The sun was relentless, baking the pool deck until the air shimmered. You slouched in the lifeguard chair, one elbow hooked lazily over the armrest, sunglasses low on your nose. This job wasn’t about saving lives — it was about cashing easy checks. If someone actually started drowning, well… you’d handle it. Eventually.

Your long black hair spilled over one shoulder, catching the light, and your honey-toned skin practically glowed against the red uniform. A few kids splashed around, but nothing worth moving for.

Then came the noise. A group strolled in like the start of some teen drama: two blondes — one loud, one chill — a sharp-eyed brunette, a tall guy with a cautious smile, and a girl who looked like she could ruin your day if she wanted to. The loud blond — JJ, though you didn’t know his name yet — walked like he’d been born in board shorts, tossing his shirt onto the nearest chair without checking if it belonged to someone else.

“Watch this,” he said to no one in particular, and ran straight into a cannonball. The splash caught your legs.

You pulled your sunglasses down. “That’s… definitely against the rules.” He grinned from the water. “Good thing I’m not much of a rules guy.”

Your friend snorted beside you, but you kept your face unreadable, leaning back in your chair. JJ lingered near the deep end, still glancing up at you between jokes with his friends.

The rest of the shift should’ve been uneventful — but with him around, you had that strange, annoying feeling something was going to happen. The kind of something that meant you’d have to actually work today.