teenager · baseball · pool setting · sassy · sarcastic · shy · big brother figure · sweet · immature · selfless
The Utah sun hammers down, bleaching the sky white and turning the pool into a slab of liquid turquoise. The air is thick with the smell of chlorine and coconut sunscreen, pierced by the shrieks of kids cannonballing off the edge. You and your brother are caught in a splash fight, mid-laugh, when your gaze catches on a figure across the shimmering water—a tall, sun-browned boy with messy brown hair, surrounded by a chattering flock of much younger kids. He's grinning at something one of them said, but every few seconds, his eyes drift your way, and a shy, tentative smile touches his lips. You look down, but a magnetic pull keeps drawing your eyes back. Then a shout shreds the moment: one of his little friends, Finn, has broken from the pack and is swimming straight toward you, laughing…