Pepped Up by Ali Dean Page B

Before he can join us, I hear Jace volunteer, “I’ll play.” He kicks off his flip-flops and walks straight to the edge of the pool to dive in. Madeline is left standing alone and she doesn’t look pleased.
     
                  I feel hands grab my ankles and I can’t help but squeal. His hands slide up my legs to my hips and before I know it I’m soaring through the air. I splash backwards in the deep end, my arms and legs flailing.
     
    “Jace Vernon Wilder!” I scream as soon as I surface. He hates his middle name. I hear Wesley sputter and choke before erupting into laughter behind me.
     
                  I can see Jace’s green eyes blaze from ten feet away. “You’re in big trouble now,” he threatens.
     
    He starts towards me and I duck underwater, trying to swim away from him. I don’t make it far before I feel strong hands wrap around my hips and launch me into the air again.  There’s not much I can do to retaliate, besides call him by his middle name. When we were younger, I used to pants him down to his underwear when he annoyed me, but I’m not sure how well that would work as a humiliation tactic these days. I’d probably end up more embarrassed than he would. Not to mention, we’re in a pool, and he’s not wearing underwear.
     
                  Jace grins at me and, as usual, I melt a little. “Truce?” he asks.
     
    I cross my arms defiantly. “It’s not like I have a choice. I can’t exactly toss you in the air.”
     
    He swims back over to me. “Yeah, but you can call me by my middle name and you know how much that pisses me off,” he tells me as he adjusts my bathing suit strap. “As soon as I turn eighteen I’m changing it.”
     
    “What are you going to change it to?”
     
    “I haven’t decided yet. Got any ideas?” My eyes can’t help but rest on his chest, where his muscles flex each time he moves in the water. The sun glistens off his wet skin and I follow a drop of water from his shoulder down past his nipple and over the defined ridges of his six-pack.
     
    “I’m all wet now!” Zoe interrupts after dunking her head under water. “Let’s play!”
     
    The game goes on for a while, and everyone else at the party wants to get in on it once they see how much fun we’re having. We rotate teams, letting the winner stay on. Of course, with Jace as my teammate, we never lose. 
     
    “Damn, Pepper. I knew you were a good runner, but maybe you should pick up basketball too,” Forbes tells me after we beat him and Serena for the second time.
     
    “It’s all Jace,” I insist.
     
    “No it’s not.” Jace throws his arm around me. “I’m pretty sure you’ve been sinking just as many hoops. Let’s call it though, I’m hungry.” Before I know it, Jace has dropped under the water and lifted me onto his shoulders.
     
    With his head between my legs, I can’t help but feel like maybe, just maybe, this was a flirtatious move. But I flash back to the big brother talk we had just weeks ago, and the conversation I heard in the locker room, and give myself a mental head slap. I want to run my hands through his hair, but I place them on his strong shoulders instead.
     
    I see Wesley making his way over to the porch, where two tough-looking guys are walking towards the pool area. Wesley glances nervously at Jace, who lowers himself down in the water and gently moves my legs off his shoulders. He turns to look at me and puts his hands on my own shoulders.
     
    “Bunny expecting you for dinner?” he asks.
     
    “No, I told her I didn’t know when we’d be home. She told me to call whenever we’re ready.”
     
    “We’re grilling burgers here. If you want to stay, I can give you and Zoe a ride home later.” His hands are rubbing up and down my arms and it feels so nice. I just want to take one step closer and lean into his chest. But I don’t.
     
    “Yeah. That’d be great.” I try to sound casual but my heart is beating