Arrogant Ch.4

“Yay! I'm so excited,” we walked back. Once we got back to the condo the sun was all done setting and the parking lot lit up in the porch lights of other condos. The clouds bubbled together and hid the last of the sun at the horizon.

“Hey, Mom we are back!” We walked inside. My mom was still unpacking.

“Did you girls have fun?” she said going to the kitchen and placing a pizza box on the table.

“Yes! So much fun.” Sadie spoke up while opening the pizza box.

“Good! Are yall going back to the pool tonight?”

“Yeah just for a bit,” I said, taking a slice of the steamy pepperoni pizza.

“Okay be safe.” My mom said “I'm gonna go to sleep in a bit so don't be out too late.” she said, giving Sadie and me a kiss on the head. I sat across from Sadie and took a big bite of the pizza.

“Goodnight!” My mom walked back to the master bedroom. I forgot to tell Sadie about Lorenzo…should I? What if I was just overthinking it? Pressure built in my chest, I wasn't thinking about the bite I just took. I let out a cough preventing me from choking.

“Are you okay?” Sadie asked. Her eyebrows curved and she placed her pizza down. I motioned my hand for her to pass a napkin and she did so.

“What? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Why?” I wiped my mouth.

“Cause you to look dumb.” she laughed. “Nah I'm just joking, but you do look stressed, what's up?” I swear Sadie is reading my mind.

“We can talk at the pool,” I said, taking our plates and putting them in the sink.

“Okay let's head down.”

Making sure our dinner mess was all cleaned up, We grabbed our same towels and headed out after locking the doors. The sun was gone and the pool lights shined bright as if the water was glowing.

“Wow, this pool is big,” Sadie said, laying out towels on the edge. We went to sit at the deep end and put our feet in. The water was warm and the light smell of chlorine topped off the beach vibe. I felt relaxed, and Sadie did too.

Until two boys came in. We waved at them, one had a buzz and the other had a semi-frow. Sadie‘s eyes were caught in a daze with the buzz-cut one. The semi-frow waved back and the other jumped right in. They started passing a football which ruined the relaxation.

“Oo Sadie …” I said, nudging her shoulder.

“Oh shut up Mariana.” she laughed. “What did you need to tell me?” trying to change the subject.

“It's fine we don't have to talk about it, let's just swim,” I said standing up and leading her to the shallow end. She went and sat on the pool steps and I checked my phone to see if my mom may have texted me. Not my mom but a notification on my phone from Anthony.

Anthony: Yooo, what are you doing?

Why did he text me? I thought he would be gone by now. I stared at the notification until a voice spoke up.

“Yo girl.” I looked up and it was the buzz-cut boy. He had the football in hand and turned to look at me.

“Me?’ I asked.

“Yes you, who else?” he said in a moody tone.

“Well, there is another girl here.” I looked at Sadie returning his bratty tone. Sadie gave a sarcastic laugh looking at the boy.

“Yeah yeah what time is it?” he asked.

“It's 10 o'clock,” I said, placing my phone down and getting in the shallow end with Sadie.

“Thanks.” the other boy said. “What are you guys' names?” he asked. I stared at Sadie to answer and her eyes were still in the gaze of the other boy. She looked at me and quickly came back to reality.

“Oh I'm Sadie and this is Mariana,” she said with a stutter. The boys came closer to us, the buzz cut one nonchalantly passed me the football and I passed it to Sadie.

“Where are y'all from?” he said as we all began passing.

“We are two hours from here. We live in North Carolina.” Sadie answered. You could tell she was intrigued by these boys, she started to talk a lot and add unnecessary information to the conversation. I don't blame her, we have all had a time when we get excited when a cute guy talks to us. These guys were all right looking.

“Nice nice,” they said.

“What are your names?” I asked.

“I'm Caeden and this is Kristian.” the buzz-cut boy said.

“Cool names,” Sadie said.

“Thanks.” Kristian took the ball in his hands. Sadie and I were sitting on the pool stairs. Caeden came up and sat next to me, and Kristian sat next to Sadie. It was very awkward in my opinion but Sadie didn't mind. Avoiding it, I stood up and swam into the middle. Caeden and Sadie began talking, and they had a good conversation. I was still so stuck on Lorenzo, why did I fall out of love with him? Where did it all go wrong?

“Hey. Are you good?” Kristian came up to me. I enjoyed his concern but I don't like talking to people a lot, especially strangers that we just met less than 15 minutes ago.

“I'm fine thank you,” I said, resting my arms on the side of the pool, and he followed.

“Do you need something?” I said. I could tell he was trying to converse. I was not in the mood.

“Nope, just chilling, I figured if your friend and mine could flirt I would at least be able to talk to you,” I looked back and he was right Sadie and Caeden were flirting. Her face was bright red from blush and she had a big smile on her face.

“Oh haha. They're cute." I said, Kristian agreed. For a few minutes, me and Kristian sat there in silence. Every once in a while I would look at him and he was looking right back at me.

“Is your hair curly?” he pushed off the side of the pool and swam a half loop around me.

“Yeah, it's just wet right now so it's hard to tell.” I turned my head to face him again. He examined my hair for a second before looking into my eyes.

“Your eyes are pretty.”

“What?”

“I said your eyes are pretty.” he leaned in closer to me, focusing on my eyes. Pushing away in the water he smiled and copied the way I was resting against the edge of the pool.

“ Do you have ADHD?” I asked him and we both laughed at my intended joke. One thing I hate is the after-silence of a failed flirting attempt.

“Guys.” we heard Caeden say. He and Sadie swam over to us.

“We are bored,” Sadie said. I looked back at them and they were standing awfully close. Caeden still had a bratty facial expression while Sadie was practically hanging onto his arm.

“Let's have a chicken fight,” Kristian said. I'm not getting on some random kid's shoulders. Ready to disagree I caught Sadie’s eyes and she was looking at me with a nervous expression. Did she need to pee or something? Instead, I estimated she didn't want to play chicken either.

“How about another game? I hate that game so much.” I took her hint.

“Yeah we should play something else,” Sadie relaxed her face and lowered herself in the water more.

“Oh come on… let's just play one round,'' Kristian said, placing his hand on my back.  This is when he got too comfortable. I pushed his hand off of me.

“I said no if you didn't hear me.” I pulled myself up out of the water and sat on the edge of the pool keeping my legs in. Everyone was silent for a few minutes. It's not my fault this weirdo can't take a hint, we just met him, and their request to play such a touchy game is weird enough.

“What other games should we play?” Sadie tried to ease the awkwardness.

“Can I talk to you?” Caeden said.

“Sadie just asked a question,” I pulled my legs up against my chest and put my head on my knees.

“Don't be disrespectful, answer her.”

“No, it's fine.” Sadie laughed, she probably thought I was joking.

Why was I so angry tonight? Was it because of Lorenzo, no guy should have this much effect on my mood. No, I think I'm mad at myself. I feel like a bad person. Maybe I shouldn't be mean, they are just boys trying to enjoy their summer vacation.

“What do you need to talk about?” I lifted my head onto my knees.

“Alone?” He motioned Kristian to go with Sadie across the pool. Okay, I take that back. I'm not sorry for being mean, these dudes are weird.  Kristian and Sadie walked away. No, don't leave me. I looked at Sadie with an alarmed face trying to tell her not to go. But she didn't turn around. I took a deep breath and put my legs back in the water.

“So.” he got close to my legs.

“What?” I said.

“Is your friend single?” he asked.

“Oh my gosh.” I laughed. Did he seriously ask that? What a cheap shot he had just met her, and he was calling her my friend. “You don't even remember her name.”

“What's funny? And I do know her name.” his mood changed and he puffed up his chest.

“What's her name?”

“It's Katy.” The confidence in his answer was hysterical.

“What's my name”

“Julie.” okay not even close. I laid back against the deck and started crying. I was laughing so hard.

“What the hell is so funny.” he squinted his eyes at me and backed up. I pulled myself up again and smiled.

“You are. You just met her, you probably don't even know what her favorite color is. And you especially don't know her name. I mean look at you, the way your standing makes you look cocky right now'' I said. “Who do you think you are?”

“ hill.” He said, “I was just asking a question damn.”

“Yeah okay, she is single,” I rolled my eyes. He kept getting closer again. I looked back at Sadie, noticing her smile and talking to Kristian. Ceaden didn't leave, ”is that all?” I asked.

“Why are you so cocky?” he snapped. Who the hell is he talking to?

“Pipe down bro I'm not cocky I just don't want some sleazy stranger to start hitting on my friend after 20 minutes of meeting her.” I jumped down back into the water. “Don't call me cocky,” I think I have anger issues. That or this kid is just a straight bitch that needs to be put down.

“Yeah whatever.” he laughed, resting his arms on the decking next to me and laying his head down. A few minutes later we went back to the others and had a conversation. Sadie found out the condo they were staying in was just under ours and that they lived in Tennessee.

“It's getting late, let's head back Sadie,” I said, getting out of the pool and grabbing our stuff.

“Aww okay…” she said following. She took a towel from my hands and wrapped it around her.

“How lame,” Caeden said. I held back from saying anything. “Hey what're your snaps?” he asked again. Sadie quickly pulled out her phone and showed him her user, he put it in his phone and smiled at her.

“I'll text you later,” he said. Sadie smiled, as we walked out.

“Bye Mariana,” Kristian said.

“Bye.” someone remembered the names.

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