Chapter 5 – Easy Targets

"So let's run through the lowdown one more time," Swizzle said. "What do ya say to yourself when you start disbelievin' that you're beautiful?"

After all that dancing, he and Minty were cooling off with some ice cream. Much like a certain couple had been doing earlier, the pair were sitting at the edge of the pool.

The sky was a deep indigo blue dotted with thousands of colourful twinkling Starbursts. Sugar Rush's marshmallow moon had taken the lemon sun's place to shed magnificent light on the party, which was accompanied now by the burning marshmallow tiki torches and strings of gumdrop lights hung from the candy palm trees, magically transforming the summer afternoon pool party into a tropical nighttime luau. The dance battles had ended, though the dance floor remained with a few racers still boogieing down. Waferhead was now playing tunes of a more mellow, yet still upbeat groove genre.

Minty took a lick of the double-dipped choco-mint cone with extra sprinkles and lollipop shavings that Swizzle had ordered for her. "The Swizz loves me anyway?"

"You got it, dude," he replied, letting the light glint off his shining teeth.

Minty looked down at her own reflection wobbling about in the cola that peered right back up at her. "I'm sorry for making a big fuss, Swizzy," she mumbled. "No matter how hard I've tried, I've always had trouble accepting my own body image."

She watched as reflection Swizzle's face appeared to join hers, meeting her eyes through the blue liquid. "No apologies needed. I get your drift, Mints," he assured her, looping an arm around her shoulders. "Feeling good about yourself 24/7 isn't everyone's thing. I just hope that by repeating that phrase to, you remember that I don't care what you're wearing. A pretty swimsuit like that or a winter coat n' sweat pants. You're still the one and only Minty Zaki in my eyes. The same gal I fell in love with over 20 years ago and the same girl I'm still in love with now."

Taking his eyes off their reflections to instead look at the real Minty beside her, he took a moment to inspect her thoroughly. "But with that said…might I add that you're lookin' gosh darn hot tonight."

The girl blushed deeply as she kept her eyes locked on her reflection, looking at herself in her swimwear. Fidgeting at her bikini top and letting the ruffled fabric roll between her fingers, she was reminded of one staple that had always brought her comfort for as long as she could remember: as obnoxious and prideful as Swizzle Malarkey was, he would never ever lie to her. And neither would Jubileena or Adorabeezle. So if her closest friends in the world had absolutely no problem with how she looked…then why should she?

And since Swizzle thought so, maybe she did look good wearing this after all.

Minty now looked into the real eyes of her boyfriend. "You always know just how to use your charm, Swizzle," she sighed. "I wish I could figure out how you do it."

Swizzle leaned towards her closely to brush her green bangs past her goggles and out of her eyes. "Simple. Find the pretty lady who needs it the most," he said, his voice as smooth as buttercream.

Minty's blush intensified as she tried hard to hold back the smile growing upon her red face. "If we weren't wearing swimsuits, I'd hug you for being so sweet."

"Why should that matter?" he asked. "Like I said…I don't care what you're wearing." He raised his arms out. "These arms are open for business," he added with an inviting grin. "And they're specially reserved for one special customer."

It was taking everything in Minty's virtual willpower to resist her smile now, but it still didn't work. All she could do was helplessly bury her face with the one hand that did not clutch her ice cream cone as she became a giggly mess, giving Swizzle a very satisfying sight indeed. "Oh my gobstopper, Swizzy, that was so bad."

He stuffed the rest of his ice cream sandwich into his mouth and shrugged. "Hey, sometimes you gotta be bad to be good. But since you seem to be reluctant, I'll make the first move for ya!"

He promptly grabbed Minty's shoulders and launched them both right into the pool.

For a moment, all that could be seen were bubbles and a dropped ice cream cone splattered on the pool deck. An explosion of cola, and the two racers resurfaced with Minty held bridal-style in Swizzle's arms. Minty was yelling, kicking, and laughing and spluttering cola all at the same time while Swizzle just stood there perfectly calm, holding his captive with one arm latching her legs and the other around the shoulders.

"Let me go! Let me go, you evil devil-dog!" Minty squealed, pounding him in the chest in a fit of loud giggles as she tried to escape his secured grip.

It was music to Swizzle's ears.

"Nah, I'm good as is," he smirked down at her. "Sweeping you up in my arms is the best way to end the day. No way am I lettin' you go."

Minty stopped squirming, instead crossing her arms in a pout, cola dripping off her face. Trapped like this, her dignity was now lost and she was forced to look up at him. With the moon right behind Swizzle's head, every dripping lock of his hair seemed to glow. "Why do I always end up like this?" she whined with an amused scowl.

"Lucky, I guess," he replied in his smooth voice that – despite in her wound-up state – sent shivers down her spine even before he brought her close, not noticing Torvald and Sticky quietly arriving on the scene to watch the fun.

At last, Minty finally stopped fighting. She instead smiled sweetly up at him and wrapped her own arms around his neck. "You're right," she said in complete surrender. "I am lucky, aren't I?"

"As lucky as I am to be holding you like this," he answered in a whisper.

And with that, he brought Minty's face up to his. But just as their lips met, a blast of cola smacked them in the side that startled Swizzle so much that he dropped Minty into the cola. Their surprise attack was accompanied by Torvald's laughter.

"Aw, too bad, he let her go after all," Sticky observed in a pitiful tone.

Torvald peered at the two spluttering racers over the scope of her powerful cola gun with a wicked grin on her face. "Hey Swizzle! I finally understand what you meant earlier 'bout returning pretty fish to the sea. The cola is where they rightfully belong."

Coughing out the liquid she had swallowed, Minty turned furiously to the offending party. "Torvald! You…you just ruined everything!" she shrieked in a rage. "I got cola up my nose!"

"Sorry cous," her golden-haired triplet laughed. "This cola shootin' rally is really growing on me. Easy targets are too tempting for me. And since Gloyd seems to have retired from pranking, someone has to pick up the slack!"

Then she yelped as Swizzle and Minty both started squirting cola back at her in rapid fire thanks to the cola guns that Swizzle had stashed behind his back and had quickly slipped one into Minty's hand beneath the cola surface while Torvald had been relishing in her victory. Their guns were smaller, but there were two of them.

"Hey! No fair!" she exclaimed, immediately firing back. "Two against one is illegal! Sticky, help me out here!"

"No thanks, you got this Torvy," Sticky said, getting up to run away from the spray. "I believe in you!"

With a loud yawn, Taffyta finally folded up her candy wrapper and removed her sunglasses. No more sunlight meant that both items had finished their work for her today.

The blonde in the pink bikini stretched the odd kinks out of her limbs and lay back in her chair next to the pool to lazily gaze at the stars. Ever since the party had started, she had been sitting in this exact same spot. And she had done it without getting a single drop of cola on her. Feeling smug and satisfied, she was so busy trying to ignore the obnoxious cola-war that was currently underway somewhere at the other end of the pool that she almost didn't hear the approaching footsteps.

"Hey, Taffyta."

Looking over, she saw that it was Gloyd. He was holding a cold drink that came with a gummy lemon wedge and a straw.

"Gloyd," she acknowledged with a nod.

"You've been lying in that one spot all afternoon. You must be thirsty," he said, waving the glass with a crooked grin.

Taffyta rolled her eyes. "I wasn't born yesterday. I'm not drinking whatever you give me."

"It's just strawberry lemonade," Gloyd shrugged. "Thought you might like it."

His response prompted Taffyta to raise an eyebrow. "Has Crumbelina been giving you lessons on how to properly treat your female neighbours?"

"Kinda," he admitted.

Taffyta leaned forward slightly. "I saw you two over there."

"Really?" Gloyd shuffled his bare feet. "What'd you see?"

"Meh, nothing all that interesting," she said loftily. "Just you weirdos talking…a little smooch – (she smirked teasingly while he blushed) – …and then a splash fight that was totally immature. But you know what? Good job."

Gloyd blinked. "What was that last part?"

"I said 'good job'," Taff repeated. "Crumbelina doesn't sell herself over to just anyone. The guy that she falls for had better be really special in order to get her to surrender. And somehow, it turned out to be you. Whatever you're doing…it's obviously working. 'You guys look really happy together, so, y'know…good job or whatever."

A smile appeared on Gloyd's face as he clued in that Taffyta had just given him a compliment. She almost never allowed herself to do that, especially for him.

"Thanks, Taffyta. I just gotta be me, that's all. So…do you want a drink?"

"Not on your life, Orangeboar. My pool day has gone exactly the way I planned for it to go. Drinking what you call strawberry lemonade that ends up being tomato juice is not in the plan."

Gloyd tapped his chin. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing getting wet from Swizzle's cola guns is definitely not in your plan?" he asked innocently.

"You bet your pumpkin head, it isn't," Taffyta said triumphantly. "I'm a little surprised he decided to be obedient this year. Looks like my hardcore pro-ness finally got Swizzle in line."

"And…getting in the pool at all is not in your plan either, right?"

"Right."

Then Taffyta looked at Gloyd with a scowl. "What is this, 20-Questions? You are not gonna convince me to get my hair wet, Gloyd. I ain't leaving this chair until the party's over.

"Aw come on, Taff! Vanellope's pool is really nice and I think you should enjoy it. In fact, I think you're gonna…FLIP for it!"

Gloyd jabbed a green candy button on the remote behind his back, activating the spring-loaded bouncer he had planted under Taffyta's chair to pop open and flip both the chair and its occupant right off the deck. Taffyta let out a high-pitched shriek as she went flying in a perfect arc that sent her right into the pool.

KER-SPLASH!

The wide grin that stretched and filled Gloyd's face was enough to tell anyone who saw it that this made up for his restraint from pranking all day long. "Oh that felt good," he relished. "Let's see, that makes two silly girls tossed into the pool. I bet I can go for three next time."

"MY HAIR!" screamed Taffyta at the top of her lungs when she had exploded to the surface, her platinum blonde bob that had been kept neat and tidy all day now nothing more than a soaking, dripping mop. "Gloyd, you absolute jerk!"

"I've heard that one before," he said with a dopey grin.

With cola dripping off her nose and her cheeks red in fury, Taffyta saw Crumbelina walking up to Gloyd and rest her arms on his shoulder. "You approve of this?" Taffyta snapped.

"Yes, I do," Crumbelina answered with a big smile.

"Nice one, dude," Swizzle said, appearing next to Gloyd to give him high-five, Minty in tow and holding his other hand. "When you told Torvs and I to save Taff for ya, I knew you had something super wicked planned!"

Growling loudly that everyone was watching her like this was all some form of live entertainment, Taffyta was about to paddle to the ladder and give those kids a piece of her mind, when suddenly there was another very loud shriek. But not one of horror like she had belted out a minute ago, but one of utter delight. And there was Candlehead, running a beeline towards her from the dance floor; before Taffyta could react, there was another huge splash that got her full in the face and Candlehead was in the cola next to her, wearing a great big smile.

"Yay, Taffy! You finally decided to go swimming after all! Now we can finally have fun together!"

Taffyta was about to protest, but stopped dead when she saw a most troubling sight. "Candlehead, you…you just doused your own candle out."

Without her water wings or inner tube, Candlehead's head had plunged beneath the surface of the cola following her excited leap into the pool to join her friend, which had indeed put out her beloved flame, leaving nothing but a dripping wax candle strapped to the side of her head. But Candlehead's smile was unchanged as she laughed in response. "Oh, that doesn't matter, Taffy, I can relight it when it dries! Right now, I wanna play with my best friend! C'mon, let's have some fun!"

Still laughing, she playfully splashed Taffyta again, to which the strawberry-racer responded to by firing back with her own reflex. Swizzle, Gloyd, Minty, Torvald, Snowanna, Adorabeezle, and Citrusella all jumped in to join the splash attacks, with laughter all around. Some of that laughter may even have come from Taffyta herself. Sticky, Nougetsia, Crumbelina, and Jubileena sat at the edge of the deck as the red racer dutifully set to work snapping pictures of everyone.

Vanellope and Rancis were the last to arrive, standing on the edge of the pool to witness everything.

"Well dang it, looks I lost," Vanellope sighed dramatically, extracting five gold coins from behind her back and handing them to Rancis, which the boy accepted with a gleeful fist pump in the air. "Though tbh, I expected that."

Rancis stowed his prize away safely and grinned smugly. "I know," he said. "That's why I made the bet." Then he gasped as Vanellope pushed him into the pool before cannonballing in after him in a fit of laughter.