Free Hope's Chance by Jennifer Foor

in college, and I just don’t want her to be influenced into frat life.”
    I had to smile at how he put it. I understood, but that part of my life was over. I was content on sitting home, drinking a beer and relaxing. “No problem Mark.”
    “And Chance….you can look, but don’t you dare take it any further. She isn’t old enough for you.”
    “Alright, no problem.” Too late!
    After he said that he turned back to his normal laid back self. I headed to the pool house to grab a cigarette while I waited for dinner to be ready.
    I had to ignore Hope. There wasn’t any way around it. Just thinking about her made me crazy.
    When I saw her walking out of the main house, I noticed she had changed into her bathing suit. I took a drag of my cigarette as I ducked back behind something so she couldn’t see me. She was stunning. I stood there remember ing how every inch of her body felt against my skin. I closed my eyes and found myself visioning our time together.
    The outdoor kitchen faced the main house, which meant that Mark’s back was turned to me.  Hope looked down at her chest and readjusted her two piece bikini, before diving right into the pool. It was like slow motion when he r body came out of the water. Her skin glisten from the combination of the sun and the water and she ran her hands though her long wet hair.
    The last time I had seen her hair wet like that was when I found her in my shower hiding from Buffy. I couldn’t believe that she was here .  How was I going to keep pretending that our night meant nothing? How could I be around her when she was almost naked?
    I heard Buffy calling me. I took another drag of my cigarette and I came out of my hiding spot. “What’s up sis?”
    “Get your suit on.” She said. I noticed her bright pink two piece. I shook my head and walked into the pool house to change.
    When I got in the pool, Buffy and Hope were having a conversation that I did not want to be included in. I started doing laps in the pool, doing my best to pretend Hope didn’t get to me. Keeping my distance was the only way that I saw things could work out.
    When we finally sat down to eat, Buffy had taken the spot next to Mark, which left me to sit next to Hope. This couldn’t get any harder. It was like teasing a dog with a t-bone. Not that I was comparing Hope to a piece of meat, but she definitely made my mouth water. Being next to her wet body was so hard. I wanted to look at her, to just peek one time, but I couldn’t chance that my sister or Mark would see me. I just promised him I wouldn’t touch his daughter. If he only knew she was all I could think about, and had been thinking about for over a week, he would have my hide .
    Buffy did most of the talking at dinner. I smiled when I saw Hope get up and run to the kitchen, only to bring back a bottle of ketchup, which she covered her steak with. Her dad looked like she killed a puppy.
    “Do you want some meat with that ketchup?” I asked.
    She gave me a dirty look and began eating her ketchup covered meat.  “Don’t knock it until you try it. I have always put ketchup on my steak.”
    “I was just kidding with you anyway.” I said, but nobody seemed to care. They kept eating.
    When dinner was over we all hung out in the pool. Mark and I were discussing plans for the house, while Buffy and Hope talked about different ideas for decorating her new room.  Knowing that she was so close to me was burning a hole into my mind. I wanted to look at her so bad, but there was never a safe moment to do it.
    When the mosquitoes started to bite, I thanked Mark for the meal and retired to the pool house. I couldn’t stand being that close to her any more. I was about to explode. A cold shower would be the only remedy for this fellow tonight.
     
     

 
    Chapter 11
     
    Hope
     
    I did everything I could to avoid Chance Avery. One of the things included joining a father daughter golf tournament with my father. It was a few towns over so we spent