Chapter 39: Push

We take a few more pictures- of me, of the car, of both of us in the car- all of which he sends to me. When we finally go inside, his parents practically ambush me.

"Todd! Happy birthday!" Darla yells.

"Belated," Henry Sr. adds.

I blush. "Thanks."

"Carter told us that he had all your classes sing you 'happy birthday'," Darla says. "You must be sick of that song by now, so we won't-"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU," Carter interrupts, singing loudly. I cover my face with my hands, and I hear all of them laugh before Carter's (at least, I assume it's his) arm slides around my shoulders. "Don't worry, I'm kidding. I embarrassed you enough yesterday."

"More than enough," I grumble at him, uncovering my face and glaring at him.

"Sure. But it was necessary. Now come on, let's go downstairs." He tugs on my arm, and I follow him.

When we get down to the basement, though, he doesn't immediately head for the Mario Kart TV, like I was expecting. Instead, he heads in the direction of the pool area. I follow him, trying not to smile too much. I remember seeing this pool last time I was here, and thinking how cool it was. It hasn't changed, except now that I'm seeing it up close, it looks even cooler.

The pool area of the basement has different lighting- less warm, more bluish white, and dimmer. The pool has multi colored lights under the water, giving the water a cool effect.

"Like it?" he asks, and I turn to him, grinning.

"Yes. This is so cool."

"Isn't it? The rest of the basement kind of throws off the look, though..."

He goes to the open wall and grabs something, then starts walking. I realize a moment later that it's a sliding glass door.

Once he's completely closed off the pool area from the rest of the basement, he goes to a panel of what look like light-dimmers and slides one up. The glass of the sliding door suddenly darkens until it's not transparent anymore.

He's smirking at me, watching my expression. I'm sure I look comical- I realize a few moments later that my mouth is open, and hastily close it. "That's- wow."

He flashes me a cheeky smile, then waves me over to him. He hands me a pair of swim trunks, and points to a door. "Bathroom's there."

I change quickly and come back out to find him already changed. I try not to stare at his bare upper half for too long, but it's not an easy task. When I finally force my eyes up to his, he's scanning me the way he does after Raymond's makeovers. I'm a little self conscious for a moment, since this time he's looking at my body, and I'm not the most fit person in the world (my life up until he came into it consisted of pretty much no physical activity except walking to school. I have no muscle- well, not none, but very little developed skeletal muscle. Him, on the other hand... wow.)

He's looking at my face again, now, which makes it a little easier to breathe. "Come over here. I have one more thing to show you."

I go over to where he's standing, at the side of the pool, and he points into the water. I look where he's pointing, not seeing anything particularly interesting, when I suddenly feel two hands on my back, pushing me in.

I have the good sense to exhale as I'm submerged instead of inhaling water, before I swim back up to the surface and glare at him. He's laughing.

"You're the worst!"

He smirks at me. "I'm sorry, Todd. I had to."

"You're not sorry."

"I am a little sorry for taking advantage of your trust and enthusiasm."

"I'm sure you'd do it again."

"I would." He flashes me a toothy grin, then cannonballs into the pool, creating a huge splash which I can't turn away from in time.

"Hey!"

He's laughing again. Maniac.

I splash him back by essentially shoving a wave at him. He turns to avoid getting splashed in the face (like I did) and quickly returns the favour to me. It soon turns into an all-out water war, until we both get tired and call a truce.

We end up sitting on the side of the pool, our legs dangling over the side.

"This is a really, really cool pool," I tell him. He flashes me a toothy smirk.

"I saw you eyeing it last time we came down here. I'm glad it didn't disappoint."

"It would be impossible to. This is really impressive."

"Thanks. I remember, when we first moved out here... I wanted a pool, but we don't exactly have a backyard. We have porches and stuff, and- oh man, I need to show you the roof- but we didn't really have space for a pool. So the contractor suggested we put one in the basement. I was still... less than thrilled, since I thought it'd be lame, but when I saw it..." he smiles a little.

"It is really nice. Nicer than an outdoors one, I'd think. You can swim in it any time of year, and it doesn't get grass or mustard leaves in it."

He meets my eyes, still smiling. It's so genuine and real that my heart swells just looking at him, and I couldn't look away if I tried. "Yeah. Sometimes I wish I could have a pool outside, and just lounge around during the summer... but then I remember that I'd then have to worry about sunscreen, and bug spray, and the pool water would get all oily and gross..."

"And you don't have to worry about any of those things down here. Plus, Mario Kart is much closer and more accessible."

He grins. "Exactly."

It's about then that I realize how close we are. It's kind of like after my first experience with Raymond, when he came to put his arm around my shoulder and then turned his head to talk to me. Only this time, I don't feel the need to move away.

I've been silent and looking at him for long enough for him to start smirking faintly. His eyes flick over my face, and a little shiver runs through me. I think he's just a bit closer to me now, at least his face is, and I'm still not feeling like I need more space. I wonder...

I get a sudden urge and press my lips together. Should I? What if... no, no. He's the one who's always saying not to worry. I swallow, then gently rest a hand on his shoulder, before slowly moving it down to the top of his back. He's still looking at me, letting me touch his bare skin. I can feel him breathing as I trail my hand a little further down...

And shove as hard as I can.

He falls into the pool with a huge splash. He doesn't waste a second- as soon as he's resurfaced, he's grabbed both my wrists and yanked me in after him. I come back up to the surface laughing.

"You're even worse than me!" he yells, though he's clearly trying not to smile too much as he glares at me. "I revoke all sorrow for taking advantage of your trust and enthusiasm earlier!"

I'm still laughing as he splashes me, just barely avoiding a mouthful of water. I splash him back, and he gently pushes me against the side of the pool, holding me in place to splash me. I grab both his wrists before he can do it again, and he responds by pressing closer to me. I let him, still smirking a little as I scan his face. He's smirking too, now, closer than before, and my gaze inadvertently flickers down to-

"Boys! Dinner's going to be ready in twenty minutes, so if you're going to shower, you should do it now!" Darla's voice calls, and we immediately jerk apart, letting go of each other. I'm sure I'm completely red, despite the fact that she didn't even see us.

"You want to shower upstairs?" he asks, hopping out of the pool and sitting on the ledge.

"Um... yeah, sure," I say, avoiding his gaze as I get out of the pool as well.

"You remember where it is?" He tosses me a towel, and I catch it just before it falls into the pool.

"I think so, yeah."

"Alright, I'll shower down here. You can change into something of mine after, if you'd like. Everything that'll fit you is still in the room you stayed in last weekend, so you can grab something from there."

"Okay." The idea of wearing his clothes after what just (almost) happened sounds mildly awkward, but his clothes would be cleaner than mine.

"And Todd?"

"Yeah?" My breath catches in my throat as I (almost accidentally) look at him.

He smirks rakishly. "Don't look in the kitchen."

So, what do you think of the chapter? How about the millionaire's pool? The millionaire pushing Todd in? And then what almost happened (twice)?

If you enjoyed this chapter, you can let me know by voting or commenting! Thank you so much for reading!