Chapter 2: PROXIMA CENTAURI 2
"It's getting late. Shall we go swimming?" Shane offered, setting down his controller.
Outside, it was too dark to see anything. The stars twinkling in the sky were the only real visible thing.
"We shall," I said, jumping up and tossing my controller onto Shane's chair.
We quickly changed into our swim trunks. Shane began to pull out chips and alcohol from under his bed.
"Go tell Mitch," he said, wrestling with a bag of chips that was stuck on something under his bed. God only knows what was lurking under Shane's bed.
"Gotchu," I said, leaving his room and heading down to Mitch's. Forgetting that Mitch preferred people to knock, I opened his door and let myself in.
As soon as I stepped into his room, I was surprised. Mitch usually locked his bedroom door. He didn't like it when people came into his room.
Mitch looked up at me from his bed. He had a book balancing on his knees and was sipping on a soda.
"Well you could lock me up in your heart and throw away the key. Won't you take me out of my head?" his speakers sang next to him.
He reached over and turned the music off. He looked at me, waiting for me to speak. I shifted awkwardly, wishing I had just knocked on the damn door.
"Sorry I busted into your room. I forgot to knock," I said. Wow, way to go Captain Obvious.
"I noticed. Then again, I never expect you or Shane to knock. You guys don't know what manners are," he said, shutting his book and stretching. "Night swimming?"
I nodded. "Yep. Get changed and meet us outside."
He raised an eyebrow at me after a moment. "What, did you want to watch me change? Get out of my room, Jace."
I blushed. "Oops," I said and hastily left his room, shutting the door.
Shane was waiting for me down the hallway. I helped him carry everything out to the pool deck. He turned on the lights in the pool, sending the clear blue water sparkling.
Shane dipped his toe in the water. "Thať's refreshing," he said, grinning.
I went over and put my foot in, relaxing at how comfortable the water temperature was. It was so humid out that my hair was starting to stick to my neck.
"Are you just going to poke it with your toes, or get in?" Mitch asked, stepping out onto the deck.
I pulled off the tank top I was wearing and tossed it on a chair. I backed up a little before running and diving into the refreshing water.
My head broke the surface, only to be splashed with water as Shane jumped in ungracefully next to me. Mitch jumped in after him, much more graceful than either of us.
Shane reached over and grabbed beers, handing them to each of us. We opened them and leaned against the edge of the pool as we drank.
"This is the good life," Shane said, popping a chip into his mouth.
"Soggy chips and cheap beer. Amen to that brother," I said, holding my beer up and clanking it against Shane's.
Mitch pushed his wet hair out of his face. "Is this how you plan to spend the rest of the summer?" he asked us.
"Nah, it gets cold out. I ain't getting in the pool on those nights," Shane said.
"We could always go in the hot tub," I said, pointing in the general direction of their hot tub.
"Yea, but we're not getting in water every night. We'll get beer guts and turn wrinkly," Shane said.
"It might be worth it," I said, grinning and talking a gulp of beer.
"We should sleep outside tonight. It's nice out," Shane said. "You up for that boy scouts?"
"I'm up for it if you promise to never call us boy scouts again," I said.
"Jace took the words right out of my mouth," Mitch mumbled.
"Oh, shut up. When we're done here I'll grab a blanket and some pillows to sleep on," Shane said.
"Remember when we used to dunk each other while chanting exorcism spells?" I said fondly.
"But now we don't need to!" Shane said, gesturing to the matching anti-possession tattoos we had gotten two years ago.
I laughed. "I feel like I'll regret this tattoo when I'm older and Supernatural isn't around anymore. But for now, I'm perfectly content with it."
"Hey, if that possession shit is real, we'll be safe," he said, tapping on the tattoo and winking.
"You guys are fanboy nerds," Mitch said.
Shane set his drink down and pulled Mitch so that he had him in a headlock. Mitch struggled against him, splashing water everywhere.
"Who's a nerd?" Shane asked, smirking and tightening his hold on Mitch.
"You," Mitch wheezed, trying to hit Shane in the face to get him off. His face was starting to turn an unhealthy shade.
I laughed and went over, forcing Shane off of Mitch. I caught Mitch as he stumbled and held him so that he wouldn't fall.
"Cut it out before you kill the kid," I said to Shane, laughing again.
"Jace, I'm fine. You can let go of me now," Mitch said, rubbing his neck.
"Oh, right. Sorry," I said, letting go of him and fighting off a blush. Jeez, what was going on with me lately?
Mitch straightened up and shot a dirty look at Shane before grabbing his beer and chugging what was left of it. He grabbed himself a new beer and leaned against the edge of the pool.
"Aw, Mitch, did I hurt your neck?" Shane asked, snickering.
"You're lucky I don't drown you!" Mitch grumbled, glaring at Shane.
"You couldn't even if you tried," Shane said.
"If you guys try to kill each other, I'm going to use Carol's method and just shoot you both," I said. "I know where the guns are in the house."
"Your aim probably sucks, Jace," Mitch said. "Especially now that you've had a little to drink."
"Jace isn't a one beer queer like you dumbass," Shane said, smacking Mitch in the back of the head.
"I don't know man. I mean, I drank an entire beer all by myself," I said, turning the empty bottle upside down and shaking out the few remaining droplets into the pool. "I think I'm white girl wasted. Don't let me drive for a while."
"We need some music going out here," Shane said, looking around in the quiet night.
"Oh yea, I'm sure the neighbors will appreciate it," Mitch said.
"Fuck the neighbors, Shane is right," I said. Mitch and I glanced at each other before hurriedly placing our fingers on our noses.
"Nose goes!" we cried.
"Dammit!" Shane said, glaring at us. "I hate when you two do that!"
He turned and pulled himself out of the pool. He dried himself off quickly before heading inside to grab his speakers.
"Nice job," I said, pounding my fist with Mitch's.
"He never learns," Mitch said, shaking his head.
"He's an idiot. A crazy idiot," I said with a sigh.
"Hey, you choose to hang out with him," Mitch said.
"So do you," I said. "You have friends, you don't need to spend time with Shane."
"His stupidity is amusing," Mitch said, shooting me that same crooked smile as earlier. The one that had my heart stuttering again. "And you guys can be amusing. Sometimes."
"Good to know Shane and I have our uses," I said. "Hand me another beer."
Mitch set my empty one on the ground for me and tossed me a full one. I opened it and began to drink, searching around for something to say.
This was so weird. I never had any problems talking to Mitch. He could be quiet at times, but he had always been easy to talk to for me.
"Are you okay, Jace? You're acting weird today," Mitch said.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine Mitch. I think I'm just tired or something." I said, running a hand through my hair.
Mitch rolled his eyes and fixed my hair for me since I had just made it stick up so weird. My heart began to beat a little faster, and I mentally told myself to calm the hell down. What was going on with me lately?
Mitch let his hand fall back to his side when he was done fixing my hair. He looked up at the stars in the sky.
"It's a nice night out," he said.
I studied the few tattoos decorating Mitch's body. He was the kind of guy who was careful about tattoo placement, unlike me and Shane.
He noticed me eyeing his body and raised an eyebrow. "See something you like?"
"No!" I said, a bit too hastily. "I was just looking at your tattoos."
"You're acting so strange today, Jace," he said, taking a drink from his beer.
Proving that he did have some usefulness after all, Shane chose that moment to return and save me from more awkwardness with Mitch. Thank you for perfect timing, Shane.
Shane plugged his phone into the speakers and blasted out music. He jumped back into the pool and grabbed his beer.
"I don't wanna hear you've got a boyfriend. Sometimes you're better off alone. But if you change your mind, you know where I am. Yea if you change your mind, you know where to find me, 'cause I don't ever wanna be your boyfriend," his speakers sang.
I peeked up at Mitch. He was looking up at the stars again. He was absentmindedly tapping his finger against the beer bottle.
We hung out and small around the pool for about two hours, drinking and talking. Shane and I ended up wrestling a few times and nearly drowning each other.
"I'm tired," Shane announced. "And wrinkly, thanks to being in the water for so long."
I pushed my hair back out of my eyes. "I'm tired too. Let's dry off and go to sleep."
Mitch pulled himself out of the pool and waited until we were out. We shut off the lights in the pool and turned on the porch light. Shane and I laid out a blanket as Mitch ventured inside to gather pillows.
He came out a minute later and dropped a stack of pillows onto the thick blanket we had laid out. We turned the speakers off and laid down on the blanket together, me in between the brothers.
I folded my hands behind my head, looking up at the sky. Mitch was right; it was a nice night out.
We draped a light sheet over ourselves since it was too hot for an actual blanket. I glanced over and wet my lips nervously.
I was really close to both Shane and Mitch since we were all crowded onto one blanket. We had done this plenty of times before. But for some reason, it was making me nervous tonight.
Maybe I have a crush on Mitch.
Unable to help myself, I burst out laughing at that very thought. Shane and Mitch looked at me in startled confusion. They had been falling asleep when I started laughing like a freaking maniac.
"What? What's so funny?" Shane asked.
"Nothing, nothing. Just a thought I had," I said, trying to get my laughter under control.
"Well tell your thoughts to shut up. Some of us are trying to sleep," he grumbled, rolling over and curling into a tired ball
"You're losing it, Jace," Mitch said with a sigh.
"Sorry Mitch. I just had a funny thought and I guess I'm too tired for that shit right now," I said.
"Whatever. Shane is right; keep it down, man. I'm tired," he said, also rolling over and curling up.
I shook my head, trying not to laugh again. I could never, never, never have a crush on Mitch. The guy had been like a little brother to me ever since we were kids.
He was Shane's little brother. He was the kid who had been my DD when I was way too drunk to even know who I was. He was the one who had sworn revenge against us when Shane and I got him stuck in a tree. He was the one who had slipped laxatives into brownies to extract that revenge against us. He was the one who had punched my ex for bad mouthing me back in high school.
We fought like brothers, and we bonded like brothers. Mitch was my family, not someone I could ever have romantic feelings for.
There had to be some other explanation for why I was starting to get so weird around him. Maybe I was just unnerved by his similarities to Shane or something.
I looked over at him. He had drifted off to sleep, and was lightly clutching the pillow that his head was resting on. His chest rose and fell steadily, and his light brown hair tumbled into his closed eyes.
I nearly started laughing again, and had to bite my hand to stop myself. I got myself under control and smiled as I closed my eyes. There was no way in hell I would ever get romantic feelings for Mitch.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone