Like Gods

[1] a day of peace

The sun stood high in the sky over the fenced-in pool area where Dylan lay, floating on his recently bought pool mattress. He hadn't really moved in a few hours now, with the exception of going to the bathroom and filling up the water bottle in his hand with more water. Next to his floated another mattress which was currently empty, but had a moment ago been occupied by his best friend Felicia. 

"Didn't you just go to the bathroom, like, half an hour ago?" Dylan chuckled as Felicia came out from the poolhouse. She hopped onto her own mattress and, with some difficulty, put herself in a comfortable position. 

"Yeah," she sighed and put her sunglasses over her eyes, "but you know, 'you gotta keep hydrated', and that leads to the need to pee." The middle part she said with some sarcasm, this to mock the words her mother had drilled into both of their heads before they had left the house. Dylan uttered a quiet "mmhm" and closed his eyes, taking in the last sun rays of August. Tomorrow school would start, and there would be no more relaxation for four painful months. 

It was actually very strange that they were the only two in the pool a nice day as this. There had been a mom with two kids, but they had left at about 12:30, probably to get lunch. Now, they had been all alone for about three hours, and they'd decided to stay until dinner, despite the unfaltering heatwaves.

"Do you need a ride tomorrow?" Dylan asked and took a sip of his water. Felicia did have her own car, or well, kind of. She'd crashed it while on break, a story that she'd had to explain a million times over. It was nothing major, only a broken fender and some motor trouble, but she didn't have the money to fix it and her parents refused to pay. 

"Nah, but thanks," she replied with a small smile on her lips. "Xander's driving me." 

Dylan suppressed a groan. In his opinion, Xander was a jerk who was nowhere near Felicia's league, but after weeks of complaining when the two of them had just started dating, Felicia had given Dylan a piece of her mind. In short, she'd yelled at him for not being supportive and told him to get with the program or get out.

Dylan wasn't about to throw away ten years of friendship over not liking her choice in men, so they'd hugged it out and he'd apologized. It didn't change how he felt, but now he didn't say anything.

"I know you don't like him, but I do." She said as if she'd read his thoughts. "And I really appreciate you not telling me how much you dislike him all the time." 

"Yeah." Dylan sighed and put his bottle in the cupholder. "Anyway, I'm getting too hot." And with that, he rolled off the mattress into the cool water.

He held his breath for as long as he could, peacefully watching the sun rays in the water from beneath the surface. Ever since he was ten he'd been fascinated with the ocean and everything it held. At fifteen, he'd learned more than one hundred species of underwater creatures, which had seriously impressed a guide at the local aquarium. Ironically enough had he been terrified of fish up until the age of seven, when he'd gotten one as a mean prank from his older brother William.

When he broke the surface again, Felicia was laying on her stomach, tanning her back. "You can hold your breath for a really long time." She mumbled with her eyes closed. "I thought you had drowned." Dylan let out a laugh.

"And you did nothing?" He grinned and rested his head on the floating mattress.

"Mmmm, no." Felicia smiled innocently. 

"Okay." 

He took hold of her mattress from underneath and flipped it over. Felicia's squeal was cut short as her head disappeared under the water, and Dylan was still laughing when she resurfaced with a look of faked irritation.