By The Pool With Shalina Extra Quality -

The late afternoon sun cast fractured diamonds across the water’s surface. Shalina lay on the lounger beside me, her sunglasses pushed up into her hair, a paperback open on her stomach. She wasn’t reading—she was watching the light shift through the leaves of the palm overhead.

“Do you ever feel like time slows down right here?” she asked, without looking at me. by the pool with shalina

Later, as the sun dipped and the pool lights flickered on, she tossed me a towel. “Same time tomorrow?” The late afternoon sun cast fractured diamonds across

We had known each other for seven years, but it was here, by the water, that we talked least and understood most. The chlorine smell, the wet tiles, the way her laugh echoed off the fence—these things became a language. “Do you ever feel like time slows down right here

I followed her gaze. A dragonfly hovered over the shallow end, its wings catching every color. “Maybe it’s not time,” I said. “Maybe it’s just that pools have their own gravity.”

By the Pool with Shalina

She smiled, small and knowing. That was Shalina—always letting silence do the heavy lifting.