Jacklyn Baker (called_jack) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-03-27 19:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 06, holland sharpe, jacklyn baker, john james searle, |* holly/jack/searle |
Week Six - Monday
Characters: Jack Baker, John Searle and Holly Sharpe
Location: The pool!
Summary: After Searle returns from the university, he and Jack Searle go swimming, only to find Holly enjoying the sun. Naturally, he takes plenty of time to tease the kids.
Rating: A for awkward
Jack had spent a lot of valuable time and effort getting Jed to let her go to meetings. Lots of whining and begging and fighting had gone into it. All that work and she was staying home today. Last week, Jack had tried skipping the meeting to get some work done but all she'd really done is play with Walker. Today, she was staying home only to play. They'd just finished filling the pool up after her party and all she wanted to do today was enjoy it. Jack rushed through the morning count in the storeroom. Done for ages until the next count later today (and if that didn't happen it wouldn't really bother her any) she went back upstairs, digging out a bathing suit from underneath a pile of clothes. That was the easy part. The hard part was the three minute debate she had with herself about whether to wear a shirt over her suit. If she didn't, Searle would see her. In her bathing suit. She put the T-shirt on. Then she and Rocky went next door.
"Searle! Swimming!" she yelled at his door, knocking loudly.
It took about three seconds for Searle to jump off of his couch and run to the door as soon as he heard Jack knocking. When the door opened, Searle was standing there in blue swim trunks, ready to go swimming. "Ready!" he exclaimed, stepping forward to go out the door, but paused and went back in to grab his towel from the couch and turn the TV off (he'd been watching a movie while he waited) before leaving his suite and closing the door.
"I worked hard on that pool, I can't wait to try it out." He noticed Jack was wearing a shirt over what he assumed was her swimsuit since her legs were bare, but didn't think twice about it. "Hey, Rocky," he added, reaching out to pet the dog.
While Searle noticed Jack had a shirt on, Jack was busy realizing Searle was without his. It shouldn't have been a big deal: they were swimming and she'd seen him with his shirt off once before, but she still found herself looking down at Rocky. She couldn't get Holly's voice asking if she liked Searle out of her head. "Come on. You know Jed was all weird about swimming? He made me promise like, three times to be careful."
"Like not drown?" he asked conversationally, actually sounding amused. Jed worried a lot about a lot of things that were worth worrying about, but swimming didn't seem that big of a deal. "The pool's right in front of everyone's rooms, and I'll be there if for some reason you forget how to swim," he teased, grabbing the railing on the stairs briefly as he began to head down them.
"I guess," Jack said with a shrug. She didn't really need anyone watching her while she swam but Jed had been kind of strange about the whole thing. Whatever though, she was still swimming.
"Race you!" she called to Searle as soon as they were both down the stairs. She ran for the pool, jumping in with a big messy splash.
"Where's the warning?!" he yelled, but while laughing, as he threw his towel to the side right before jumping in after Jack. Searle heard a squeal of protest just before he hit the water, and surfaced looking around for the source of the noise. Holly was sitting on the edge of the pool on one side of the deep end with his legs in the water, brushing many water droplets from his skin where the two kids splashed him. Searle was quickly distracted by Holly's swimsuit (let alone that he was sitting underneath an umbrella wearing huge sunglasses), the top of which would have looked obscene on anyone who actually had breasts for how small it was.
"Sorry!" Searle said, making sure to keep his eyes on Holly's face from now on, "did we splash you?"
"Yeah," Holly replied, but smiled to show he wasn't angry.
Jack splashed Searle for no reason and then looked at Holly as a third heavy splashed hit the water. Apparently, Rocky was a swimmer. "Hi, Holly!" Jack called, wondering in the back of her mind if she should have chosen to look more girly and not wear a shirt over her swim suit.
"Hi, Jack!" Holly waved, distracted for a moment by Rocky swimming, then looked back between the two teenagers. "You gonna let Jack splash you?" he said to Searle, smirking. "I think you should go dunk her."
Searle laughed, but apparently thought it was a good idea because he began to swim toward Jack. "Yeah, this is war."
"No way!" Jack shouted at them both, swimming away from Searle. She kicked hard, trying to splash him again while Rocky barked.
Though he lifted his hands to shield his face from the water, it didn't really help. He splashed Jack back in order to get closer so he could grab her and push her beneath the water with a firm hand atop her head.
Jack came up sputtering. "Searle! No fair!" She tried to do the same to him, but it was difficult when Searle was so much bigger. All she managed was to make Searle's wet hair look completely ridiculous as he pulled away, laughing. Holly whistled, grinning at the sight.
"All's fair in love and war!" he called. "Hey, Pool Boy, you think those big, strong hands of yours can rub some sunscreen into my back? I bet you two haven't put any on."
Searle felt distinctly embarrassed about the way Holly spoke to him, but he shook his head anyway. "I didn't put any on." He looked toward Jack, wondering if she had.
Jack hadn't but only because she was wearing a T-shirt and had less to burn. "I can help, Holly," she offered, glancing out of the corner of her eye to Searle.
"Ohh, sure," Holly said, smiling as he reached over to grab his coconut-scented sunscreen. "Yeah, you can put some on Searle's back while he does mine." He crooked his finger at Searle, aiming to draw him out of the pool. Searle glanced at Jack again, but swam over to Holly so he could lift himself out of the pool and sit on the side beside him.
"I don't usually burn or anything," Searle said, feeling a little uncomfortable at the prospect of touching Holly since they barely knew one another.
"Aren't you lucky," Holly responded, handing Searle the lotion bottle.
Jack frowned to herself but climbed out of the pool anyway, her T-shirt sticking to her. Personally, Jack thought she'd prefer to help Holly and let Searle fend for himself, but here she was.
After squirting a good amount of the lotion into his hand, Searle passed the bottle to Jack. He realized she was still in her t-shirt, wondering why. People usually kept a shirt on swimming if they were body shy, and as far as Searle could see Jack had no reason to be. Thinking that made him hear Jed's voice in his head when he'd told Jack he wouldn't let her go and get pregnant the morning he caught she and him in Jack's bed, so he tried to push it out of his head.
Holly turned so his back was facing Searle, and let the younger boy rub the sunscreen into his skin. "Ah, feels good. You should trade in your shirt for some sunscreen, Jack."
"I'm okay," Jack half-mumbled. "I don't need to get a tan or anything." She waited for Searle to finish rubbing lotion on Holly, not wanting to just start putting any on Searle for some reason. "You want me do your back?" she asked when it looked like they were done.
"Sure," Searle answered, rubbing the excess lotion on his arms. Holly turned to face the pool again, leaning back on his hands to gaze at Searle and Jack. Searle kept his eyes down so he wouldn't make eye contact with Holly.
"Too bad there's not another pair of swimmers out here," Holly said. "You could play chicken. I doubt you'd have any problem carrying Jack on your shoulders, huh Searle?"
"Probably not." Searle glanced toward the water. "Last time I played that game was a while ago."
Jack smeared suntan lotion on Searle's back quickly and messily. She turned a little red while she did it and then covered by swiping the extra lotion across her face and ears. "We could play Marco Polo," she suggested. Although she'd never played with only one other person, that game probably would work with two people.
"And when Marco catches Polo, he can give him a little kiss," Holly suggested none-too-innocently. Searle paused in wiping the lotion on his neck, feeling his cheeks get hot. Holly's mischievous smile didn't help.
"I don't think that's how you play," he muttered, slipping back into the pool.
Jack agreed, blushing as well. She jumped back in the water, grateful when Rocky swam up to her and began licking her face. At least that was a distraction. "Come on, Searle. Let's just play tag."
As he watched the kids play tag, Holly saw that leaving them to their own devices was a more fruitful way to get them to touch each other. Tag wasn't a totally hands-off game, and Holly was surprised to see Jack was just as adept at catching Searle when she was it as Searle was at catching her. Though he tried not to show it, Holly wished he could be in there playing with them.
Meanwhile, Searle had recovered from the embarrassment and it was his turn (again) to catch Jack. "We should get a volleyball net and some floats," he mused, while trying to figure out the best way to trap Jack in a corner.
That wasn't a bad idea. "I'll put it on the list and maybe Alice will get some. Even if volleyball doesn't work, floats would be nice." Jack tread water carefully, keeping a safe distance from Searle. Knowing he couldn't get her by swimming above the water, Searle slipped beneath it and pushed off the decline of the shallow end into the deep end, keeping his eyes open beneath the water even though it stung. After he grabbed Jack's ankle, successfully tagging her, he surfaced.
"And goggles," he added while rubbing his eyes, after taking a breath of air.
"Wuss," Jack teased. She splashed Searle as payback for him tagging her, then swam out fast towards him to try and tag him back while he was still distracted with water in his face.
"Yah - hey!" Searle tried to dodge Jack, but since they'd been so close when she splashed him and the floor of the pool was too deep for him to touch, Jack ended up tagging him in about a second. "Not fair! Do over!"
Holly stuck his index and middle fingers in his mouth and whistled. "As referee, I say that play is valid."
"Since when are you referee?" Searle asked, sounding skeptical.
"Jack agrees I'm the ref, right?" Holly was confident Jack would since he was in her favor.
"Holly's totally ref," Jack agreed, gloating. Holly grinned toothily. Searle groaned.
"Girls against guy. I see how it is." After complaining, Searle quickly tagged Jack on the arm and dove in the opposite direction, swimming away. "You're it!"
**
As they afternoon went on, the temperature continued to climb. With the last inventory count hanging over her head, tired from the sun and hungry for lunch, Jack was ready to go inside. It took a few tries to convince Rocky to get out of the water and when he did, he shook himself, spraying everyone with water. With a sigh, Jack coaxed the wet dog back upstairs. "You want something to eat?" she asked Searle when they got outside their rooms.
"Yeah," Searle answered without thinking, finally letting up toweling his hair dry. He pulled the towel around his neck, glancing back toward the pool over the balcony railing to see Holly packing up his beach umbrella.
"She was teasing us pretty bad back there." He looked away from the pool area and to Jack. "Alice asked me if you and me were dating, too."
"Holly's just nosy." The older woman trying to see if Jack liked Searle was one thing when it was just the two girls talking. Bringing it up in front of Searle was something different, especially when Jack didn't even know if she did. "Guess Alice is too. People need to chill out."
That wasn't bad advice, actually. Jack wanted to take her dripping wet shirt off before she went inside - dealing with the wet dog would be bad enough without her making it worse - but had worried about Searle being there since the whole point was to not been seen in her bathing suit. Chill out. "Hang on, lemme get out of this wet stuff." She peeled off her wet shirt a little awkwardly because of the way it was sticking to her to reveal a simple black one-piece suit with tiny white pola dots.
Of course, the way Jack wore a shirt the whole time only to take it off at the end drew Searle's eyes right to her body. As far as he could see, there was nothing wrong with her. She wasn't chubby in all the wrong places or anything, she looked cute.
Rocky brushing up against his leg averted Searle's attention, and he swiped the towel from around his neck to throw it over Rocky's body, rubbing it against his fur in attempt to get him just a bit drier. Rocky wasn't about to stay still, though.
"Yeah," Searle answered Jack, at length. "I wonder if they think we act like we are or something. I had a girlfriend a while ago and we didn't do half as much as me and you do. We didn't live together, so I guess what might be why." Searle paused, but wanted to say something more to distract himself from the sudden thought that she was dead - he assumed. "Besides, she didn't like doing half the stuff you do," he added.
Jack was surprised to hear that Searle had a girlfriend before and she didn't like it. Suddenly, Holly saying that Searle would like her more if she looked like a girl was echoed in her head. "That's because I'm awesome." She hung her wet shirt on the balcony railing next to her towel and went to let them in to the room as Searle chuckled and did the same with his towel. Rocky shook himself again the second they were in the door, of course. "You're my friend, we're supposed to do stuff."
"Exactly," Searle agreed. "I wish you could come out with me more." He glanced around to see if Jed was in since he had no idea what time it was. "I met two new people just this week. One was this morning at the university; she looks like she's my age but she's already living with someone. Maybe she'll go to the meet-up anyway, but she and I are going to hang out again later in the week. Think Jed would let you come?"
Jack immediately frowned. Searle was going out to do stuff with someone else? When she couldn't go? That wasn't fair! What if he started doing stuff all the time with whoever this girl was without her all the time? She didn't like that at all.
"I can't." Part of her immediately wondered if maybe she could bend the rules to go with but Jed would kill her. Maybe if she asked for permission? The idea made her nervous. "I mean, I can ask but I dunno. You shouldn't be out by yourself in the city - something bad could happen."
"I guess, but no one's bothered me or anything," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
That didn't sound very smart to Jack. "That doesn't mean they won't."
Searle knew Jack had a point, but that didn't mean what she said would happen. Instead of say that, he kept his mouth shut because he didn't want to fight with her. "I'm careful," he said, which was true ... when he thought to be careful. Other times not so much. "Besides, I'm finding people out there. Maybe it'll help them come here and get protection from our group, too."
"Like that one girl." She still didn't think it was very smart and if this new girl was around the city she must have seen the meet-up signs. It wasn't their fault if she was too stupid to take advantage of them. "Until you find someone bad."
"Maybe," he agreed, "but I don't think there's as many bad people out there as you think. People are desperate, they think they need to fight for things, but I don't have anything anyone wants." And if he happened to, everything he had he could go out and get more of without much problem.
"Let me know when you go to meet whoever this girl is and maybe I'll go too. But if you're going to run around the city, you have to be really really careful and always take your radio. Okay? Promise?" She looked up at Searle earnestly and her expression might have been a little ridiculous while she was wearing a bathing suit but she meant it completely.
"I promise." Searle wasn't just saying that, either. "I'm going to go see her later in the week. She said she'll find a glove so we can play catch. I bet they'll have more than enough for all three of us." He really did want Jack to go. Molly didn't seem threatening at all; he wouldn't have even thought about taking Jack - or even going back - if she had.
Playing catch didn't sound so bad and if she went too, then at least Searle would know he couldn't leave her behind and ignore to go hang out with this girl. "Okay. It'll be fun."
Searle smiled. "I'm going to change out of my suit, but I'll come right back for lunch."