Playing The Game

Nick waited a few moments, letting Alex and Journey make their way further into the lake before letting out a whistle. The others started to swim over as he glanced around, giving a short half smile toward Mackenzie. "Alright, sweet, we're all here," Nick said as he approached the center, "Time to put together a little game,"

"I love games," Haley let the word drip and linger getting each of the boys to look over at her, "What?" She innocently giggled back, while gauging their faces.

Haley drank in the sights that she had; Alex brow was raised and with a nice, chiseled jawline he would fit for the premium care she was looking to add on to her relaxing spring break. Alas, with Journey hanging off him, it was clear he was taken and she wasn't ready to be a part of that level of drama this weekend. She passed over Jayden's rolling eyes and landed on Noah. He wasn't hard on the eyes by any means, definitely a virgin by all means, but building a boy toy was always fun. And at last, she returned to Nick, the little glimpse of him outside the bathroom earlier was just enough to make her wonder just how upset Sam could get. She cleared her throat, "So, what's the game Nicky?"

"A classic," Nick continued after a small nervous cough, one that didn't please Mackenzie in the slightest, "Marco Polo,"

"Oh Yeah?" Jayden asked back, "You do realize the lake is a lot bigger than a pool," He pointed out with a questioning inflection in his tone.

C'mon man, recover, you gotta convince people if your plan goes south.

"That's true, it'd take forever to find someone," Journey agreed,

Nick cleared his throat, hesitating, but only for a second. "Yeah, but obviously no one is going to be an ass and head to the center of the lake, and we're essentially in bay." He motioned to the curved shoreline that had them cupped in a horseshoe of water, "Let's just agree not to go out further than the floating docks and we'll all have some fun."

Jayden grinned and nodded approvingly, "Alright, well I'm in,"

"Me too, good idea, Nick." Alex grinned as he swam around Journey, "You're just scared I'll catch you so easily."

"Shut up, you lug." Journey splashed his face with a giggle.

"Right, well since Jayden and Alex agreed first, they can be the hunters first," Nick said with a little clap, "Now remember guys, no further than the dock," Nick said while swimming back as Jayden and Alex swam towards the center. As the others started to spread out Mackenzie followed Nick with a pleased, even impressed look in her eyes. All too eager to now play along for however long they needed to.

Minutes later the game was going strong, Nick had retreated towards the outer edge of the play zone as Alex was slowly picking people off while Jayden was merely trying to go for specific targets, that being Sam. Seeing that he had some distance, Mackenzie quickly swam over to him, "You're so smart," Mackenzie happily whispered into Nick's ear,

"I know," Nick smugly agreed as she wrapped her arms around his,

"C'mon, let's go, my brother literally can't see us now," Mackenzie giggled out,

"Not just yet." Nick calmly replied while pulling his arm back,

"What?" The word gasped out like a genuine gut punch, "Nick, I am going to fucking -- ugh, you tease," She muttered out.

Minutes past as rounds after round went by, Nick still not giving the word to Mackenzie, which continued to drive the redhead up the wall, or rather, the lake. By the time the fourth game came on Nick felt he was ready as Alex hadn't so much as glance at him or Mackenzie for that matter too focused on messing with Journey and making small talk with the others, "Alright, let's go for this round, let's let the play zone increase but add a third hunter, okay!" Nick called out only to hear a chant of agreement in response, "Alex, want to go again?!"

"Hell yeah!" Alex happily called back causing Mackenzie's eyes to widen,

"Sweet, uh...Noah! Go for it; you haven't gone yet!" Nick pressed his friend, trying to bring him into the fold,

"Right...uh, sure thing!" Noah reluctantly agreed, "You gonna be one too?"

Nick froze, nearly grimacing when a voice cut through everything. "Me! I want to be a hunter!" Cass exclaimed in excitement, "Let's go!"

"Well, alrighty then, game on!" Nick exhaled with a chuckle, the game quickly started, and he felt Mackenzie's soft hands wrap around his waist from behind him, "Yeah, now it's time," Nick whispered back,

"Where to?" Mackenzie asked as she bit her lip in anticipation,

Nick scanned the area very quickly and grinned, see the little rock islands," He said pointing out in the lake where a small outcropping of rocks poked out of the water, "Some of them look pretty flat, and at that distance, we could be just about as loud as we wanted,"

Mackenzie's eyes nearly doubled in size, and she immediately spun around, swimming out towards the rock with Nick in tow, the pair slipping away without a single one of their distracted friends noticing. Or at least all but one.

While Nick and Mackenzie swam as quickly as they could deep into the lake, Haley was ready to get a little one on one with her new toy. She floated in the water watching Nick and Mackenzie sneaking off and smirked. And with Nick now locking himself off that left Noah, and she was just fine seeing what the quiet one actually had in him. As the game started again, Haley swam a little closer to Noah, "Marco?!" Noah called out,

"Polo!" Haley called out making Noah turn towards her voice; a large grin painted on Haley's face as she started to swim back, leading Noah like a dog on a leash,

Sam was one of the few to see this, as some were distracted by Alex and Cass and others when they first saw the pair, thought nothing of it. Sam, however, knew Haley better than anyone and she knew what Haley wanted when she got a look in her eye. And right now, Haley had a very certain look in her eye while leading her poor brother's friend off into the distance, "Maybe I should -- " Sam started to mumbled out, a bit concerned for Noah as Haley may actually just eat him alive,

"Hey there," Jayden's voice suddenly interrupted Sam's thought process, "You know a big part of this game is constant movement, just floating around won't let you last long,"

Sam smirked at the blonde-haired teen, "Yeah? And what would you know about how long I can last?" She teased back, admittedly having just a little bit of fun with all the attention he was giving her this afternoon.

He tilted his head and offered an easy smile, "I wouldn't...why don't you give me a first-hand look, just so I know,"

"I appreciate the boldness buddy, but maybe you should focus on trying to stick it into other girls," Sam lightly laughed back,

"Oh, Maguires don't like to have a little casual fun?" Jayden merely asked back,

"Wouldn't you like to know," Sam playfully smirked,

"If you're anything like Nick, I'm pretty sure I already do," Jayden grinned while starting to swim away,

"Wait, what?!" Sam quickly exclaimed while she watched the blonde swim away, "Wait, Jayden, what'd you just say!? Hey, come back here! Jayden!" Sam rapidly called out while chasing the teen, bringing the attention of Cass who distracted Sam completely with the game once more.