A/N: Been toying around with a certain idea from my fellow writer on here, DRAGONGHOST, and I think it's about time I put this up, with their blessing, of course.
A sleek, red sports car pulled up in front of one of the many identical houses in the suburbs of Dimmsdale, the driver sporting a head of long, fiery red hair done up in a ponytail, while her clothing consisted of a bright green t-shirt, black jeans, and a pair of equally black sneakers, her pink eyes half-lidded sleepily as she yawned and brought her hand up to cover her mouth. "Augh…" Vicky turned to look at the girl in the passenger seat, her younger sister, Tootie. "Last stop, Twerp residence..." She muttered out tiredly, already feeling another yawn beginning to come on. "Haugh… Why'd you get me up so early to bring you over here, anyway?"
The youngest of the two Valentine sisters, clad in a faded purple tank-top, black, cutoff jean shorts, and a pair of white, weathered sneakers without socks, rolled her eyes at her older sister's question, a little smirk playing at her lips. "Vicky, it's the middle of the day!" Tootie held up her phone for emphasis, which indicated the time as two-fifteen. "And why are you so tired? You didn't even work yesterday!"
"Pfft… Middle of the day for you, maybe... I would've preferred to get in another forty-five minutes of sleep..." The redhead stretched her arms forward over her car's steering wheel, before bringing them back to gently rub her eyes with her hands. "Blame the school system for letting you guys out at a quarter to three for that, babysitting for all these years has got my sleep schedule all screwed up..." She snatched up the energy drink from her car's cup holder, taking a long, slow sip from the can.
"Well anyway, it's not like I've got a lot of options. You're the only person I know with a car who was around." Tootie stated rather simply and shrugged. "Not to mention, I doubt you'd let me drive your car even if I had my license."
"Only because you're a klutz, and I know I'd get my car back with at least three sticky stains in it." The twenty-two year old returned her drink to her cup holder, wincing at the sour aftertaste. "Don't think I didn't see that big bottle of grape juice you tried to stealthily stuff into you backpack, Toots." Vicky shot her little sister a knowing look, causing the girl to blush as her lips curled up into a small smile.
"Ehehe… Well, the bottle is closed, so there's no danger of me spilling it in here..." The raven-haired girl gave her backpack's left strap a light tug, the bottle within sloshing quietly.
"Hah… You can be so weird sometimes..." Vicky sighed out as she relaxed into the driver's seat. "If it was booze you were sneaking over to to share with the Twerp, that'd be normal, but you're apparently either such a lightweight or a prude that grape juice is contraband, in your mind." A quiet chuckle escaped the redhead as she finished.
"Heehee! Yeah, me and Timmy are gonna get hella sloshed by the pool today!" Tootie exclaimed in a much too genuine-sounding tone, earning her a look from her older sister that suggested she'd just sprouted two extra heads.
"...Okay, get out of my car." Vicky deadpanned, reaching over Tootie's lap to unlock and open the passenger side door. "You're too much of a dork for me to be seen in public with."
"Aw, c'mon!" The sixteen year old giggled as she hopped out of her older sister's car. "You sure you don't wanna stick around? You'll get to see Timmy in just his swim trunks~…!" Tootie drawled out in a teasing, suggestive tone, raising her left eyebrow at the twenty-two year old in an equally suggestive manner.
Vicky's eyes widened as she blushed a bright shade of pink at this, her younger sister's remark jolting her awake like she'd just drank a shot of espresso. "Wh-What I say or wh-who's name I may or may not call out in my sleep has no b-bearing on how I feel about them in real life!" The redhead quickly pulled the passenger door closed and buckled her seat belt, before starting her car back up. "And…! F-Find your own ride back tonight, if you wanna be a smartass!" With that, Vicky shifted her car into drive and peeled off down the street, her flustered reaction causing a wide grin to grow across Tootie's face as she watched her older sister's car disappear around the corner at the end of the street.
"Hehehe!" Another round of giggles escaped the raven-haired girl as she adjusted her purple, horn-rimmed glasses, the lenses flashing in the afternoon sun. "No need to worry about me, Sis. I'm already getting a ride from someone else…!" Tootie spun around on her heel as she finished, then made her way over to the front door of Timmy's house and rang the doorbell, which produced a loud, mechanical 'ding-dong' sound.
As she waited, Tootie glanced over at the empty driveway, Timmy's parents' car nowhere in sight. "It's nice they finally lightened up and let him have the house to himself every now and then..." She turned her attention back to the door upon hearing faint footfalls on the other side. "Too bad Vicky's so tired and grumpy though, bet she'd be more keen to stick around if she knew what I have plan-"
The front door suddenly opened, bringing the sixteen year old girl's quiet musings to a halt as the form of her best friend came into view. "Hey, Tootie." Timmy greeted her with a warm smile and a wave as he tried to catch his breath, his face just slightly red. "Sorry if I made you wait long, just wanted to make sure Cosmo and Wanda were fed before we jumped in the pool..." The brunet added, jerking his thumb over his shoulder toward the back of the house.
"No worries! I actually just got here; Vicky dropped me off." Tootie explained in a reassuring tone, stepping into her friend's house as he took a step back to let her in. "Anybody else coming over?" The girl took a moment to look around the living room, then turned to face Timmy, who wore little more than one of his old pink t-shirts and his dark blue bathing shorts. Even the hat she was so used to seeing him wear was absent today, his medium-length(for a boy) brown hair a bit more free and unkempt than usual.
"Nah, AJ's doing a bunch of extra work for those AP classes he takes, and all I heard from Chester was that he 'might' come over if there are more girls than guys." The blue-eyed teen frowned apologetically, figuring the day might be a bit boring if it was just himself and Tootie.
"Like who? Princess Trixie and her little 'pet', Veronica?" Tootie questioned in a venomous tone, still seeing the dark-haired girl with vaguely Eastern features as her rival for Timmy's attention, despite the fact that he'd given up on chasing her well over four years ago now.
"That's what I said!" The male teen exclaimed, choosing to ignore his best friend's less-than-endearing titles for the two popular girls. "I know he's kinda got a thing for Veronica, but both of them have their own indoor pools, why would they wanna come over here?"
"Or deign to be around us at all, since we're so unpopular..." Tootie remarked as she crossed her arms, the smile she once bore having now faded into a neutral, unimpressed expression.
"Alright, Tootie, they're not that bad anymore… Trixie and Veronica are… They're usually pretty alright, so long as Tad and Chad aren't around… But I figured since us hanging out was your idea, you probably wouldn't be too happy if I invited them over without mentioning it to you." Timmy admitted, having actually considered inviting the two girls over, if only because he knew Chester would practically sprint right over if he heard Veronica was in a bathing suit.
"Well you figured right!" The bespectacled girl's dour expression immediately made way for a cute, happy smile again, one that reached nearly from ear to ear. "On a day like today, where we're hanging by the pool, I want you all to myself!" Despite her attempt to hide her excitement, the bubbly sixteen year old couldn't help but fidget with reserved enthusiasm.
"I guess you got your wish then." Timmy shrugged indifferently, paying little mind to the fact that Tootie did seem to be more excited than usual today, though that didn't mean it went entirely unnoticed. "So, pool? Or you wanna grab something to eat first?"
"Pool!" Tootie exclaimed with childlike glee, briefly jumping into the air. "I've been looking forward to this all day!" Without waiting for a response, the girl spun around on her heel and dashed out of the living room, through the kitchen, and out the back door, leaving an amused Timmy still standing by his front door.
"She sure seems happy today." The teen quietly chuckled to himself as he shut the door and locked it, then followed after his friend at a more relaxed pace as he cut through the kitchen, then headed out the back door, leaving it open but closing the screen door behind him to keep out the bugs. "So, what'd you bring with you today-"
Splash!
Timmy was cut off by the sound of something fairly heavy hitting the water in his backyard pool, while Tootie herself was still mid-recovery from tossing said mystery object, her purple and black backpack sitting on the cement perimeter of the pool, by her feet. "There! That should keep it pretty cool… Oh. Crap." The girl began in a declarative tone that quickly sank into a lower, disappointed-sounding one as she brought her hand up to her mouth and gently tapped her lips with her index finger. "Timmy-!" Tootie yelled as she turned toward the house, cutting herself off as the brunet in question came into view.
"Right here." Timmy waved as he trudged across the grass toward the girl, stopping just to her right, where they both now stood under the shade of the umbrella set into the table by the pool. "What did you do…?" He questioned cautiously, glancing out of the corner of his eye at his friend.
"Ehehe..." Tootie laughed nervously, bringing both hands up in front of herself as she tapped her index fingers together. "I-Uh… I dun' goofed." She nodded toward the pool, prompting both teens to walk over to it and peer into the water.
Sitting at the bottom of the deep end, and lying on its side, was a big bottle of dark purple grape juice. The same one Tootie had grabbed from her house when Vicky gave her a ride over to Timmy's.
Upon seeing this, Timmy let out a huff of air through his nose, before glancing back over at Tootie again. "...Why?"
"Because-! Y'know… It's hot out here… I figure we're probably gonna get thirsty while we're swimming… So I thought, 'I'll just throw it in the pool water, which'll be cooler than if it's just sitting out here in the sun!', So I did, and..." The bespectacled girl stared down into the water, her bottle of juice a good nine feet below the surface. "It turns out grape juice is heavier than pool water..."
"So it would seem..." Timmy sighed out exasperatedly. "Why not just put the bottle of juice in the fridge?" He squatted by the edge of the pool and briefly wondered if he might be able to use the pool skimmer to fish the bottle out. "Agh… No way, that thing's only a little over five feet long..."
"What, and have to climb out of the pool, go all the way across the yard, into the house, and track water all over the kitchen floor, just to get a drink?" Tootie asked in a playfully disbelieving tone, like what Timmy was asking was infinitely more time-consuming and difficult than it obviously was.
"Ugh..." The sixteen year old hung his head and groaned. "I think Vicky's starting to rub off on you, Toots..." After a moment, he looked up and into the pool again, then at last stood up straight. "Guess I might as well dive in and get it..." Timmy mused aloud as he brought his hands down to the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it up, then over his head, and finally, took it off altogether, before tossing it onto one of the lawn chairs that sat next to the table.
"Hey~..." Tootie sidestepped so she was in front of Timmy, her eyes briefly lingering on his lean, somewhat toned chest. "Before you do that, you should probably put on some sunscreen, don'tcha think? Stuff stays on dry skin better than wet, after all."
"Wha-?" The teen flinched from how quickly the girl stepped in front of him and blocked his path. Not only was she quick on her feet, much like Vicky; she could also apparently be pretty stealthy, when she wanted to be. "Er… Sure, I guess so… You brought some with you?"
"Of course!" The raven-haired girl chirped, weaving in between the brunet and the table as she stepped back over to her backpack, lifted it up, and set it back down on the aforementioned table. "I got this spray-on stuff at the store the other day, figured I'd try it out, see if it's as good as the regular lotion..." Tootie dug through her backpack as she spoke, before withdrawing an aerosol spray-can from it, and giving said can a quick shake. "Sit!" She smiled at Timmy, while nodding at the lawn chair behind him.
"Tootie. I'm not a dog." The blue-eyed teen deadpanned, yet did as the girl asked, plopping himself down on soft, water-resistant fabric stretched across the chair's frame. As soon as he looked back up at the girl, she was already moving again, this time towards, then around the chair he occupied. "And I can put it on-"
The lawn chair made a low creak as Tootie knelt down behind Timmy, adding her weight to it.
"Myself..." Timmy muttered out, rolling his eyes at Tootie's silent insistence, yet still smiling in spite of himself. "Or… You can do it, if you want."
"Oh relax, I just wanna make sure to get your shoulders and back, that's all." The girl gave the can another shake, then pointed it at Timmy's left shoulder and depressed the top, the can emitting a low 'Fsh' as she drew it across his shoulders and back. With that done, she set the can down and peeked around Timmy's left side. "You're not, like, weirded out by this or anything, right?"
"Hm?" The brunet glanced over his shoulder at his friend, quirking an eyebrow up at her question. "No, it's cool. Vicky's done this for me plenty of times, both here and at the beach. And besides that, you're my best friend; I just didn't want to seem like I expected you to do it, that's all."
"Oh good..." Tootie sighed out in relief, her lips curling up into a little smile. "I was worried that… Y'know, since I was a bit clingy around you when I was younger..." As she spoke, she slowly began to rub Timmy's shoulders, her hands gently massaging the liquid sunscreen into his skin.
"Pfft, who're you kidding? You're still clingy!" Timmy scoffed in amusement, a little chill running up his spine from the raven-haired girl's touch. "Remind me again, who was it not five minutes ago that said she wants me 'all to herself'?"
"Well I'm not as clingy then, okay?" Tootie responded in a mock-offended tone, giving Timmy's shoulders each a gentle little squeeze. "Old habits are hard to break, y'know..."
"Heheh! I know…! I'm only teasing you, Tootie." The brunet chuckled, slumping his shoulders contentedly. "She's actually not too bad at this..." He thought to himself as he felt the girl's hands run up and down his sides a few times, before slowly slipping down to his hips, then forward along his lower abdomen, her hands nearly meeting as they reached his navel, their movements becoming sluggish and lingering. "So… You think my back and shoulders are all set…?"
"Oh!" Tootie jumped in surprise, her cheeks blushing a pretty shade of pink, while her hands recoiled as if they'd been burned. "Y-Yeah, er… Sorry, I-Uh… I kinda… Got a little carried away there..." She rocked back on her knees as she finished, then rose to her feet and walked back around the lawn chair to stand in front of Timmy.
"It's no biggie." The teen casually waved off his friend's concern, seeing as how it was Tootie, the same girl who would occasionally rush him out of nowhere in the middle of school and practically tackle him into a hug. Compared to that, an incidental massage while having the girl rub sunscreen into his skin wasn't all that odd. "Mind letting me see that so I can finish up?" He pointed at the can of sunscreen.
"Oh, sure." The raven-haired girl absently handed it over, her mind still preoccupied with how lucky she was that Timmy was so comfortable around her. Were they not so close, her little lapse in judgment might've scared him into hiding in his room for the rest of the afternoon.
It wasn't long before he finished, and, upon feeling satisfied with the coverage of the sunscreen, the brunet handed the can back to Tootie. "Thanks!" He grinned up at her warmly, making the sixteen year old girl feel weak at the knees for a moment.
"Ehehe… N-No problem…" Tootie looked down at the can of sunscreen in her hand, while still peeking out of the corner of her right eye at Timmy. "So… You wanna do me, now?"
The backyard fell silent, the only sound being the low drone of a cicada somewhere far in the distance.
This soon changed, however; as Timmy began to quietly snicker before glancing away evasively, his cheeks adopting a light, yet noticeable dusting of pink. "Uhh… You wanna run that by me again, Tootie? Don't think I quite caught you the first time..."
"What?" Tootie shot her fellow teen a look of genuine confusion. "I was just asking if you wouldn't mind doing… Me..." She trailed off as Timmy hissed out another chuckle, her mind at last clicking as she realized what she'd said. "No-I didn't mean-!" She began to laugh. "Get your mind out of the gutter! I was just-Hehehe! I was just asking if you wouldn't mind putting sunscreen on my back! Here, jeez!" Tootie handed the can of sunscreen back to Timmy, then turned toward the table as she started to take off her tank-top, putting her back to the brunet.
"Hey, you said it, not me!" The sixteen year old continued to giggle in amusement, which only began to fade once he took a moment to look the girl in front of him up and down, and notice that he could see the waist of her purple bikini bottom peeking up over the edge of her shorts.
"Here I was thinking Chester was the perv of the group, and then you go and sneak the crown right out from under his nose..." Tootie remarked with a smirk as she unbuttoned and unzipped her shorts, then bent over and slid them down her legs, giving the teen behind her quite the view of her fairly ample rear-end.
"Hey." Timmy spoke up, lightly tapping the bespectacled girl's left buttock with the can of sunscreen. "You know your butt is right in my face, don't you?"
For a moment, the girl paused midway through undressing, her lips curling up into a devious little smile. "That a complaint, I'm hearing?" She peeked over her shoulder at the teen, shooting him a mildly flirty look. "Let's see what I can get away with..."
"Not… Necessarily..." Timmy admitted, again rolling his eyes to avoid meeting Tootie's gaze. "I mean, so long as you don't fart, I guess the view's not so bad."
"Ugh..." Tootie groaned out, squeezing her eyes shut in annoyance as she stood up straight again. "What are we? Five? What on Earth would possess me to fart in your face?" The girl kicked off her shoes and the shorts which had pooled around her feet, wondering if her little impromptu show had any effect on her friend at all.
"I'unno." Timmy shrugged indifferently, leaning back a little on the lawn chair. "Butts fart."
"Don't be ridiculous. Everyone knows girls don't fart." Tootie jokingly corrected the brunet, before turning around to face him again. "On to less childish subjects… Vicky and I recently went on a bit of a shopping spree, and I bought this." She gestured at her bathing suit. "Whatcha think?"
Once more, Timmy looked his best friend up and down, this time having the luxury of a frontal view of the girl and her bathing suit: a bright purple two-piece bikini with black floral patterns on it that looked a bit like sunflowers; the bottom consisting of fairly average bikini bottoms, while the top was securely tied around roughly the middle of her back, as well as the back of her neck by string-like ties. "Looks like a bikini." Another shrug, though the male teen couldn't hide the slight blush brought on by his wandering gaze.
"Well aren't you observant." The girl deadpanned, folding her arms across her chest. "I mean… Y'know… Does it look good? Cute? Sexy? Too… Revealing?" She trailed off, her voice bearing a hint of uncertainty.
"You want me to tell my best friend if I think she looks sexy in her new bikini?" Timmy deadpanned right back at Tootie, mimicking the little eyebrow-quirked look she'd given him earlier.
"Well… Wh-What if, just for a second, you and I aren't best friends? I'm just some girl at the beach, or whatever?" The sixteen year old girl stammered out, hoping she wasn't going too far in testing the limits of her and Timmy's friendship.
"Hm..." Timmy closed his eyes, bringing his hand up to his chin and taking on a contemplative pose as he tried to imagine a situation where he was seeing Tootie for the first time.
Tootie, meanwhile; looked down at herself, specifically at the bikini she was wearing. At the time she'd bought it, she hadn't really given it much thought, but the top lacked any sort of real padding; there was just a thin layer of purple fabric covering her breasts, themselves being a little above average in size, certainly bigger than Vicky's were when she was sixteen. In fact, due to their size, they actively prevented the little bit of thin fabric that connected the 'cups' of her bathing suit from sitting flush against her skin, allowing her to see through the slight opening between her breasts down to her navel.
Comparatively, the bottoms fit her a bit better, as while she was well aware of rather curvy hips, she hadn't taken on what most would consider an hourglass figure; a bit of her 'baby fat' still remained, but she was far from even chubby, and at the same time, nowhere near skinny as a rail.
"Ah..." The brunet at last spoke up, his blue eyes meeting Tootie's violet ones. "This isn't… Gonna make things… Awkward, right?"
"No… I don't think so..." The raven-haired girl shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Least I'm not the only one who worries about stuff like this..." "I mean, we already kinda straddle the line between 'cool' and 'awkward' now and then, don't we?" Tootie reasoned, mentally hearkening back to the many tackle-hugs in the hallway at school, and playful nudges at lunch, among other things. "Just... Treat it as giving me a boost to my self-esteem."
"...Guess you've got a point..." The teen nodded in agreement as he leaned back, bracing his hands against the fabric of the lawn chair. "Well… Yeah, I think it's cute." He felt his cheeks heat up, and briefly wondered if it was from them being flushed with embarrassment, or the sun beating down on them from overhead. "You look cute. ...In it." He added in hesitantly, not quite willing to admit to himself that he thought his best friend was cute, as on the one hand, he didn't want to sound like he was checking her out, and risk making her uncomfortable, which in turn might make things awkward between them and jeopardize their friendship. On the other, he worried Tootie might really appreciate his answer, and given how obsessed with him she used to be when they were younger, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to spend several hours, alone; with a very appreciative Tootie.
Finally, strange as it was, he found it bizarrely difficult to imagine not being best friends with the girl, likely because she, much like her older sister, had become such a constant in his life. It was almost like trying to imagine a world without his fairy godparents, or magic in general!
"Heehee! Good thing you caught yourself there!" Tootie giggled as the brunet's cheeks visibly pinkened to a rosier, not-quite-red color. She considered teasing him a bit more, but quickly thought better of it, instead opting to lay herself down on the lawn chair opposite the one Timmy occupied.
"Well it's… It feels weird to tell you you're cute, or sexy, or… Whatever." The sixteen year old rose to his feet, doing his best to keep his eyes on Tootie's face and upper back, and not her rear-end, which seemed to be ever so slightly raised into the air. "Is she doing that on purpose?"
"Because it's not true?" The bespectacled girl questioned in an upbeat, joking tone, using her arms as a makeshift pillow as she stared up at Timmy.
"I didn't say that." The teen shot back as he sat down on the lawn chair next to Tootie. "It just feels kind of awkward, even though you said it shouldn't… Anyway, how do you… Eh… Want me to do this? Your top is…"
"Oh! Silly me, I didn't even think of that!" Leaning up a little, Tootie slid her arms out from under her head and reached behind her, then carefully undid the lower knot that held her bikini on and swept the two thin pieces of fabric off her back. "There! Better?"
"So long as you keep lying on your stomach..." The brunet thought to himself, his eyes briefly lingering on the pale, almost cream-colored skin on the side of his friend's breast. "Yeah… Just-Um… Stay still there." He gave the can yet another quick shake as he finished, then copied Tootie's actions with him and sprayed it across her shoulders and back. "Sorry in advance if I'm… Y'know, bad."
"You're just rubbing sunscreen into my skin, Timmy!" Tootie laughed, her voice becoming muffled as she buried her face in her arms. "I'm not expecting a world-class massage here!"
"W-Well… I just wanted to give you a heads up!" The sixteen year old grinned, his companion's bubbly amusement becoming slightly infectious. "I've only done this like, a handful of times..."
"For who?" Tootie asked, her tone now dripping with venom as she imagined a widely-grinning Timmy rubbing sunscreen into Trixie's back, the two of them staring at each other with starry-eyed, loving expressions. It took the brunet speaking up again to make her realize she was gritting her teeth in anger.
"Oh… Er… Y'know, just Vicky… Actually, I guess it's been more than a handful of times, to be honest..." He looked away self-consciously, despite the fact that Tootie's gaze appeared to be fixated straight ahead, toward the pool.
"Phew… That's a relief..." The raven-haired girl muttered out, not realizing she was thinking aloud.
"Hm? What's a relief?" Timmy queried, at last feeling comfortable enough to begin gently rubbing the sunscreen into the girls skin. For the most part, he mimicked the same motions Tootie had, with a bit of his own technique that he'd acquired while doing the same for Vicky, mixed in. Unlike Tootie, however; he didn't linger overmuch, and definitely didn't sneak in a feel of her sides or lower abdomen. The act itself was progressively making him feel warm, warmer than he should've felt, even in the hot afternoon sun.
And worse still, a certain prickly, tingling itch had begun to make itself known a few inches below his navel, the blood that had once been racing only to his cheeks now being diverted to a certain organ as well, much to the sixteen year old's chagrin.
"Ah… It's nothing, Timmy! Just thinking out loud!" Tootie responded with a carefree, reassuring smile, turning her head to the right and laying it back down on her arms.
"Okay..." The teen shifted his left leg a bit, trying his best to ignore the hot, growing organ pressing against his inner thigh as he finished applying sunscreen to Tootie's back. "Well-Um… I-I'd better go get your grape juice now!" Feeling that Tootie's back was sufficiently protected from the sun, Timmy instantly rose to his feet, earning him a quizzical stare from the girl.
"It's not like there's a rush or..." The violet-eyed girl trailed off as her best friend made a beeline for the pool and dove in, quickly disappearing beneath the surface and out of sight. "But, y'know, by all means, go get the bottle of juice. Not like there's a cute girl right here, with her top barely hanging on, or anything..." Tootie deadpanned in a flat, mildly annoyed tone and hung her head, butting her brow against her arms. "Agh… Why is he so oblivious? Do I have to throw myself at him so he gets the hint…?" She mused quietly, pushing herself up into a kneeling position before re-tying her bikini top.
With that out of the way, she snatched up the can of sunscreen, now discarded and lying on its side next to the lawn chair, and finished applying it to her skin, before finally setting it down on the table. "Hah… Better off just being patient." Tootie sighed out as she got off the lawn chair and rose to her feet, then reached for her backpack, only to catch herself at the last moment, realizing her hands were still covered in a mildly slick film of sunscreen. "Eugh..." She frowned at her hands, taking a brief moment to look around for something to wipe them off on. "...Right, my towel's in my backpack..." She again glanced around, before shrugging her shoulders with a low 'Eh' and wiping her hands off on her butt. "Problem solved!" Tootie exclaimed happily, then bent down to pick up her backpack once more, this time setting it down on the table alongside the sunscreen.
Within seconds, she produced a large, light blue towel from her backpack, followed by a pair of purple swimming goggles; the kind that only covered one's eyes. These were soon put on, replacing her purple, horn-rimmed glasses. "All set!" The violet-eyed girl declared, at last turning her attention to her best friend's pool. "Huh… How long's he been down there for…?"
Meanwhile…
Timmy sat cross-legged at the bottom of the pool, eyes shut and arms folded across his chest, the bottle of juice he'd dove into said pool to get now sitting upright and next to him. "Stupid hormones… I'm not supposed to feel…" The brunet opened his eyes and glanced down at his crotch, the pairing of the cool water of the pool and a couple of minutes to himself having since allowed his arousal to fade. "Like that, around her… Or… I am, since she's a girl, I guess, but..." He animatedly uncrossed his arms and ran his hands back and forth through his hair repeatedly, looking a bit like he had an itch he just couldn't scratch. "But she's my best friend! Why am I suddenly feeling this way about her now?!" Timmy craned his neck up towards the surface, though all he saw was the sky overhead and part of the umbrella set into the backyard table. "Who am I kidding? I don't even know how I feel about Tootie, just the way she was lying, with her butt up and her bikini top undone made me want to pull her bottoms down and-" He squeezed his eyes shut, cutting that train of thought to a sudden halt. "No! If I think about it I'm not gonna be able to not think about it…! Crap, what am I gonna do…? I can't say anything to her, not after all the times I tried to run away from her when we were younger… She might never forgive me if I go back on all that now…" Timmy slowly peeked one eye open, then followed it with the other as he noticed a black, purple, and cream-colored figure leaning over the edge of the pool and peeking down into it at him. "How long have I even been down here? ...I'd better come up before she starts to worry." Grabbing the bottle of juice, the teen reoriented himself into a crouched posture, then fully extended his legs, launching himself up toward the surface, his target being the edge of the pool where Tootie stood.
Sploosh!
"Ah-Heehee!" The girl yelped in surprise and giggled as Timmy broke the surface and showered her with water droplets, his right arm latching onto the edge of the pool as he gasped out a huge breath of air and sucked in a fresh one. "Been practicing holding your breath?"
"Ah… Heheh… Yeah, you could say that..." Timmy panted, his ability to hold his breath for so long being something he'd inadvertently trained over the years after Vicky had first made him dig the pool. "Got your juice." He lifted the bottle up over the edge of the pool, placing it down next to Tootie's feet.
"I knew you would!" The raven-haired girl crouched down in front of her best friend with a wide, closed-eyed smile that showed off her pearly-white teeth; long since free of the braces she had when she was ten. "Be right back, gonna stick this in the fridge." Tootie grabbed the bottle as she stood back up, before turning about on her heel and making for the back door of the house.
"Mm-hm." The brunet-haired teen hummed out, laying his arms one on top of the other on the edge of the pool and using them as a makeshift pillow while he watched Tootie jog across the lawn and into his house, his eyes again betraying him as they focused on her rear-end. "Mngh..." He grumbled out in annoyance, forcing his wandering gaze to focus instead on the tall wooden fence that formed the perimeter of his backyard. "Not like Tootie's all that bad-looking or anything…" Timmy let out a huff of air through his nose as he released the edge of the pool and kicked off the side, launching himself backward toward the middle of the water, at which point he slowed down, allowing him to float aimlessly on his back. "No." He blinked his eyes closed. "I'm doing it again; I'm thinking about it when I already told myself I wouldn't. We're friends. That's it." Timmy repeated his impromptu mantra in his head a few times, forcing himself to acknowledge it. "Friends." The teen slowly cracked his eyes open, a flat, neutral expression on his face. "...Yeah, 'cause it's that simple-" He cut himself off and lifted his head a bit, noticing the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps on the grass, then the cement walkway that surrounded the pool.
"Whee~!" Tootie shouted giddily as she leapt off the side of the pool and cannon-balled into the water, sending small waves outward from where she impacted it. Seconds later, she surfaced right next to Timmy and threw her right arm around his midsection, treating him as a makeshift raft as she delicately settled her chin on his upper chest, her cheeks bearing a faint dusting of pink as she shot him a cute little smile. "Heya, Friendo!"
"It's gonna be a long day..." The blue-eyed teen thought to himself, hoping Tootie wouldn't be too cuddly, else he might start to entertain some of his bad ideas…