Best Man

Having changed into her black bikini, Caroline was now laying on a lounge chair beside the pool with a can of Dr. Pepper in her hands while Giselle laid in her own lounge chair, donning a red bikini with black polka dots.

Looking very much so like a lady bug.

And Caroline very happily said as much when she first saw her sister's swim wear.

On the other side of the pool, Tre sat in a chair, hunched forward with his drink between his knees as he subtly glanced at The Sinners' frontwoman and letting his mind wander as his eyes did their own wandering.

He had a bunch of dirty thoughts in his mind that all started with Caroline meeting his gaze from across the way, somehow having an ice cube in her hands instead of a Dr. Pepper, and then taking that ice cube and running it seductively up and down her body.

Finding himself getting a little warm, and not because of the July heat beating down on him from the sun, Tre pulled his short-sleeved, button-down, Hawaiian-style shirt off over his head after setting his now empty drink down on the ground.

Standing up, he draped his shirt over the back of his chair and climbed into the pool, swimming toward the middle where Billie Joe and Adrienne were swimming around each other, while the female Armstrong was trying her best to not get her hair wet.

Back over on their lounge chairs, Giselle sat up and pulled her brown locks up into a shitty bun on the top of her head and leaned forward to nudge her sister.

"It's hot," she commented.

"It's California, idiot."

Giselle gave her big sister a knowing smirk. "No shit, Sherlock. I mean, it's hot. Let's utilize your pool."

Smirking, Caroline bit her bottom lip and nodded, setting her Dr. Pepper on the ground beside her lounge chair. "Yeah. My pool. Or, rather, me and Mike's pool."

Standing up together, the Woods sisters walked near the edge of the pool and looked down at the crystal clear water; not at the occupants in it.

Then, out of the blue, Caroline lifted her left hand and placed it on Giselle's back, quick enough to push her in. And, with a splash, the younger sister was under the water. It was only when she had resurfaced and scowled up at Caroline because her hair got wet and for, well, pushing her in, obviously, Giselle splashed some water up at Caroline.

But it didn't seem to bother the woman who was a few days away from being 28 years old.

She crouched down and slipped into the pool with the grace of a ballerina. Or, in this case, like a mermaid. And as she joined Giselle at her side, Caroline sank down beneath the surface and then came back up, her eyes closed and smoothing her now wet hair back off her face.

Unaware that Tre was peering at her with the subtly of a lion lying in wait to pounce on his prey.

It was just simple playfulness that seemed to ensue within the confines of the in-ground pool, including throwing around a beach ball and seeing how long they could all keep it up in the air without it hitting the water

Then there was Mike who was sitting at the patio table with his soon-to-be in-laws, mostly chatting with Mr. Woods about this and about that while his wife, Joanne, tried to interject at random moments about her ideas for the wedding.

"My daughter's a lucky woman, Mike," Mr. Paul Woods commented, sitting back in his chair, shaded from the sun by the umbrella. "She may not have had the best of welcomes into this world when she was born and, as I understand, neither did you, but the two of you have a bond that speaks volumes. You understand each other in a way that my wife and I understand each other. There are no need for words and that's what matters the most."

"But words count, too," Joanne Woods added.

Mike turned to the older Woods woman and smiled before turning back to look more at Paul. "Well, I love Caroline more than words; but when words are shared, I promise they're good ones."

Paul laughed. "Let's hope so. Because I'm not too old to kick your ass," he teased. Then, after a few moments of silence and eyes wandering over all the people in the backyard, enjoying themselves, Paul turned back to Mike. "Caroline made the best choice in being with you, I think."

Temporarily confused, Mike quirked his eyebrow. "Huh?"

Joanne patted the younger man's hand, leaning forward to whisper, "What my husband means is that when it came to deciding who she wanted to spend her life with, you over Frank, we're glad Caroline chose you."

Mike blinked and then smirked shyly. "Uh, thanks."

"Not saying Frank wasn't a good guy, but we saw how she was at Christmas two years ago. Then whenever we spoke on the phone and asked how he was doing," Paul explained. "She would say they were fine, he was fine, doing well...stuff like that."

"And what a complete 180 from two Christmases ago to last Christmas," Joanne gushed. "All the sudden she was gushing about you, talking in detail about how you were doing, your daughter, how you both were doing as a couple..."

Paul leaned forward and patted Mike on the shoulder with a smile. "We can't wait to officially welcome you into the family."

Agreeing with her husband, Joanne nodded. "We always wanted to adopt a son, but two girls ended up being enough."

"Yeah, I understand how Caroline would've been a handful," Mike joked.

Tilting their heads to get a better glance of everyone in the pool, Mike suddenly felt a jolt of anxiety when he saw Tre inching toward Caroline; a beach ball in his hands.

Fucker's using that as an excuse to get closer to her, he grimaced in thought. Why the fuck won't he just leave her be and stop trying to make a move on her?

"You okay, honey?" Joanne inquired, touching her hand gently on Mike's hand again.

"Wha--oh, yeah," he nodded. "The, uh, pool just looks really inviting right now. I think I'm gonna jump in there."

"Alright," Paul smiled as Mike pushed his chair back and stood up.

As the 36-year-old bassist walked over to the pool, he grabbed the bottom of his black beater and lifted it up off his body and over his head; chucking it onto what had been the lounge chair Caroline was laying on earlier. Kicking off his sandals, he walked around to the ladder and climbed in backward.

Swimming over to Caroline, he pressed his chest to her back and wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her close against her.

"Hey, honey," he muttered, pressing his lips to her neck while throwing a glance of dominance over at Tre that spoke louder than words.

Mine.

Surely enough, Tre seemed to discreetly back away, what with Mike taking over as the alpha male in the pool.

Watching Caroline tilt her head back onto Mike's shoulder and turning to face him with a smile, Tre inwardly frowned.

"Hey, Mike. Wanna play Keep The Ball In The Air with us?" Billie Joe asked like an excited five-year-old.

The taller man nodded. "Sure."

As the reply was spoken, Tre backed further away, catching everyone's attention, so he gathered his wits. "I think I'm a little spent with the game, so I'm just gonna sit this out now..."

Damn right you are, Mike thought to himself.

"Aw, but we just got an even amount of players," Billie Joe groaned. "We were gonna play Chicken soon."

Tre simply shook his head. "Uh, no...I'm good."

As Tre continued to insist he didn't want to play anymore, Giselle studied the way he held himself, posture-wise. And he seemed like a puppy dog that had been scolded by his master for doing something wrong.

Looking between Tre, Mike and Caroline, pieces of a some sort of puzzle seemed to be falling into place. Giselle didn't even need to know any details. The tension between the trio said enough.

She was just an observant shit like that.

Giving Caroline a look, the older sister simply offered a shy smile and a shrug as she muttered a small, "Heh." Deciding to put it on the backburner for now, Giselle returned her focus away from Tre who was climbing out of the pool and heading toward the back of the house and passing her parents on the way inside the house.

"What was that all about?" Adrienne wondered.

Billie Joe shrugged. "Nothing," he muttered, catching Mike's eye. Then, without warning, he lifted the beach ball into the air and spiked it down in front of his oldest friend; splashing the bassist in the face with a spritz of pool water. "War!" he declared.



Unbeknownst at the time to everyone who was at Caroline's party, Tre had gone all the way through Mike's house and out the front door. Wearing his sandals, his Hawaiian shirt and wet swim shorts, he went to his car and just drove home without saying goodbye.

He found his brain to be getting muddled with too many thoughts and yearnings that were going unanswered.

He needed to sleep it off or something.

And that's what he did.

Reaching his house about less than five minutes later, he went right to his bedroom as soon as he was inside and shut the door behind him.

Climbing up onto his bed, he knelt on the mattress, facing the pillows for a moment, letting his mind recall a memory.

Caroline was buried underneath the covers, humming the theme song to Sesame Street as Tre inched toward the bed on tiptoe, grinning impishly, and wearing a white boxers with red hearts on them.

Jumping onto the bed, he all but tackled her and she began to kicked the covers off to stare up at him with a smirk.

"You almost dented my boob," she faux whined.

"And you liked it," he teased, leaning down to nuzzle her neck.

Slowly, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"Thanks for bringing Giselle out here for my birthday," she smirked. "It was a nice surprise."

"Well, it's not every day my sexy woman turns twenty-six." Smiling down upon her, Tre kissed Caroline's cheek and whispered, "I love you."

When Tre opened his eyes, he found that he was laying in a very weird position on his bed and that his room was dark.

He must've fallen asleep at some point and not even realized it.

Sitting up, he ran his hand from his forehead down to his chin and blinked the sleep from his eyes. And, then, his sleepy expression fell into that of rue.

"I can't give up," he whispered to himself, closing his eyes tightly to once more envision the memory he'd recalled before he'd fallen asleep.