The Curves in Life

t h r e e - pool party

chapter three

"when life gives you curves, flaunt them"

pool party

I broke out of the water with a fit of coughs, desperately trying to rid the water from my lungs. Jase stood over me, laughing with tears in his eyes. I glared at him, but that only made him laugh harder.

"Stop laughing at me!" I demanded, clutching my dress underneath the water, to stop it from riding up. "I'm sorry sweetheart, but your face- oh it was priceless." He chuckled, trying to contain the laughter I could clearly see in his eyes.

Suddenly a girl with brown hair appeared behind him. She held a finger to her lips, telling me not to give it away. Jase was mumbling something, when he yelled "shit!" the humor on his face long gone. The brunette had slapped him over the head. This time, it was my turn to laugh. He turned around with wide eyes.

"What the hell Jess?!" she slapped a hand over her mouth to stop the burst of giggles. Jess was really pretty, tall, slim. She had big brown, doe-like eyes and freckles, lots of them. "What the hell Jase?" she tried mimicking his voice, but she failed miserably.

I couldn't see his face but I could tell by the way his back muscles tensed that he was pissed.

"You deserved it anyway, you can't just go pushing random girls into the pool, Jase, what if she bumped her head and bled out in our pool? Oh my gosh! I would be the murderer's sister! Imagine that Jason! Just imagine that!" she gasped in horror, eyeing me in the water before stretching out a hand to help me out of the water.  She grabbed a large towel off of the wooden tables behind her and handed it to me. "Thanks." I said softly.

"No problem, I'm Jessica. This asshole's sister, but I often tend to forget we're related, it's a coping mechanism." She laughed at her own joke, slapping my back in the process. I was so confused right now, but Jess wouldn't know because she was laughing uncontrollably.

Jase frowned and grabbed my hand, pulling me away from Jess. "Shut up would you?  You're scaring her." He told Jess without moving his eyes off of me. "And get lost, I had her first."

Jess scoffed, patting her heart, "Excuse me, she's not your dog, Jason, you can't treat girls like they belong to you. I am so telling mom!" She stomped away, mumbling something underneath her breath, and I sneezed, cursing the cold wind blowing over my wet body.

Jess whipped around, "See what you did! Now she is going to get sick." Jess scowled, "You better get her warmed up, and no. Not in your dirty ways Jason." The way Jase submitted and listened to her scolding was adorable, he held his head down like a little puppy in trouble. "What's her name?" Jess asked him.

I opened my mouth to answer but he beat me to it, "Nora."

"It was nice to meet you Nora, I will see you a little later, yeah?" I nodded, she raised her hand to slap Jase again, but he caught her wrist in time, "Out of everyone, I get stuck with you as my sister." He grumbled then turned back to me. "Come on princess, time to get out of those wet clothes."

I shook my head and left him standing there and made my way towards my parents, I probably had jacket I could use in the car, in fact I was sure I had left my jacket in the car last weekend.

"Dad, I need the car keys, I want to go get that white jacket I left in your car."

"The white one? Where did you leave it?" he asked, digging in his pocket for his keys

"Uh, backseat I think."

"Oh, Nora, I'm so sorry, I took it out when I washed the car yesterday, I just remembered it." Guilt etched over my dad's face, so I gave him a small reassuring smile.