(LIL NSFW)
Summers in Ninjago City are crisp and fleeting.
They always hit in the middle of May and end in the middle of July, only for the Mountain Town to resume its snow forecasts in August. But for that brief moment in the year, it's nice and hot. The perfect weather for having a pool.
Lou had installed a pool for Christmas, and now that it was the middle of may, the Brookstone family was finally able to use it. During the day Lou brought his usual friends over and they occupied the pool for hours. At the end of the day Cole would come out and make sure the pool was clean. He didn't mind it. It was a nice pool, and he got paid 30 dollars for cleaning it.
Not only that, at dusk, the lights in the pool would glow an electric blue. That along with the lavender orange sunset made for really nice scenery.
So here Cole was, his feet dipped in the pool while he sat on the edge and cracked open a beer. Dressed in a light t-shirt and rolled up capris, he wasn't quite ready for a swim. If he had a friend to swim with he'd probably change his tune.
He had texted Kai about 15 minutes ago about coming over and hanging out with him, but with how busy Kai was now-a-days, maybe he'd be just chilling by himself tonight.
Just as Cole turned on his pill speaker, however, he caught his old friend in his peripheral, opening the sliding door.
"Hey, you made it after all," Cole smiled.
Kai returned the smile. "I'm as surprised as you are. I didn't even get done with my essay, but Mom said I should take a break." The tan head was dressed in a plain polo, khaki shorts and sandals. A dorkish style, but he didn't care. Fashion was overrated in Kai's eyes, and it certainly shouldn't be an everyday thing.
"So, any idea what college you're going to yet?" Cole asked.
Kai sighed heavily. "Not yet. All the best med schools are either on the west coast or the east coast. It's such a pain in the ass."
"Hey, at least you know what you wanna do for the rest of your life, right?"
Kai kicked his sandals off and walked over to where Cole was seated. "I guess. What are you gonna go for, just Ninjago State?"
Cole stared at the water covering his feet and swished it around. "I don't know. I hear college isn't even worth it if you don't know what you wanna do. I'm only 19, you know? How much do I really know about the world in the first place? How do I know what's the best thing for me to go into?"
Giving a fond look to his raven-haired friend, Kai knelt down and patted Cole on the back. "You worry too much about if what you like is good enough, Cole. Just do what you want to do. Don't get so caught up about how much money it makes."
Cole raised an eyebrow at Kai. "Easy for you to say, mister doctor-in-the-making. You get to have your cake and eat it too."
Kai rolled his eyes and gave a light laugh at that. He stood back up and took his polo off, followed by removing his khakis, revealing dark red swim trunks.
"Let's just enjoy the pool. I've been thinking about college all day anyway."
"Pfft, dude!" Cole gawked at Kai after watching his process of undressing. "What are you, nine? Why wouldn't you just change into your trunks like a normal person?"
Kai paused for a moment to look down at his clothes on the floor, as if recollecting what just happened. He looked back at Cole and shook his head. "What's the point of that? I wasn't gonna put on fresh underwear just to take them off as soon as I got here. "
