chances, desires, possibilities.”

“Marketing 101,” Desmond said dryly.

“I’m still studying,” Jessica said softly. “So the purpose of our ad is to help develop the desire, the possibility of being toned, gorgeous, healthy, and more sexy. They’ll subconsciously think that a pool membership might just be their answer for renewed confidence, sex appeal, and that type of thing.”

“Exactly,” Sophie agreed, impressed at how quickly Jessica was grasping the concepts. “With all that in mind, we need fresh ideas.”

“I already proposed animation. Wasn’t his favourite animal a dolphin, how did he like the animation sketches?”

“He loved the animation,” Sophie said, kindly. “But he wants to use real people. I don’t think he’s going to move from that one.”

“I suppose,” Desmond agreed. “A dolphin doesn’t really spell risqué.”

“We need a slogan, a theme for the campaign,” Sophie encouraged.

“If he wants real people, where would the commercial be set?” Harry asked, curious.

“He said we could shoot the commercial at the pool or the beach or both,” Sophie added.

“It would have to be Brighton. I’m happy to go on Brighton beach and locate the best spot,” volunteered Desmond.

“We need an idea first,” Sophie said firmly. “An overall theme for the commercial.”