haze / afi

part 23. pool day

a pool party.

involves a pool, and a party. two of violet's most hated things. any pool parties she's gone to have been way too chaotic, including being pushed into a pool when she was fifteen, which is where her hatred came from.

this isn't really a pool party. it's an afternoon— perhaps going into the evening— at ashton's house, spending time with her four friends at his pool. it shouldn't be as bad as any parties she's been to in the past.

violet is currently sitting on the back porch of ashton's house while calum, michael, luke and ashton are setting up things around the pool. including chairs, towels, finding a speaker to play music on, as well as deciding on if they want pizza or burgers for dinner.

staying out of things is what violet would prefer to do, not getting in the pool is also what she'd prefer to do. bikini in her bag inside while the guys are in their trunks, shirtless, ready to get in the pool.

violet glances up after hearing music starting to play, as well as seeing luke walking over. he sits down beside her, smiling softly.

"you don't look very ready to be getting in the pool," he states the obvious. "not a pool fan?"

"it's not that," she looks away, seeing calum and michael fighting to push each other into the pool. "i like wearing this amount of clothes."

"well, i've only got these on," luke motions to his shorts. "think it's a bit unfair if you stay fully clothed."

violet goes to laugh at him trying to lighten the mood, however, once calum comes closer, he ruins it.

"you sound like you're trying to get in her pants, hemmings." calum goes inside the house.

violet rolls her eyes at his comment, making her feel worse about this whole thing. until ashton walks over, having clearly heard what calum said.

he slides open the door, following calum inside. "shut up, calum!" he calls over to him in the kitchen.

"what i was trying to say," luke continues. "is that you don't need to feel uncomfortable about it, we're all just wearing trunks, and we're not gonna be weird about you wearing a bikini."

she nods, knowing they wouldn't be. "plus, we've thrown pool parties before, nothing weird about not wearing much." he tries to reassure, not being sure on how it sounded. "if you really don't want us to see you in just a bikini, you can borrow my shirt, wear it over the top, i don't mind."

"could i?" she asks, fiddling with her fingers.

"yea, i'll go grab it so you can change."

he stands up, motioning for violet to follow, which she does. going inside, violet picks her bag up from the couch as they continue through the house. they go upstairs, into ashton's room where luke had obviously changed before violet had arrived here today. he grabs his shirt from the desk chair, passing it to violet.

"thank you, i'll uh, make sure to give it back before i go home." she starts heading out of the room.

"sure, no problem." he smiles, watching as she walks away.

violet goes into the bathroom across the hall, closing the door behind her. she takes out her new purple, flower covered bikini, starting to undress to put it on.