It Started With a Vacation

Chapter Seven

"So," you said, dangling your feet over the edge of the dock, "you're not extremely grumpy because you're a tired old man?" You teased Crosshair. He was sitting a little ways behind you, polishing his beloved gun after your shooting competition.

"No," he responded, "I'm not a grumpy old man. I'm actually just as young as the rest of the batch."

"Really? Then why is your hair grey?"

"Tech said it's because of the modifications made to my genetics, so I guess that's why," he replied. You looked back at him and studied his face. He was quite handsome, and didn't look old. You didn't know much about modifying genetics, so you supposed that could be a logical answer.

"So you're just grumpy?" You watched as his mouth seemed to twitch to a smirk for a brief second, but he didn't respond.

Crosshair was fully concentrated on what he was doing, like he always was. You took the opportunity to lean over and put your hand in the water, only to bring it up and splash him.

You laughed as you saw his face flash to anger, growling slightly in annoyance before he looked at you.

"Oops," you giggled, watching his reaction. He simply narrowed his eyes and spit his toothpick at you before grabbing a towel to dry off his gun. You huffed to yourself, throwing the toothpick back at him. You were bored again and upset that you didn't get more of a response. You turned back to look across the pond, watching as fish popped up every few seconds.

You were lost in your own mind again, so you didn't sense him when he snuck up behind you and roughly pushed you in the water.

You thrashed your way to the top, wiping you face as you turned and looked at Crosshair, who was looking down at you with a smug look on his face.

"I thought Jedi were supposed to be able to feel when something was about to happen," he said smoothly.

You narrowed your eyes at him before pulling him in with the force. His face flashed to surprise as he fell forward, almost belly flopping into the water. You laughed for a minute at the situation, reimagining his face as he fell. You realized, however, that he still hadn't come up. You looked around, making sure he hadn't snuck around behind you. You began to panic slightly, worried that he might be drowning.

"Crosshair?" You said anxiously, eyes darting over the water, trying to find him, but there was still no Crosshair.

"Crosshair?!" You said more frantically. Your heart was racing and fear was all over your face. As you were about to yell his name, he suddenly popped up and grabbed you, scaring the life out of you and causing you to let out a scream.

"Karking hells, Crosshair!" You said spinning in the water to face him. "I thought you were drowning!"

"Aww, was someone scared for me?" He said while trailing your cheek with his finger.

You bit your lip and playfully pushed him away. "Maybe," you said. "So what if I was?"

His expression turned serious as responded. "No one but my brothers have ever cared about me. It's...nice... to know that you do."

You smiled softly at him, wanting to pull him into a hug but respecting his boundaries and settling for a nod.

"Well, I'm glad it means something to you," you said before going playful again and splashing him. He smirked back at you before he dove towards you, causing you to squeal and try and swim away. He grabbed your foot however and pull you towards him, where he attacked you with splashes of his own. You slowly made your way back over to where you could touch so that you would have somewhat of a fair chance while you sent him splashes of your own. When he realized you now had stable footing on the bottom of the pond, he had other ideas. He grinned at you before he lunged and wrapped his arms around you, throwing you back into the deeper water. You yelped as you flew through the air and splashed back in. When you broke the surface, he was laughing from where he was standing.