The Deep End

21

Chapter Song: Take Me Away- Scotty Sire

As soon as we pulled onto my street we saw them. Mason, Cal, Tyler, and  Liam were all in the middle of the icy road throwing snowballs at each other. They looked like children at Christmas. Riley gave one look at them then back to me. I knew in an instant we were going to join them. We could never resist playing in the snow.

Just when I stepped out of my Jeep, I felt something whirl past my face. I didn't even have to look to see what it was. I knew it was a snowball.

The real question was who was the one to throw it? I looked at each one of the guys with devilish grins on their faces, snowballs in hand.

Carefully I reached down and made a snowball of my own. I never took my eyes away from them. I didn't have to look at Riley to know she was doing the same thing.

It was always an unspoken rule to our snowball wars. Someone would make the first throw while they waited for retaliation. Once the others retaliated the war began.

I tossed it back and forth between my bare hands. I let the cold ice burn my palms. I loved the harsh cold against my skin. Even when it started to hurt. Finally, I looked at Riley and we nodded in unison. We made our shots. They both hit Tyler directly at his chest.

"Woah!" Tyler screamed, "it wasn't even me!" He laughed at us.

We looked around at the others and I shook my head when I landed on Liam. I cursed at myself for not knowing it was him. It had to have been him.

"So there's four of you, but two of us." Riley looked at them warily.

"And?" Mason smirked. He gave her a once over and winked at her through his glasses. Why hadn't I known before?

"And that means one of you has to join us." I looked at each of them specifically avoiding Cal. Maybe because I still got butterflies every time I saw him. Maybe it was because he just sent me a shirtless picture and I didn't respond.

To our surprise, Tyler strolled over to join us. He gave us a lopsided smile and a playful look lingered. Riley and I glanced back at the others. I had to bite back a laugh when they mirrored our expressions. Tyler never joined us, ever.

"Thought I'd take a little spin on the dark side," Tyler joked.

"Welcome my fellow brethren," Riley and I gave him a devilish grin.

I think she secretly always had a crush on Tyler but now adding Mason in. Well, things might get messy. I know she said he was only fun to flirt with but I didn't totally buy it. That didn't matter right now though. What mattered was winning this fight.

We began to gather up a solid inventory of snowballs making light conversation with everyone. We always kept it civil at first. Finally, we began to throw our snowballs at each other.

Liam got pelted in the face by Tyler. Mason got a few good shots in on Tyler, and Riley. Cal had hit Tyler in the neck. It was actually a little funny but I did feel bad for him. I mainly tried to stay out of the way and dodged as many snowballs that flew my way.

I made a few shots here and there, but I liked to be sneaky. My favorite thing was to hide out until the very end and launch an assault. Everyone kind of forgot about sides by the end and my assassin skills would take over.

"You can't keep running forever Parker!" Cal called wiggling his eyebrows mischievously towards me.

"Oh kiss my ass, McCormick!" I winked at him.

"Gladly," he smirked.

I had to force all the butterflies to go away. Maybe it was just seeing him that made them fly around.

I sighed forming a new snowball. Everyone else seemed to be off in there own little world. I was hiding behind the front of my Jeep when Cal came towards me making that comment. He stood a few feet away from me throwing a snowball into the air and caught it continuously.

I packed the snowball as tight as I could. I really wanted to hit him. Not to where I could harm him or anything, but I wanted to be the one to get the point.

Before I threw it, I took off running out towards the icy street. I slipped a couple of times but I made it without getting hit. The bad thing was, was that I was now out in the open.

He was just reaching the back of my Jeep when I launched my snowball at him. It sailed across the road, and I knew it was going to hit him perfectly. However I had a terrible aim, and it didn't hit his chest. Instead, it hit him square in the groin area. Immediately he dropped to the floor groaning.

"Man down!" Liam laughed as I rushed to Cal.

"Oh my god, I am so so sorry!" I winced as I knelt down beside him.

"Jeeze Parker," he chuckled leaning back against the slush. "You really know how to hurt a guy".

"I didn't mean to I was aiming for your chest!" I tried to explain wincing. I didn't know what to do with my hands so I just let them rest on his chest.

"You wanna know what would help me feel better?" He asked. His eyes were closed so I didn't know why I was looking at his eyes.

"What?"

"If you kissed it," he opened his eyes and gave me a quick wink. Then he closed them shut again quickly biting the corner of his mouth to stop him from smiling.

Did he really just say that? I mean I have never done anything like that. I wasn't really sure if he knew that or not. We never really talked about that sort of stuff before. Usually, he and the boys would make fun of me when I went out on dates.

I had to say something. I quickly went over how much time had passed before thinking of something to say. I knew that the snowball fight was still going on behind us, and they would get mad if we kept stalling.

I grabbed his hand and forced him to stand up. He agreed with a groan and winced the whole time. I began to think he was milking it, just so I could baby him. We stood staring at each other holding hands. I was thankful for his gloves because they started to warm up my frozen hands.

"In your dreams McCormick," I whispered on his lips.

I shut my eyes sighing happily into his lips. I was waiting for him to kiss me back, and finally, he did. It was soft and warm. I could feel the heat radiating my entire body.

Just as  I wrapped my arms around his neck I felt a freezing slush slam against the top of my head. I screamed wiggling out of Cal's grasp. I shook my entire body loose of the snow he just threw on top of me.

"Cal you didn't!" I screamed again. I pouted and crossed my arms beginning to shiver.

"I'm sorry but I kind of had to," he smirked. Clearly he didn't care that my head was wet and freezing cold. He began to walk over to me but I backed up with every step he took.

"No don't come near me!" I yelled leaning down to make a snowball. "SOS!" I yelled for back up.

That was the call any of us made. If someone called SOS no questions asked we were there running to attack. In this situation, it was a loss for Cal, but a win for me. He wanted to play dirty so I would get back up. Game on. 

I laughed as Riley came running through the street screaming at him. She threw snowball after snowball at Cal and only a fair few actually hit him. I couldn't help but laugh at the scene in front of me. I joined in throwing snowballs at him. Soon, everyone else joined in and it was us against Cal.