Moving Forward

Chapter Twenty-Eight

By the time I finish blowing the second inflatable toy up, the crunching of pebbles can be heard as Kyle and Charlotte arrive.

Kyle goes to the barbecue to help Blake while I strip out of my shirt and shorts in favour of jumping into the pool. Charlotte takes off her maxi dress and then quickly follows. She grabs the inflatable unicorn ring and plops herself in it.

We float around for a couple of minutes and then Ben and Axel show up around the same time. Ben goes to great the boys while Axel takes his shirt off and jumps into the pool. Water splashes across the pavement, and the after waves manages to knock Charlotte off her unicorn.

"Axel," she yells when she resurfaces.

"Ops?" He laughs.

Ben takes a run up and then flings himself in the air. Charlotte tries to use the floaty to shield herself from the splash, but it does little to nothing to prevent it.

"Are you done?" she questions. "I'd like to float around on my unicorn."

"Sure." Ben nods.

With a happy smile, Charlotte gets back on the floaty and shakes her wet sunnies off before putting them back on.

A cheeky smile overcomes Ben's face which makes me worried. He takes a deep breath and then easily submerges under the water. I watch as he swims under Charlotte's floaty before shooting upright.

Her arms flail through the air and she falls back into the water. Charlotte surfaces and throws her sunglasses on the grass.

"Kyle," she screams.

I watch as Kyle bites his lip to stop himself from laughing.

"Benny boo, don't be mean to my Char!" he scold.

Ben shoots him a firm death glare before taking Charlotte's unicorn and paddling off with a smug smile. She flicks water in Ben's direction, but it doesn't seem to faze him.

"Whatever, I liked the watermelon one better." With a flick of her wet hair, she paddles over to grab the other floaty from the grass.

Charlotte climbs on and gets comfortable. One of her arms hangs off while she drapes the other one over her face to block the sun.

While Ben spins around on his unicorn floaty, Axel swims over and easily pushes him off. Instead of handing it back to Charlotte, he takes it to himself. He sits on the floaty and pokes his tongue out to the pair of them cheekily.

"Kiss my ass," he yells.

"Gladly." Ben winks.

"Be careful with this one," I teasingly warn Axel. "He's always up to no good."

"Oh, what happened?" Axel curiously asks.

"I can show you," Ben offers with a smug grin.

"Do tell, I am intrigued by your answer."

Ben slowly creeps towards Axel's floaty, then motions for him to come closer. Excitement flairs in Axel's eyes as he leans over the floaty to get closer to Ben. A smile spreads on Ben's face as he hooks his arm around Axel's neck and turns him under the water.

Ben triumphantly claims the floaty and watches Axel flailing under the depths of the water.

When Axel resurfaces, he looks at me and frowns, "You were right."

"See." I laugh.

* * * * *

Blake and Kyle cook the food and put it inside. And then I see Kyle run out of the house and leap into the pool. When he surfaces, Kyle grabs Charlotte's foot and tugs her off the watermelon slice.