Chapter Twenty-Five-1

Two hands grab at my waist, which make me jump. The wind brushes past me and I get the scent of his familiar aftershave. It's Blake. His arms snake around my waist and tugs my body against his chest. The warmth from his chest seeps into mine, so I go floppy in his arms, which makes him hug me extra tight. "What are you doing?" he whispers into my ear. I can imagine his eyes sparkling with curiosity, and perhaps even nibbling on his lip as he tries to piece everything together. My cheeks go bright red – he's caught me and I don't have a back up excuse to explain what I'm doing. They've gone now, so he wouldn't really know who I've been spying on – if I was spying on anyone. Spinning around in his arms, I lean up and press my lips against his. Blake doesn't follow through with his question, but instead moves to kissing me back. One hand slides up my back, and he weaves his fingers into the back of my hair, while the other hand grabs at the tender skin on my waist. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling his body ever so closer to mine. I play with his short hair in one hand, while grabbing and rubbing his neck with the other hand. It feels so good to be close, connected, to feel the passion running between us. Excitement swells up in my belly, and I'm not the only one with this feeling. Blake pushes my body against the side of his house, and then starts kissing down the side of my neck, nipping and sucking at the skin. "Blake." He kisses my lips. "Ava?" he asks. "We should get back," I whisper. "Hm," he grumbles under his breath. "I'm sure they'll be questioning where we are," I point out. "Hey, I came looking for you," he defends. "And you found me." I poke my tongue out. Blake takes a step back, and runs his hands through his hair. He readjusts his clothing, and then grabs my hand to walk back to the pool. Before we were able to get in and start swimming, I noticed Jude and Tori disappear around the corner, and curiosity got the better of me. I was never going to get a chance to talk to Jude about Tori, and I don't know how I feel about directly questioning Tori for answers I don't want to hear. This was the best I was going to get. I let Blake drag me back to the pool. He doesn't act like anything is up, nor gives anyone the chance to be suspicious. As soon as we come into view of them, Blake quickly walks over to London and picks her up for a cuddle. "Why hasn't mommy put you to bed?" he asks. "She wasn't settling, so I brought her out," Tori quietly replies. "You've got to put your hand on her chest and comfort her before she drifts off – anything else and she'll scream and kick up a fuss," he explains. "I didn't know that." The cute scene is suddenly torn down by their conversation. I feel a bit awkward, so I quickly take a seat and look somewhere else. "You should try it now then." Blake hands London back to Tori. She carefully takes her back, then moves to go back to Blake's house to try and get London back to sleep again. When it's just us outside, I move to sit on Blake's lap. I don't know where Jude's gone, but I use this time to my advantage. "You're so cool about it all, how?" I ask. "About what?" He seems a little puzzled from the appearance of his face. "Tori coming back, calling her mommy, me?" I explain. "We started calling her 'mommy' when we found out she was pregnant – guess it's just out of habit. "Besides, I want London to grow up with her knowing who her mommy is. She's a teenage girl confused about things, not the family's black sheep. Any you baby." He smiles at me, "You are my special girl and London will always know how much you helped out." "You are my special one too." I rest my head on his chest and snuggle closer. "I never did believe too much about this whole family structure thing that's being enforced. Family; the people who love you, faults and all. They are the people who teach you life lessons, like how to clean a barbie." He winks. "Family are people who love you, not a gender role to fill." He wraps his arms around me tightly. "I agree with you," I whisper back. "That's good to know," replies Blake. "You're amazing, you know that?"  I say. "I've been told that before." Blake smiles cheekily and winks back at me. "I love the way you think, it's diverse. You bring hope to the world." "Just like you bring hope to mine." The back door to Blake's parents' house slides open. I peek over his shoulder to see Jude walking outside, now dressed in his bathers. "Are we going swimming or not?" he calls out. "Hell yes!" Blake screams excitedly. Blake stands up with me in his arms. He's got one leg scooped under my legs and another wrapped around my back for support. "Are you ready?" "Why?" I ask worriedly. Blake's smile says it all. He takes three running steps before jumping and throwing us into the cold pool. When we resurface, he kisses my lips and holds me close to his body. There's a splash of water that sends a lap of water throwing over us. Jude resurfaces and he smiles brightly at us. "Where's Tori?" he asks. "Inside with London trying to get her to sleep," I answer. "If we get Tori in the pool, we could have a fight," he says excitedly. "That could be. Loser does a nudie run," says Blake. "Ew, you can do that if you want." I shake my head with disgust. There's no way I'm getting naked in front of those three and anyone else possibly looking as I run down the street - what if my parents looked out the window or caught us or something? "Girls against boys!" Jude suggests happily. "No way, that's not fair. " Tori appears behind dressed in just her underwear. She sits down on the ledge, and then slips into the pool to join us. "You two are stronger than us." "Blake and Ava against us then?" Jude offers. "I'm not sure how I feel about seeing my brother naked running down the street," replies Blake. "It's just a bit of fun, live in the moment." Tori taps the side of Blake's shoulder and smiles.