"Easton Manor." I tell him after taking a look around myself. A small country-club subdivision of Easton, where all the unnecessarily large houses look almost exactly like.
Jace turns around sporting a devious leer.
I narrow my eyes, trying to read him. "What?"
"There's like a ninety-five percent chance that they have a pool." Jace nods towards the house right in front of us.
"No." I shake my head stubbornly.
"Oh." Jace pulls my forward by the sides of my jacket. "Yes."
I close my eyes, "I can't believe what I'm saying but, let's take our chances."
"Confidence is so undeniably sexy on you Wynter."
"I'm dating Hudson." I remind him, although I don't want to.
Jace rolls his eyes. "Then why isn't he here."
Good question. "Irrelevant." I say instead.
I have to climb onto Jace's shoulders to see over the unreasonably tall fences. Peering over I see a wooden gazebo and a small coy pond.
I look down at my partner in crime and shake my head. He drops me down to his back and folds my legs around his waist. We walk silently across the perfect front lawn.
We check the next house to no avail, although they do have a patio that takes up the majority of their back yard and one of those DIY playground sets.
"I swear, Jace, this next house better have a pool and a water slide."
"I'm betting on a hot tub." I don't have to physically see him to know that a sly grin accents his lips.
"Three is the magic number."
And as if God himself chose to prove me right, the third house has an in-ground pool and a small hot tub.
"What's your report, Wynnie?"
"It's a positive." I grin.
Jace hoists me over the fence. I land on a concrete pathway, trying to get my footing.
"Open the door." Jace whispers impatiently.
"What else do you think I'd be doing?" I lift the latch, pulling the wooden door open for Jace.
The moon glimmers down on the pool. The chlorine scented air brings me back to when Keegan and I were younger, and we would go to our grandparent's house to go swimming on the daily. Keegan never thought much of it, all he needed was back in Easton. I, on the other hand, just had to escape sometime.
I kick off my shoes and sink my feet into the cool water, "it's a bit cold but-" I turn to look at Jace who is inexplicably undressing.
"What are you doing!" I whisper-yell.
"Who in their right mind only dips a foot when the ocean is right in front of them." Jace unbuttons his jeans.
"It's someone's backyard pool." I try not to check him out. I'm not allowed to because of Hudson, but it's hard.
It's really hard.
"It's a metaphor, Wynnie. Don't be so literal." His jeans lay with his shirt in a heap on the ground. I can't even look at him like this, not even his face.
I pull my knees to my chest and fold my arms around my legs, then hide my face away.
The splash that hits me tells me that it's safe to look up.
"Are you going to get in?" His wet hair is black, making his blue eyes stand out even more than before.
"I don't have a swimsuit." A situation I forgot to consider earlier on.
"I don't either," he splashes me with water.
"Hey!" I dunk my arm in and fling it towards him. Jace tries to pull my in, but I kick him away.
I'm laughing so hard, I'm positive I'm in serious danger of getting an aneurysm, "Fine, I'll get in, but you have to turn around."
Jace puts his hands up like they're a couple of white flags and dips under water. Regardless, I turn around too and undress. I have on regular purple bra, but that's where I draw the line. I simply refuse to take off my pink pajama shorts.
I fold my clothes and set them at a safe distance from the pool.
Jace emerges. His cheeks flush an adorable shade of pink as he bites his lips. Before I can say anything he sinks back under.
I sit down on the ledge with intentions of inching in, so that my body can adjust to the temperature change. Jace botches the entire plan when he springs up and throws me right in.
Mouth ajar. Eyes open. Completely unprepared.
I frantically find the bottom and push myself back up. I break through the surface gasping for air.
"I could have died." I shove him.
"That's unlikely, Wyn. Besides, I was just helping you. It'd be morning before you actually got in."
"It's already morning." I correct him, causing him to splash me again.
I hit the surface of pool and watch as it showers down on him. I float there utterly satisfied. It lasts all but too short. Jace flies towards me and wraps his arm around my waist and tries to dive underwater. I trash away, and shove his head under.
He comes up. I watch. His chest inflate and collapse as he swallows the air around him. I notice how the goosebumps prick his arms. I notice how his eyes wander elsewhere besides my eyes. Above all, I notice the absence of space in between us.
He reaches for my waist, pulling me closer to him, his fingertips press gently into my sides. I hook my legs on his hips.
It's frantic and rushed, and in doing this I'm trashing all of my morals, but I like it. I like it a lot.
He looks at my lips, and then into my eyes. I nod slightly. Jace moves in quickly erasing the distance from my lips to his.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing!" A scratchy voice screeches.
We jump away. A freakishly muscular old woman stands at the doorway a beer-bellied man accompanies her side, "Bryer?"
I glance at Jace, 'you know them?' I mouth.
"I'm well acquainted with half of this damned block." He explains.
"I swear Bryer, the cops are on their way." The old couple warns us.
"Oh my god!" I groan.
YOU ARE READING
The World Beyond Us
Ficção Adolescente"If you and I could get into that car and drive away and never look back, would you?" When Wynter unexpectedly finds herself in a thrilling relationship with Jace, it's begins to become increasingly hard for her to decipher between good and bad, rig...
