***Kory’s POV***
I waited anxiously until I saw Zeke’s dad pull into our driveway. Zeke got out of the car and his dad pulled out and down the street.
I ran outside and up to Zeke, who had an amused smile on his face. I gripped his shirt and his amusement only grew.
“Why do you look amused? Trace ran away! Call the police! Call the FBI! Call the CIA! Call Inspector Gadget! CALL SOMEONE!” I cried.
Zeke laughed and pulled my hands off of his shirt. “Kory, he didn’t run away. There are three possible places he could be right now, and I think I know which one he’s at,” he said and took my hand in his.
He led me over to the pool house in the backyard and we stepped inside. I looked around but saw no sign of Trace whatsoever.
Zeke sighed. “Yea, he’s here,” he whispered.
“How can you tell?” I whispered back, scanning the room yet again and still finding nothing.
Zeke pointed at a blank spot on the floor. “He pulled the ladder up,” he said simply and walked over to the blank space. I was confused as hell, but I followed him anyways.
“Trace, throw the ladder down,” Zeke called, cupping his hands over his mouth and yelling at the ceiling. I looked up and noticed that there was a hole in the ceiling.
“Go away Zeke,” Trace’s voice floated down roughly.
“Trace, throw the ladder down or I’ll have Kory get one from the garage,” Zeke said stubbornly, glaring up at the ceiling hole.
“Zeke, go away. I want to be alone. Hence pulling the ladder up,” Trace snapped.
“Fine. Kory, go get a ladder out of the garage please,” Zeke said and I started to leave the pool house.
“Fine! Fucking dammit Zeke!” Trace cried furiously and a second later, a rope ladder swung down. Zeke grinned triumphantly and motioned me back over to him.
We climbed up the rope ladder and into the attic of the pool house. Trace was sitting against the wall, his arms wrapped around his knees and a glare on his face.
“What the fuck do you want?” he demanded in annoyance.
“What’s wrong Trace?” Zeke asked in concern.
“Nothing’s wrong! I just wanted to be alone!” Trace cried.
But even I could tell that something was wrong. There was a look in his eyes that could be best described as…well, hurt. Something had really hurt Trace. But it wasn’t physical. Something told me that this wasn’t physical pain.
“Trace, what’s wr-”
His fist shot out and connected with my face before I could even finish speaking. I stumbled away in shock as I felt something warm start to drip from my nose.
“Trace, what the fuck? You didn’t have to do that!” Zeke screamed furiously. I grabbed his arm before he could attack Trace.
“Zeke, stop. It’s okay. He’s just upset. If he doesn’t want to talk, then he can have some time to himself. Let’s go inside. We’re only upsetting him more,” I said gently.
“Why do you hate Kory so much Trace? Huh? Is it because you’re jealous of him? Is that it? If you weren’t such an asshole all the time, you wouldn’t have to be so jealous!” Zeke snapped.
“Just leave with him Zeke. I told you that would happen. I don’t care. Just go,” Trace growled.
“It’s not Kory’s fault your mom left you! Grow up!” Zeke snarled before dragging me down the ladder and out of the pool house. He spun around and hugged me tightly.
“I’m so, so sorry about him Kory! God, your nose,” he said when he had pulled away from me. I brought my hand up and touched right under my nose, pulling my bloodied fingers away and frowning at it.
“Huh. It’s like my nose is on its period,” I said curiously.
“Oh Kory. You’re a special one. Come on; let’s go get you cleaned up,” he said, taking my hand and pulling me into the house. We snuck past Brandon and my mom and went upstairs. I wiped the blood off my face and held a tissue under my nose until it had stopped bleeding.
“Just saying, if he ever touches you again, I’m going to kill him,” Zeke growled as we went into my room and laid down on my bed. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me.
“Aw that’s not nice! Besides, Trace seems kind of hard to kill,” I said and laughed.
Zeke grinned. “You wouldn’t even believe the things that kid is afraid of. He wouldn’t swing with us the other day because he gets motion sick real easily, and he’s afraid of that feeling,” he said and snickered.
“So what’s up with that attic?” I asked curiously.
“It’s Trace’s special place, I guess. His dad set it up for him when he was a little kid and he always goes up there when he’s upset or wants to be alone or something,” he said and shrugged.
I jumped out of his arms and began to bounce. “Zeke, let’s go outside and do something! I’m sick of sitting!” I whined. We had sat and watched movie and now we were sitting on my bed and…ugh! I. Can’t. Sit.
Zeke laughed and jumped up, taking my hand and pulling me downstairs. We went outside and searched around the garage for something to do.
“CHALK!” I screamed and snatched a broken piece of chalk. I raced out to the driveway and sat down, drawing a smiley face. I frowned and stood up. “Bored of that already,” I whined and set the chalk back down in the garage while Zeke watched in amusement.
He grabbed Trace’s soccer ball and grinned. “We can lure him out of the attic,” he said with a wink and I nodded eagerly.
Zeke led me around to the side of the pool house where there was a door where the attic was. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost opened that and fallen right out,” Zeke said, shaking his head.
He pulled the soccer ball back before launching it at the door. It smacked and rebounded off and back into Zeke’s hands. He threw it several more times before Trace opened the door and glared down at the two of us.
“Stop it!” he snapped.
“Make us!” I challenged with a wide grin.
He glared and slammed the door. Zeke began to launch the soccer ball at the door again, the two of us laughing now.
I was violently tackled to the ground a second later. “AH! HELP! I’M BEING RAPED!” I screamed and tried to struggle away.
Trace held me down and glared at me. “Why do you have to be so damn annoying?” he demanded. I pouted.
“Zeke was the one throwing the soccer ball! Go tackle rape him!” I whined.
Still, the weight of his body on mine had me fighting off a blush. It was just so comfortable and right. I couldn’t help but wish he would never get off me. Couldn’t help but wish he would lean his head down a little and press his lips to mi-
ZEKE. ZEKE IS STANDING RIGHT THERE. ZEKE IS MY BOYFRIEND.
Trace got off me and I ignored the sadness and the loss of his comforting weight. Zeke pulled me to my feet and glanced at Trace, raising an eyebrow.
“Now can you apologize to Kory and just come play soccer with us Trace? Please?” he asked, trying not to sound desperate. But I knew it bothered him to see Trace like this. Upset and angry at the both of us for some unknown reason.
“Pass me the ball,” Trace growled. Zeke and I glanced at each other and grinned.
“Come take it from us,” we taunted at the same time and took off running. Trace sighed in annoyance before giving chase to me as Zeke tossed me the ball.
I threw it back to Zeke and hopped the fence surrounding the pool. “Zeke! Throw it over here!” I called and he did. I grinned as Trace tried to hop the fence. Ha! He couldn’t do it! He would never get the soccer ball from m- OH GOD POOL.
Before I really knew what was happening, Trace and I were falling into the pool together, Trace having hopped the fence and slipped while going to take the soccer ball.
We splashed into the pool and swam to the top together, gasping for breath. We glanced at each other and Trace pouted.
“I blame you,” he grumbled.
“Yes, because it’s my fault you tackled me into a pool. Way to get me wet asshole,” I whined and blushed at what I said.
Trace grabbed the ball and bonked it on my head. “Hey!” I whined and rubbed my head with a deep pout. “Jerk,” I grumbled.
We swam to the edge of the pool and I began to climb out as Zeke watched, trying not to laugh at the two of us. I got up and felt myself slipping backwards. Oh yay. Falling in the pool to crack my head open. Yay…
I felt Trace catch me before I crack my head open on the bottom of the pool. He stumbled back a little in the water but managed to keep his hold on me.
“Uh…thanks Trace,” I mumbled in embarrassment.
“Kory, there are stairs to get out of the pool you know,” he said, raising an eyebrow and carrying me over to and up the steps leading out of the pool. He carried me over to Zeke and set me down, making sure I wasn’t going to fall yet again.
“Psh, I totally meant to do that!” I cried and moved to hug Zeke. Zeke stepped back and made a face at me. “You can hug me when you’re dry,” he said and laughed as I pouted.
“Let’s go dry off. I hate being soaking wet,” I said, looking down at my dripping clothes. Trace nodded and we went inside with Zeke.
“What happened to you boys?” mom asked with a deep frown.
I jerked my thumb at Trace and pouted. “He got me wet,” I grumbled and nearly slapped a hand over my mouth. I really needed to stop saying it like that…
We began to move towards the bathroom to get towels, and I slipped yet again on the tile. I began to fall backwards and felt Trace wrap his arms around me to catch me.
“Do you need a walker Kory?” Trace asked in annoyance.
“Um..no…I’m just…testing gravy. And you’re, um, reactions. Yep! Both are perfectly fine!” I said with a smile.
“You do realize you just told me you’re testing gravy, right?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, his arms still around me seeing as I hadn’t made a move to stand back up yet.
My cheeks heated up as I realized that I had said gravy instead of gravity. Trace smirked at me and I coughed and looked away quickly. He helped me back to my feet and left to get us towels.
“Kory, are you alr-”
“I MEANT TO SAY GRAVY, OKAY? SOME PEOPLE JUST REALLY LIKE GRAVY INSTEAD OF GRAVITY!” I cried defensively.
Zeke slapped a hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t laugh as my mom shook her head. “I was just going to ask you if you alright you weirdo!” she cried, rolling her eyes.
“Oh. Well, duh! If I wasn’t alright I would be saying that I wasn’t alright!” I cried in a “duh” voice. Mom sighed and ruffled my wet hair.
“Oh Kory. How did I get you?” she asked miserably.
“Well, you see. When a man sticks his dingaling into a woman’s foxhole, he ejaculates-”
“Kory! Stop! I have a son; I know!” mom said and slapped a hand over my mouth, sighing in annoyance. Zeke couldn’t keep back his laughter anymore and I pouted at them, licking my mom’s hand so she would take it off my mouth.
Trace came back into the room and tossed a towel at me. I wiped my feet first before stripping down to my boxers and wiping the rest of my body off.
I looked over to thank Trace and saw him quickly look away from me, focusing on rubbing his own bare chest. I forced myself not to eye fuck him and moved my sight up to his face. I stopped and stared in confusion. Was he…blushing?
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A.N.- Ohhh Trace! What is that asshole blushing for? ;)