Preston's P.O.V.
I grinned as Rob held out a bag of unfilled water balloons, placing his finger to his lips. I giggled and slipped into the bathroom beside him, helping him fill up them up to go on the attack and probably dump most of them on Mitch, as revenge for the whip cream a few days earlier.
As soon as we had a large bucket full of water balloons we carried them downstairs and into the living room, where we hid behind the couch. From where we were crouched we could see all 4 others boys who were sitting outside, relaxing in the sun.
It was the end of autumn, heading into winter now, so they were making the best of the suddenly warm weather for a few hours. Jerome was asleep on a chair with his cap pulled down over his eyes, his hands folded in his lap. Mitch was beside him reading a book, his eyes slipping closed but I could see he was trying to fight it, because his head kept jolting up and down.
Lachlan and Vikk were throwing a tennis ball between each other, trying any way to make the other miss the catch so they could laugh at each other. I almost burst into laughter when Vikk threw the ball so far to the side that Lachlan almost tipped over into the pool, which still had the cover on.
Rob handed me some balloons and nodded towards Mitch, who was the closest and our biggest target.
"3-" He mouthed. "2, 1, GO!!!!" With that we both roared and pelted the balloons at Mitch. He shrieked and dropped his book under his chair, covering his head and scrambling away to try and avoid the rubber bullets filled with freezing cold water.
Jerome ended up being hit by several balloons as well and he startled awake, falling off his chair and onto the ground, getting up and running out of throwing reach. Lachlan and Vikk were wracked with laughter but as soon as I pelted a balloon in his direction they both screamed and scrambled to their feet.
Rob grabbed the bucket and rolled the balloons out onto the grass, giving ammo to everyone else. Lachlan was the first to realise and he tugged on Vikk's hand, grabbing an armful of balloons and then scrambling back into a defensive position.
Rob and I then grabbed the rest, leaving Mitch and Jerome with nothing. Mitch cried out when he realised, throwing his hands into the air.
"Oh come on!!!" He yelled, ducking as Lachlan lobbed a balloon in his direction.
"Ya should have thought about it!" Lachlan laughed, this time chucking a water balloon in my direction. His one missed but Vikk's hit me square in the face, sending me tumbling back onto the ground with a soaking wet face, hair and t-shirt and it also made me shriek loudly because of the freezing cold.
That basically started a full on war between us. Mitch and Jerome managed to sneak in and grabbed some balloons, meaning everyone had some ammo but it also meant that there was projectiles flying from every direction.
We were all scrambling around the lawn, throwing balloons at anyone and everyone who got in the way. There was a lot of loud shrieking, especially when Vikk shoved a balloon down Jerome's back and then popped it under his shirt, earning a yell of surprise and a shriek.
Mitch seemed to earn the most of the battering because Vikk and Lachlan seemed to aim at him more, probably getting back for his prank a few days earlier. The two had gone out on a date for their anniversary and had gotten back to see that Mitch (and probably Jerome too even though he denied everything) had wrapped their entire bedroom in wrapping paper, an old prank but a good one. Their reactions were brilliant.
Once all of the balloons were gone and everyone was soaked the core, shivering and with bright bit of plastic in their hair or clothing, we started to pack everything up. We spent a few minutes picking up every little bit of balloon from the ground and putting it all back into the bucket before I noticed that everyone was shivering, even though I wasn't cold myself.
Lachlan and Vikk were both absolutely miserable looking, Lachlan was only wearing a thin shirt and now that the wind had started again he was in the firing line for that. Vikk had nestled himself into Lachlan's side, his arms wrapped around his chest.
As soon as the plastic was collected we all headed inside, my eyes on the sky where clouds were now rolling over us along with the cold wind, signally a cold and wet night.
There were only 2 bathrooms in the house so we let the others go first, getting dry and changing our clothes before making some hot chocolate, lighting the fire, turning on the television and dumping a bunch of pasta in a huge pot to have for dinner. There was a pouch of pasta sauce in the fridge that we could use to add some flavour.
Once the other 4 boys were out we went and had our showers and left them to prepare everything else before everyone settled down in the living room, on couches or on beanbags, with a bowl of pasta and a cup of hot chocolate in our laps, nestled up against their respective partner in front of a warm fire.
Rob was warm and I was happy and it wasn't long before I started to fall asleep, the only sounds being low chatting and the crackling of the fire. Rob gently kissed my forehead as I looked around the room.
Mitch and Jerome were both asleep, the empty mug in Mitch's hands slipping to the floor as I watched them. They were both curled around each other, limbs entangled with a blanket dragged over both of them, probably Vikk's work, and they were peacefully sleeping without a care in the world.
Vikk was awake, he had kicked his feet up over the side of the couch and was playing on his phone, his half full hot chocolate in his other hand. Lachlan was fast asleep curled up in a ball and Vikk was leaning on him, he almost looked like he had his thumb in his mouth because of the way his hand was resting and he just looked so peaceful that I couldn't help but smile.
Rob gently turned my head back to him and pecked my lips. He tasted like hot chocolate, marshmallows and rain and I relaxed into him, tucking myself into his side, feeling content to just, sleep. I was warm and sleepy, barely able to keep my eyes open and I had gotten my revenge, everyone had really, bar Mitch, so they were all happy too.
"Sleepy?" Rob whispered, gently rubbing my stomach.
"Mhm." I mumbled in reply.
"Did you have fun today?" I grinned, nodding sleepily. I giggled just thinking about it, about the stupid faces and noises that me simply lobbing a water balloon in someone's direction had caused.
"Yeah." He kissed my forehead.
"I'm glad." He snuggled me tightly and then settled down again, pulling a blanket over us so we could stay warmer.
I feel asleep to the sound of Rob's gentle breathing, the hammering of rain on the roof and the crackling of the low fire, comforted. I was happy and warm.
I was content.
