I let her have her pick because despite what I said earlier, I would make a great aunt to their beautiful babies. Tails or no tails. We fill up sixteen balloons because I know we won’t get more than two seconds to pull off our prank. And then two confetti cannons.
“Hey, Grandma, want to help?” I ask on the way to the deck above the pool.
She stands, wavering somewhat, but heads for the door like a woman on a mission. “I get Sean. He keeps prank-calling me. That little sissy.”
Dad joins too, and then we are in line. Mom is stationed across the pool “checking the flowers” and with one little thumbs-up, we let our balloons fly. My first one drops on Grant’s head and the second one just beside his phone on the deck.
Four guys jump up in unison, each covered in green paint and turn their heads upward, just as we release the next round of balloons. Mine splatters at their feet this time, but Grant is gone.
Oh no.Time to retreat.
I turn to run, but he’s already halfway up the deck stairs. I dart for the door inside, but he meets me there.
“Don’t do it.” I brandish the confetti cannon in front of me, daring him not to come any closer.
His steps are slow, but he doesn’t stop. I know that hungry look in his eyes well. And every time I see it, I wish it involved something other than revenge. “Come on Len, give in and it will be easier.”
“Never.” I shoot the cannon at him and sprint inside. I only make it three steps before his arms close around my waist and I’m being hoisted in the air. I should scream and make him put me down, but he’s holding me, touching me. And now my problems are more apparent than ever. I only do this for his attention, because this is the only way I can get it.
“Put me down,” I say, half-heartedly, because I know how this ends. With me being thrown into the pool. “I hate water.”
“I know you don’t,” he says, almost to the bottom of the stairs, now.
That’s true. I love the water and I’m usually in the pool all summer, but I actually did my hair today.
“Don’t do this.” I try to grip his back, but there’s no extra skin to grab because he’s ripped and covered in paint and why is that so hot?
“Sorry, Len. You know the rules.”
And then I’m in the water. I know the rules. I mess with Grant, he gets me back. And yes, I secretly love it, but I still come up spluttering.
“Gah!” I look up shivering to see Grant’s glorious grin. What I wouldn’t do to always keep that smile on his face.
Water hits me from every side as Grant and my brothers jump into the pool beside me, and soon the water has a greenish tint to it.
Grant comes up next to me, shaking out his short hair, and then looks at me.
“I don’t know why you keep trying. You'll never win.” Grant says.
Gosh, I’ve asked myself that same question so many times over the last eight years. How many balloons do I have to drop on his head to get him to see that I don’t want to win anything but him?
“I will,” I say, more to convince myself than him.
“Just not today.” He says and scoops me up and throws me over his shoulder into the water.
I come up and immediately attack him. Tugging on his torso and climbing up his back, but it’s like trying to move a mountain. Impossible without dynamite.
“What are you trying to do here?” he chuckles as I cling to his arm.
“Drown you.”
“Oh.” He nods. “Well, why didn’t you say so?” He spins and puts his hands on my waist, pulling me beneath the water with him.
When we were younger, we’d have contests to see who could hold their breath the longest and now we’re doing it again. Except, he never held me around the waist like this. And he never looked at me like that when we were young.
The rest of the world is somewhere above the water, but they don’t matter when Grant's hands are around me.
He seems to realize this at the same time I do and he shoots to the surface, losing our game. Wewereplaying a game. Weren’t we?
