With These Words

“Georgia, let’s go!” Haley sighed slumping down on my futon.

I poked my head out of the bathroom. “You wanted me to come right?”

She nodded.

“Then I’m going to need a few more minutes.” I told her returning my attention to the mirror. I picked up the now heated curling iron and started working.

“This is a barbeque!” Haley grumbled. “No one cares about your hair!”

I was surprised to hear those words come out of Haley’s mouth. I’d been dragged to many a club with her, and she was not one to take getting ready lightly.

“Just a few more minutes,” I sighed. This wasn’t how I intended to spend my Saturday afternoon, but at least when Kyle had come by the bakery again yesterday, I had had a legitimate excuse for not hanging out with him and ‘the guys’. He was becoming somewhat of a bother.

“There’s only going to be like ten people there,” Haley continued to complain. “This is hardly an excuse to whip out the curling iron.”

I ignored and clamped the iron down on another section of hair. “Why are we even going then?” This didn’t seem like Haley’s scene any more than it did mine.

“Because,” I could picture her shrugging and playing with the ends of her hair. “I have a friend who’s friends with these guys and well, they invited her, who invited me, who invited you…”

“And that’s going to be okay?” I asked using a bit of hairspray. “I don’t want to cause a scene.”

She appeared in the doorway. “Trust me, these guys are pretty chill.”

“You’ve met them?” I glanced over at her.

“Once or twice,” She shrugged with a smile. “Or at least one of them.” She fingered one of my curls. “Now are you almost finished here? All the burgers are going to be gone.”

I looked at her stick thin figure. It was hard to believe she ate like did.

“Yeah,” I unplugged the curling iron and gave my hair one final spray. “Just let me grab my shoes.”

::;::

“This is it,” Haley pulled along side the curb in front of large modern looking house. “Let’s go,” She unbuckled her seat belt.

I followed her up to the front door. “You’re not going to knock?” I asked as she pushed it open and headed inside.

Haley laughed like I was kidding. “Knocking? At this house?” She continued inside the house and walked towards the sliding glass door. “Looks like everyone is outside,” She told me from over her shoulder. She slid the door open and preceded onto the stone patio.

“There’s a pool?” I asked hearing a loud splash.

Haley didn’t hear me. She walked right over to a group of girls sitting in lawn chairs and started giving out hugs.

I wrapped my arms around my stomach feeling awkward. I knew I couldn’t just stand by the door all night, as tempting as that sounded.

“You feeling alright?” a boy stopped in front of me on his way inside. He was carrying two empty two-liters.

“Yeah,” I nodded and forced a smile. He was cute. His long red hair framed his boyish face.

“Good,” He smiled widely. He adjusted the bottles so he had a free hand to extend to me. “I’m Caleb.”

“Georgia,” I unwrapped my arms long enough to shake his hand.

“Well welcome to the party!” Caleb laughed and turned to face the backyard. “There’s tons of food, but I‘d beware” He looked at me and lowered his voice. “Jonathon in charge of the grill,” he gave me a wink and I caught myself blushing.

I nodded, not sure who Jonathon was and why I should watch out for his cooking.

“Well I should probably dispose of these,” he said clapping the two empty bottles together. “Catch you later, Georgia.” He offered me another smile before pushing open the door and disappearing into the house.

I was envious. I myself wanted to walk into the house and right out the front door.

I looked at Haley. She was now perched on the lap of some boy, head thrown back in laughter. The next time she asked me to go with her somewhere, I was definitely going to remind her how she ditched me at her friend’s barbeque.

“Georgia?” Someone said from behind me. They sounded surprised.

I turned around. A very elated Kyle was standing on the other side of the glass door. “I thought you said you couldn’t come?” he waved.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. Now he really was stalking me.

Caleb appeared behind him. “Why don’t you go outside and talk to her,“ he slapped him in the back of the head.

Kyle frowned and shoved him before he pushed open the door and jogged down the concrete steps.

“I thought you said you couldn’t come?” He repeated. “And how did you know where I lived?”

“I don’t.”

“Who’s the stalker now?” he laughed. “Naw, it’s alright,” He reached out and gave my shoulder a quick rub. “I won’t hold it against you.”

“I’m not stalking you,” I shook my head. “I came here with my friend.” I pointed to Haley.

“You’re friends with Austin’s girlfriend?” He looked genuinely confused, which was good because I was just as confused.

“Girlfriend?” I looked at him. The way she flirted with boys at the bar, I had never assumed she had a boyfriend.

“Well they’re not ‘dating‘…” He mad air quotes. “At least not technically. But they’re totally into each other.” He smiled and looked at me. “This is nice,” he lifted up one of my curls. “I like it.”

“It wasn’t for you,” I told him hastily. “I didn’t even know you were going to be here, remember?”

He dropped the curl and laughed. “Someone’s jumping to conclusions.”

“And it’s you,” I told him pointedly.

“Whoa,” his hands found their way to the pockets of his baggy shorts. “No need to get flustered there, Georgia. Let’s just chalk this one up to a small world.” He smiled again.

I folded my arms across my chest and looked away.

“But for the record,” He looked in the same direction that I was. “I’m glad you ended up here.”

“Hey there, pretty lady,” A boy walked up to us. “I haven’t seen you around these parts.”

“She’s new,” Kyle snaked his arm around my shoulders and smiled. “Georgia, this is Jonathon. Jonathon, this is Georgia, the girl from the bakery.”

“Ah,” Jonathon grinned and offered his hand for me to shake.

I used this as an excuse to shrug Kyle’s arm off of me. “Hey,” I told him giving his hand a polite shake.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” He winked. He took off his bright green hat and ran a hand over his dark shaggy hair.

“Like a sentence,” Kyle said from behind me. “Maybe two.”

“Or maybe two thousand,” Jonathon let go of my hand and laughed. “You’ve certainly got this boy’s head in the clouds.” He smiled one more time before headed back to his post at the grill.

I turned to face Kyle.

“That’s not entirely true,” He rubbed the back of his neck. He seemed slightly embarrassed. “Jonathon is…well….Jonathon.”

“You know,” I looked at him. “I think I’m going to head home. I’ve got some stuff to do…errands to run.”

His smile fell. “What? You just got here?”

I felt bad seeing him frown, but this was completely unexpected. I wasn’t prepared in the slightest to hang out with Kyle for multiple hours, nor did I particularly want to. “Sorry,” I frowned a little too. I took a step towards the door.

“Wait,” he reached out and grabbed my wrist in an attempt to stop me. “At least stick around for a hot dog or something,” He smiled. “I can’t guarantee it’ll taste that good…but it’ll be fun. You can meet everyone.”

“I don’t think that--”

“Please?” He stuck out his bottom lip. “You’re already here.”

I tossed the idea around in my head. I could manage to eat a hot dog, say a few hellos, and leave in under fifteen minutes, right?

“I can even give you a ride home,” He offered sensing my resistance.

“Alright,” I sighed. “Show me where the food is.”

He grinned and released my wrist, only to place his hand on the small of my back. “Right this way, my lady,” he led me to the grill.

He grabbed the plate of hot dogs and hamburgers Jonathon had just taken off the grill.

“How much to do expect me to eat?” I asked him as he headed towards the vacant patio table.

He shrugged. “I only want you to be content.” He set the overflowing plate on the table and pulled out one of the metal chairs for me.

“Thanks,” I mumbled sitting down.

He sat down in the chair across from me and bit into a hot dog. “So you finally get to meet the guys.” He set down the hot dog and reached for the ketchup bottle. After dumping half of it on his plate he looked around the yard. “Hey, Kent!” He yelled to the boy standing near the edge of the pool. He had floaties around his arms and a blow-up duck around his waist. “Do we have any hot sauce?”

“What?” the boy, whom I was assuming was Kent, turned and faced us. He removed his goggles. “Yeah, maybe. I don’t know.”

Kyle nodded and looked at me. “I’m going to go find some hot sauce.” He slid a paper plate across the table to me. “Help yourself.”

I nodded and watched him vanish inside the house.

“Hey again,” Caleb took Kyle’s seat. He eyed Kyle’s massive amount of ketchup and made a face. “That,” He pointed to the plate. “Is disgusting.”

I smiled and pushed some hair behind my ear. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

He looked up and smiled. “So I hear you’re the girl from the bakery.”

“And you must be the boy who wanted the Danish twist with raspberry filling,” I said remembering how Kyle had told me it was for his friend Caleb.

“Hey!” He laughed. “That’s me. And I have yet to see one of those by the way.” He faked a pout.

“You can always come by and get one,” I told him as Kyle returned outside. “I don’t think your friend is very reliable when it comes to pastries.”

“I’m not what?” Kyle asked pulling up another chair. He slid his plate away from Caleb and placed it in front of himself. “There was no hot sauce,” He picked up his hot dog and took another bite.

Caleb smiled. “I guess I’ll have to take you up on that offer.”

“What offer?” Kyle asked. He had ketchup dripping on his chin.

“Bro,” Caleb tossed a napkin at him. “Gross.”

I laughed.

“You’re not eating?” Kyle asked as he looked at me. He used the napkin to clean himself up. “It’s not that bad, I promise.”

Caleb looked at me too. My eyes met with his and he smiled. “Yeah…I mean, it won’t kill you.”

“Convincing,” I smiled in return. “But I think I’ll pass.”

Caleb smiled again and leaned back in his chair. He grabbed the ray-bans that were dangling from his shirt collar and slipped them on.

Kyle grabbed another hot dog. “Well,” he picked up the ketchup again. “I guess I’ll have to eat for the both of us.”

“Yeah,” Caleb smirked. “Are you going to eat one for me too?”

“Don’t be jealous of my metabolism,” He attempted to kick Caleb, but missed completely. He instead made contact with one of the metal table legs, causing the whole table to shake. The ketchup bottle fell and squirted it’s contents on my purple t-shirt.

“Crap,” Kyle jumped up grabbed a stack of napkins from the other table.

“What happened?” Haley asked turning in her seat. She eyed my shirt and laughed. “Oh, Georgia.” Her hand fluttered to her mouth.

“Nice,” Caleb took the napkins from Kyle and handed them to me.

“Hey!” Jonathon called from the grill. He lifted his sunglasses up and looked at me. “You’re supposed to eat it, not wear it!”

“Yeah, thanks,” I blushed and started dabbing my shirt. “Good to know.”

“I’m sorry,” Kyle said and I looked up at him.

He smiled slightly and offered me the balled up napkin in his hand.

“Wow,” Caleb smirked. “’Cause that means a lot.”

I ignored them both and looked back down at my shirt. It was covered in awkward red blobs. “I think it’s time to go…” I really just wanted to go home and shower.

“What?” This time it was Caleb protesting. “But we’re having a bon fire later.”

“Tempting,” I slid my chair back and stood up. “Maybe another time?”

“Translation,” Kyle hit Caleb in the arm. “Never.” he looked at me and grinned. “I’ve heard that one enough.”

“You’re leaving?” Haley asked. She swiveled in Austin’s lap so she was facing me. Austin placed a hand on her back to balance her.

“Yeah,” I sat the used napkins in a neat pile on the table. “I’ll catch the bus.”

She made a face but didn’t protest.

“At least let me drive you,” Kyle offered.

“Risky business,” Caleb crossed his arms over his chest. “I think you should just stay.”

“Well yeah,” Kyle looked at me and nodded eagerly. “I think you should just stay too, but I mean, if you really want to go…I’m going to drive you.”

I looked at them both.

“She’s staying,” Caleb decided for me. “Come on, let’s go hang by the pool.” He placed his hand on my shoulder and led me to the pool. “You wouldn’t happen to have a bikini under there?” He asked as we neared the edge.

I snorted. I didn’t own one. Clearly this shirt hid my massive hips better than I thought.

“What?” He kicked off his flip flops and started rolling up his jeans.

“Nothing,” I did the same. “But no. No bikini.”

“Bummer,” he mumbled sitting on the concrete edge. He dipped his legs in the pool.

I looked at him.

“I mean, bummer you don’t have one. To swim. Not like bummer ‘cause I wanted to see you. You know?”

“Yeah,” I heard myself laugh. I sat down next to him and kicked my legs back and forth in the water.

“So have you met the guys?” He asked after a while.

“Kind of,” I shrugged. “That’s Jonathon, Austin, Kent, Kyle,” I pointed to each of them respectively. “And you’re Caleb.”

“And that’s Marc,” He finished pointing to the boy on Haley’s left.

I followed his finger. “And you’re all in a band together?”

“Yeah…” he looked over at me over the top of his sunglasses. “You don’t know us?”

I laughed again. “You and Kyle both act like that’s such a huge shock!”

“Well I don’t know,” He shrugged. “I just like that you’re not all crazed, you know? You’re chill,” He smiled.

I nodded. “Thanks?”

He laughed and plucked a leaf from the water. “Kyle’s lucky he found such a chill girl.”

“Kyle didn’t find me,” I pulled my hair over to one shoulder. “He hit me with a door, and now he’s borderline stalking me.”

“How romantic?” Caleb laughed again.

I sighed and he looked at me again.

“He’s a good guy though,” He shrugged. “Kind of crazy at times. A little clumsy,” he pointed to my stained shirt. “But he’s cool.”

“Who ya talking about?” Kent asked plopping down on the other side of me. “Clearly me.”

“Yeah,” Caleb splashed him with a handful of water. “Exactly.”

“Kent!” Kyle yelled from the other side of the pool. He tossed a Frisbee to him. It gracefully skimmed the water and landed in front of his legs.

Kent plucked it from the water and tossed it back. “We’re quite skilled at Frisbee around here,” he told me as Kyle caught the Frisbee with ease.

“I can see,” I nodded and stole another glance at Caleb. He had his cell phone in hand, typing out a message. I looked away, not wanting to appear nosy.

“Georgia!” Kyle prepared to toss the Frisbee in my direction.

“No, I can’t!” I held my hands up.

“Why not?” He made a face. “It’s easy.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty simple,” Caleb set his phone down in between us. He stood up and motioned for Kyle to throw him the Frisbee. He caught it skillfully.

“Watch,” He instructed before spinning and throwing the Frisbee behind his back. It landed in Kyle’s hand.

“Wow,” I applauded softly. “you’re a pro.”

“Hardly,” Kyle laughed. He took a few steps back and slammed the Frisbee on the ground near the edge of the pool. It hit the concrete and floated above the pool. It landed at Caleb’s feet. He started dancing and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ten bucks if you can make it hit the tree and land on the table!” Caleb called to him. “All while missing Austin’s head.”

“Deal,” Kyle jogged to our side of the pool, Frisbee in hand. “You’re probably going to want to get out of the way,” He offered me his hand to help me up.

I slipped my hand in his and let him lift me off the hard cement. “Thanks,” I mumbled wiping my hands on my jeans.

Kyle smiled before handing the Frisbee to Caleb. “Ladies first.”

Caleb removed his glasses and hung them on his collar. “Say what you’d like,” He told Kyle. “We’ll see who’s ten bucks richer.”

Kyle stood next to me and folded his arms over his chest. “You think he’s got this?” He asked me with a smile, his eyes squinting in the sun.

I shrugged and watched Caleb take a few steps back in preparation.

“Well I’d like to hope you’re a little more confident when it’s my turn,” He casually bummed his shoulder into mine.

I smiled and looked up at him. “I guess we’ll have to see.”

Caleb let the Frisbee glide out of his hand. It pounded against the tree, but skidded right over the top of the table.

“Ooooo…” Kyle laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Maybe next time, Turman.”

Marc stood and tossed the Frisbee to Kyle.

“Alright,” Kyle started stretching out his arms. “Are you guys ready for this?” He gave me a wink. He walked all the way over to the fence before turning to face his target.

“Do I even want to know what you’re doing?” Caleb asked him with a smirk on his face.

“I need room for my approach,” He explained.

“You have an approach?” I raised my eyebrows and shielded my eyes from the sun.

“Sure,” He grinned. “A five step one.”

“Lame,” Caleb coughed into his hand.

I could see there was some competition going on here.

“You ready?” Kyle repeated.

“Yeah, we have been,” Kent sighed. “Any day now.”

Kyle ignored him and took a dramatic breath. He shook his hands out and then proceeded to gallop towards the edge of the pool.

I laughed and threw my hand over my mouth.

“Hey!” Caleb saw he was headed straight for his cell phone. “My blackberry!” He lunged for it, which sent Kyle off balance, which sent him tumbling into me, which sent us both plummeting into the cold water.

“Kyle!” I shrieked before my back hit the water.

“Are you ok?” He asked when we’d both resurfaced. He placed his hands on my arms. His hair, now a more natural blonde, was matted to his face. He smiled easily as if we both hadn’t just been drenched.

I spit the water out of my mouth and he laughed.

“I thought I had that one too.”

“Are you ok?” Caleb asked from his dry spot on land.

“Yeah,” I finally sputtered. I looked down at Kyle’s hands, which were still firmly in place on my biceps. “Just a little cold.”

“At least your shirt is cleaner,” Kyle offered with a grin.

I found myself smiling in spite of everything. I gave his a playful shove. “Yeah, no thanks to you.”

“Come on,” He finally released me. “Let’s go find something dry.”

I let his place his hand on my back again and lead me towards the edge of the pool.