Teenage Millionaire

Chapter 39: Push

We take a few more pictures- of me, of the car, of both of us in the car- all of which he sends to me. When we finally go inside, his parents practically ambush me.

"Todd! Happy birthday!" Darla yells.

"Belated," Henry Sr. adds.

I blush. "Thanks."

"Carter told us that he had all your classes sing you 'happy birthday'," Darla says. "You must be sick of that song by now, so we won't-"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU," Carter interrupts, singing loudly. I cover my face with my hands, and I hear all of them laugh before Carter's (at least, I assume it's his) arm slides around my shoulders. "Don't worry, I'm kidding. I embarrassed you enough yesterday."

"More than enough," I grumble at him, uncovering my face and glaring at him.

"Sure. But it was necessary. Now come on, let's go downstairs." He tugs on my arm, and I follow him.

When we get down to the basement, though, he doesn't immediately head for the Mario Kart TV, like I was expecting. Instead, he heads in the direction of the pool area. I follow him, trying not to smile too much. I remember seeing this pool last time I was here, and thinking how cool it was. It hasn't changed, except now that I'm seeing it up close, it looks even cooler.

The pool area of the basement has different lighting- less warm, more bluish white, and dimmer. The pool has multi colored lights under the water, giving the water a cool effect.

"Like it?" he asks, and I turn to him, grinning.

"Yes. This is so cool."

"Isn't it? The rest of the basement kind of throws off the look, though..."

He goes to the open wall and grabs something, then starts walking. I realize a moment later that it's a sliding glass door.

Once he's completely closed off the pool area from the rest of the basement, he goes to a panel of what look like light-dimmers and slides one up. The glass of the sliding door suddenly darkens until it's not transparent anymore.

He's smirking at me, watching my expression. I'm sure I look comical- I realize a few moments later that my mouth is open, and hastily close it. "That's- wow."

He flashes me a cheeky smile, then waves me over to him. He hands me a pair of swim trunks, and points to a door. "Bathroom's there."

I change quickly and come back out to find him already changed. I try not to stare at his bare upper half for too long, but it's not an easy task. When I finally force my eyes up to his, he's scanning me the way he does after Raymond's makeovers. I'm a little self conscious for a moment, since this time he's looking at my body, and I'm not the most fit person in the world (my life up until he came into it consisted of pretty much no physical activity except walking to school. I have no muscle- well, not none, but very little developed skeletal muscle. Him, on the other hand... wow.)

He's looking at my face again, now, which makes it a little easier to breathe. "Come over here. I have one more thing to show you."

I go over to where he's standing, at the side of the pool, and he points into the water. I look where he's pointing, not seeing anything particularly interesting, when I suddenly feel two hands on my back, pushing me in.

I have the good sense to exhale as I'm submerged instead of inhaling water, before I swim back up to the surface and glare at him. He's laughing.

"You're the worst!"

He smirks at me. "I'm sorry, Todd. I had to."

"You're not sorry."

"I am a little sorry for taking advantage of your trust and enthusiasm."