“Back off,” I say, because I can tell from his smile what he’s going to do. I splash him, trying to keep him away. He keeps advancing, so I try to swim the unicorn away, which obviously doesn’t work.
Jason reaches me and flips the unicorn over. I fall off, sinking under the water. I kick up, break the surface, and get a breath in. I wipe the water from my eyes, slicking my hair to the side, so it’s out of my eyes.
Jason is smiling, which makes me smile, too.
“That was rude,” I say.
“You loved it.”
He puts his hands on my shoulders, and before I can react, he pushes me under. And just holds me there. I struggle, but he’s holding me tight.
My lungs start burning.
He lets go, and I push up and take in a huge breath.
I wipe the water from my eyes and see he’s standing a few inches away from me as I cough and splutter. Then he smiles, and a weird crash of emotion hits me.
It’s like an intense surge of like.
We both laugh.
“You’re going to pay for that,” I say, swatting at him. He raises his hands to defend himself.
“Hey, stop. Let’s make it official. First to get the other in a headlock wins?”
I take him in. He’s buff, sure, but I’ve wrestled with Luke since I was a kid.
“What are the stakes?” I ask.
“Winner gets to decide what we do next time we hang out. Could be anything.”
“Deal.”
We get into position, facing each other, our hands up. I look into his eyes and am distracted for a second. They’re so pretty, such a delicate shade of light green. God. He’s so pretty, with his short, spiky hair and dangerous smile and that freaking body.
How did this even happen?
How did I end up here?
He takes advantage of my distraction, easily swatting my hands aside and then putting his hands on my shoulders.
He pushes me under.
I struggle, but it’s useless.
When his grip slackens, I kick off the bottom of the pool and tackle into him hard. He grunts and loses his balance. We tussle. I manage to get my hands on his shoulders, so I jump up and push down as hard as I can.
He barely budges. He just plants his feet, so instead of sinking under, I’m held up.
Defeated, I fall back down.
“Is that all you got?” he asks, then he laughs.
“Not even close. Wait, I have an idea, don’t move.”
I swim around, so I’m behind him. Slowly, I loop my arms under his, and squeeze his back to my chest. It feels really good, but I’m not going to think about that.
Not even a little.
Nope, not at all.
“What are you doing?” he asks. “This is…”
I jump forward and grip him like a koala, my legs looping around him. I didn’t want to hear the end of that sentence. I pull back hard, pushing my knees into him, making his spine arch. I twist to the side, trying my hardest to get him under.
He grunts and shrugs me off more roughly than before. I stand up, and he gives me an additional push on the chest for good measure. But he’s smiling, so I know it’s okay.
I totter back.
“Too rough?” I ask, and I grin at him. “Sorry.”
“No, you’re good. I just didn’t know you had that in you. Nice work.” He flicks my chest. “Try again. Really try and beat me, don’t hold back even a little. I can take it.”
“All right.”
I grab his wrists and try as hard as I can to bring them together. He grits his teeth and pulls his hands apart, easily overpowering me. His biceps bulge as he does it.
“Come on, try,” he says.
“I am!”
“Barely. Give me everything you’ve got, I want to see it.”
“I am! Are you holding back?”
“Yeah,” he says. “I’m sorry, but I am.”
We pause.
“Then stop,” I say.
He blinks. “You sure?”
“Yeah.”
His eyebrows narrow, and he moves forward. I spin and try to swim away, but he grabs my wrist, stopping me in my tracks. He puts his hands on my biceps and roughly spins me around, then pulls me to him, so my back is pressing into his chest.
He picks me up, lifting me out of the water.
“Fu…,” I start, but then he drops me and clamps his hand down hard over my mouth.
I try my hardest to get out from his grip, but he’s holding me too tight.
He grips me and falls backward, pulling us both under the water. My lungs