Baking With Boys |✔

5. Vanilla Icing

"Look, he's jumping--" My voice faded away, horrified at the scene above me. The previous grace with which Brandon had dived was now replaced by an awkward posture. From beside me, Liam gasped, his arm coming in front of me to shield me from the water.

Splash!

Water splashed everywhere, but all I could do was stare at Brandon dropping into the water. He fell in headfirst, and the sound was deafening, sharp in the hollow swimming pool. Liam tried to save me from being drenched, keeping me back, but all I did was to try to push him aside, looking out for Brandon. Fear settled in my stomach, unbelieving, and not being able to comprehend the scene in front of me.

A hushed silence seemed to fall upon inside the swimming pool as everyone watched the water.

"Dammit!" Liam was the first one to react as he broke the silence and sprinted towards the pool, diving in.

That's when I realized that Brandon had not come up for more than half a minute now. It had only taken him ten seconds to come up before. Another sort of fear gripped me as I desperately tried to look for Brandon's body from outside.

Something was seriously wrong.

I heard shouts from everyone else, but my eyes were glued to the swimming pool, and Liam's body diving under the water. I clutched my dress, my hands getting sweaty as more and more time passed and neither of them came up.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Seth jump in from the other side.

Due to the dim lighting in the indoor pool, it was hard to see inside to pool. But I strained my eyes and saw two blurry bodies swimming upwards. I closed my eyes in relief and brightened as Liam pulled Brandon out of the pool. Liam swam out first, water dripping down his body, and his hair masking his eyes. Others ran over to him, helping them pull out the limp body of Brandon behind him.

Shit. I ran over to them, not caring about looking like a wild goat as I did so. "Brandon!" My voice sounded frightened to my own ears, and I was surprised to realize that I actually cared about him, despite it being only a day since I had gotten to know him. I crouched down next to him, as Liam stood there. He shook his head, wiping away the water from his face, and taking in ragged breaths. 

"Brandon?" I shook him.

No answer.

Confused at his stillness, I shook him again, this time harder.

He didn't wake up.

"Liam! He is not opening his eyes! Doesn't he need CPR or something?" I bent down my head to his chest, to hear if his heart was still beating or not. The blood pumping in my ears made it harder to hear it. I looked up, angry at the three of them for just standing there with blank expressions. "What the hell are all of you doing?" 

"Well, I am not going to do CPR on him," Liam said matter-of-factly.

I turned to Leo and Seth and both of them shook their head. "Seriously?!" I put both of my hands up in the air in disbelief.

About to get up and have a very serious word with them, the unexpected voice made me stop in my tracks.

"Why don't you do it? It'll be more fun."

Blood drained from my face, and I bet I looked like I had seen a ghost or something. Slowly, I turned my head towards Brandon. One of his eyes was propped open and he was giving me a lopsided grin. Blood rushed back into my face, and instead of relief, I was filled with anger. Frustrated, but unable to say anything to him, I punched his shoulder.