All Chapters of Drowning in You: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Callum shifted. He cracked his knuckles one by one. He didn't look away from me. His gaze scanned my lean frame and lingered on my taped up glasses."The housing office had a vacancy," Callum replied. His tone dripped with fake innocence. "and I thought to myself, why spend my final year alone when I could be with an old friend? It's been what, six years? You've gotten scrawnier. Do they not feed you in the Lit department, or are you too busy crying over poetry?"Sean let out a loud laugh and slapped Callum on the shoulder. "Man, he really does look like a librarian. You sure he's on the swim team, Cal? I thought he'd snap in half if he tried to do a flip turn"I ignored Sean entirely. I didn't look at him. He was just noise, an extension of Callum's arrogance. I kept my eyes on Callum. "Get out."Callum's eyebrows shot up. He sat up slowly. His movements were fluid and predatory. "Excuse me? This is my room too, Leo. I'm not going anywhere.""You can't just show up here," I said. My

My alarm clock went off at six in the morning, a shrill, piercing sound that felt like a drill entering my skull. I reached out and slapped the snooze button with a level of aggression that probably would have broken a cheaper clock. I stayed there for a long time, staring at the popcorn ceiling of the dorm room, trying to ignore the fact that I could hear Callum breathing just a few feet away. The air in the room felt heavy, like the atmosphere right before a thunderstorm, charged with a tension that hadn't dissipated since he had invaded my space the night before.I sat up and pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose with one finger. I looked over at Callum. He was still asleep, sprawled across his bed with one arm hanging off the edge and his mouth slightly open. In sleep, he looked almost human, his features softened and the hardness in his jaw relaxed. It was a lie, of course. I knew that the second those blue eyes opened, the mask of the arrogant prick would slide back i

"Liar," Callum murmured. He leaned in, his breath warm against my ear. "You're a terrible liar, Leo. Your whole body screams it. Every time I get close, you stop breathing. You're in the closet so deep you've probably forgotten what sunlight looks like." I pushed him away, my palms hitting his hard chest. "Get away from me." Callum laughed and stepped back, his expression returning to one of smug victory. "See you at the pool sweetheart." The walk to the aquatic center was freezing. A thin layer of frost covered the grass, and the air bit at my skin through my hoodie. I walked in silence, my mind racing. I couldn't believe he had the nerve to bring up the kiss, to use my sexuality as a weapon against me. I had spent years building a wall around that part of myself, ensuring that no one knew the truth. To have Callum rip it open within twenty four hours of his return was agonizing. As I entered the lobby, I saw Sean Vance leaning against a trophy case. He was wearing a varsity j

As they walked away, I stood there in the silence, my breath coming in ragged gasps. I looked down at my hands and saw that they were still trembling. I pushed my glasses up with a shaking finger and leaned against the cold metal of the locker, trying to ground myself. I hated him. I truly did. I hated his money, his arrogance, and the way he could walk into a room and make everyone else feel invisible. But as I watched him disappear through the door, I realized that the hatred wasn't enough to keep me away from him anymore. The friction between us was turning into a fire, and I didn't know if I wanted to put it out or let it burn me alive. I gathered my things and walked out of the locker room, avoiding the eyes of the other students who were still milling about. As I stepped into the cool evening air, I thought about the way Callum had looked at me in those final seconds before Sean arrived. It wasn't just smugness or cruelty; there had been a raw hunger in his eyes, a desperate

I wasn't swimming anymore; I was falling. I watched the black line on the bottom of the pool drift closer, but I couldn't move a muscle to stop it. My vision began to blur at the edges, small sparks of white light dancing in the darkness. I tried to scream, but only a few silver bubbles escaped my lips. I felt the panic peak and then, suddenly, it vanished. A strange, cold peace settled over me. I stopped fighting. I let my body go limp, drifting slowly toward the concrete floor of the pool. I thought about my mother's face, her kind eyes and the way she always smelled like soap and old books. I thought about the blue pen on my desk and the essay I would never finish. I was slipping away. I could feel the consciousness draining out of me, the world fading into a dull hum.I was returning to those forty seven seconds of clinical death, the void that had claimed me once before and was now coming back to finish the job. Then, the silence was shattered. A sudden, violent force slamm