Overwhelmed

chicken

"I'm sorry they won't do yoga, Gogy," I say, laying back on the ground.

"That's okay. We can just do it together. Who needs them anyway?" I smile at him, thankful that he isn't offended or hurt. I'll have to talk to Clay and Nick later, but for now this will still be enjoyable. "Okay, I usually do chill stuff. I don't really like anything high powered... I'm kinda lazy lol."

"Dude. Did you just say lol? Wow. WOW. You need to get out more often," I laugh. His cheeks burn pink, but he laughs too. 

"Shut up! Now, are you okay with that yoga?"

"Yeah. We always do the stupid high-energy cardio ones at swim so this will be nice," I say. For about thirty minutes, I follow his movements in silence. He ends with a little visualizing exercise which just involves laying on your back, imagining the best version of yourself.

When he says we're done, neither of us get up. The last exercise made me super sleepy and honestly I could fall asleep right here. The only thing that gets me up is the memory of Clay and Nick leaving to make lunch.

"We should probably go now. I don't know what they were planning on making, but they've got to be pretty close to done," I sigh, giving George my hand. He sighs but we still start the walk back to his house.

"That was really nice, though," he says after a while.

"Yeah! We should do it again before we have to leave."

"Ugh, I don't even want to think about it. Can't you stay forever?"

"Ahh, I wish. But I gotta go back to swim. It's already gonna be hard enough with this much time off." I know we're both thinking about why I'm off swim, but I don't think he'll ask about it. We walk in silence again until we reach his house.

"Hey! You guys are back!" Nick shouts from the kitchen window, making both of us crack up. Inside, we find that the boys played minecraft the entire time instead of making food as they said they would. 

"I say we order in. I'm too tired to make anything." We all happily agree to this seeing as cooking one meal was hard enough. "You still wanna swim?"

Nick nods enthusiastically, revealing a pair of swim trunks under his sweatpants. "Dude," I start, but Clay interrupts by showing that he, too, has swim trunks on. "You're both dorks, my god." George laughs and walks toward his bedroom. 

"Are you gonna swim with us?" Clay asks, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll go change. Again." 

Clay's POV

"Fuck it, it's now or never," Nick calls from the pool, trying to persuade George to cannon ball right in. I watch as y/n sits on the edge, feet swaying gently in the cool water. The sun somehow makes her eyes shine even brighter as she giggles. 

"George, if you don't jump in, I'll tackle you," I threaten, starting to climb out of the pool. George's eyes widen in fear and he backs away. 

"Don't you dare, Clay." I smile mischievously and walk toward him slowly. In an effort to get out of my way, y/n slides into the pool, letting out a little squeal as the water covers her stomach. I rush toward George, pushing him in with one shove.

Nick yanks y/n out of the way just in time as George hits the water with an enormous splash. I jump in after him, not wanting to give him an opportunity to get revenge. "You guys are such idiots," y/n says, shaking her head disapprovingly. 

"Good thing we're mature, right y/n?" Nick asks.

"Mmm... I don't know about that Nick," she responds, climbing out of the pool once again. I wade through the water to where she sits and join her on the edge. "What do people do to swim for fun?" We all crack up but I quickly realize she isn't joking.

"Oh, uh. Well, you can just float around or like play a pool game or something," George says, also catching on to her serious tone.

"Oh my god, now we have to play a game," Nick says with a grin. "I'm looking some up." A moment later, he reads through a list on his phone. "Okay we have marco polo, chicken, sharks and minnows, something called categories, and racing."

"Absolutely not racing," I say, looking over at y/n with wide eyes. She giggles and shakes her head at me. Nick considers this for a moment before throwing his phone back on his chair.

"I choose chicken," he states.

"I want Nick," y/n yells, launching back into the water and swimming over to where Nick and George stand.

"Hey! No fair!" George yells.

"Yeah, I don't want George," I snear, dramatically glaring at the offended boy treading water.

"Rude," he scoffs.

"Too bad. I got lucky boys. The lovely lady chose me," Nick gloats, bowing and pretending to be swarmed by paparazzi. 

Y/n blushes for a moment but quickly recovers. "Don't worry Nick. I just didn't want the two idiots to fight over you." My stomach flutters a little when she winks at me. I really wish she had chosen me, but at least she didn't choose George first.

"Ugh fine. Get on my shoulders George." At first, he looks like he's going to argue, but the poor boy knows he couldn't hold me up even if he tried. A few minutes later, we're ready to begin.

Four rounds later and it's obvious that Nick and y/n are unstoppable. George refuses to lean at all and instead freezes everytime Nick walks toward us. Finally after a fifth time of George and I toppling over, I don't let George back onto my shoulders.

"How can one person be so bad at a children's game?" I ask in exasperation. George giggles and shakes the water out of his hair.

"Oh come on Clay," y/n starts. "The whole internet knows he isn't a top."

"OH MY GOD. STOP!" George screams. We all burst out in painful laughter. This doesn't stop for several minutes until George finally tells us to shut up. "I want a rematch but this time I don't want to be on-" he stops. "I don't want to be the one fighting."

"Good word choice, dork," I say. "But you can't hold us."

"He could probably hold me," y/n volunteers. I know he can... I don't want him to, though.

"Exactly! We're doing it." George has made up his mind. No way to change it now. Nick and I bicker over who carries who until finally I agree to let him carry me. 

I feel a bit more sympathy for George once we start. I knew y/n had to be strong from swimming so much, but I didn't expect it to be this much of a struggle. Unfortunately for her, George isn't a great base and struggles to stand even with no one pushing him.

After a couple minutes, I get one final shove that makes them collapse into the water. However, the shove also pushes me backward, causing Nick and I to fall as well. It takes me a moment to gather my bearings but when I finally stand up from the water, y/n is in George's arms, giggling.

George is laughing too, but his eyes are trained on her. I glare at him until he notices and lets go. Y/n seems completely oblivious and I'm perfectly okay with that. Nick taps me on the should and hands me my drink.

"Hey, calm down. You promised her you'd be chill, remember."

Yes. I do.

To be continued...