Roll the Dice

twelve. miss adelaide

I sniffed a little, resisting my urge to wipe my nose with my hand – because that would make an absolutely great impression on Dom, especially after I basically invited myself over to his house. "I think..." I coughed again. "I have a cold."

Dom's face twitched into a little smile. "Again, you can get a cold in the summer?"

I coughed again, this time glaring at him defensively. "It's totally possible." I reached for my lemonade glass before realizing that I'd already emptied it. Rolling my eyes at Dom, who was stifling a laugh, I continued, "I was sitting under an air vent for about five hours two days ago."

"Overexposure to air conditioning?" Dom leaned his elbows on the side of the pool.

"Again," I said, crossing my legs, "stop being so mean."

We stared at each other for a couple more seconds before Dom coughed awkwardly and headed back for a couple more laps. I wiped some sweat off my forehead, sighing. Why was I such an awkward person? I was so bad at this – seriously. But then again, I did come over to Dom's place for a particular reason.

With that thought, I pulled my beach bag a little closer to me and reached in. I felt around for a particularly thick book, and I pulled it out, feeling a little giddiness as I began to open it. Dom was so going to hate me for this, but that was the reason I kept going on with this Guys and Dolls scheme, wasn't it?

After a couple more minutes of Dom swimming, I stood up, again pulling down my cover up while also feeling extremely conscious of the fact that I was wearing my favorite swimsuit underneath. I put the book down on my chair. Did I really think I was actually going to go swimming in Dom's pool? I put my hands on my hips – well, it was retro-themed and polka-dotted and cute (or sexy, depending on whether Dacey or Cara was interpreting the situation) as hell.

Dom finally stopped, panting a little, and took off his goggles. "What's up?" he said as he propped his elbows on the pool side, stretching his abs a little. I shifted my weight to my other foot, and I couldn't help smirking – the view of Dom from the pool deck was fantastic.

And I was supposed to focus while he was looking like that?

"I kind of have a little present for you." I crossed my arms over my chest.

Dom ran his hands through his dripping dark hair, raising his eyebrows at me. It was sort of cute how his goggles left pale imprints around his eyes, somewhat reminding me of an owl, but not quite. "Is that a good thing for me or for you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I daintily stepped across the pool deck to approach him after grabbing the book and hiding it behind my back. After I settled myself, I sat down, dangling my legs into the pool and meeting Dom's eyes. "I usually try to do what I think is good for you, however unbelievable that seems."

And then I let out one cough, clamping my mouth shut so that Dom wouldn't be assailed with my germs.

Dom let out a loud scoff and hauled himself out of the pool, shaking water all over me in the process. He wiped his forehead with his towel and took off his goggles to replace them with his Ray-Bans. "If it's anything about that musical, I think it'll bore me to tears."

The thought of Dom crying was comical in itself, but the sad part was that he still harbored such an irrational hatred of Guys and Dolls. I didn't know how many more times I'd have to hear that before I would stop feeling so personally offended. Playing with the spine of the book behind my back, I took a moment to contemplate the answer – which was probably that I'd never stop feeling attacked whenever Guys and Dolls came into the picture.

My gaze returned to Dom, and my lips tightened. "Funny."

He held up two hands. "Sorry; I didn't mean for that to sound the way it did," he said, even though the little smirk on his lips said otherwise.