i'll post the rest of the character ask questions after this so refresh your libraries when you're done reading ;D ty
oh and this isnt edited so if it isn't too much to ask pls point out typos thanksss and enjoy x
29 | "swimming in jeans"
"Ashton, hey!" It takes me less than a minute to near the hazel haired boy, and as soon as I do, I wrap my arms around his waist and flatten my cheek against his chest; smiling. "I'm glad you could make it."
"It's not like I had anything better to do." His shirt is warm and soft underneath me, and leaning forward, he drapes his arm around my neck and squeezes my bare shoulder, before chuckling quietly, "Sweet house."
Aware that I'm still practically topless, I reluctantly break away from him and watch as he nods appreciatively in the direction of it. Shrugging, I say, "It came with my mom's engagement."
"Not bad," then he nods and points his thumb over his shoulder, "So you remember Michael and his girl, Taylor?"
"Hey," I nod, laughing. "I only just saw them last night."
Michael nods back at me in acknowledgement, and shifts his weight onto his left foot before reaching up and adjusting the backwards snap back on his head.
He's wearing this sleeveless black and red shirt, and for the first time since I've known him, I notice that he has tattoos on his arm. There's three detailed jet black bands with another sort of intricate symbol between them, and surprisingly against his pale skin they make him look impossibly more bad ass. Well, I mean, if only it were easier for me to look past the fact that he was holding a giant, green inflatable pool ring.
I stifle my smile, "Came prepared?"
He nods, "Something like that. So what's up, Annie? We just gonna stand around staring at each other or what?"
And even though Michael makes me quite nervous, with his devious looks and his bad attitude, I can't help but quip back, "Or what."
Lips quirk up in a smirk, and he shakes his head before slipping a finger in Taylor's belt loop and pulling her towards him, "Like he said, you already know me and Taylor..."
Taylor smiles at me, and I have to admit that although she looks really cute in a pair of loose fitting jeans, white high tops and large, heart rimmed sunglasses, she looks out of place besides him.
"Yeah, but who's this?" I pointedly turn to the other girl, who to my surprise is busying herself by carelessly pouring out what's left of a can of grape soda out onto my lawn. I blink, trying not to get annoyed, "Um, hey! Excuse me, I could throw that out for you."
She sighs, disinterested, "I'm not disabled, I'm sure I can manage." Then without taking her eyes off of me she completely tilts the can over and lets the rest of it stream out onto the ground.
When she's done, she holds it out to me; smiling, "All finished."
And just like that, I'm pissed. I have to stop myself from grabbing Michael's floaty and thwacking her upside her head with it. "Wow, really? Are you sure? I mean, you got this far. Why don't you just throw the damn can in the grass while you're at it?" I scoff.
"Well since you asked," but before she can let it go, Taylor steps forward and snatches it from her before rolling her eyes.
"Aw, come on seriously T? I haven't seen a girl fight in so long!" Michael huffs, laughing.
Blue eyes glare at him.
"Annie, this is Chelsea, my cousin. Her mom's at work and I got stuck with her," She explains, "Chelsea here is fourteen ...," Taylor pauses to glance back at her, "and can be a total bitch sometimes."
"Sometimes?" Michael cuts in sarcastically.
Chelsea is blonde, with the same bright blue eyes as Taylor, and she has these incredibly long legs. Jamming her hands in her pocket, she rocks coolly back on her heels, "Why are we here?"
"Because Annie invited us," Ashton clarifies, stepping forward and wrapping an around her shoulder. He glances up at me, "Are we supposed to be going swimming? Or ...,"
I nod, forcing myself to block out the younger girl, "Yeah, come on. The pools back here."
I lead the way around the house to the backyard, and for once I actually don't mind the fact that we moved. Let's just say, Andrew's own in-ground pool gives a way better impression than the one everyone had to share in our old apartment complex in New Jersey. The water is a clean and sparkling blue underneath the bright gleam of the sun and I turn back to glance at everyone behind me, "So, I'll run in get towels and yeah, the pools there when you're ready."
That's all the needs to be said before there's loud splashing erupting around me. Laughing, I watch as Michael and Ashton emerge from the water; all smiles and wet hair. They're still wearing the same clothes they came with and I raise an eyebrow,
"Are you guys seriously swimming with jeans on?" I call out.
"No one felt like looking for bathing suits," Michael laughs, then he dives back underwater and out of my view. Ashton laughs, shrugging, "Hope you don't mind."
"Nope, it's fine."
Besides me, Taylor is hopping on one foot, trying to get her jeans off, her shirt discarded on the ground, and Chelsea is walking away from us. I watch as she makes her way over to the fire pit before taking a seat on the couch and leaning back; her eyes closed.
Oh well, less of a problem for me. I call out that I'll be back and then I hurry up the deck and into the backdoor. Quietly walking down the hallway, I peek in the living room where Andrew is fast asleep on the couch. There's no sign on my mom and I rush upstairs. The sooner I can get in and get the towels, the better.
And then I think about it, why the hell didn't everyone just bring their own? Huffing, I push open Luke's bathroom door. To my surprise, or maybe not since it actually is his bathroom, Luke is standing in the mirror, leaned against the sink and running his fingers through his hair.
I pause, "Sorry."
Luke glances at me through the mirror, before rolling his eyes and carrying on with his hair. His fingers grab at the strands and pull them up and then back, away from his forehead. I blink, whatever he's doing, it doesn't look bad. In fact, it looks great like that.
"Annie, what do you need?" He questions, snapping me out of my daze and momentarily stopping to look at me.
"Oh, um --- towels, I need towels." I say.
Luke steps to the side and points to the sink cabinets, "Last drawer on the right."
I mumble a thanks and kneel down besides him, yanking open the drawer. Sure enough, there are a bunch of clean, folded towels and I quickly grab five and stand up.
"What do you need all of those for?" He asks.
"My friends, we're um swimming."
Blue eyes narrow, irritated, "And they didn't bring their own?"
Huffing, I shake my head. "What's the big deal, Luke? It's a towel."
He stares down at me for a second and then turns back to the mirror, continuing on with fluffing his hair, "Whatever, I don't care. Just wash them and put them back when you're done."
I nod, and before I slip out, I have to ask, "Are you gonna keep your hair like that?"
Luke's eyes meet with mine in our reflection, "Why?"
"I don't know, just asking. It looks nice, I guess."
He doesn't say anything, just stares at me, and then after a while I shrug and clutch the towels against my chest, "Well, thanks anyway. I should probably head back down now."
"You do that."
--
I manage to slip out of the house without running into my mom, and I set everything down on the couches by Chelsea. Her eyes blink open to look at me, and I try not to become annoyed with her.
"Do you want some sunscreen?" I ask her.
"Is that a joke?" She snorts, and then seeing how I'm really serious she rolls her eyes and yanks up her shirt sleeve, "Do you see how pale I am? If anything, offer me suntan lotion."
And because she's fourteen and clearly in the middle of some kind of rebellious tween phase, I ignore her rude tone and toss the bottle in her lap, "Well, in the event that you decide that you don't want to get a really bad sunburn, here you go."
I smile at her and as soon as I turn around, I drop it; heading over to the pool. Ashton and Michael are both fighting to fit into the ring together, Taylor cheering them on in the back and I laugh.
Quickly unbuttoning my shorts, I kick out of of my sandals and shimmy them down my legs. When I glance up, Ashton has stopped instead choosing to stare at me instead, and I smile at him. Walking over, I take a seat on the edge of the pool and slowly slide in; my teeth clenching at the feel of the cold water.
"Wow, okay wasn't expecting to be that cold," I laugh, pulling myself down underwater to get used to the chill.
When I come up for air, I lean my head back, swiping my hair away fro my eyes. I can still feel those bright, amber eyes on me, but I swallow nervously and stay by the pool wall, awkwardly treading water to keep from having to approach him. I mean, me and Ashton are friends, but that's it. Well, at least, I think.
"Annie," Michael calls.
I glance up, "Yeah?"
"Try to fit in!" He laughs, waving his arms for me to come near.
"What?" I laugh, leaning forward and swimming closer to them. "It's impossible."
"Hardly, there's room, come on. Get into the tube, girl!"
And then with much enthusiasm from both him and his girlfriend, I disappear underwater and try to force myself up and inside with them. It's quite a struggle, especially because we're in water and I literally have nothing to steady myself on, but after a hell of a lot of laughs, at least six elbow nudges to the head, compliments of Michael himself, and our very own cheerleader Taylor, I manage.
"Oh my God," I laugh, panting as I rest my head against Ashton's arm, "Now that that's all said and done, Michael please explain the purpose of this."
The red haired boy giggles, his eyes squeezing shut and his shoulders slightly lifting for just a second, before he shrugs and glances back at me, "I wanted to make a sandwich."
We all laugh. "I wanna be in the sandwich!" Taylor announces.
"Yeah babe, come on. You could be like the toothpick they sometimes put in them." Michael cackles.
It's not funny, but it is and I turn towards Ashton and silently laugh so that Taylor doesn't get offended. Ashton doesn't care though, he cracks up in giggles, clarifying the joke further as if we don't all already get it.
"Wow," she breathes angrily, before turning around and heading to the pool wall, "You are so rude."
"Hey, hey babe! Wait, I'm joking," Michael laughs. "Come back, don't leave me here with these losers." His holds his arms out over the side of the ring, continuously clenching his fingers to motion for her to come to him, "Come here, T."
I look over my shoulder and whisper, "He just called us losers."
"No?" Ashton drawls sarcastically, and with a smile I roll my eyes and turn back around.
"Bet you they start arguing," Ashton whispers against my ear, his lips skimming my cool skin, "It happens all the time."
"Uh uh, look she doesn't even want to go," I laugh, "She just wants him to feel bad."
And I'm right, because as soon as Michael whines that he's sorry, she turns around and swims back over to him, "Asshole."
"I know," Michael laughs, leaning forward to cup her cheeks. He kisses twice right on the mouth,"Your beautiful, you know that."
And just like that everything's back to normal again. I turn around to face Ashton.
This close, I can see the droplets of water that hang from his chestnut colored eyelashes, and I bring my hands up to rest on his shoulders, whispering, "Told you, Ash. No one can resist the tube."
Eyes blink and his lips quirk before his signature dimpled smile is taking up almost half his face. He turns around, "Let's play marco polo. Hey! Chelsea, come play marco polo with us!"
---
Time passes by quickly when your swimming, and after two hours everyone decides that they're ready to get out. Including, Chelsea, who easily agreed to swim with us after not two, but one request from Ashton.
Apparently, after three years of third wheeling together they finally came to terms that they would be cool with each other. His words.
We're all standing on the patio, drying off, and I'm twisting my towel around the ends of my hair when Michael says that he's hungry.
"Oh," I start pointing my thumb over my shoulder at my house, "I have food. I can bring some out and we can eat it out here at the table."
Taylor shakes her head, "Let's just go in."
I can't tell them that I'm not actually supposed to be having company because it's pretty lame, so I rush out a lie, "You can't,"
"Why?" She asks, drying her arms.
"Because," I shrug, "I have a dog. And ... he's huge. Yeah, like Bigfoot huge a-and he'll shred you all to pieces."
They all stare at me, and then after a really awkward minute of silence, Ashton laughs, "You're funny, Annie."
"Real funny," Michael chuckles, and he drapes his towel around his neck and steps around me; with everyone following behind him.
Chelsea looks up at me as she passes, "You're not funny, you're just a really bad liar."
"Oh, shut up," I sigh. She's right.
Michael pulls back the balcony door and in all their sopping wet clothes and incredibly loud voices, the four of them make their way into the house. From where I am, I can still see Andrew sleeping and I literally just want to die.
"Wait, no!" I whisper shout, trying to get them to wait for me, but it's too late.
"Yo, Annie, where's your kitchen?" Michael yells from down the hall, and I can't help but flinch before reluctantly pointing to the left.
It was no use now, they were in here. I just had to hope my mom was in her room. Sighing, I let them continue and I grab a sweater off the coat racket, before tossing it down on the floor and using my toes to mop up all of the wet footprints, "A dog the size of Bigfoot? Nice, Annie."
I hurry into the kitchen, grateful when I don't see my mom anywhere. The boys are hunched over sifting throughout the refrigerator and I will them to hurry and get whatever the hell they want so we can go.
Taylor has made herself comfortable at the kitchen table, and I watch as she carelessly grabs and starts to flip through my mother's bridal binder with wet hands, "What's this? Someone getting married?"
NO! I don't think I've ever walked as fast as I did as I barrel towards the girl, not waiting a beat before snatching it from her, "Don't touch this."
Chelsea raises an eyebrow, and jumps up onto the bar stool, "Chill, Abby."
"It's Ann--", I stop, the sound of the stairs creaking and footsteps coming down the hall.
I brace myself and turn around hoping for Luke, for Andrew, for God. Anyone! But instead it's my mom, and I swear I almost want die at the sight of her. She's cradling a stack of wedding invites in her arms, the house phone cradled in her shoulder, and her eyes are fixated on the boys who are now shuffling throughout my cabinets.
"Mrs. Báringer, something has come up at the moment and unfortunately, I'm gonna need to call you back, ... vous rappellerons," my mother calmly states, "Yes, I know ... but this is urgent. Mm, parler plus tard merci."
Then her eyes turn to me, and she shifts and grabs the phone from her shoulder before pressing the end button, and saying, "Anastasia, wanna tell me what's going on?"
"Not really ... " I admit, bunching my wet hair up over my shoulder. I go for oblivious. Oblivious Annie, is my best, "You wanna tell me what's going on? I didn't know you spoke french!"
Her eyebrows twitch angrily, "Ana-"
But then she's cut of by Michael, "Hey, Annie's sister, can I have these?" He's holding up a box of fruit roll ups in one hand, his other hand still on the knob of the cabinet and he glances back over his shoulder at us.
My mom blinks, "Excuse me?"
"These fruit roll ups," Michael shakes the box, "Can I have them?"
"Those are not mines, they're Luke's," she says, "and in case Anastasia here didn't happen to let you all know, I'm not her sister, I'm her mother."
He doesn't even blink as he rips open the box and takes five out, pocketing one and tossing Taylor, Chelsea and Ashton their own before glancing at me. He nods, signaling for my attention, "Your real name's Anastasia?"
I nod.
Ashton laughs, "Weird." Then he shakes his head and rips open his snack.
"Anastasia, I am still waiting for an explanation." My mother states.
Well, "I thought I'd hang out with my friends, the only friends I have," I shrug, trying to her get to feel bad.
Chelsea laughs, wrapping her fruit roll up around her index, "Wait wait, Abby's sister or mom, whoever you are," she jams her thumb into her chest, "I'm not her friend, I was forced here."
"Were you?" My mom states, in a tone that really means 'I could care less'
"Mmm."
I huff, "Anyway mom, we went swimming and that's all that we were gonna do but then everyone got hungry so I figured we could eat in here."
In her hand the phone rings and I pray it's someone important. One glance, a sigh, and I'm fighting back a smile. Saved by the phone! Or well, wedding planner. Whomever.
"Feed your friends, Annie. A meal, not Luke's snacks," she glances at Micheal who's watching us in amusement and then shakes her head, "and then they have to go."
Answering the phone, she stares at me and then looks at everyone before turning around defeated and heading out. Everyone laughs, and Michael plops down by Taylor, kicking his wet legs up on my table, "You heard the woman, Anastasia. Feed your friends a meal."
---
AN - this update took forever because it's quite long and lately i've been so freaking tired omg. thank goodness my school's winter break starts on Wednesday bc a girl can only take functioning on 4 hours of sleep for so long
but anyway my next fanfic has been decided so thanks to everyone who responded to that and uh yeah. I think that's all ...oh and ofc please vote lol
tell a friend to tell a friend. hope i didn't miss anything o.o love you all and thanks for being interested in this book. everyone has been so supportive lately and that rocks.
& ugh I wasn't gonna do this but one more thing bc lately since i've been getting more reads i've been getting more negative comments. this is a fanfiction. emphasis on the word fiction. everything here is fake. its made up, it's imaginative, and oh and if I forgot it's FAKE. no one here is having real life relations with their stepbrother so please .. chill.