I stopped. Her phone had beeped and she was looking at it again, the space between her eyebrows creased with stress or concern.
‘Everything all right?’ I asked.
She stuck her phone in the pocket of her cut-offs and it immediately beeped again. She left it where it was, but she was clearly not happy.
‘Is someone bothering you?’ I asked.
‘You could say that.’ She rummaged in her bag, found her shades and put them on, then started walking again, so fast that I had to hurry to keep up.
‘Is it your ex?’
She didn’t respond and I thought I’d better not push it.
We didn’t speak again until we got to the park. Through the fence, the pool looked like human soup, and the line to get in – mainly consisting of teenagers, and weary-looking parents with their kids – was dispiritingly long.
‘I think half of Brooklyn is here today,’ I said.
‘Hmm.’
‘Maybe this wasn’t a great idea. There’s not going to be any room to swim. Maybe—’
‘Oh my God, Adam, we’re here now,’ she snapped. ‘I’m not going anywhere else.’
A tall guy in his early twenties, wearing a blue Mets cap, turned and smirked at us. His eyes lingered on Eden, flicking up and down her body. He whispered something to his friend, who had the physique of someone who spent all his free time lifting weights, and they snickered together. Eden ignored them. I guessed she was used to unwelcome male attention.
Twenty minutes later, I had changed into my trunks and smothered myself with sunscreen. As per the pool’s instructions, my phone and other possessions were secured in a locker. I looked for Eden as I came out of the changing room but couldn’t see her. Maybe she was already in the water.
I jumped in and immediately started swimming. Even though I had to weave around people and at one point collided with a hairy middle-aged man, before getting in the middle of a group of kids chucking an inflatable ball back and forth, I felt better than I had in days.
I dived beneath the water and practised holding my breath, the sun a shimmering white disc above me, all the noises of the world dim and subdued.
When I grew bored of this and emerged, I remembered Eden. Where was she? I got out of the pool and grabbed my towel, drying myself off as I walked back towards the changing rooms, looking around for her.
It didn’t take me long to spot her. She was standing over in the corner, close to a spot where dozens of people were stretched out on towels, sunbathing. She was wearing a turquoise bathing suit, her shades up on her forehead, and was talking to two men. As I got a little closer, I recognised them as the young guys who’d been in front of us in the queue. The one who had looked Eden up and down was still wearing his Mets cap.
Eden had her back to the fence and the two men were standing very close to her. She was completely dry and I realised she couldn’t have gone in the water. As I approached, the one in the Mets cap reached out a hand to touch her, and she backed away. The man’s shoulders shook with laughter but now I could see Eden’s face. She wasn’t smiling. She looked pissed off and uncomfortable.
She spotted me as I got close enough to be within earshot. I heard Eden say, ‘It’s my boyfriend’, and the two young men turned to glare at me.
‘Hey, sweetheart,’ I said, taking hold of her hand. Her palm was damp with sweat. ‘You coming in?’
Mets sneered at me, while I could see Muscles appraising my physique. I wasn’t in bad shape, but compared to him I looked like a twig.
‘This guy is your boyfriend?’ said Mets.
‘Come on, Eden,’ I said, ignoring him.
I tried to lead her away but Mets stepped into my path. My heart was beating fast, remembering encounters with bullies and meatheads during my teenage years. We were out of the eyeline of the lifeguards, and no one else appeared to be paying us any attention.
I tried to move around him, but Muscles blocked me. Meanwhile, Mets smiled at Eden. ‘Why don’t you ditch the loser and hang with us?’
‘He’s not a loser,’ Eden said. She sounded angry now.
‘Come on, guys,’ I said, trying to cool the situation. ‘She’s not interested. Stop harassing her.’
Muscles made a noise in his throat, somewhere between a grunt and a laugh. Mets stepped closer, so his face was inches from mine. I could smell beer on his breath. I didn’t think he’d get violent in a public place like this, but with a drink inside him, who knew? And where the hell were the security guys?
‘Listen, boys, just leave us alone,’ Eden said. ‘We really don’t want any trouble.’
Mets glared at her.
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s all chill out. Okay?’
Mets let his eyes roam up and down her body again, lingering on her breasts.
‘Suck my dick,’ said Muscles.
‘Fuck you,’ said Eden very quietly, and Muscles took a step closer to her. Mets had retreated a step, but had a smile on his face. It was as if he had been the warm-up man, and now here was the main act.
‘You think you’re so fucking special,’ Muscles said. ‘Too special to fuck someone like me, huh?’
‘What the hell?’ I said, attempting to step between Eden and Muscles, who held up an arm to hold me back. Mets watched on, a smirk on his face.
Before I could say anything else, Eden jabbed Muscles in the chest with a finger and said, ‘You’re fucking with the wrong bitch.’
All of a sudden, she looked calm, almost smug, like she knew something these idiots didn’t. Mets and Muscles must have seen it too, because they exchanged a look – confusion with a hint of fear. She pointed at them and said, ‘Dead. Men. Walking.’
‘Screw you,’ said Muscles, but there was doubt in his voice now.
‘Dead men walking,’ Eden repeated, as though speaking to herself.
And then someone else appeared beside us, dressed all in green with ‘Parks Security’ emblazoned across the front of his T-shirt. ‘Everything okay here?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, we’re cool,’ said Mets, acting like a kid who’d just been caught out by a strict teacher. He looked at me. ‘Isn’t that right?’
‘We were just leaving,’ I said, and before anyone else could say anything, I took hold of Eden’s hand again and we hurried away. I could feel the eyes of the two men burning into my back, and looking over my shoulder I saw them watching us. For a moment I thought they might try to follow, but the security guy flapped a hand at them, clearly telling them he wasn’t going to stand for any trouble. They drifted away.
‘Are you all right?’ I asked Eden.
She was breathing heavily, pupils dilated, anger swirling in her blood. ‘They’re dead,’ she said.
I tried to make light of it. ‘Er, you’re scaring me.’
She seemed to remember where she was and who she was with. She smiled, though it appeared as more of a grimace.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ I said.
We both headed towards the changing room. As I reached the door of the men’s, I looked back. She was standing still, staring across at where Mets and Muscles were chatting, oblivious to her glare. It was as if she were filming them with her eyes, fixing them in her memory.