by C. L. Stone
“Watch this,” Gabriel said. He positioned himself like I had done in Silas’s hands. In a flash he was up in the air, light as a feather, flipped twice and landed smoothly into the middle of the pool.
My mouth was open; I was impressed by the acrobatics.
“I can do better,” Luke shouted. “Let’s do it at the same time, Sang. Gabriel, you push her in the air.”
“Shit, make them stop, Kota,” North said.
“I think there’s enough of us around to make sure they aren’t going to drown,” Kota said calmly.
North huffed but slipped into the water. He eyed me intently and swam toward me.
His wide shoulders parted the water in a wave. The line of coarse hair starting from his black bathing suit and ending above his belly had me hypnotized.
He hooked an arm out, and grabbed my waist to drag me with him in the water until we were next to Silas. “If anyone’s going to, I’ll do it. Make sure you don’t break your head.”
North boosted me in his hands like Silas had done. Again I sucked in my stomach as North’s warm breath teased my belly button. Silas lifted his hands again for Luke. Luke grabbed Silas’s shoulders and hauled himself out of the water.
“Ready?” North asked. His dark eyes focused on my face.
I squealed a little. “Okay.”
North counted off with Silas and I was flung into the air. Luke did a double flip and I managed simply to twist and flip almost completely over. I crashed into the water, bobbing up and laughing.
North swam up to me, catching me by the hips. My arms instinctively wrapped around his neck and he held me against his body. “You okay?”
I started to nod, trying to assure him I was fine, but my eyes caught on something over his head.
A face was looking in at us over the fence.
North caught where I was looking. He pulled me down again into the water, turning to block me from view of whoever it was, covering the side of my head with his big hand to pull me closer to him.
Gabriel shot out of the water and raced toward the fence. The face disappeared. Gabriel caught the edge of the fence and scaled it, hanging off of the top to look over. His head twisted to watch whoever it was and then he dropped down again, walking back toward the pool.
“It was Danielle,” he said. “She ran off.”
North grunted near my ear and his arm tightened around my hips. “I’m getting really tired of her.”
♥♥♥
Kota was insistent that we not worry about Danielle. I wondered why she was spying on us or how she knew we were there. Was Marie with her? Would she tell our mom?
Despite my questions, everyone obeyed Kota. It wasn’t mentioned again.
It was easy to lose track of time swimming with the others. Silas, North and Nathan took turns flipping us and each other. Victor and Kota chose to stay out of the water most of the time, watching us with their feet dangling into the pool. On occasion they gave instructions to us on how to do it better or offered a challenge.
When I was exhausted, I swam up next to Kota, pulling myself up to sit next to him. Without his glasses, his green eyes sparkled.
“Hi,” he said, the friendly smile warm and inviting. “Having fun?”
I nodded, breathless. “I can’t flip as high as the others.”
“It’s practice,” he said. “You have to work at it.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “When am I ever going to get to practice?”
He brought his face close until his forehead was touching mine. “You ask nicely.”
I blushed. “Are you going to swim?”
“I thought you were flipping.”
“I haven’t raced you yet,” I said. “I’ve been flipping so much I’m dizzy. Let’s just swim.”
He chuckled. “Are you sure you want to race me?”
Victor nudge Kota’s arm. “It’s a trap. If you win, you get a favor or something and she totally cheats.”
“Shhh,” I said. “Don’t tattle.”
Victor smirked back at me. “You’re lucky I haven’t won yet.”
“Let’s go,” I said. “You can’t win if you don’t race.” I splashed into the water again, reaching a hand out for his.
His fire eyes ignited. His hand drifted out toward mine. I grabbed it and tugged lightly. He slipped into the water.
I glanced over at Kota. “Ready?” I stretched my free hand out to him.
His smile looked strange to me and I didn’t quite understand it. He clutched my hand, his fingers enveloping mine. He pushed himself off into the water and kept hold on to my hand.
I was holding both of their hands at the same time. I laughed, trying to deflect feeling awkward. Friends touch, I kept repeating in my head.
We positioned ourselves at one end of the pool. Gabriel and the others backed out of the way, giving us room.
I was in the middle, Kota to my left and Victor to my right. From what I remembered, Victor was slower than the others. I was questioning how fast Kota was. I bent my knees against the side of the pool and readied myself.
“On your mark,” Nathan shouted over the buzz of voices surrounding him.
I shot off before he finished what he was saying. I accidentally started laughing at the same time, which wasted a whole bunch of air. It felt so wrong to be cheating against Kota.
Kota started to pass me and out of desperation, I grabbed at his leg, trying to pull him backward in the water as Nathan had done to me before. I meant to distract him long enough to breeze past him. I wasn’t as strong as Nathan and my effort only caused Kota to look back at me, confused. He turned mid-stroke. He swam after me, picked me up in his arms and lifted me out of the water.
I gasped as we surfaced, squirming against him. “Hey,” I said. “We’re supposed to be racing.”
“No way,” he said. “If I’m going down, you’re going with me.” He re-gripped my waist and splashed backward into the water, sinking.
I fidgeted to get out of his grip. Those green eyes sparked, locking on me and I stilled. I didn’t completely understand the look we shared together in that moment but it was the happiest I could ever remember being. Under the water with him, my parents had faded away from my mind. The Academy’s heavy secrets disappeared. All of the worries about school and stress melted away. Here was Kota. My friend. Holding me. Laughing with me. The other guys were close by and watching over us and blocked out the rest of the world from our own little place here in Nathan’s backyard. I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
Kota beeped my nose with a forefinger and released me, floating to the surface. I drifted up next to him.
When he broke out of the water, my breath caught at how the water rippled away from his broad shoulders and down his long, defined torso. Droplets traced along his high cheekbones, curving under the angle of his jaw.
His head tilted, as if he didn’t understand why I was staring. I released a laugh to break the tension. He laughed with me, shaking his head.
“I told you she cheats,” Victor called to us from the other side of the pool. “But that’s awesome. I get the favor, now.”
I sighed, grinning. “What do you want?”
His fire eyes lit up. “I’ll tell you later.”
♥♥♥
There were several more races. The final count: Victor’s one favor plus a promise to wash his car for him, Gabriel won my clip for three months, Luke wanted to go shopping with me next time we were going and I was shocked he fully expected there to be a next time. North won one day where I was to work alongside him at the diner, Nathan won every strawberry from my smoothies for the rest of my life, Silas wanted a hug, and Kota made me promise to sit next to him at lunch for the next three weeks. I won squat, but I did like the hug.
The last race was who was going to make dinner that night. We all gathered on one side of the pool. By now they all knew I openly cheated and they all worked together to stop me. This time I simply had to not be last. The last person was chef for t
he evening.
Somehow I ended up in the middle. They forced me to wait until someone actually shouted “go” before we took off. Little did they know I was going to play fair. It was part of the strategy. I expected to throw them all off thinking I was getting ready to tackle them and instead would zip across the water.
North counted off and when he shouted “go”, I ducked under the water, putting my full effort into the strokes. Several bodies pulled ahead but Nathan and Kota kept pace with me. It confused me because I knew out of all the swimmers there, those two were the fastest. Kota was the only one who could match Nathan for speed.
When we crossed the halfway point and we were almost at the end. Kota flung himself sideways and snatched me around the waist. This caught me off-guard and I sputtered, losing the air I had in my lungs. He quickly hauled me out of the water.
“Ugh!” I shouted at him, smacking at his arms around my stomach. “Cheat... cheat...”
“Yup,” he said.
Nathan stopped, too. He gathered my legs, holding them as I tried to kick to break free. “Ready?” he said.
“On three,” Kota said.
“Wha--” I gasped but I was already in the air as they held me over their heads.
“One, two, three,” Kota spit out.
They tossed me into the air. I splashed back into the starting end of the pool on my side. I cleanly touched bottom and drifted to the surface. I swished my legs to keep afloat, laughing.
All of the boys perched themselves on the edge of the pool, wearing matching grins.
They had chosen who was going to cook dinner.
♥♥♥
After I managed to crawl out of the pool, I was handed a towel. They gathered on Nathan’s back porch. There was a collection of outdoor benches and poolside chairs clustered into a circle under the overhanging roof. A wicker fan squeaked as it worked, spinning over our heads.
I sat between Nathan and Kota on one of the bench seats. Gabriel was telling Kota and the others about the day.
I buried my face behind Nathan’s shoulder when Gabriel mentioned the waiter who had openly flirted with me and how I had reacted at the end.
“What did he say to you anyway?” Gabriel asked.
I blushed, and picked my head up. “He said you were all nice and wanted us to come back soon,” I said sarcastically.
They all laughed but Kota dropped an arm around my neck, tugging me to lean against him. “No really,” he said. “What did he say?”
I sighed. “He said when I get over being told what to do by...” I hesitated because I didn’t want to say it out loud, “by losers to call him.”
“Huh,” Victor said, grunting. He readjusted himself in a green lawn chair across from us. His fire eyes flickered.
“I don’t know what he meant,” I said. How could some stranger ever understand me or what the others were doing for me and continued to do for me?
“I do,” Victor said. He folded his arms across his chest as he sat back in the chair. “It’s partially my fault, I guess. I was pushing you to get things you really wanted.”
“Naw,” Nathan said. “He was flirting with her from the start.”
“He only got persistent after I ordered for her. It doesn’t excuse his behavior. I wasn’t beating her or belittling her so he should have backed off.”
“Did you tip him?” Kota asked.
Victor frowned. “Yes.”
There was a collective tilting of heads, eyebrows going up.
“Why would you do that?” Kota asked.
“I left him an exact fifteen percent,” he said simply. “He was probably expecting nothing. Instead I wanted to let him know he was just the help, and nothing more to us.” His smoldering fire eyes met mine, and it rattled me. “I’ve never done that to anyone in my life.”
Runway
When we had dried off enough that we weren’t going to drip all over Nathan’s house, we went inside so we could change. I stood near the table in the kitchen with the others as Gabriel and Victor snuck off to change first.
My limbs were tired and I started to lean my cheek against Silas’s bicep as I was feeling drowsy. He dropped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me so I could lean my head against his chest.
“I can’t believe you got her all this,” Kota said, scanning the bags on the table. “I thought Victor said you would take her shopping. I didn’t know he meant buy her the mall.”
My face flamed. It was too much! Why hadn’t Victor or the others stopped?
“She didn’t have anything,” Nathan said. “We weren’t adding to stuff she already had. She was starting over. Besides, Gabriel picked it all out.”
North’s eyes fell on the Victoria’s Secret bags. “All of it?”
There was a rattling at the bathroom door and Gabriel strolled out wearing dark blue Levi’s jeans and a green V-neck shirt. There were new green studs in his lobes, the usual three black rings remained at the upper part of his ear. He clapped his hands together and tugged one of the bags closer to peek inside. “In this pile somewhere is what Sang is wearing tonight.”
I blinked at him, blushing. “Tonight?”
He laughed. “You’ve gotta show off, Trouble. They’re going to want to see it.” He shifted through the bags. “Find yourself some underwear.”
The others left to go change. Victor came out wearing a pair of Calvin Klein jeans and a red Polo shirt. He raided Nathan’s fridge for another coffee and snapped it open. He slid up next to me, handing me the bottle. I took a couple of sips and passed it back for him to finish. I reveled in the idea that he knew what I needed before I knew.
Gabriel found what he wanted and gathered the bags. “Ready?” he asked me.
I picked up a Victoria's Secret bag and waited with him outside the bathroom. Luke strolled out, wearing a fresh pair of jeans and a towel twisted around his blond hair, no shirt. He smiled at me as Gabriel went into the bathroom to put the bags down on the counter.
“Going to let him dress you?” Luke asked. “Can I help?”
“Get out of here,” Gabriel barked at him.
Luke winked at me and poked me in the stomach, making me jump. I smirked, swatting at his hand. He laughed and walked off, rubbing the towel at his head.
Gabriel dragged me inside the bathroom and shut the door. He dug out one of the shorter black skirts from the bags and splayed it out on the counter. It had lace layers on the outside. I remembered it because he had asked me to spin when I tried it on and the lace material feathered up as I moved.
He hung up a more modest black t-shirt with quarter sleeves and a hot pink stripe across the stomach. “Okay,” he said. “Put on the underwear and the skirt and shirt. Call me back in here when you’re done. I’ll wait outside.”
“What are we doing?” I asked. Couldn’t I just put it on and throw some shoes on and go?
“It’s runway time,” he said. He patted me on the cheek. “We’re going to show the guys your new look.”
I bit my lip as he left. I made sure to lock the door behind him just in case he decided to pop his head in.
I picked out a pair of black boy-cut panties with hot pink hearts all over them and one of the black bras. I squeezed on the skirt and tried my best to slip the shirt on without getting it too wet; my hair was still damp.
When I had it on, I unlocked the door and opened it a crack, calling out for Gabriel. He filled the doorway, blocking Luke and Victor as they peered in from over his shoulder. Gabriel shut the door in their faces and cursed at them before turning on me. His eyes glided over my body and his face lit up.
“Yeah,” he said. “That’s hot.”
“Are you sure I should wear this over to Kota’s?” I asked. It seemed a little more dressed up than I was expecting for the evening.
“It’s perfect,” he said. “Stop worrying.” He dropping a small duffle bag onto the counter and he searched it for a hairbrush and blow dryer. The blue plastic of the dryer had “Coleman” written on it
in black permanent ink and looked ancient. “Sit,” he said, snapping his fingers at the toilet.
I perched on the closed toilet seat and let him brush out and dry my hair. He applied some leave-in conditioner with a heady scent that made me want to sneeze. He added volume to my hair, brushed it straight, and removed what little wavy curls I had. He dug out a single black bobby pin to tuck locks of hair behind my ear and out of my eyes on one side. When he was satisfied, he backed away, head tilting as he considered his work.
“Stand up,” he commanded.
I stood and he had me perch on top of the cabinet this time. He fished out a pair of thigh high socks from one of the clothing bags and opened the box. He tenderly lifted my foot, placing my heel on his thigh as he rolled and readied the sock and slipped it over my foot. I was blushing, embarrassed that it really felt like he was dressing me.
He smoothed his palms over my thighs when the socks were on, as if testing if they might unroll or slide down. I watched his face as he did it, looking so serious like he had a vision of what this would look like in the end and he was working so hard to make sure it happened. I was breathless, not wanting to disappoint him.
A soft knocking rattled the door in the frame. “Hurry up, you all,” Luke said. “We want to see.”
“Fuck off,” Gabriel said. He opened a box of high heeled boots. He unzipped the side of one, tucking fingers around my ankles to push my toes into the shoes.
I gripped the side of the counter to hang on as he angled my feet in and zipped up.
When they were on, he planted a palm on either side of my hips. “Hop down,” he said.
I let him pick me up and place me on the floor. I wobbled in the heels.
“Step back,” he said.
I did with my palms pressed to my thighs, fingering the lace of the skirt and trying not to sway in the boots.
His lips parted, his eyes losing the determined look, and brightened into that crystal blue. He made a low whistle. “Perfect.”
“Gabriel...”