Chapter Five
“It's Olympic sized,” Ethan said as we went through a set of glass doors, stepping into a sun room, a pool dead smack in the middle. “The deepest it goes is twelve feet. It’s heated for those winter nights.” Ethan pointed to an adjacent room. The glass doors were fogged up and I couldn’t see into it. All I could see were shadows. “That's the Jacuzzi. I don't use it much during the summer, though, because it's too hot, you know?” I nodded as if it made perfect sense. In reality I had only been in a Jacuzzi once in my life and that was the summer, before when I was a camp counselor. I was there with Bailey, before he started dating Madison, and he kissed me. My first kiss. Back when life was simple and everything worked out in the end.
“Ain’t you the lucky one,” I said. “Most kids dream of having a pool, any type of pool, and you have the best. I guess it’s a perk of having your dad as the mayor. Do you love it or what?”
“Not really,” Ethan admitted. “I feel like I have to act a certain way and do certain things because he's my father, you know? Like I can't be myself. I feel like my identity is only tied in with my father and I don't know when I'm going to be able to dig a way for myself.”
“Well at least your parents care,” I said. “At least you weren't a pawn, used as leverage in a divorce case. You know your parents wanted you, at least a little bit.” I bit my lip. “At least you weren't a broken condom baby.”
“No I wasn't,” Ethan agreed. “But trust me when I say appearances aren't what they seem.” I tilted my head to the side.
“What does that mean?” I asked. It was none of my business, and Ethan obviously had his own issues he needed to deal with. I wasn’t sure why I was trying to get involved.
“Nothing,” Ethan said. “Hey Amber?”
“Yeah?”
“Hold your nose!” Ethan grabbed me and threw me into the pool as if I was a feather. Water engulfed me, soaking me and making my prosthetic heavy on my leg. I came up sputtering and wiping my eyes. I looked around, trying to catch my bearings, when I felt Ethan's arm around me, leading to the side. I was coughing, gagging on the water. Chlorine burned my nose and throat. I grabbed onto the side as I tried to catch my breath.
“Jerk!” I exclaimed once I saw Ethan's face. “You are the biggest jerk ever!”
“I'm sorry but I couldn't pass up the opportunity.” Ethan tried to brush my hair from my face but I slapped his hand away.
Using my upper body and my one good leg, I lifted myself out of the pool, sliding against the tile floor until I was a good foot away from Ethan. Standing, I tested the sturdiness of the prosthetic before maneuvering myself up onto a chair. Glaring at Ethan, I slid my shorts off, followed by my shirt. Wrapping a towel around my torso, I waited for Ethan to join me.
He climbed the ladder up, his hands gripping the handles until he was out of the pool. I handed him a towel and he blushed when he noticed the clothes on the floor.
“What did you expect me to do?” I asked him. “You soaked my clothes, the only clothes I had. Was I supposed to just stand there in wet clothes until I decided to leave?”
“No,” he stuttered. “Of course not. I guess I didn’t expect you to strip down. Most girls would have gone into a bathroom or something.
"I’m not most girls,” I snapped. “I thought you knew that by now.” I thought that Ethan was going to plop down on the chair next to me but instead I felt his arms wrap around my back and under my legs, lifting me from where I was. I snatched my clothes off the floor before he could move me. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Getting you some new clothes,” he said. “You can borrow some of mine to go home.”
“I’m not going home,” I told him. “I’m supposed to meet a friend.”
“Well that’s even a better reason for me to give you something to wear. Unless, of course, your friend likes the wet dog look.” He carried me out of the sun room, up the stairs and into his own room, kicking the door closed behind us. Putting me down on the bed, Ethan leaned up against his door frame and watched as I inspected the prosthetic. Well aside from being water logged, the thing doesn’t look too bad. Maybe a day out in the sun is all it needs.
“I wouldn’t be like this if someone didn’t throw me in the pool,” I pointed out. “Thanks for that, by the way.”
“Oh please,” he said. “It was a harmless prank. I was trying to have some fun. You need to lighten up.”
“Sorry but I don’t do ‘lighten up’.”
“Why not? It’s not like you’re going anywhere. You might as well enjoy it.”
“That’s the thing,” I snapped. “I don’t want to enjoy it. I didn’t