Melissa Good - Storm Surge

Kerry sighed. "Stop teasing me, Dar. I told Angie I'd go up there and help her pack up to move. I can't back out on her now."

"I know. Sorry."

"It's not like I want to go to Michigan, you know.

"I know," Dar repeated. "Hey, it'll give me a week to scope out the best beer spots for you," she added, resting her elbows on the deck chair arms. "Hey, what do you think about softball?"

Kerry nearly choked on a mouthful of coffee. "Bw--" She swallowed. "Huh?" She turned her head and looked at her partner. "What brought that on?"

The taller woman shrugged. "I bumped into Mariana in the hall Thursday, and she said she had a bunch of people asking her if we could form a softball team to play in some half assed corporate softball league or something around here."

"Ah."

"I didn't think it sounded all that stupid, and the league raises money for charity," Dar reasoned, "and we're done with that other stuff for now."

"So, she asked you because she expected you to play?" Kerry put her cup down and half turned resting her chin on her fist.

"Us."

"Ah."

"The other choice was bowling," Dar said. "I don't know about you, but for me the biggest draw of the bowling alley is the cheese fries."

"Hmm." Kerry wrinkled her nose. "I think I'd like to try softball. I never played it in school and I wanted to."

"You said that once," Dar remarked. "I think you look really cute in a baseball cap. Sounds like it might be fun."

"You want to do it?" A little surprised at her antisocial partner's sudden interest in team sports, Kerry watched her profile out of the corner of her eye. "I didn't think you were into that sort of thing."

Dar blew bubbles into her coffee making a very odd gurgling noise. "Yeah, I know, but I've never tried this, so what the hell. Why not?"

"Works for me." Kerry got up and went over to the transom, sitting on it and swiveling so her legs were on the outside of the low wall above the platform they stepped off of when diving. "Tattoo, motorcycle, wife, softball." She glanced over her shoulder at Dar. "I think my rebellion is complete." She turned around and dove into the dark blue water.

Dar smiled and toasted Kerry with her coffee cup, content to remain in her deck chair as the sun slowly lifted higher over the horizon. She could hear Kerry splashing and after a moment, she moved the deck chair closer to the back of the boat so she could keep an eye on her.

Kerry was doing the backstroke, swimming a few body lengths away from the boat and then coasting, putting her hands behind her head and floating like an otter in the warm water.

"How is it?" Dar asked.

"Bathtub." Kerry stretched her body out. "Big enough for two." She gazed up at the pink tinged fluffy clouds overhead as she floated on the surface, enjoying the peace and quiet for about ten seconds when a wall of water swept over her. "Hey!"

Dar bobbed up a moment later shaking her dark hair out of her eyes. "You invited me into your bathtub." She grinned at Kerry stroking through the water toward her. She ducked under the surface as she came closer grabbing Kerry as she back peddled rapidly through the water.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Kerry twisted and reached out to grab Dar's shirt, but found only smooth skin under her fingertips. "Holy pooters, Dar! You're naked!"

Blue eyes appeared above the waterline, blinking innocently.

"You are naked!" Kerry hissed, glancing around. "What if one of those fishing charters comes by? Or a dive boat?"

Completely submerged aside from the top of her head, Dar started moving toward her partner.

"Dar."

A puckish grin appeared.

"Shit." Kerry ducked her head under the water and swam forward frog kicking with her hands outstretched to grab whatever they had a mind to.

She found them clasped, and the next thing she knew she was being hauled up half out of the water, landing on top of Dar as her partner flipped over and came up under her.

Abruptly, Kerry wished she'd forgotten her suit as well. She could feel skin everywhere she touched and she almost breathed in a mouthful of salt water as her body reacted.

She was flipped over again and dunked, and could only manage a quick breath before she was under the water again and being pinched on the butt. She flailed around and tried to grab Dar's arm, but as she surfaced, she found herself alone as she turned in a circle. "Hey!"

Dar surfaced on the other side of the boat, snickering.

"You're such a punk." Kerry let her catch up and they were nose to nose near the stern of the boat. "Just for that, I hope a cuttlefish nibbles you."

"Ready for breakfast?" Dar batted a piece of seaweed away.

"Well, now," Kerry laid one hand on her cheek and leaned forward to let their lips brush, "depends on who's cooking."

Dar licked a drop of salt water off her nose. "G'wan." She indicated the ladder.

"Oh no." Kerry shook her head and smiled. "You first." She rolled onto her back and put her hands back under her head, watching her with a wicked twinkle. "Little Miss Exhibitionist."

Dar stuck her tongue out.

"You're so lucky I didn't take my camera in the water."

"HI, KERRY."

Kerry looked up from her computer screen, and waved a few fingers. "Hey Mari," she greeted the Vice President of Human Resources for ILS. "What's up?"

Mariana entered and crossed over to Kerry's desk, taking a seat in her visitor's chair and settling herself. "Good morning, Kerry."

"Uh oh. What did I do?" Kerry turned away from her monitor and rested her elbows on her desk.

"You? Not a thing." Mariana smiled.

"What did Dar do that I have to explain?"

"She volunteered you to be captain of our new softball team, and before I sent out a memo with that delightful information I thought I'd check with you first."

Kerry leaned back in her chair and chuckled. "Nah, that's fine. I actually did volunteer for that," she told Mari. "I figured if I was going to do this, I'd do it right. So what's the deal with all this? I didn't know we had such a demand for inter-corporate sports in the company."

"Well," Mari sighed, "I don't know, really." She crossed her ankles. "You know the suggestion box down in the café?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, we usually get the usual. Less chicken in the café, lower the air conditioning on the sixth floor, raise the air conditioning on the ninth floor, change the dress code--you know."

Kerry nodded. She did, in fact, know as she was the representative from Operations to the employee working group sessions that took place monthly. "Change the coffee, don't change the coffee, bring bottled water in, and stop using bottled water because of the environment, yeah."

"Exactly," Mari said. "So anyway, the last couple of times I opened the box, we had requests for more group activities, more employee activities, and stuff getting involved in the community. So I put out feelers, and this league's what I came up with."

"Ah."

"People activity, sports activity, charity activity, all rolled into one. I figured it was at least worth mentioning." Mari went on, "However..."

"Yeah?"

"When I mentioned it, everyone went batty bonkers on me."

Kerry blinked. "Really?"

"You'd think I was suggesting we go to the Olympics." Mari shook her head. "So anyway, I thought I'd ask the poobah if she wanted to participate, since we all know you both are big into sports."

"We're...ah..." Kerry paused. "Yeah, okay," she said. "We're not really into sports, per se, but we do like being active, and I think Dar's intrigued since she's never done team sports before." She considered, "and I never got to play in school, so I have to admit I'm kinda looking forward to it too."

Mari's face split into a pleased smile. "Great. know Dar can speak for you, but I just wanted to make sure this wasn't something you felt obligated to do. We've got so much of that around here. You know?"