3WW

The 3 Word Wednesday prompts are: hassle, inject, wealth

Here it is, a little tardy

The water washed over him. Cool and tangy with that chemical taste that only comes in a public pool. Not too gross, but flavorful enough to let you know there's more than water in the water.
Yet, despite the taste sliding into the water for the first time in more than a year was heaven; like a rebirth of sorts. Gone were the worries of the day. Work troubles gone. Girl problems vanished. No one, or nothing, could hassle him in the pool.
It used to be his escape, an opportunity to disappear for an hour and inject himself with a revitilization tonic -- maybe that's what was in the water. But for some reason, unknown to him, he stopped going, stopped working out. He got fat -- fatter. He once again took a backseat to life, worrying about other things before his mental, physical and spiritual well being. Part of that was due to circumstances. Dying mom. Trips to the Bay Area. Kids' needs. All drained his time, like a debt draining the wealth of his personal bank.
But that's life, he reasoned. Things must be done. And if he didn't do them, he reasoned, who would? The sister? The ex? The kids, themselves? It was, after procrastination, his worst character trait -- taking on a problem, owning it, rather than allowing someone to step up, and perhaps fail, and chip in for the common good.
He was good at taking on too much, and feeling like a martyr for his troubles. He never complained -- outwardly, at least. But every trip, every rescue, every project drained him until the pool he longed to dive in was empty.
Until he realized that he needed his metaphorical pool and the YMCA pool to be filled and wash over him.

3WW

It's been some time since I've posted so I thought some 3WW would help spark the juices.


feign, imply, virtue


Virtue was his aim. After all, you don't fuck someone over like that -- especially someone you know, even if he is just a casual friend and not your BFF.
That's not to imply she wasn't worth cock-blocking for -- she was amazing, everything he wanted. Smart, funny, beautiful, engaging, independent and captivating; all the things he'd sought all those post-divorce years, all the things he'd sought on endless, unsufferable blind dates, set-ups and fix-ups. All the things he'd been seeking, but not finding on those uncomfortable dates that both parties knew were fruitless but would feign the cliche "I'll-give-you-a-call-sometime" line to spare the others' feeling and save a little dignity, when both new damn well that there was no tomorrow -- hell, there wasn't even a today -- for a possible relationship.
But as wonderful as she was -- as giddy as he was about being with her -- virtue kept coming back into the equation.
"Do things the right way," he always preached.
It was a cornerstone of who he was, what he was about and the way he lived his life. And now he was having to not only listen to his own advice, but live his own advice. Oh, the irony.
It was the ultimate battle of wants, desires, needs and delayed gratification. He knew they had more in common; they were more compatible; and ultimately, he felt, destined to be together.
But he had to wait until life played out how it was supposed to. In the meantime, he would sit, wait, pine and dream. For the day virtue would pay him back.