Work in Progress, or WIP, posts are excerpts from open writing projects.  All writing is my own and in the rough draft phase. Take it (but don’t actually take it, copyright me and all that) or what it is!

Previous posts detailing Adam and Sam’s story can be found here, here and here. How do you feel about them so far? Let me know in the comments.

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So this is what bliss feels like? Sam thought, momentarily, as her eyes were closed, basking in the sunshine of a do-nothing day, surrounded by people she loves, near a body of water were she to get too hot, a bottle of Leinkugel’s Summer Shandy beside her, a good book in her bag, should the opportunity presents itself. She took a deep breath, smile plastered over her face just as a beach ball came in direct contact with her floppy hat and then her face. Startled out of her daydream and suddenly wet, she furiously jumped to straddling in a squat like fashion the beach chair she was just lounging on, grabbed the beach ball and was ready to hurl it back at the culprit, followed by a prompt dunking. But when she looked up, ready for a fight Adam looked at her with a playful and faux startled/who-could-have-done-that look on his face, deflating her anger slightly. She would have put money on the fact that the beach ball had been hurled by one of her nephews, ready to start a fight with Auntie Sam, knowing she fights back. Or perhaps her best friend’s son, who would have then promptly pointed to one of her nephews, causing a riot. Any of those options would have resulted in Aunt Sam coming off the bench for a water battle. But Adam, her best friend’s brother, occasional flirt buddy and person who rather consistently makes her heart go aflutter, for him, she loosened up a bit and arched a single eyebrow in his direction.

“Are you sure this is the game you want to play, sir?” she said to him, warningly.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, lady. I’m just innocently hanging by the pool, minding my own business. I have 0 idea who threw that beach ball at you.”

“No idea, huh?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Boys, one of you didn’t throw this beach ball at me did you?”

Three adolescent boys slowly shook their head from side to side in unison, but wearily.

“I didn’t think so, because you know better.” Sam swings her leg over the beach chair and saunters over to the side of the pool within a foot of Adam, her hip cocked to one side, balancing the beach ball. “You, on the other hand, have no idea what you just started.”

That’s when he lunged, his right arm easily covering the one foot of space Sam had allowed herself, and grasped her behind her left knee, which was balancing most of her weight at the time. It caved in on itself and as she fell forward, screaming and laughing, as Adam wrapped both of his arms around both of her legs and moved them away from the side of the pool.

“Don’t you dare drop me, Adam!” she said, laughing as she bounced the beach ball that was still in her hands off of his head and it floated away from the commotion. She braced her arms on his shoulders to try to take some of her weight into her own control, but it was useless. She was completely at his mercy and all she could do is let go the idea of the desire to be dry in the moments to come.