I also ended up driving around a whole bunch in my new car to kill time. I didn’t really need to make any trips, but I was really excited to be enveloped in the new car smell. The Subaru felt like a rocket ship compared to my old Honda.
Soon enough, Saturday morning rolled around, and I started packing my weekend bag to hang out at Jack’s place. His parents’ new home was in the hills of Calabasas, a ritzier suburb than their last home. It was on the edge of Los Angeles County and a thirty minute drive from my apartment. The drive there was a blast in my new car, and I got to test the cornering, since the house was high up in the hills.
I got there around eleven; Jack said to be there before twelve, and I figured I could use the extra hour to check out the house, and catch up with him. The place was hacienda style and huge. A flag driveway led my car up past a Spanish-style garden and to a four-car garage. I didn’t see any other cars there, so I parked behind the closed garage door closest to the right. Jack answered the door when I rang the bell.
“Dude!” he yelled and gave me a bro hug. He was wearing jeans and a loose, yellow-collared shirt.
“This place is huge. Can you show me around? Is anyone else here?” I didn’t want to occupy all his time if anyone else was around.
“Nope, you are the first one. Aimee called and she should be here in fifteen. No one else has called yet.” He led me through the entryway. The place was all white marble and dark wood. “Let me show you your room first.” He led me up the stairs of the main entryway, down a few doors to a room that seemed larger than my apartment. It had one of those four-poster beds raised so high off the ground I would have to climb in. It also had its own fireplace, couch, desk, and bathroom. “This is the best guest room, dude. Check this out.” He opened a curtain on the side, and I could see the room had a balcony that overlooked the backyard. From a glance, I could see the yard had a huge pool, jacuzzi, and about fifty square yards of perfect green grass.
“Wow dude. This is a guest room? It is bigger than my apartment!” I was impressed.
“Yeah, this house is off the hook. It is like, 7,000 square feet or something. I think Aimee’s house is really huge. Probably makes this one look like a chicken shack.” He led me through the other rooms. They were all fantastic and had their own bathrooms and balconies. He showed me the downstairs area, which had the living and family rooms, and the kitchen, which was all black granite and seemed at least twice the size of my apartment; finally, we took a tour of the backyard.
The backyard was probably the most impressive part of the house. It had a black-bottom pool with various waterfalls, and rock landscaping connected it to a Jacuzzi. There were palm trees circling the perfectly manicured grass area, and the patio was dotted with heat lamps, patio tables, and various walking paths. Near the house was an outdoor kitchen with one of those steel industrial bbq’s and steel sink. The best part was the view though. Since it was near the top of the mountain range, you could see over the San Fernando Valley and into parts of Ventura.
“I bought stuff for us to bbq for lunch. It is such a nice day!” He was right. Novembers in Southern California were almost as hot as the summers. It was probably seventy-four degrees.
“Did you mention something about us going to a club tonight?” Jack and I weren’t twenty-one yet, and I didn’t know how we were going to get into a club. We walked back into the house.
“Yeah, Brent is taking care of that. He said he knows of a restaurant that has dancing and music. Should be fun!” I walked over to the huge mantle over the TV. There were a bunch of pictures I wanted to look at. “Want something to drink? I have iced tea!” Jack yelled from the kitchen. He was so excited to be hosting.
“Tea sounds good.” There were a bunch of pictures of Jack and his parents while he was growing up. Some of them even included me. I recognized a trip we took to Yosemite when we were in seventh grade. A lump caught in my throat when I saw a picture of both our families together. It was probably on a Fourth of July, block party. We always spent Fourth of July together. I never saw that much of my dad, but he looked rugged and handsome. He was picking me up over his shoulder like I was a sack of potatoes. Mom looked happy as she had her arms around Jack’s parent’s shoulders. Jack looked surprised as he glanced away from the camera at my dad, who had probably just yanked me up.
The next picture was too much for me. I don’t think I’d ever seen it, which probably meant Jack’s mom took it. Jack and I were probably eleven or twelve. We both had water guns in our hands and were soaking wet. My mom was kneeling down beside us, squeezing both of us to her. She looked like she was wet too. I remembered the summer we got those guns; we had a water fight every weekend. Normally, it was us against mom. She looked happy and beautiful. I missed her so much.
“I miss her too, dude. She was great.” Jack handed me a large glass of iced tea as I wiped tears from my eyes with the back of my other hand. We stood there a few moments looking at the picture in silence. “Has it gotten any easier?” he put his hand on my shoulder and rubbed it.
“Yeah, but then something like this happens out of the blue. I’ll get better. Hanging out with you and your friends really helps. Thanks for inviting me.” I looked back at him and hoped he could see my sincerity.
“No problem, dude. You’re my best friend.” The doorbell chimed across the house. “That must be Aimee.” He darted off toward the door. I wiped my eyes a little more and hoped no one could tell I had been crying. I took a long drink from the iced tea and sat down on a bar stool in the kitchen.
“This place is going to be totally fun.” It was Brent’s voice. He rounded the corner. “Hey Eric! How’s things?” He seemed pretty happy to see me, which was kind of surprising, but maybe he pulled the stick out of his ass.
“Really good. How are things with you?” He pulled up a barstool next to me and set down a few grocery bags filled with beer and other alcohol. Looks like he was old enough to buy it for us.
“I’m doing great. I was just telling Jack about the restaurant we are going to tonight. It’s this Spanish place that teaches salsa dancing. We can eat and then spend a couple hours dancing. I think the girls will like it.” I smiled and nodded. Brent was a pretty smart guy. I agreed they would probably dig it. “Oh, so I wanted to tell you about this new band I saw…” and he launched into another discussion about the Los Angeles music scene.
The doorbell rang again. Patrick and Daya came in, carrying more booze and a roller board suitcase. We made our greetings again. Daya looked amazing, her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, and she was wearing a light-blue, feathery-looking blouse over a super-tight pair of dark-blue jeans. She had glittery sandals on her feet, and her toe nails matched her blouse. Patrick wore a tight, orange golf polo that showed off his muscles. I remembered to be careful when I checked out Daya, or he may decide he didn’t like me anymore and beat the snot out of me.
I made sure to thank Patrick again, and then I spent some time picking his brain about what I should focus on in the office to please his dad. He normally interned there during the summer and had some good ideas for me. Brent sorted the alcohol into the fridge and asked if anyone wanted a drink yet. Everyone declined till lunch was ready, and he helped himself to a beer.
“Aimee just called, and they are ten minutes away,” Jack said as he walked into the kitchen area and closed the phone. “Which one of you wants to help me get the bbq stuff ready?” I got off the stool and walked toward the fridge with him. We grabbed various packs of meat, buns, vegetables, and cheese to take out back to the bbq. “Hey Mr. DJ, put a record on,” Jack said to Brent. “The master stereo is next to the TV.”
Jack and I made our way to the back and fired up the industrial grill. Then we chatted for a few more minutes about the house while we prepped the food for cooking.
“Hi guys!” We looked up from the grill to see Aimee, Katherine, and Samantha stepping out onto the back patio. All three of them looked amazing, but my attention was drawn to Aimee, who h
ad been the source of so much internal strife the last few weeks. Her long, dark-brown hair was parted in the middle and tied into loose pigtails on each side of her head with dark, purple ribbon. She was wearing one of those Spanish-style shirts that fell off both shoulders and seemed to be held up just by the swell of her breasts and will power. It too, was purple, white, and had small, yellow dots to match the ribbons. I could see the delicate framework of her collar bones and neck muscles underneath her milky, white skin. The shirt flowed down into a faded pair of black jeans that were rolled up high at the ankle to reveal a set of leather-encased stiletto heels. Her crystal-blue eyes locked onto mine as she walked toward us. She had a lollipop sticking out of the corner of her mouth. It was the perfect accent to go with the pigtail, ribbon look and balanced the more mature style of her off-the-shoulder blouse and leather shoes.
It appeared Katherine seemed to prefer to dress more conservatively. She was wearing a one-piece, turtleneck sweater-dress in a dark-green color. It was amazingly tight on her body, and the pleated part of the skirt began low on her hips and fell down to just above her knees. The sleeves were short, showing off her well-defined arms and a diamond-studded, white-gold watch on her left wrist. Rising from her feet to mid-calf was a pair of shiny, brown stretch boots. Her light-brown hair hung loose over her shoulders, with a slight waviness I recalled from the last party, but didn’t notice at the volleyball game since it was tied back. After my eyes drank her in, I realized the she wasn’t the most conservatively dressed of the three. The tightness of the sweater dress left almost nothing to the imagination, and I could make out the lean muscles of her flat stomach, the lines where her thighs became her hips, and the firmness of her perfect breasts. No, she looked sultry.
Samantha was the one I was least interested in, but she was still made up like a beauty queen. She had a smooth, yellow silk blouse that frilled down at the bottom with more silk lace. It was cut low, showing off her large breasts. She had a brown pair of bell bottoms that accentuated her ass. I couldn’t make out her shoes, but they looked like gold high heels. She had brass-colored jewelry hanging from her ears and around her wrists. Her blonde hair was clipped back with a matching piece of brass.
“Damn. I think we are under dressed,” I said to Jack as the girls walked up to us. They looked like they were ready for the club right now.
“Yeah. You all look smoking hot.” Jack nodded as he looked at each of them.
“Thanks!” Aimee said as she leaned up and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Then she looked over to me.
“Thanks for coming Eric!” she said like it was her party and she didn’t think I could come. She reached over and gave me a tight hug and kissed me lightly on the cheek. I awkwardly hugged her back, nervous she may repeat what she did last time. My brain relaxed when she let go of me and stood back so Samantha could hug me. Aimee seemed to have set the precedent, because Samantha also hugged me in the same way and kissed my cheek.
“Twice in one week! I can get used to seeing you that much,” Katherine said as she got her turn to hug and kiss my cheek.
“Twice in one week?” Aimee questioned. Samantha turned to help Daya bring out drinks for the newcomers.
“Yeah, we saw each other at a volleyball match earlier this week. Oh, by the way Eric, Kim wants your phone number, but I don’t have it. Can I get it so I can give it to her?” She had a smirk on her face, and I tried to remember if Kim was the blonde or the Asian girl.
“I didn’t know you played volleyball,” Aimee inquired.
“I don’t. I was actually just checking out the girls.” I was starting to get embarrassed we were talking about me so much. But then I decided to egg them on so I continued: “You know, what isn’t to like about volleyball girls? Those tight, short-shorts, the grunting when they dive to hit the ball. They spend most of the game either on their knees or hugging each other in a tight huddle. It’s a real turn on.” I looked at Katherine and winked. I had thrown her off her game, and she was startled for a second.
“So, is that the type of girl you like?” Aimee asked. Her blue eyes seemed to bore into mine.
“Well I dunno, maybe-”
“He likes the tall blonde ones who are star players!” Katherine said, with laughter in her voice. She gently pushed my shoulder as she looked at Aimee. “I thought Anderson was going to claw my face off for talking to him. Can you say possessive? Not that I can blame her,” she finished, as if I wasn’t even part of the conversation anymore.
“Anderson?” Aimee looked at Katherine in confusion.
“This girl I am dating. Kelly Anderson,” I said, as I looked at them both. Something had caught on fire over the bbq, and Jack was frantically trying to flip some burgers, so he wasn’t paying attention to our conversation.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were dating anyone. Why didn’t you bring her? I want to meet her,” Aimee exclaimed. She seemed really excited I was dating someone. This made my mind confused again. Had I just imagined everything that happened? How about the texts? She seemed genuinely happy for me, so maybe I read our interactions completely wrong.
“We just started dating, and she has some out of town games. You’ll meet her eventually, I’m sure.” I looked at Aimee and then Katherine. Aimee looked pleased and Katherine was frowning slightly.
“Guys, burgers are almost ready. Can someone go grab some plates and the veggies?” Jack shouted over to us. I took this as a good opportunity to get out of Dodge, so I high-tailed it inside to the kitchen.
“Jack is ready for the plates and condiments,” I said to Daya, Brent, and Patrick. They nodded and the four of us grabbed the stuff and took it back out to the bbq.
We all sat down at a large picnic table by the grill. Brent decided he was on drink duty and took orders from everyone. Everyone got something containing alcohol, except me. I just asked for a refill on my iced tea.
“No booze tonight, Eric?” Patrick asked across the table as he slathered mustard on his burger.
“I’ll be the designated driver tonight, but I can only fit four other people in my car.” For obvious reasons, I never drove while even slightly buzzed.
“I think I can fit eight people in my car,” Patrick said. “I’ll check it out after we eat. May be a really tight fit. Worst case, we can just take two cars.”
“I like tight fits,” Katherine said naughtily, and everyone laughed.
The meal was great, and Jack got tons of compliments on his culinary skills. He also got compliments on his parents’ house. It was a nice house.
After lunch, Brent, Samantha, Aimee, and Jack cleared the table. The rest of us relaxed by the pool and chatted. I asked Katherine if she traveled much for volleyball.
“I had a match this morning and I am going to be gone next weekend. We’re going to Arizona.” She lay back in her chair and sighed. “Ahhhh, food coma.” Her eyes half-closed and her skirt rode up her leg to her mid thigh as she sank into the chair.
“Do any of you know how to salsa dance?” I asked.
“I’ve taken a few years of ballroom, so I know my way around the dance floor okay,” Daya said.
“I’ve watched every single episode of Dancing With the Stars, so I should be good,” Katherine said. Everyone burst out laughing.
“I have no absolutely rhythm. So I’ll be one of those guys.” Patrick smiled. “But it will still be fun. I haven’t embarrassed myself in public in far too long. How about you?”
“I’ve got rhythm, but only know how to do the high school hug. Good thing they are going to teach us.”
“Ahh let me check on the car. I need to see if I can arrange the seats.” Patrick got out of his chair.
“I’ll join you, Stud,” Daya said. She smacked his ass and then followed him into the house as he rubbed his butt in mock pain.
“Are you going to be my dance partner tonight?” Katherine asked me, nonchalantly. Her eyes were still closed. I thought about it for a second.
“Sounds good to me. I’m act
ually excited about it.” I liked learning new things, and everyone trying to stumble through it would be fun.
“I’m excited about you being my partner too,” she said as she opened her eyes and smiled at me. “Maybe I’ll be able to get you to come to one of my matches when we are playing at home?” her lips twisted into a half-smile.
“Maybe,” I said cautiously. I didn’t really like where this was going. Not that I wasn’t flattered, but I’d imagine Kelly would be trying to tear Katherine’s head off if she heard this conversation. “Kelly may have a problem with me coming to see one of your games.”
“So? Didn’t you tell me you just started dating? Does she have you whipped already? Poor boy.” She could have said this in a cruel manner, but instead it was light-hearted and sarcastic.
“No I’m not whipped. I just-”
“Are you guys exclusive?” She was sitting up more in her chair and leaned over to interrupt me with the question.
“No,” I said, flatly. It wasn’t my policy to sleep with multiple girls at once, but I didn’t want to tell Katherine I was sleeping with Kelly. It was none of her business.
“Good. That is all I wanted to know. Oh, I still need your phone number.” She took her phone out of her leather Prada purse and looked over at me expectantly. I gave her the number, and she made sure I typed hers into my phone.
“Did you think Kim was cute?” she was pressing buttons on her phone.
“That was the Asian girl, right?”
“Yeah, she is Korean. She normally doesn’t like non-Asian guys, but she is into you. Soooo… do you?” She stopped tapping buttons on her phone and then looked at me with a smirk, green eyes flashing.
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