Page 44 of The Drop

“Nothing,” I grunt, but my eyes don't stray from Brooke.

“Go talk to her.” Bear kicks my leg with his sandaled foot.

“No,” I grunt again. I had already thought about that. “I don’t want to bother her. She’s making friends.” I sigh, taking my hat off, running my hands through my hair and placing it back on backwards. “She's never made her own friends before; they were all Josh’s, and I don't want her to feel like she just has us to hang out with.”

Beer puts his beer to his lips and smirks into the bottle before finally saying, “You will not bother, Brookie. She practically buzzes when you’re around. Plus, she's been with those girls all day; she won't mind you going over there.”

I hum in response; I'm still conflicted on how I want to continue my evening. “I’m going to grab another.” I get up and make quick work of getting from the pool house to the kitchen without getting cold.

“Hey, Grant.” A girl I have hooked up with in the past stops me as I reach down and grab a beer out of the bucket on the floor.

“Hey.” I look up and give her a distracted smile, still rooting around the bucket for a decent beer.

“Haven’t seen you around much recently.” She’s moved in front of me now, so I can’t ignore her.

“Uh yeah, been busy with practice and games,” I say, trying to remember her name like the asshole I am. She’s pretty with blonde hair; she’s wearing tiny shorts and just a bikini top, clearly getting with the theme. A month ago, I would have leaned into the moment and flirted with her, but right now I just want to find a decent beer and get back to the pool house.

“I’ve been to a few games.” She brushes my arm with her hand. “I love watching you play.”

Why did this ever do it for me? I subtly pull my arm away. I much prefer Brooke’s playful banter to being treated like I’m a piece of meat. “Thanks?” I say and notice her holding one of the coolers Brooke likes. “Hey, where did you get that?” I nod at the drink.

“Oh, there’s a bucket out in the yard. I’m almost finished, if you want to grab me one,” she purrs at me.

“Oh, actually, I was going to get one for my friend.” I give her a weak grin and inch away, stepping towards the door to the deck.

“But we could sit and talk,” she pouts at me; I don’t think I’ve ever sat and talked with her before, and I’m not about to start now.

“Uh, maybe another time.” I move past her to the yard and find the bucket quickly, pulling out the flavour Brooke drinks the most and decide enough is enough. I haven’t fooled around with or even kissed another girl since the first week she arrived on campus.

Things have changed for me. I don’t want to go out partying and hooking up. I want to spend time with Brooke, helping her with The Drop, going for walks or runs. I could even take her on a date. I came here to spend time with her, so here goes nothing. Walking back into the pool house, Bear and Adam seem to have disappeared somewhere else, so I walk over to Brooke and the girls sprawled out across the loungers.

“Hey.” I grin down at Brooke as I reach her side. She looks up and smiles back; she seems happy, leaning against the backrest with one of her new friends sitting near her feet.

“Grant!”

She also sounds happy to see me, so that's good. The girls are staring at me with wide eyes. Nothing new there; I bend down and hold the seltzer out to her. “Found one of these and wondered if you needed one.” I give her a smirk as she sits up, smiling even bigger now and goes to grab it from me, but I pull it back. “There’s a tax attached, I’m afraid.”

“A tax?” she pouts with untrusting eyes. She’s a smart girl.

“Pool tax.” I nod.

“Pool tax?” she repeats back to me slowly, scrunching her face up.

“You’ve got to come for a swim with me.” I give her my best innocent smile, like I don't have ulterior motives of getting her to myself.

“I wasn’t planning on swimming, plus everyone’s moving inside now.” She frowns at me, looking around at the emptying pool house.

“True, but it’s still hot in here, and you are wearing pool attire.” I shrug, still holding her seltzer hostage a little further out of her reach.

“You should go for a swim, we were going to head inside and see what's going on in there anyway,” the blonder of the two girls says, winking at Brooke as they stand. “We can meet you in there after .”

“See, come on, Brooke, I know you want the seltzer.” I waggle it at her.

“Fine,” she grumbles, waving to her friends as they walk away. She stands and begins to slip her shorts and then her top off, revealing her matching green bikini. My eyes travel up her body hungrily. This is the most skin I’ve seen of Brooke’s. I’m blown away by her tanned skin and a firm body from running and all those yoga classes she swears by.

I hand her the seltzer, grab my beer and lead her over to the shallow end; the pool is empty now, and apart from a couple of people at the far end away from us, it’s just us in the pool house.

The water is soothing and warm as we walk down the steps, and I can see her sigh as she sinks lower and cracks open her drink, taking a long chug. I push a floaty over to her, which she leans her elbows on, and I join her on the other side, and shesmiles at me again. “You look like you’ve been having fun.” I sip my beer after knocking our cans together in cheers.

---