Underwater (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 6 - Chlorine

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***

I was still a pretty good swimmer.

Well, considering that I was drunk and I hadn't drowned in the five minutes I'd been in the water.

I was leaning back with my arms holding me up against the ridge of the pool. Teo was next to me, talking to someone who'd crouched down at a safe enough distance as to not be pulled in. The girl he'd been talking to was next to him, laughing at whatever he said. Kieran was across the pool from me.

He kept glancing over, only half focused on the girl who he was in conversation with. She was flirtatiously touching his arm, splashing water on him, trying to get him to be her partner for a chicken fight game. Deep down, I felt annoyed seeing them together. But my mind was still reeling from my conversation with Skylar.

More people had joined us in the pool, and had I been sober I'd feel extremely claustrophobic. In the ocean, I would always have as much space as the eye could see.

Unfortunately, it could only see above the surface of the water.

"Hey," I felt a light tap on my shoulder. One of the girls who'd been with us earlier was smiling at me as she treaded in the water. Her dark hair was neatly slicked back. "Wanna be my partner for a game of chicken fight?"

I saw Kieran fully ignore the girl next to him and start to swim over. I gave a partial smile to the brunette next to me.

"You don't want me on your team, we'd lose."

She laughed, opening her mouth to say something else before Kieran intervened.

"Sienna, Oscar needs a partner for the game." He said motioning over to someone at the end of the pool. Sienna looked disappointed, but she gave me a small shrug and left.

"You don't have to do that." I said, looking him in the eyes.

"Do what?" The neon teal glow from the water lit up every feature of his face, and I tried to keep my eyes from wandering lower.

"I know how to say no to people." I responded. He smiled,

"Sienna can be... Persuasive. And judging on that," he said, motioning to my side, "it doesn't really look like you're ready to play chicken fight."

I had a snarky comeback ready for him but I was too drunk to remember what it was, and instead I just laughed.

"So what do I play instead?" I asked, and he just shrugged, his smile making my stomach twist.

Teo turned just then, as the guy he'd been talking to walked away. The girl next to him wrapped her arms around his shoulders to stay afloat.

If he hadn't been so insistent on babysitting me, I'm sure they already would've been locked away together in one of the rooms inside.

I was gathering that Kieran was pretty popular, or at least well liked at Harbor High. Wherever he was people seemed to gravitate towards him, which did frustrate me a bit. There were now more people on our side of the pool than there'd been only a few minutes ago.

I don't know who suggested what, but eventually there were about eight of us playing underwater telephone.

Was it a stupid game? Yes. Did we still play it?

Kieran held his hand up against my ear and said something very loudly, yet too muffled to hear. I frowned at him and we all swam back up to the surface for air.

"No clue." I said, and he let out a frustrated groan.

"One more time I got this." He said and we all took deep breaths, diving back down.