Twelve Feet Deep

The Winds

I tugged open the sliding glass door, cringing at the squeal it made. I felt the September chill hit me in the face as I walked outside, a bottle of cold beer in my hand and a slight stumble to my step. From behind me, loud rock music blasted from the average New Jersey home. A soft, yellow glow from the lights inside poured through the open space and onto the concrete patio out back. I stepped out onto the deck lit by the two lights mounted to the side of the home and pushed the sliding glass door closed behind me. I sighed, and sat on a chair, breathing in a deep gulp of the night air. Cool, crisp, fresh. Just what I needed. It surely beat the faint smell of alcohol, drugs, and sweat that was evident inside; the smell of a party.

I knew I was not alone when I heard a splash come from the rectangular pool that took up a nice portion of the back yard. The clean, light blue water lit by lights lining the inside of the pool was disturbed by a male, probably a bit younger than me, emerging from the water. He threw his long, brown hair back out of his eyes and sighed audibly, so loud and relieved that even I could hear it from my spot on the patio. Someone else being out here was not a surprise. There had to be at least one hundred people at the high school party, but probably more, considering the party was thrown by the school's most notorious party thrower. Anything thrown by this guy was bound to be good, and most people, the usual party-goers or not, would show up anyways just to see what type of legends would be made that night. However, what was surprising was the fact that he was out here alone. Did he not have a friend, or better yet, a girlfriend? 

Then again, it couldn't be too strange, because I was out here alone as well.

The kid, probably a freshman or a sophomore compared to me being a senior, hadn't noticed me yet. Upon surfacing, he had swum over to the side of the pool farthest from me, back turned to me. He threw his arms up onto the pavement around the pool and just rested. I saw his feet kick idly behind him. I took an unconscious sip of my beer. Feeling like an intruder, I pulled my gaze away from the brown-haired boy, and instead refocused it up on the trees in the neighboring yards. In a way, the outdoors was just as loud as the indoor party. Except, instead of the blaring rock music, we had the loud rustle of the shaking leaves in the tops of the trees. I honestly couldn't believe this dude was out here, swimming, on a windy and cool night like this. I mean, at best, the temperature was sixty degrees Fahrenheit, but I assumed it was in the lower fifties. I doubted the pool was heated. 

The other boy began turning, and I felt nervous as his brown eyes connected with mine. He was familiar, but not. I was pretty sure I had never seen him before, but where had that since of knowing come from? I pushed it aside. I could tell the other dude was shy. Embarrassed, even. He swam over to the side closest to me and peeked over the edge of the pool. "Uh, hey, did you just get here?" His voice sounded so soft, and anything but manly. A little bit whiny, except not in a prominent way. It sounded so unsure. I don't know why. 

"Uh, nah. I've been here for ten or so minutes." I had never thought my voice was all that deep, but compared to his, it was.

"Oh." 

I wasn't sure in the dim light, but I thought I saw a blush on his face. In hopes to make him feel a bit more comfortable, I started to defend myself, "I mean, I was just chilling out here. Wasn't really watching you or anything. I was watching the trees and the sky and stuff."

"Oh." 

"I can go inside if you want to be alone?"

"Oh, uh, no," he said with a stutter, shaking his head, strands of his long brown hair knocked loose, having been clinging to the side of his face. "I mean, you don't have to. I don't really care." 

I nodded at him. "What's your name, kid? I'm Daniel."

"My name's Shane. Shane Lawrence." 

Lawrence? I raised an eyebrow. That's why the kid had looked so familiar. He was Oscar Lawrence's brother. Oscar was the one who had thrown this party; Oscar was the king of parties. "Oscar's brot-"

"Yeah. Oscar's brother."

"That's cool. Why aren't you inside? I mean, you're probably one of the coolest guys there, being Oscar's brother."

"I, um. I'm not allowed inside."

What? Not allowed inside? The dude lived here. What was stopping him? "What do you mean?"

With a soft sigh, he explained, "Well, uh, Oscar doesn't want me embarrassing him around his friends. So when he has parties, I'm supposed to stay out here."

That was ridiculous. "Why can't you just stay up in your room?"

He looked down, apparently staring at the bottom of the pool. At nothing. Shane made no attempt to reply, and he left me wondering, looking for an answer. I put the beer bottle I still held to my lips and tilted it and my head back, swallowing down a nicely sized gulp. I wrinkled my nose at the bitter taste. Beer was disgusting. The sole reason I drank it was because if you happened to drink enough, you would feel a bit better than you did at the start of the night.

Moments of silence passed. Everything felt still, heavy, and awkward. The cool, crisp night air didn't even do a thing to help the situation. After the quiet between me and this younger dude started to get uncomfortable, I spoke again. "Hey, do you maybe want to blow this joint? Get outta here? We can walk down to the corner store and get some food or something. If you want to, I mean."

The way this boy looked up at me was just amazing. His big, brown puppy dog eyes were wide, and glimmered with happiness. Shane, in this moment, looked as if he had never been asked a question like this before. "Yeah. That would be cool!" Immediately he heaved himself out of the pool and up into the fridgid air. 

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Author's Note: This is borderline The Front Bottoms fanfiction that'll I'll probably never finish, but I'm deciding to post it anyways.