Uppercut (A James Maslow FanFic)

Chapter 13

“But really,” He gave me a small smile. “What’s bothering you?”

I hesitated and looked to where Drew and Alex were still swimming on the other side of the pool. They looked like they were having fun. Why couldn’t I just be super carefree and just have a good time? They obviously weren’t going to judge me, they were my friends.

“I don’t know…” I crinkled my nose and looked back at James, “It just seems weird to me. You’re all swimming in your underwear and I don’t even like seeing my own brothers wearing boxers around the house! You could’ve told us to bring swimsuits instead of extra clothes.”

He watched me intently as I rambled. It made me really happy to know that my older brother still cared about me and how I felt. It was relieving to find out that that hadn’t changed with all the time we had spent apart.

“Look,” James pried my hands off the pool edge and held them in his own. “Honestly, I don’t think it’s weird at all. Swimsuits are basically the same things as swimming in underwear or tank tops. Besides,” He smiled. “I know you don’t really want to sit here by yourself. You’d rather come in and have fun.”

His hazel eyes were holding my gaze. I sighed. “…I guess you’re right.” I still was nowhere near comfortable about the whole situation but, maybe I had been over exaggerating and over thinking things.

“So you’ll come in?” James asked hopefully as he squeezed my hands.

“I guess so…” I looked back into his hopeful eyes.

He smirked and before I could realize what was happening, I felt his hands move up to my wrists and he pulled me off the edge of the pool.

I screamed as the water got closer. James had tried to move out of the way but I hadn’t been in the air long enough for him to get to far. I tried to cling to his shoulder during my fall. I’m not sure why. Maybe I thought it would keep me from falling, or I had absentmindedly wanted to dunk him. Either way I dragged him under with me.

The water was cold as I was submerged into it.

I let go of James and swam back up to the surface. He appeared next to me and I smacked him in the shoulder.

He just began laughing hysterically.

I pushed my now soaking we hair out of me face. “What the hell!” I began laughing along with him, even though I still didn’t think that him pulling my into the water had been funny.

“I knew you’d let your stubbornness get the best of you if I didn’t do something about it,” James was still laughing.

I stuck my tongue out at him. He was probably right.

“Woo hoo!” Drew yelled from somewhere behind me. “You got her in!”

I turned around to see him pushing the wet hair out of his eyes.

“You really need a haircut,” I said as I saw him. His hair was literally as long as his eyeballs.

“Don’t tell me how to live my life!” Drew swam closer to me. “I am an independent person!”

“You’re only 16, you’re not independent yet,” I laughed, sinking into the water until only my head and neck were sticking out.

“Close enough,” He splashed the water in my direction.

“Hey!” I turned my face away and held up my hands to try and block it. “Cut it out! There’s a reason that I didn’t want to join in on your splash war, you know.”

The splashing stopped and he laughed.

We swam around for a while and had a few competitions to see who could get to the other side of the pool the fastest. It was a struggle.