Brush Strokes

by Janelle Stalder

Olivia looked back at me, a small smile playing on her lips, and rolled her eyes. Rannon showed up a couple of minutes later and we all piled into his car. The girls sat in the back while I took the front seat. Ella chatted the entire time, but I didn’t hear a word as I watched Olivia in the side mirror. Her hair blew around her head, her face angled toward the open window. Her eyes were closed against the wind, her mouth relaxed. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and I couldn’t look away.

  The lake was deserted when we got there, probably because of the rain earlier. All the better for us, I thought. The last thing I wanted was to run into others from our school and have them make it awkward for Olivia. Or run into Jake Taylor. I pulled my t-shirt over my head, and waded into the shallow water, letting my skin get used to the cold water. Rannon was right behind me, whining like a little girl.

  “Shit, that’s cold,” he complained. “My balls are going to be the size of peanuts by the end of this.”

  “Aren’t they already?” I asked, walking in further.

  “Ha, ha.”

  I turned around and froze. Not because of the water, but because of the vision walking slowly toward the water’s edge. Olivia was wearing a yellow bikini that just covered all the vital areas. Man, did I want to remove those tiny scraps of fabric. She was seriously going to kill me. She was laughing at something Ella was saying, completely unaware that I was having the biggest internal war of my life, fighting not to just walk over there and plaster her against me. Both girls squealed when their feet hit the water. Rannon and I laughed, earning glares.

  “Come on, ladies,” I called out. “Don’t be babies.”

  Olivia shot me a look, her hands on her hips. “It’s freezing,” she said.

  “It isn’t going to get any warmer from you just standing there,” I said.

  They walked in a bit further until the water was just below their knees and stopped again. At this rate they wouldn’t be in until nightfall.

  “I think we need to force them in,” Rannon said with a mischievous look.

  “We can hear you,” Ella said. “If either of you take one step in this direction, we’ll run.”

  “That sounds like a challenge,” Rannon replied, his eyes brightening.

  “Oh no,” I said, laughing. “You’ve just gone and tempted the beast.”

  Ella’s face looked panicked. “Seriously, Rannon. Don’t even think about it.”

  “How far do you think you’d get before we reached you?” he asked, taking one step forward. Both girls took a step back.

  “How about a game?” I suggested.

  “What kind of game?” Olivia asked nervously.

  I looked to Rannon, eyebrows raised. “Shoulder war?”

  His face split into a shit-eating grin. “Hell ya!”

  “Olivia and I against you and Ella?”

  Rannon turned to the girls. “Ella, baby girl, we are going to kick some ass.”

  “What’s shoulder wars?” Olivia asked, looking between the three of us.

  “You two will sit on our shoulders, and then you and Ella will fight to push each other over. Whoever falls into the water first loses,” I explained, staying where I was until she agreed.

  “You’ll be above the water at least,” Rannon pointed out.

  “Yeah, until we fall in,” Olivia huffed.

  “Then I guess you better not lose,” Ella chimed in. Rannon laughed evilly.

  “My teammate is thirsty for blood. I love it!”

  I kept my eyes on Olivia, waiting for her to give in. The anticipation of being able to touch her was killing me. I watched her shoulders slump the second she conceded.

  “Okay,” she said with a sigh. Ella whooped at the same time Rannon did. We walked over to them, wading through the water. Olivia was watching me closely, biting on her lower lip. That did things to me I couldn’t even put into words. “You do realize that Ella is one of the most competitive people I know, right?” she said as I reached her.

  I laughed. “So is Rannon. Guess we’ll just have to put them in their place, huh?”

  She smiled shyly. “Guess so.”

  I stood close to her, unable to force myself to keep a distance now that I was in front of her. My hand reached out, almost as if someone else was controlling it, and grazed the edge of her bikini top along the swell of her breast. “Nice bikini,” I said roughly. Her breath caught, and a deep flush covered her cheeks, but she didn’t back away from my touch. It made me want to push it further, but I didn’t. Olivia was the type of girl you took your time with. Letting my hand drop, I took a step back and turned around, lowering to my knees. “Okay, get on.”

  I heard the water splash as she stepped closer, her hands resting tentatively on my shoulders. My skin burned where she touched me. Her hands were so soft and smooth I couldn’t help but wonder what they would feel like running over the rest of me.

  “What if I’m too heavy?” she said, still standing behind me.

  I snorted, looking over my shoulder at her. “You’re kidding right? You’re not going to be too heavy, Olivia. Just get on. If I can do this with Rannon on my shoulders, I can do it with you.”

  She was biting her lip again, looking unconvinced.

  “Let’s go slow pokes!” Ella called out. She was already sitting on top of Rannon’s shoulders, waiting in deeper waters. “Unless you’re too chicken to face us!” Rannon started making chicken noises.

  “Geez, I don’t know who’s worse,” Olivia muttered. I heard her take a deep breath before I felt one of her legs drape over my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around it so she wouldn’t fall.

  “Give me one of your hands,” I said. She gripped onto me while I helped her keep her balance as she slung the other leg over and squirmed until she was on properly. “You good?”

  “I think so,” she said.

  I stood up slowly, letting go of her hand to grip both of her thighs. My head was in between Olivia Banks’ legs. If only I was turned the other way. I gave my head a quick shake and walked deeper into the water until it reached midway up my torso. Her skin was warm and smooth beneath my hands. All I wanted to do was stroke her legs, losing myself in the feel of her, but we had a competition to win.

  “You ready for this?” I said, standing across from the other two.

  “Yup,” she said, sounding slightly more confident than before.

  “Okay, what are the rules?” I asked.

  “No hair pulling,” Ella said immediately.

  “No scratching either,” Olivia added.

  “You two can bite though,” Rannon said. “That would be hot. Ow!” Ella’s hand smacked him on the top of the head.

  “What are we going for? Best two out of three?” I suggested.

  “Sounds good. You ready to kick butt, baby girl?” Rannon said, tapping Ella’s legs encouragingly.

  “You’re so going down, Olive,” Ella taunted.

  I felt Olivia’s body shake as she laughed. “This is just a game, Ella,” she said. Then she leaned down toward me, her breasts pressing into the back of my head. I bit back a moan. “We so need to kick their ass,” she whispered close to my ear.

  I squeezed her thigh. “We will, babe. Get your game face on.” Shit. Did I just call her babe? Since when did I use endearments for girls? Never, that’s when.

  “Ready? On your marks, get set, go!” Rannon yelled. We walked toward each other slowly. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing at the look on my best friend’s face. It was one thing to do this with our guy friends when we were being drunk and stupid, but doing this with two hot girls wrapped around us was on a whole new level of excitement. “Your girl looks a little shaky up there,” he taunted.

  “She’s just fine,” I replied. When we finally got close enough, Ella reached out and grabbed Olivia’s arms, not wasting any time. They were laughing as they tried to push each other. Olivia’s thighs squeezed around my neck as she tried to deflect Ella’s attacks. I tried to keep her steady as best I could, but she wa
sn’t kidding when she said her friend was competitive. The next thing I knew, we were sailing backwards, and suddenly I was under the water, the cold swallowing me.

  I popped back up, gasping for air. Turning around, I finally saw Olivia come back up, her dark hair slicked back from her face. She shouted curses as soon as she emerged. Then her hands were wrapped around my neck, her body scrambling up mine to get away from the water. I couldn’t help my laughter.

  “Holy shit, it’s so cold,” she said, pressing in closer. I wasn’t sure if she even realized what she was doing as her whole body shook against me. I wrapped my arms around her lower body as she clung to me. When her shock finally wore off, she froze, her arms tightening for a second, before she pulled back to look at me like she was surprised I was there.

  “You okay now?” I asked, smiling.

  “I’m freezing,” she said, her voice soft. Our faces were inches from each other, her body wrapped completely around mine. I didn’t want to let her go. Our breath mingled together, those clear, green eyes staring into me with a sense of vulnerability that had my heart clenching. I lifted one hand to wipe back the hair sticking to the side of her face, my eyes roaming over every inch of her, burning this moment into my memory.

  “You ready to get them back?” I asked. She bit her lip and nodded. I let her go, reluctantly, and turned around to let her climb back up.

  “That’s one – nothing,” Rannon said. “We get you again and we win, suckas!”

  I shook my head. My friend was such a dumbass sometimes. The girls started to fight again, as the two of us struggled to keep our footing. Ella screamed a second before she toppled over, crashing into the water. Olivia laughed loudly.

  “That’s one for us, suckas!” she yelled. Her hands rested on the top of my head for a second before they stroked through the strands. My eyes closed of their own free will, losing myself to her touch. “Good job, teammate,” she said. I don’t know if she realized what she was doing, but I prayed she wouldn’t stop.

  “Holy shit balls, that’s cold!” Elisa sputtered, ringing out her hair. “Seriously, I think my nipples just fell off.”

  “You want me to check for you?” Rannon said. She smacked his arm. He rubbed it, chuckling. “That was a genuine offer.”

  “I’m sure it was,” she said, forcing him to turn back around. “Alright, Miss. Olive, it’s on now.”

  Olivia laughed. “It wasn’t on before?”

  “Yeah, but now it’s really on!”

  They came at us hard. Olivia started laughing harder and I knew we wouldn’t last. She was nowhere near as serious as Ella was. We only lasted a couple of seconds before I was tipping over again. I turned to find her as soon as my head was above water to see her swimming toward me. She swam right into my open arms like it was the most natural thing to do. I held her up beneath her ass, facing the winning team who were dancing around like idiots. When I looked at Olivia my chest constricted at the utter happiness on her face. I’d never seen her look this way before.

  “We’re never going to hear the end of this, you know that, right?” I said, wanting her focus on me. She turned, her mouth still stretched wide into a smile, her eyes bright.

  “I know,” she said. “We’ll get them next time.”

  “Is that a challenge for a rematch?” Rannon said, swimming over to us.

  “Not today, ass,” I said. “I think one victory is enough.” I rubbed her arm with one of my hands, trying to warm her. Her body was shaking from the cold. She snuggled in tighter, her arms linked securely around my neck. How did I go from never talking to this girl, to this? It was like every dream I’d ever had of her was coming true. And trust me, I’d had a lot of dreams of her. I was hoping each and every one of them would one day happen. My arm instinctively flexed around her at the thought of all the things I wanted to do to her.

  “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m freezing my ass off,” Ella said, swimming up. Her teeth chattered as she talked.

  “Time to get out, my teammate needs her ass,” Rannon said.

  I started to walk with Olivia still in my arms.

  “You don’t have to keep carrying me,” she said.

  “Oh, right. Sorry.” I let go of her, missing the feeling of her body against mine instantly. We walked up onto the beach side-by-side in silence. Our towels were laid out and warmed by the sun. I think all four of us sighed when we wrapped them around us.

  “I need a warm fire, right about now,” Ella said, shivering.

  “We should build a fire!” Rannon exclaimed. Why did people give him these ideas?

  “We don’t have any wood,” I pointed out.

  “Oh I have wood,” he said with a wink.

  Both girls said “eew” and laughed at the same time. I just shook my head. I had totally set him up for that one. I should have known better.

  “Why don’t we come back here after dinner?” Ella said. “That way we can grab some warmer clothes, and real wood, not the small, pathetic kind that doesn’t do much.”

  I burst out laughing at the look on Rannon’s face.

  “Oh, we should get some marshmallows too!” Olivia said.

  “Hey guys!” My shoulders stiffened the second I heard that voice. Why? I thought. Why did she have to be here, at this time, when the day was going so well? My eyes darted to Olivia, and I saw her smile vanish, all that happiness I’d seen in her eyes gone.

  “Hey, Reagan,” Ella said in a tight voice.

  “I didn’t know you were going to be here, Ella,” she said, stopping right beside me. “You should have texted me.”

  “Sorry,” Ella replied, not sounding the least bit so. “Olivia invited me last minute.”

  Reagan’s eyes went to Olivia at the mention of her name. I shifted my body toward her subconsciously, like I could physically protect her from whatever shit was about to spew from this harpy’s mouth.

  “Oh my God, Olivia. Love your bikini!” What the hell?

  Nine

  Painting is a blind man’s profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen – Pablo Picasso

  Olivia

  Holy shit, hell just froze over. I wasn’t sure if I should alert someone, but Lucifer was officially a Popsicle. Everyone was looking at me, waiting for my response. It was tense and awkward, and I wished I was anywhere but there at that moment. I shifted my eyes over to Colt, who looked just as confused as I felt.

  “Thanks?” I said, switching back to her. She never even blinked, like it was perfectly normal for her to speak to me, never mind give me a compliment.

  “Well, I’m glad I ran into you guys,” she continued. “I’m having a party tonight at my place, so I wanted to invite you all.” Her eyes landed on me again. Wait, what? There was another long, awkward silence.

  “I don’t think Rannon and I can make it,” Colt said, breaking the tension. Her lip pouted out as she turned to him, running her finger down his naked chest. I had just been crushed against that same chest. The memory of it was still making my head spin. Watching her feel him up was definitely making me come down from my high. I didn’t like it. Unwanted jealousy burned through me.

  “Why not?” she asked. “You always come to my parties.” Her eyes flickered over to me for a second.

  “We start work in the morning,” Rannon said in an annoyed voice. “So looks like we won’t be able to come by. Sorry.” He turned his mouth down into a fake frown. I got the distinct impression he was not a fan of Reagan, which just put him higher in my book of people I liked.

  “Then leave early,” she suggested, not even bothering to look back at Rannon. Her gaze remained fixed on Colt like she was trying to convey some secret message. The promise in them wasn’t hard to decipher.

  “I don’t think I can make it either,” Ella said. “I promised my mom I’d stay in and watch my little brother tonight.”

  I started coughing to cover up my laugh. Ella didn’t even have a brother.
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  “Really? Well that sucks,” Reagan said, crossing her arms over her chest. At least she wasn’t touching Colt anymore, although she was purposefully pushing her tits up in his face. Oh how I loathed her. “What about you, Olivia?”

  I straightened, swallowing the rest of my laughter. “What about me?” I asked dumbly.

  “Can you make it? The girls would love to see you again.”

  What girls were we talking about? Because I was pretty sure no one that would be at her party would be the least bit happy to see me. What was she playing at?

  “Oh…uh…”

  “Olive’s helping me watch my brother, so I don’t get bored,” Ella said quickly.

  “Yeah…sorry.”

  “You guys all suck,” she said, stomping her foot. “Colt, can’t you just try to swing by for an hour or so?” She stepped closer to him, running her hands up his chest, and hooking them around his neck. “Please?”

  The longer I watched her paw at him, the more pissed off I got. The worst part was, he wasn’t even pushing her away. Sure, his hands were just hanging at his sides, but he wasn’t making it clear that he didn’t want her to touch him. Did he? Did Colt have a thing for Reagan? Then what the hell was this whole afternoon about? I was so confused and angry, I ended up turning around and shoving my dress back over my head with more vigor than was needed. One of my arms got stuck in a strap, which made me look significantly more pathetic. I growled under my breath until I finally got the damn thing on properly.

  “Ella, I’m going to head home before I come by,” I said, ignoring everyone else. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

  Ella looked at me, her face a mask of confusion. “Oh, okay. How are you getting home?”

  I sighed inwardly. This was totally going to suck, but there was no way I was sitting in a car with Colt in this state of mind. I was likely to strangle him from the backseat.

  “I’m just going to walk,” I said, starting up the beach. “I’ll give you a shout later.” I waved over my shoulder as I stomped through the sand. It was effing hot out now, and I had a long walk ahead of me. This was so not how I had expected this day to end. I had actually been looking forward to our little beach campfire. It didn’t matter anymore. Colt would probably stop by Reagan’s for a little ‘fun’. Ugh. It disgusted me.