Chapter Three

After a few more hours of dancing and chatting, the party began to dwindle. AJ escorted all his guests to the front door. When the last one was gone, he went back to the pool, stopping in the kitchen for bottles of water. Nick, Howie, Brian and Megan were sitting around the edge of the pool with their toes in the water. He passed out the drinks and sat down beside Megan.

“I wonder what happened to Kevin and Dana,” Brian piped up, twisting the cap off his water and taking a drink.

“Yeah, they disappeared a long time ago,” Nick said.

AJ shrugged. “They’re probably in Kev’s room, doing a little hanky panky.”

“You guys have your own rooms here?” Megan asked AJ.

“Most of the parties either take place here or at Kev’s. And we don’t trust ourselves to drive home if we’ve partied too much, so yeah, we do,” he explained.

“Wow, like a real family.”

“Yuppers.”

Megan swirled the water with her foot and watched it ripple. “Must be nice to have a family.”

“You don’t?” Howie asked.

“Well, just my mom. She lives in Arizona. We don’t talk much.”

AJ put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him. “Hey, it’s just me and my mom too. But we get along great.”

Megan smiled at him. “She sounds very cool.”

“She is. Maybe you’ll meet her sometime.”

“I’d love to.”

Nick frowned and decided to break the mushy moment by splashing water at them.

“Hey!” Megan and AJ cried out in unison.

Megan wiped water from her face. “This means war, buddy boy,” she threatened. She used both of her long legs to kick a wave of water at Nick, totally drenching him.

“Ahhhh!” he yelled, jumping up.

“Hahahaha! Gotcha!”

Brian and Howie quickly backed away to the safety of the patio door. Megan rose to her feet and started chasing Nick around the pool. Then AJ started chasing her. Just as she was about to grab Nick’s shirt sleeve, he dived into the pool. Megan followed and then AJ.

They came up sputtering and splashing like crazy.

“What’s going on down here?” Kevin asked, coming up behind Howie and Brian. Dana was hooked onto his arm.

“Just a friendly pool fight,” Howie said, laughing.

“Someone could get hurt.”

Brian lightly punched his cousin on the arm. “Lighten up, man. They’re fine. Look, they’re getting out.”

Sure enough, AJ was helping Megan up the stairs and she was pulling Nick behind her. They were all laughing like crazy, their clothes clinging to their bodies like a second skin. Kevin had to force himself not to look at Megan.

“Brrrr!” Megan cried. “C-cold!”

AJ immediately wrapped her in a bear hug. Nick decided not to join in. Megan shivered in AJ’s arms and then saw Kevin and Dana.

“Oh look, the bear’s back,” she said under her breath.

AJ bit back a giggle. “Hey, let’s go get into some dry clothes.”

“I didn’t bring any.”

“You can borrow some of mine, come on.”

They started walking towards the house.

“What are we gonna do now?” Brian asked. “It’s still early yet, and I’m not tired.”

“Let’s play spoons!” Megan said excitedly. “But let Nick, AJ and me go change first.”

“Sounds like fun, we’ll be in the kitchen.”

She nodded and followed AJ up the stairs to his room. “Welcome to my boudoir,” he said, letting her inside.

She looked around at the loud colors and instantly liked it. It was so AJ.

He began digging through a stack of clothes for a t-shirt and shorts for Megan. He found some and tossed them to her.

“Thanks,” she said, heading for the bathroom.

“Don’t suppose I could change with you?”

“Not this time.”