Thwaites & Thompson

Cinderella...

Thwaites

"No-no-I-" She dodges their arms but they laugh and get at her.

I instantly get to my feet and hurry towards them.

She yelps when they pick her up and her skirt rolls back exposing her thighs.

Oh hell no...

"Put her down. Hey!" I stop right before them by the pool ledge.

"Put her down. She's not going in." I spoke sternly, very well aware of a few people's eyes on us.

"Sorry man. The rules apply on ev-" He begins to say but I don't wait for him to go on and I pull Tess down when she reaches for my arm.

One of them tries to get at us again and when I elbow him, he falls into the water splashing both Tess and I.

"Come on man! It's just a game!" The other one frowns at me after he laughs at his mate and I nod at him.

"Yeah, you having fun?..." I fake a grin and walk us away from the pool.

"You okay?" I turn to smile at a trembling Tess and she chuckles.

She glances down at her now dampened skirt and chuckles.

"Yeah... My jeans too." I add after I glance at my jeans. It had a few dark spots here and there but they'd take no time drying up.

"You could have caught another cold if you got in there." I felt the need to explain saving her...
For a second, I doubted she might have reconsidered going in when they picked her up.

"Yeah, and I'd probably take hours to dry up. So thank you." She chuckled.
Her answer didn't clear my doubt and I felt even more uneasy...

I take a seat and she picks the one beside me.

I drain my half-emptied bottle of beer at once and light up my faded spliff.

I continued watching other people get tossed into the water. None of the girls struggled, even those who weren't dressed appropriately, they all went in willingly, which only fretted my mind.

I look around the dancefloor for the others but they were all nowhere to be found.

I glance at Tess and I catch her gaze.

I frowned a little and she gulped.

"Weren't you dancing with Maddie and Cole?" I smile and she chuckles.

"Thought I'd let them be..." She shrugged and I nodded knowingly.

"Actually-" She lowers her gaze for a moment, mentally struggling...

She shook her head a beat and my frown started to form.

"Never mind." She shrugged, killing me...

"Tess-I hate that word." I nod once and she gulps again.

"It doesn't matter." She smiles ephemerally.

"You don't dance." She purses her lips and her face flames.

Oh...

I diverted my gaze and chuckled.

I didn't want to be looking at her right now...
I've learned that it's the way she sometimes looked at me that made me so compliant...

"Look-" I sigh but I don't meet her eyes.

"It's pointless." I chuckle lightly.
"It'll be you doing all the dancing and I'll just be watching, adding to your uneasiness..."
"It's ridiculous." I scoffed and finally turned my head to meet her gaze.