“He’s so good-looking, but he is a total ass.” Maggie plopped down on my bed.
“I have to say, it’s been weird in general having other people in the house. It’s been only my dad and me for five years.” I sighed as I sat next to Maggie on the bed, grateful to have someone to talk to about them living here.
Maggie grabbed my hand and said, “Hey, you’re going to be super busy with school soon anyway. It’s a good thing your dad found Debbie.”
“You’re right.” Her observation made me feel better. Worry over my dad being lonely when I would leave had plagued my mind until Debbie waltzed into his life.
“So, are you excited to start school?” Maggie asked, clambering up from the bed to toy with random things on my desk.
“Definitely. What about you?” Maggie and I would be in the same program, which was a relief. We had gone to school together for so long that anything different seemed impossible. Sharing the daunting prospect of beginning college, of taking the step closer to adulthood, would be easier with my friend by my side.
“Totally. Mostly for the cute college boys,” Maggie said with a laugh. We chatted for another hour and then decided we wanted to swim, so I tossed her a bikini and quickly changed into mine. We headed downstairs and out into the backyard. We had a pool and a large patio which held a table and some chairs and a lot of potted plants of all shapes and colors. We threw our towels on the chair and sat near the edge of the pool, dipping our feet in the cool water.
The glass door opened behind us, and Blake walked outside. He looked at us with a grin. “Sweet pool you got here, kid,” he said, looking around the backyard.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess.”
Blake was dressed in basketball shorts and a t-shirt, and he stopped near where we sat at the edge of the pool. He slid his shirt off and tossed it to the side.
“What’re you doing?” I asked, pretending not to notice his lean, chiseled body.
He shrugged. “I’m going swimming, dummy.” He jumped, landing explosively in the water, and the backsplash soaked Maggie and me.
She laughed, slid into the water, and looked up at me with a wide grin. “C’mon in, Alyssa!” she cried, grabbing my arm as I pulled away with a giggle.
Blake swam over, his eyes on me, a hungry gleam in them. My smile slowly disappeared as he neared. Reaching up, he grabbed for my arm, and I yelled, “No!” But it was too late. His strong grip tightened around my wrist and he yanked hard, pulling me in. The water rushed up around me, cold and unforgiving. I shot up, gasping for air as I reached the surface. Maggie and Blake laughed as I pulled the wet, matted hair out of my face.
“You guys suck,” I mumbled, pouting as I stood in the water that was deeper than my waist. Annoyed, I splashed them. The playfulness turned into a full-on splash war, and we goofed around and laughed for almost twenty minutes. Finally, we got out of the pool, and Maggie and I dried ourselves off before going inside. I tossed my towel at Blake as we left because he was still dripping wet on the patio.
Maggie and I headed to the kitchen to make sandwiches. As I pulled ingredients from the fridge, Maggie said, “That was fun.”
I nodded. “Yeah, it was.” I heard the faint trace of surprise in my own words.
Maggie sat down at the table and began to make her sandwich. Without looking up, she said, “Maybe it won’t be so bad having them here.”
I smiled, thinking Maggie might be right. “Yeah, maybe.”
Blake
I headed upstairs to my new room, tense after the excursion in the pool. Alyssa looked incredible, her body irresistible in that bikini. I had no idea how difficult it was going to be living with her when she was such a forbidden temptation.
I laid down on the bed, willing myself not to think about her. Insanely, I felt drawn to her pale skin, soft brown hair, and baby-blue eyes. I wanted to know more about her, but trying was a crazy idea that would get me nowhere. She had set opinions of me, and we were much too different anyway. Alyssa was so much more real than the girls I had always dated. That was part of being a football star—keeping up appearances and protecting your reputation.
It didn’t help that my mother married her father, either. That made it ten times more wrong…and ten times more tempting. I shook my head and dressed, deciding to go out for a while before the party I had been invited to later. Some of the guys from high school were throwing an end of the year bash before we left for college.