Milestones: Teenagers

Needless to say, Brian and I hung out quite a bit more. Whenever we were with the group and Rita was busy at work or something, it'd be Brian and me hanging out. He was basically like my best friend, even though we'd just met in September. It was now November, and the school year was going great for me.

It was a bright day one Saturday, and Matt was at our house (which wasn't surprising). Val and I had decided to go out to the pool in the backyard because it might've been one of the last days before spring where it was warm enough to be outside in a bikini.

I was laid back on the deck chair, watching as my sister and her love toy played around in the water like a bunch of kids.

"Guys, I'll be right back," I called out to them. I'd forgotten my tanning lotion so I got off my lazy bum and went u pto the bathroom to grab the bottle in the cupboard. As I was walking back down the stairs and walked past the front door, there was a knock. I turned and headed to the door and when I opened it, I was greeted with Brian's charming face. I smiled and pulled my sunglasses up to the top of my head.

"Hey you, what're you going here?" I asked as I leaned against the door frame. I coulda sworn I'd seen Brian glance me over real quick, but I really couldn't blame him... He's a guy. It's what they do best.

"Well, I got bored cuz Rita's at work til later and I had nothing to do so I decided I'd come annoy my most favorite twin in the world," he smiled. I laughed.

"We're out back in the pool; come on," I said and waved him into the house, following after him. When we got out to the back deck, Val and Matt were making out in one corner of the shallow end.

"Alright, sickos, let's break up the love-fest. You have company," Brian called to them and then took a seat on my deck chair.

"Jerk, I was sittig there," I pouted, and Brian smiled.

"You can still sit here, duh," he said and rolled his eyes. So I shrugged and sat down sideways on his lap, opening the bottle of tanning lotion and beginning to apply it to my arms, legs, chest, and stomach.

"Can you get my back?" I asked Brian, and he nodded. I situated myself so I was between his legs, and he squirted the lotion onto his hands and started to rub it into my back.

"Jesus. Why don't you two just date already?" Val asked as she swam towards the side of the pool we were on.

"Ha, you're funny," I scoffed at her and then laughed. She knew I thought Brian was very attractive, but also knew that he had Rita and I wasn't interested in him in that way.

When Brian finished rubbing the lotion onto my skin, he continued to just run his fingers along my back in obscure patters.

"Get up for a sec," he said, prompting me up by pinching my sides. I stood and he did as well, pulling off his shirt and then his shoes and socks and lastly his pants, leaving him in a pair of boxers. He threw his clothes into a pile next to the chair and dove into the pool. I laid back in the chair again and watched as he horsed around with Matt and my sister. They started playing Marco Polo, and Brian would always cheat and sneak out of the pool. I almost gave him away from laughing too loudly, so he turned and smiled, placing his finger over his lips to shush me. Then he'd top toe to the other side of the pool, slide back in, and no one would know the difference.

"Hey, Shelly, come here," Brian said as he rested his arms on the side of the pool.

"Dude, no one calls me that except my mom," I laughed and he shrugged. I got up anywyas and crouched on the concrete in front of him.

"Get in."

"Nuh uh," I smiled and shook my head.

"Hell yeah, get in here," Brian said and he grabbed my hands, pulling me towards him.

"Seriously, don't," I said, trying to pull out of his grasp.

"Fine, you pussy," he sighed and let go of my hands. I shook my head with a smirk on my lips and laid back down on the deck chair, closing my eyes against the sun. The next thing I knew, I was being hoisted up by Brian and he was carrying my towards the water.

"Brian, put me down!" I squealed, and he kept getting closer to the water.

"Please?" I asked.

"Nope," he said, and then dropped me off the side of thr pool. When I came to the surface I coughed and spluttered, wiping the water from my eyes.

"You jerk!" I said, and Brian stuck his tongue out at me. He jumped in right next to me, splashing me with water.

"How come you didn't wanna come in?" he asked as he rested his back against the wall of the pool.

"Dunno. Not a big fan of swimming. I get tired too easily," I shrugged.

"Lazy," Brian smirked.

"Pffft, am not. I wanna go bug Rita."

"Yeah? You wanna go?" he asked, his eyebrows raised. I don't think he expected Rita and me to be as close as we were, but he obviously didn't mind.

"Yeah, let's go. I gotta put some clothes on first," I said and pulled myself out of the pool. I headed up to my room and changed into some jeans and a shirt and pulled on some shoes and when I went back downstairs, Brian was waiting for me in his clothes. We headed out to his car and in a couple minutes we were at the diner Rita waitressed at.

We saw she was behind the counter so Brian and I took seats on the stools there.

"Ritaaa my darling," I called to her in a sing-song voice. She turned and looked up from the milkshake machine and smiled.

"Hey! What're you going doing?" she asked as she walked to us and leaned over the counter to give Brian a kiss.

"Michelle wanted to come bug you while you were working so I brought her here to do so," Brian smiled.

"Oh thanks," Rita replied sarcasitcally. She walked aimlessly out from behind the counter and stood by us. Glancing down, she got an odd look no her face. "Um, babe, why are you pants soaked? You look like you pissed yourself."

"It's water. I went swimming in my boxers and put my pants on over them," Brian shrugged.

"You're such a dork," Rita laughed, and I nodded my head in agreement.

One thing I didnt like about schoolw as the fact that the halls could get pretty crowded, especially when people decided they just watned to stand around and talk when other people needed to get to class. This was one of those days.

I tried to push my way througha large group of people before I was late for study hall and I wasn't having much luck at all. I felt someone's leg get entangled with mine and I stumbled into the lockers on my right, the books and papers in my arms spilling all along the floor. I sighed in frustration and knelt down to pick them up when I saw a hand reaching down to help me. I looked up to see a face that I barely knew just from seeing him around school. He was good-looking, with short dark hair and kind looking blue eyes. He smiled and I smiled back.

"Sorry about that, I kinda tripped," he apologized.

"It's okay... I'm fine," I said and then we'd gathered all my things so I stood up.

"I'm Grey Sullivan," he said, and stuck out his hand.

I cocked my eyebrow a little. "You're name's Grey?" I asked, chuckling.

"Short for Greyson," he smiled. I took his hand in mine.

"I'm Michelle. You're in my government class, right?"

"Yeah," Greyson nodded hs head. "This might seem a bit forward but... would you like to go out sometime?" he asked. He seemed nervous.

"Um... sure. When?"

"Uh, tonight? I'm not doing anything and we could like, go to the movies or something," Grey suggested.

"Okay, that'll work," I shrugged. I gave him directions to my house and he said he'd stop by at 8 to get me, and we parted ways. I was late for study hall, no doubt.

Brian was in Physics again later that day. His parents found out he'd been skipping the class in the beginning of the year and he got in trouble. So he was always in class now.

"Hey," I said as I sat down next to him.

"What's up?"

"Not much. I got a date for tonight."

"...With who?" Brian asked, a skeptical look in his eyes.

"Greyson Sullivan," I shrugged.

"Oooh... not a good idea," he chastised, shaking his head.

"What?... Why not?" I asked.

"That's Jimmy's cousin. He's on the surfing team, and he's a total skeeze, I'm warning you," Brian chuckled.

"...What do you mean, he's a skeeze?" I asked slowly.

"Well, just between you and me, if you date this guy he'll be trying to get in your pants within a week. I kid you not."

"Oh... well, he seemed like a nice enough guy," I said, doodling on my paper absentmindedly.

"Hey, I'm not saying you can't go out on a date with the guy, I'm just saying to watch out for yourself," he said and glanced at me.

"Oh... well, consider your warning taken, then."