The Sound of Water (BoyxBoy)

3

'So what movie did you wanna choose?'

I throw myself down on top of my bed as soon as I'm in my bedroom, rolling onto my side and looking over at Jacob expectantly. Jacob follows more slowly, not immediately replying and instead looking around my room. He sits down at my desk.

'I really like Soul Surfer, but it depends on what you wanna do-' I roll onto my stomach and drop my chin into my hands, smiling at Jacob when I catch him looking again, he immediately looks down at the carpet, '-I guess we could also do Macbeth...but that one is kind of boring so-'

'I like that one too.'

'Hm?'

'I like Soul Surfer too.'

'Okay, cool!' I grin at Jacob when the corner of his lip twitches up, 'that settles it then, Soul Surfer it is. Did you wanna watch it now?'

He shrugs. I take it as a yes.

'Awesome,' I roll off my bed, kicking a pile of dirty laundry out of the way and beckoning Jacob after me, 'come on, we can watch it in the lounge room.'

As soon as I step out of my room, Niamh runs screaming down the hallway, her cheeks red and eyes bright as her stumpy legs and small feet thunk on the floorboards. I swoop down and grab her, lifting her squealing figure up into the air before handing her off to Mum.

'Sorry Peter,' Mum grabs Niamh, slinging my baby sister over her shoulder and bouncing Niamh's tiny figure so that her giggles hiccupped and caused her to laugh harder, 'they gave them sugar at Kinder.'

She shakes her head. I laugh.

'Who's this?' Mum raises her eyebrows at Jacob, who is standing behind me silently.

'Oh,' I step out of the way so that Jacob is beside me instead of behind me, 'this is Jacob, he's on the swim team at school-' I notice Jacob looks a little surprised, and make a note to ask why later, '-Mr. A partnered us for English.'

'Well,' Mum holds out her free hand to Jacob, 'it's very nice to meet you Jacob.'

Jacob reaches out and takes my Mum's hand, his long fingers much tanner than my Mum's pale skin, his brown eyes flicker up to meet my Mum's for a second before dropping back to the floor.

'It's nice to meet you too.' He murmurs.

'Anyway-' I nod my head in the direction of the lounge room, '-Jacob and I have school stuff to do, so.'

We start watching Soul Surfer, I'm sitting near the middle of the main couch with my legs crossed up on the couch pillow (Mum can't say anything about feet on the couch while one of my classmates is over). Jacob is sitting at the far end, and hasn't moved a muscle since the movie started.

Then, 'how did you know I'm on the swim team?'

I snort, thinking he's joking, then I see his face and realise he's dead serious. I stop laughing.

'Everyone knows you're on the swim team. You're like, the best swimmer.'

'No they don't.'

'Well,' I roll my eyes, 'I know you're on the swim team, because my team has to use the swimming change rooms after soccer practises.'

'Since when?'

Jacob's eyelashes are really long, and I start picking at a loose thread on my school shorts when I realise he hasn't looked away yet. I shrug, and look back up at him after a second, 'I'll wait for you after practise one day to prove it then.'

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