Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:49:10 -0400 From: J. B. August Subject: Impact: Chapter 5- The Saucy Pool Boy Here it is. The long awaited 5th chapter. Tyler and Shaye have been giving me a lot of trouble. I found it more difficult to write this chapter because it kept changing. As I have often told the people who ask me. My character's write themselves. I am just the one who gets the privilege of putting it all down on paper. This also means that they are on their own time, and rushing it would have only brought forth a sub-par chapter. As it is now, I STILL haven't managed to get through the day. I think you guys will really like this chapter though, maybe even more than the last one. Within every relationship, especially new and budding ones, there will always be bumps in the road. I think this chapter contains one of these first little bumps. I'll let you guys read to figure out what I mean though, and how the both of them handle it. I want to thank my editor once more, who wishes to remain unnamed. He is really great and is really helping the process along. It's nice sometimes to have someone else's eyes reading my story. It keeps things balanced, and it keeps me from making too many glaring mistakes. As I said before, I REALLY enjoy when people take the time to write responses to my story. Especially those responses which are both thought provoking and kind. I do respond to everyone, so if you feel the urge, go ahead and write me. For those of you wondering, for I have had many inquiries, I am a couple years older than Shaye. Fun Fact: Both Tyler and Shaye have different last names from their mothers. Tyler's full name is Tyler Joseph Landrum, and Shaye's full name is Shaye Michael Cahill. I also have full names for everyone already mentioned in the story and for several others who haven't been introduced yet J Impact: Chapter 5- The Saucy Pool Boy I reached my bathroom in record time, pausing only to bolt the door shut behind me. I could feel my whole body shaking. Wave after wave of nervous energy coursed through my veins, enlivening me, engulfing me. It was like having the jitters from sitting inside all day, but like ten times worse. It wasn't an entirely unpleasant feeling, but it bothered me that I didn't feel in control of my own body. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get my hands to stop shaking. I reached under the faucet and splashed a palm full of cold water onto my face. The icey liquid nipped my skin as if I had been stung by a bee, but it did little to slow my mind down. This kid was playing games with my emotions, and he didn't even have a clue. Or did he? Did he know what he was doing? He couldn't possibly be intentionally leading me on, could he? Being with Tyler was like riding a roller coaster blindfolded. You might enjoy most of it, but the part that makes you the most nervous is that you never know where the next turn or dip might be. He was just full of surprises. I splashed another handful of cool water at my face managing instead to spill the majority of it down my chest this time. The fabric of my shirt absorbed the majority of the spill, the sensation of slowly spreading fluid across my upper body causing an involuntary set of shivers to travel down my spine. I felt weak kneed. I felt like things were quickly spinning out of control. I leaned against the sink for support and peered into the mirror. I looked a mess. My hair was sticking up in every direction and my face was flushed bright red. Whether it had come about from all the excitement or cold water, I couldn't say. I dabbed some water on my hair in the places it was sticking up. It was my feeble attempt at maintaining some order in my life. I was bothered. I was annoyed. It had all seemed too real. It *had* all been real - to me, anyway. Tyler might be a damn good actor, but I was definitely not acting. Maybe it had all just seemed real because I had wanted it to be. Yeah, that must have been it. But that just didn't make any sense. I had seen the look in his eyes; I had felt the excitement in his body as we moved closer together. I had heard the moan of ecstasy that escaped his lips. How could someone so young fake something like that? Since the moment I had first hit puberty at 12, I had been having fantasies about other boys where almost exactly that situation would happen. I realized now that no matter how many scenarios I had dreamt up, no matter how many times I had lived them out in my dream world, I had never once really expected to be so close to another boy. Close enough to feel his breath on my neck, close enough to kiss him on the lips without a second thought, close enough to. . . My train of thought was interrupted quite unexpectedly by a shockingly vivid memory of my first kiss, which had been with a girl named Lyla in 7th grade. It was just after school had let out one day, and she had been the one to initiate the kiss. I hadn't even seen it coming. It was a moment of bliss and magic for her; she had moaned in just the same way Tyler had. For me, it had marked the very first time in my life when I knew for sure I wasn't interested in girls. I noticed the faucet was still running, so I turned the tap off so as not to waste any more water. I couldn't focus. I couldn't even think straight. If someone had asked me at that moment how I felt, it would have been impossible for me to explain what was going through my head. I couldn't think of a single word that would even begin to describe it. I felt guilty for what I had done, or rather, for what I would have done had he not stopped me at just that moment. I was angry at myself for losing control; for not being able to hold myself together under pressure. I was hurt by what Tyler had done to me; for what he was putting me through, however unintentional it might be. I wasn't angry with him, but it still stung terribly that he would trick me like that. I knew it wasn't his fault. I knew I shouldn't dwell over what had happened, but that didn't help. How could he have known the effect that he would have had on me? Most boys his age - or even my age, for that matter - would have laughed along with him at the joke. They would have pulled away and told him he was being gross. They would have shrugged it off as if nothing happened. I couldn't do that. I couldn't forget. It was stupid, and I knew it. Tyler already had me wrapped around his little finger, and I had known him for what? 24 hours? It no longer mattered that we had just met; he had crumbled most of my defenses without even trying. I was weak. I was pathetic. Most of all, I was glad he didn't realize the power he was wielding over me. If I wanted to make it through the day though, I had to put it to the back of my mind for now. I just had to. I had to suppress it until I could mull it over some more and try to figure out how he had managed to get past my defenses so easily. Tyler was downstairs waiting for me to come back, and he was probably wondering what was taking me so long. I needed to get back down there. No, I wanted to get back down there. Despite everything that had happened today, or perhaps because of it, I felt an insatiable need to see him again. Not to touch him - I would have to be careful about touching him, or I'd risk losing control again. Something was missing - something had been missing for a long time now, and I was pretty certain that something was Tyler. I had it bad, and I knew it. My crush was quickly becoming an unhealthy obsession. It was anything but unhealthy for him. I was pretty certain I would do anything to make him happy or to keep him safe. It very well could be unhealthy for me though for just that reason; I was pretty certain I would do ANYTHING. I slipped my shorts off and put on my bathing suit, which had been hanging in the bathroom since its last use earlier that week. I needed to get everything under control. Thankfully, my sex drive had dissipated slightly with all the heavy thinking, so at very least I no longer carried with me the weight of yet another problem. I slipped off my shirt as well, which was now soaked in the front from the water I had mistakenly splashed onto it. I took one more deep breath, and then opened the door back into my room with the feeling that I had at least managed to push everything into the back of my mind for now. The few minutes alone had done me some good as I had known it would. I could face Tyler again without doing anything completely stupid. At least I thought I could. Unless he pulled another stunt like he had a few minutes ago. In that case, all bets were off. I shivered involuntarily at the thought, both in fear and in ecstasy. What I wouldn't give to be that close to him again, even if it wasn't for real, even if Tyler didn't have any feelings like that for me. I just wanted to feel him pressed up against me, to cuddle with him, to feel his lips on mine... NO, I couldn't think like that right now! Not with Tyler just downst- "What's got your panties in a bunch?" Tyler asked from somewhere inside my room. I know I jumped a good foot in the air. Not even the scare I'd had in Tyler's room the other day with the snake could rival the shock I felt right then. My eyes must have been wider than silver dollars, and I was pretty certain that if I didn't make myself inhale soon, I would suffocate from lack of oxygen. Tyler was lying on my bed in nothing but a pair of bright white boxers. WHITE BOXERS! Was he trying to seduce me? Was he trying to make me forget the promise I had just made to myself in the bathroom not to lose my cool again? Seriously, white boxers? Was he trying to *kill* me?! Everyone knew that white clothing and water don't exactly mix well, didn't they? He had to have done it on purpose. He just had to! No. . . it wasn't on purpose, I just wanted it to be. He was just a kid hanging out with another kid of the same gender. Of course he didn't care what color his boxers were or if they might be see-through once submerged in water. Plus, he hadn't planned on wearing them into the pool in the first place, had he? He had just forgotten to grab his bathing suit and had opted for the easiest route. I gulped in an attempt to tame the lump in my throat. Unfortunately, my throat was so dry it hurt to swallow. At the same time, I was doing my best to keep down the noise of my breathing, but my chest was heaving so much that each breath sounded to me like a hurricane in the silence. Each beat of my heart sounded like the alarm clock that Tyler was now lying next to. IN MY BED! It was a constant struggle for me now, trying to fight back the thousand new fantasies that had suddenly forced their way into my head, and Tyler wasn't helping matters much. He seemed perfectly at home in my bed. His arms were crossed behind his head, revealing his two perfectly hairless arm pits. I marveled at the flawlessness of his body. His cute button nose with just a couple of freckles on top, his flawless complexion, his two cute pink nipples which pointed out slightly in the crisply conditioned air of the house. For the first time, I was grateful for my mom's obsession with keeping the house cold. Tyler's boxers clung to his body, perfectly outlining the small bulge against his waifish form. I couldn't see much, but what I could see sent my imagination into hyperdrive. His flat tummy moved gently in and out with every breath. I wanted so badly to run my hand across that expanse of skin, to run my fingers across the smoothness of his chest, his arms, his legs. If he objected to that, then I would have been just as content to simply lie there with him on the bed and cuddle for hours. I wet my lips with the tip of my tongue, trying to ease the dry and cracked feeling which had somehow already spread from my throat. I turned from the fantasy vision in front of me before he could find any more ammunition to use against me. I knew how observant he was, and if he hadn't seen me goggling at him already, he soon would if I didn't turn away. There was also the fact that I was again being visited by an all too familiar sensation just below the waistline of my bathing suit. "Make yourself at home, why dontcha?" I chided while at the same time franticly looking through my shirt drawer for a t-shirt long enough to cover the area between my waist and thighs. I found the one I wanted and slipped it over my head. I managed to breathe a little easier now that I was no longer looking at him; that, and with a shirt on I now felt at least a little more protected from prying eyes. I gathered my courage and turned back around to face him. Even though I knew what to expect this time; even though I knew how cute he looked lying like that on my bed, it all did little to lessen the immediate impact he had on me. I was hopelessly enamored. Tyler giggled as he turned on his side and rested on one elbow to address me better. "Your shirt's on backwards, dork" he said, pointing to the long white t-shirt I now wore. Sure enough, I could feel the tag poking at the front of my neck. I blushed involuntarily. My chest hurt with overflowing emotion; it hurt from taking so many deep breaths that all somehow failed to get me enough oxygen. I turned the shirt around by pulling my arms in and spinning the shirt around. Tyler watched intently, not speaking until I was done. "Hey Shaye, I like your clock," Tyler announced with more than a hint of sarcasm as he turned on his side and pointed to the Power Rangers clock. "You can have it if you want!" I heard mouth say before my brain could stop it. Tyler gave me a funny look like he was trying to decide if I was serious. Despite my surprise at what I had just offered, I realized that I *was* serious. If he wanted the clock, it was his. I knew that he was joking, or at least I was pretty certain he was, but that didn't change the fact that anything he asked me for would have been his, no matter what it was. This prospect scared me greatly. The boy didn't respond, so I just kind of stood there, waiting for something to happen. I let my eyes wander over the beautiful creature in front of me, once again thanking my lucky stars. My eyes trailed the length of his body starting with his perfectly featured face and moving downwards. The top of his boxers rested just below the tan line around his waist. The contrast was striking. I wondered again how he had already gotten such a good tan this early in the summer. It took little time for my eyes to find their way down to the point just below his tan line. For the first time I noticed his cute little bubble butt. Two perfectly molded round orbs just the right size for my hands to grab onto and... I felt myself getting a little too excited again, so I turned away purposefully and shuffled through my clothing drawer as if I was looking for something. I *was* looking for something, but I didn't think I'd find it. I was looking for the sanity that I had somehow managed to lose in the last twenty minutes. Tyler giggled again. I wanted to look. I wanted to turn and see the angel behind me once more. I struggled to keep myself in check, but even if I couldn't see Tyler now directly, my mind had no trouble creating a few images of its own. "Oh yeah! I just `membered," he piped up suddenly. "You know the water you were boiling? Well, it was kinda exploding all over the place like a volcano or something." He said it with such calm assuredness, as if he was telling me about how he had just found a cool rock outside or something. I wasn't quite so calm. "Shit, Shit, SHIT!!" Mom would going to kill me if she found out I left a pot of boiling water on the stove unattended! I was already halfway out the door of my room when I heard Tyler call after me. "It's okay, I already took it off the stove," he said mildly. If he was trying to hide the amusement in his voice, he wasn't doing a very good job of it. At least he didn't laugh at me again. I slowed my pace and then managed to come to a stop in the hallway just outside my room. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten about the pasta. Well, that wasn't entirely true. I *could* believe it, and I knew exactly *why*. I was glad Tyler had been there to take it off the stove. I was even gladder that he hadn't burnt himself in the process. I didn't know what I would have done if he had. Tyler joined me a moment later, smiling broadly up at me. I had a strong urge to flick the end of his nose just to take that grin off his face. Well either that, or else to kiss him right smack on the lips for being so damned cute. "What's that smile for?" I asked as I turned away to start down the stairs. I did my best to hide my own smile. No need to encourage the little devil. "Nuuuthin!" he responded unhelpfully, his grin growing ever larger. Now I truly was curious, what was he so happy about? "Don't make me tickle you again," I said playfully. I had no intention of tickling him again of course; I couldn't risk it, but he didn't know that. "Fiiiiine," he whined with an exaggerated sigh. "I just think your funny is all." "Funny?" I asked. That wasn't exactly the response I had expected. "Why am I funny?" "Oh, did I say you're funny?" he countered. His grin was now so large I could practically count every tooth in his mouth. "Sorry, I meant to say you're funny-looking!" Before I could even begin to react, He pushed passed me, threw open the back door and rushed outside. "CANNONBALL!" the boy screamed as he catapulted himself into the water. The glassy surface broke into a thousand ripples as his small frame plunged all the way to the bottom of the pool. The resulting splash doused two of the poolside chairs, and from where I stood on the porch, I was pretty certain I could even see a few streams of water slowly descending a few of the boards on the tall wooden fence. I smiled and shook my head as I went to check on the spaghetti. I had to admit, that was a pretty impressive splash, even for someone my size. When I came outside several minutes later with two plates of spaghetti in my hands, the top half of Tyler's body was floating above the water inside a large black innertube. I couldn't see his bottom half, thankfully. If I had, I didn't think I could have held on to those plates. The top half was enough of a sight to behold. The light sparkling off every droplet of water on his body; his hair, darkened by the water, sticking to his forehead and neck in big, loose curls...it was like watching a young Ganymede. Who was I kidding? He wasn't *like* Ganymede; he *was* Ganymede. He was perfection in boy form. He spotted me as I came around to the pool steps and began to leisurely drift in my direction. Combined with the reflection of blue pool water, his eyes looked like something out of a science fiction book. They glowed with an unearthly radiance that set my heart beating a mile a minute...again. "Can I eat in the pool?" he asked, giving me a cute little pout and batting his eyelashes. I wasn't supposed to eat in the pool and I rarely did because if mom ever caught me, she would freak. Even as I contemplated saying no, I knew it was useless. How could I deny that face? "Well," I sighed, still not entirely certain I was making the right choice. "If you swear to me you won't spill any!" I said seriously. "I mean it! Can you manage that?" Instead of answering me, Tyler slipped out of the tube and fell into the water, only to pop up right in front of me a moment later. As he emerged to his full height in front of me, the water came just short of covering his belly button. "Can I just sit on the stairs and eat it then?" he asked and batted his eyelashes again. ""I won't spill it, I promise! I just don't wanna get out of the water. It's really nice. You should eat in here with me, too!" he added and splashed a little water my way. I dodged his assault but almost dropped one of the plates in the process. Tyler sniggered at me again. "Oh, shuddup and eat your noodles!" I said as I shoved one of the plates his way. He grabbed it and began to hungrily consume the food long before I had even managed sit down on the side of the pool and get settled. I let my feet dangle in the water. He was right, it did feel great. It was just the right temperature. "This is deeeeeelicious!" Tyler announced a few bites in. He looked up at me and presented that winning smile of his. The right side of his face was already covered in a thick layer of spaghetti sauce, which made me laugh and shake my head. He was a cutie, but that didn't change the fact that if he spilled his plate, I would be the one who had to clean the pool. I shrugged my shoulders. "It's okay, I guess," I teased him. "I think I might have to hire a new chef next time, though. The sauce is too lumpy. " I brought my hand to my face, mimicking as if I had sauce on me. He got the hint and used his free hand to wipe the sauce away. "*I* didn't make the sauce! *You* did!" he accused pointing a finger my way. I played at being shocked, which made Tyler chuckle. "Me?" I asked, as if I had no Idea what he was talking about. "Well if that's the case, then I guess some congratulations are in order! The noodles are great!" "I made those!" he said proudly. "I'm a pretty good cook, aren't I?" "Mmmhhmmm" I replied. I was trying not to laugh through a mouth full of tomato sauce and noodles. I didn't think it was necessary to mention that it was pretty much impossible to mess up noodles, although now that I thought about it, I had almost managed to do exactly that. He was very proud of his accomplishment though, and I was proud of him. "You know," I proposed nonchalantly, "if you liked cooking this time, I could teach you how to cook some more stuff. I bet your mom would be really impressed if you cooked her something nice." "Yeah! Could we?" he asked. The fork in his right hand flew up in excitement. Llittle specks of sauce soaring through the air and landing on the surface of the water where they then expanded into little greasy red pools. Unfortunately, his other hand went up as well, just a little too quickly. What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion. The plate slipped from his fingers and careened into the water with a loud splash. I closed my eyes. I didn't need to see the results; I could imagine it all too well. "Shit!" Tyler yelped. It was the first time I'd heard him swear. It sounded wrong on his lips, as if I were hearing something sacrilegious. I knew it had to be bad. I didn't want to look, but I had to, so I squinted one eye open. It was every bit as terrible as I thought it might be. The water around Tyler was a hodgepodge of noodles, large tomatoe chunks and thinly sliced red onions. A crimson cloud had already started to form around the area where the plate had been dropped. I watched as the cloudy wisps of sauce stretched closer and closer to me. There were strings of spaghetti noodles everywhere. Like large flesh-colored worms, they appeared to squiggle their way through the water. Most of them still seemed to be afloat, but many more had already begun to sink into the mucky water. I did a quick search for the glass dish that I knew was somewhere in those muddied depths, but I couldn't locate it anywhere. It had already been swallowed by the red blob that was now threatening to devour the rest of the pool. My eyes wandered up from the bloody-looking pool to the boy sitting in it. If I hadn't known better, I might have thought Tyler was bleeding. Even though I did know better, I still felt a strong urge to make sure he wasn't hurt. He hadn't moved an inch except to turn his horror-stricken face in my direction. It didn't take a mind reader to know that he was waiting to see how I would react. I watched him as he watched me, appraising my every move. Every time I tried to find the right words to say, they would get stuck somewhere between my mind and my vocal cords and no sound would come out. When I was finally able to say something, it was probably the worst thing I could have said. "You promised you wouldn't spill it!" I scolded him. "Goddammit, Tyler!" My anger pulsated with every venomous word. The words came out of my mouth of their own volition. I couldn't have stopped them if I had tried. It was the only way my brain could deal with what I was seeing. There were a million other things I could have said that would have been more tactful, or at least less harsh. But I was acting on shock and instinctive anger, and I was entirely too riled up for elegantly spoken soliloquies. I wasn't even angry at Tyler. I couldn't have been angry at him. It wasn't his fault; it was mine. I was furious at myself for letting him eat in the pool in the first place. I had known it was a bad idea from the start. I had known that this might happen, but I had ignored my best judgment in return for the Tyler's happiness. When I saw Tyler's reaction to my outburst, the fury instantly drained out of me. It was as if I had just been allowed to see the situation for the first time. A painful surge of guilt shot through my entire body like a bolt of electricity. Tyler looked utterly devastated. His little body was slumped over in the water, and his eyes were already beginning to fill with salty tears. His chin quivered as he tried to suppress a cry. Whatever anger I had about the situation lost all importance. The pool could be cleaned. It might be a pain in the ass, and I might get royally chewed out by my mother, but it could be cleaned. On the other hand, if I didn't do something quickly, I might never be able to repair the damage I had inflicted on Tyler. I slipped into the water, leaving my own pasta plate a safe distance from the pool's edge. No need to add to the disaster. "Tyler," I pleaded. "I. . ." He didn't so much as nod his head in recognition. I took a measured step closer. The red tide of sauce enveloped my body, growing ever larger as I waded through it to get closer to the boy. I could feel the noodles sliding past my body, and I was reminded again of a thousand flesh-colored worms. I could see clinging to my limbs; I could feel the sickening sensation as the ones already on the bottom of the pool squished beneath my toes. My foot made contact with something hard and round as I took another step. At least the plate was still in one piece. I gently placed my hand on one of Tyler's small shoulders only to have him recoil back from my touch as if I had struck him. He tilted his head up just enough so that I could see his eyes; so that I could see the two narrow lines of salty water pouring down the length of his cheeks. I watched in horror as tear after tear fell from his trembling chin to join the fragmented remains of his lunch. Holy shit! I had caused this, I hadmade him cry! What kind of terrible person was I? "I'm really, REALLY sorry, Shaye," he begged as he looked down again into the eerily suspended scarlet haze of noodles. He was breaking my heart. I couldn't stand it, not for another moment. I wrapped my hand around his waist and laid it tenderly on the small of his back, gently pulling him closer to me. He didn't resist as I had been afraid he would. His eyes were turned downwards like a puppy might do after he knew he had done something wrong. I took my other hand and gently raised his chin until he was looking me in the eyes. Those eyes! I was more likely to drown in them than I was to ever drown in this pool! "I'm sooo sorry! " he apologized again, his eyes red and his colored cheeks streaked with lines of tears. I hugged him to me, doing my best to comfort him. He fell into the embrace without question, but his tears were now falling more heavily than ever. He squeezed me tight, pressing his wet body firmly into my chest. This was getting out of hand. How could I stop this? How could I communicate how sorry *I* was? "Hey. . .Tyler. . . buddy," I said in the softest, most compassionate voice I could muster, "It's ok. . . really. I should be the one apologizing." I could feel my own tears starting to build. I was the biggest asshole on the planet. How could I hurt him like this? "But *sniff* you made me promise *sniff* not to spill it *sniff* and then I did!" he cried into my chest. Sobs of sadness wracked his entire body as he began to shiver. I stroked his back gently and slipped down a little farther into the water so that I was on his level and could look him in the eye. "Tyler," I almost whispered. "Tyler...please look at me." He was so saddened by what had happened. I hated myself. I hated what I was. I hated what I was capable of, and I hated what I had done. I was a monster. Nothing happened for several seconds. I didn't think he was going to look up. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Tyler took a deep breath to steady himself and then looked up at my face. I loved those eyes. They were the kind of eyes you could just stare into for eternity; so bright, so blue. I was full out crying by this time. I didn't know how or when the tears had started to pour, but I did know that I was weeping harder than Tyler. I didn't think I had cried this hard since I had broken my arm in the 5th grade. The expression on Tyler's face was a mix of sorrow and confusion. "Why are *you* crying?" he asked. Thankfully, his sobs were quickly dying down, his sadness being replaced by confusion Despite my tears, I did see the absurdity in the situation. I did realize how strange it must seem to him for me to start crying as well. I let out a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten angry," I managed to say between sniffles. "I know you didn't do it on purpose. I was just angry at myself, not you. Please. . . can you forgive me?" I pleaded. If he was confused before, now his head was really spinning. "What do you mean?" he asked, pulling away from my embrace a little so that we could talk easier. "I spilled it, I should be the one saying sorry! Shouldn't you be mad or something?" I wanted to make him understand, I wanted to show him that it didn't matter. How could I explain to him? How could I tell him how stupid I had been. I slowly moved my hand up to his face, using my thumb to wipe the tears from the corner of his eye. He was a perfect angel. He was perfection itself. I wiped my eyes vigorously while willing the waterworks to stop. Not for the first time today, what I said next surprised even me. It might have sounded corny to anyone listening, but it was how I felt. It was the truth. "What I said. . . I said it without thinking first, you know? And, I hurt you." I said as I skimmed my hands through the wetness and pulled out a few noodles. "That was wrong, and I'm really sorry. You mean more to me than a stupid pool ever could." "You mean it?" he asked hopefully. The slightest hint of a smile crossed his lips. It was a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, and with a little luck, I might even make it out alive. "Of course, buddy," I replied while sniffing back the last of my tears. Without warning, Tyler pounced on me, wrapping his arms around my waist in a death grip of emotion. I hugged him back just as hard. I was thrilled, but slightly dumbfounded. "I thought you hated me," he confided. I could hear the whine in his voice starting up again as he tried to suppress any more tears. I was sure he didn't know it, but it hurt me terribly that he might believe I was ever capable of hating him, especially over something so trivial. "Ty," I whispered softly into his ear, "I promise you, there is nothing you could ever do to make me hate you." He raised his head and eyed me skeptically with that hint of the flair he always seemed to show when he wasn't sure whether or not I was telling the truth. "What if I dumped a whole bucket of food in your pool, would you hate me then?" I thought he might be joking, but he looked so serious, I wasn't absolutely certain. I gave him a teary smile. "You could fill the whole pool with jell-o and I wouldn't think any less of you," I told him. "In fact, I might thank you. I kinda like jello you know!" Tyler giggled at that, his small body bouncing lightly in my arms. I ran the fingers of one hand slowly through his tangled, damp hair while softly stroking his back with the other. We stood that way for several minutes, teenager and boy in each other's arms. I could feel his heartbeat slowing down, pulsing rhythmically against my stomach. He didn't say anything and made no effort to move, so neither did I. He had stopped crying, and I had also managed to get my own tears under control. When he did finally speak, it was little more than a whisper. "Thanks, Shaye," he said. "I like you. . . a lot." He liked me...A LOT? He didn't hate me after all? He liked me, he actually liked me! And he told me as much! He was so freaking cute! I just wanted to hug him to me forever. Screw cleaning the pool. If we never moved from the way we were at that moment, I wouldn't have had a complaint in the world. "I like you too Tyler, I really, really do." I finally responded in a choked voice. He peered up at me with a devilish little grin. "You have a noodle on your shoulder," he said. He giggled, pointing to the wiggly, gooey thing next to my right ear. I brushed it off without looking and smiled with a mixture of relief and happiness. I could already feel the dread of the task ahead taking hold, but I ignored it. It was just a pool, and if we did a good job cleaning it, there was no reason for my mom to ever know. I did a quick scan of the damage. It didn't look as bad as it had at first. The water was already starting to clear. The filter inlet was close to where the plate had gone into the water, and most of the tomato paste had already been pulled into it. We would have to focus our energies primarily on getting the larger tomatoe chunks and the noodles out as fast as we could first. If we didn't work fast, there would be no way to avoid calling the pool service to come clean it out, and then my mom really *would* kill me. It would take some work, but with a little luck, we could have the pool back in working condition in no time. "You ready?" I asked, gesturing at the newly installed forest of noodles on the pool floor. Tyler looked at me, seemingly unsure if I might decide to lash out at him again. I gave him a bright smile and another reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it anymore," I said. "That's behind us, but we have a lot of work ahead of us, okay?" "I'll get the skimmer!" he said suddenly with gusto, jumping out of the pool and rushing over to the pool shed to grab it. I eyed his bubble-like backside as it bounced away and shook my head. It was now absolutely clear to me now, without a doubt, this kid would be the death of me one way or another. I could think of worse ways to die. Two new filters, a lot of skimming, and just under an hour later we were done. Tyler was a huge help and did everything he could to make up for his mistake, and I was happy to have such a good worker at my side. Now, standing over the pool and checking around for any stray tomato bits we might have missed, I could honestly say that the pool looked like it had before the accident. It might have been a tiny bit redder than before, but I figured that was probably just my imagination. Tyler seemed perfectly content to stay at my side, but I nudged him forward playfully. "You wanna go back in?" I asked. He nudged back into me and laughed as he leaned against my body. "I think I'm done with the pool for today!" If you wanna contact me, you can write me at this email address augustartjb@gmail.com or else add me to msn, my msn is jbaugust@live.com Do not try to send a email to the msn account, I do not check it very often.