Vienna

chapter eighteen

"Gray!" he snaps at me angrily, "Stop double bouncing me!"

I stick my tongue out at him childishly, causing Arabella to giggle. 

He narrows his eyes at me threateningly, a menacing look washing over his face. He takes a few slow steps towards me, as though he's a predator and I'm his prey.

My eyes widen in anticipation. "Don't do it, Cole. You could never get away with it. I have a witness!" I yell at him as he picks me up and throws me over his broad shoulder.

"Arabella! Arabella save me!" I hold my arms out towards her, wiggling to escape Nathan's grasp on my hips.

I feel him chuckle beneath me, his grip on me tightening as I begin to slip. He crawls off of the trampoline with me still over his shoulder, Arabella giggling behind us. His hand starts to graze a bit too far south for my liking, so I lightly slap his back in warning.

From my view upside down, I notice us making our way scarily close to the pool on the other side of his yard. 

"Let me down!" I scream, thrashing in his hold. I will not allow my hair to get wet, not when my wash day isn't until tomorrow. He better not screw up my wash schedule. Or he'll be a dead man. Like, did he see my hardcore ninja moves on the trampoline? He wouldn't stand a chance against me.

"Next time when I tell you to do something, you do it," he tsks, his words making the deep pit in my stomach flutter a little. 

My reaction to his words catches me off guard and my thrashing slows a little, giving him the opportunity to lift me up and throw me into the deep end of the pool.

I felt my heart practically stop beating the moment I submerged below the ice cold water. Seriously, does he never heat his pool? It's freezing.

I push my feet off the bottom of the pool and gasp for air when I break the surface. "It's FREEZING!" I scream at him with a shiver.

Nathan erupts into loud laughter, and I hear Arabella's soft giggles from across the yard. Oh god, there's two of them.

I shoot him an evil glare and reach my arm out towards him, "At least help me out."

Nathan simply shoots me an incredulous look in response. "I'm not that stupid," he states. 

"Could've fooled me," I smirk sarcastically.

I drag myself out of the pool, my wet clothes dripping all over the ground. Scanning my ruined clothes, I let out an annoyed groan. "Great," I mutter. My blue jeans were sticking uncomfortably to my legs, and my black shirt felt like a second layer of skin. I'm just thankful I didn't wear white today.

I'm sure I look like a wet dog, what with my drenched hair and smeared makeup. I gather all of my wet hair into one hand, and begin to wring it out before a genius idea hits me. 

I smile devilishly at Nathan and inch closer to where he stands. He sends me a confused look, but doesn't seem to catch on until after I'm running over to him and wringing my hair out over his head.

He freezes in shock before looking down at me menacingly. "You're so going to regret that," he threatens, his sharp jaw clenching slightly.

"Am I?" I bite back, looking up at him lazily.

In one sudden movement, Nathan scoops me over his shoulder again. As he goes to throw me back into the pool, I latch onto him and pull him along with me in a successful effort to pull him into the pool.

The water's temperature was less shocking this time, already being used to its cold bite. Once the water hit my shoulders, I pushed myself away from Nathan, swimming out into the center. Pushing my hair behind my ears as I tread water with my legs.

"Oh, you're dead," Nathan threatens, shaking the water from his dark, wavy locks. His raspy voice made my eyes meet his. His hair was completely drenched, and his shirt was clinging to his toned muscles. Small droplets of water rested on the tips of his full lashes. God, what is with this family and their perfect eyelashes.

I wiggle my brows at him teasingly, "I'd like to see you try."

Nathan chuckles at me in a lighthearted way, but somehow with his arrogance still shining through. "Would you now?" he smirks.

I blink at him, his innuendo making my body react not react in its usual wave of disgust. He blinks back at me, our stares locked together, neither of us saying a word. The only sound coming from the backyard being the soft splashes of us treading water, along with Arabella's small bounces on the trampoline.

After a moment, I roll my eyes at him. I can't believe I let his cockiness get to me for a second there. I was almost distracted by his stupid, handsome face.

I swim towards the edge of the pool, to lift myself up and out of it. Before I can lift myself up, a strong pair of hands find their way on my hips, pushing me up to give me a boost. The hand placement caught me by surprise, and I found my breath hitching in my throat.

Not wanting to give Nathan the satisfaction of knowing he got a reaction out of me, I don't turn around or say anything before grabbing a towel from one of the lawn chairs beside the pool. I wrap the towel around myself and sit on the chair, finding it warm from being hit by the sun's rays.

Nathan rose from the water as I tried to avert my eyes from the way his now wet shirt clung tightly to his toned body. His stare was set on me, seeming to know exactly what was going on in my mind.

"Like what you see, princess?" he smirks.

"Nope. I'm actually struggling to keep my lunch down right now," I retort triumphantly.

"C'mon, let's get out of these wet clothes," he says, grabbing a towel for himself. I nod silently, following him carefully into the house.

"Arabella, come play inside," Nathan calls out to her, not wanting to leave her unsupervised in the backyard. She does what he says and scurries inside and up the stairs, most likely to go play in her room.

"I'll put our clothes in the dryer. You can borrow something to wear while yours dry," he tells me, leading me upstairs to his room.

I try not to drip water onto his pristine hardwood floors as I quickly hurry in his footsteps. We make it back to his room, where he lets me past him and waits in the doorway, "Just hand me your clothes when you're done changing. You can grab whatever from my closet."

"I'm surprised you're not making any kind of innuendo at me changing 10 feet away from you," I say condescendingly.

He shoots me his signature cocky grin, "You're lucky you can't hear my thoughts."

I let out a groan of disgust and push him out of the doorway, closing and locking the door. I throw the damp towel into the laundry basket in the corner and walk over to his closet.

Opening his closet doors, I scour the rows of clothes for something wearable. I settle on a pair of grey sweatpants and an oversized plain black t-shirt. 

Peeling my clothes off of me takes longer than it should, their dampness causing them to cling to my skin uncomfortably.

After changing into the dry clothes, I brush my fingers through my damp hair a few times. I gather my wet clothes into a pile in my arms, opening the bedroom door to shove them into his arms. 

He chuckles at this and his eyes take a moment to scan my outfit. He meets my eyes again with a  smug look, before shoving my wet pile of clothes back into my arms. 

"Let me change, too," he says, bumping my shoulder as he pushes past me into his room. Jerk.

I wait impatiently in the hallway, leaning my back against the wall for support. The wet clothes starting to soak through my dry shirt uncomfortably.

When Nathan finally opens the door, he's changed into a similar pair of grey sweatpants and a navy blue sweatshirt with our school's name on it.

I shove my wet pile of clothes back into his arms, now joining his own pile of wet clothes. 

"I'll put these in the dryer, then we can get back to studying," he states.

I nod at him, my lip rolling between my teeth slightly. I trudge back into his room and flop myself down onto my previous spot on his bed, trying to put myself back in the math mindset.