Cold as Ice

After all of the excitement of midnight, Bailey, Jen and I stayed in the basement, while the guys stayed in Ash's room and did whatever stuff guys do at sleepovers.

I looked at Jen. "What do you think they're doing up there anyway?"

She shrugged and bit the head off of a red gummy bear. "Gaming, probably,"

"Gummy bear me." Bailey was sitting on the couch backwards with her legs up on the back, her head hanging off of the edge, and her hair tumbling onto the floor. Jen tossed a candy in her direction, and she caught it in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "I wonder what guys talk about when we're not around. Don't you?"

"I wonder what goes through their heads all the time." I dug my hand into the bag of gummy bears, grabbing a fistful and dropping one into my mouth.

"You mean, you wonder what goes through Johnny's head all the time." said Bailey.

"No," I threw one of my gummy bears at her; she caught it, and I made a face. "I wonder what goes through every guy's head. Not just Johnny's."

"Did you know that guys can actually think about nothing?" asked Jen.

Bailey and I looked at her.

"What?" She glanced back and forth between us. "It's true. There's actually a section of the male brain that can think of absolutely nothing."

"You're a geek, Jennifer Thomas." Bailey laughed as she curled and uncurled her bare toes. "But really, do you think they actually just sit around and play Xbox? Surely they'd get tired of it after a while."

"Naturally." Jen replied, adjusting her glasses, unhurt by Bailey's geek comment. She looked at me. "Ash is your brother, surely you'd know what he and Johnny do at a..."-she wrinkled her small nose-"sleepover?

Bailey curled upward and also wrinkled her nose. "Would you even call it a sleepover?"

I shrugged. "The name sounds kinda' girlie, but a sleepover is a sleepover no matter the gender. And... no, actually, I wouldn't have the first clue about what Johnny and my brother do. They probably sit around and bitch about how terribly complicated us girls are."

"Wouldn't you just die laughing if they had pillow fights and gossiped?" Bailey asked.

Jen giggled into her hand. "I just imagined Johnny painting his nails and complaining about period pains."

The mental image she created for me was funny. Big, mean Johnny, painting his bitten nails a bright bubblegum pink, whilst complaining vehemently in a feminine voice about how terrible his cramps are and how cute the guy in front of him in Trigonometry is.

"That would be great." Bailey said, shaking her head and laughing.

"If only we knew what really went on." I sighed.

Suddenly she stopped, and swiveled around to face Jen and I. I could just see the light bulb appear above her head. "Guys. I have a great idea."

"And what's that?" asked Jen.

A troublesome smile spread across Bailey's face as she pulled her hair over one shoulder. "We should go and eavesdrop on them."

I opened my mouth, but Jen spoke before I could. "No, Bailey! What if they say something that we're not supposed to hear?"

"That's kind of the whole point, silly." She said.

I bit my lip. I really wanted to hear what Johnny was like when I wasn't around. Was he meaner? Nicer? Stupid? Mature? He was, after all, the oldest out of all of us - being a senior and all.

"I'm in." I said.

"Thank you." She said. She looked at Jen with pleading emerald eyes. "Come on, Jenny. Come with us. Please? Pretty please?"

Jen threw her head back and lay against the back of the couch. "Why, Bailey?"

"Because it'll be fun." Bailey poked her finger into Jen's ribs. "Don't you want to hear how amazing and beautiful Ash thinks you are?"

Her heart-shaped lips turned upward. "You really think he thinks so?"

I rolled my eyes. "I know he thinks so."

"All right. I'll go." She set the bag of gummy bears on the couch and stood up. "But I can't believe I'm doing this."

Bailey waved her hand. "Oh, be quiet. Let's go spy on some boys."

I followed Bailey and Jen up the stairs. The clock on the hallway wall displayed one in the morning. Dad, Lucille, and Johnny's parents were all gone out to a bar, so the downstairs was dark and completely vacant.

We quietly tiptoed up the stairs and stopped in front of Ash's bedroom door. I could hear Johnny laughing and Kyle booing, along with the tweaking sound of fingers on guitar strings and the faint sound of screaming zombies and gunshots in the background - accompanied by my brother's triumphant growls.

"Sing me a song, Johnny." Kyle said in a feminine voice. "Serenade me."

"Eh, fuck off." Johnny said. "I only sing for girls."

"Better than a pickup line, is it?" asked Ash, chuckling.

"Asshole doesn't need pickup lines." Kyle said bitterly. "Girls just throw themselves at him like he's a small town George Clooney."

"You're damn right they do." Johnny said, and then added in a singsongy voice, "I make 'em weak in the kneeees."

I rolled my eyes and silently mouthed the word cocky. Bailey and Jen both nodded.

"You're a dick." Kyle said. "You don't even have to try and you've got girls by the truckload drooling at your feet."

"As if you had to try in order to get Bailey to like you." Johnny said. I knew what look he probably had on his face: one eyebrow raised, the other lowered, his mouth curled slightly at one end. He gave me that look a lot.

Bailey had perked up at the mention of her name.

"I did try." Kyle said. "I tried really hard, actually."

"No you didn't." Johnny said in his that's bullshit, and you know it is tone. "She was completely in love with you since the day you laid eyes on her. And it's the same with you and Little Ginge." He was talking to Ash.

"You really think so?" My brother asked.

"I know so." Johnny replied.

"And what makes you think you know for sure?"

"She looks at you like you put the stars in the sky, Ashley." He said. "Please don't tell me you didn't notice."

I nudged Jen. With a grin, she looked up at me, and Bailey reached over to ruffle her vibrant red hair.

"I guess she does." Ash said with a small, embarrassed laugh.

"Did you kiss her yet?" asked Kyle.

"Not yet." He admitted. "But I want to."

Jen grabbed my arm. Bailey had to bite her knuckle to keep from squealing.

"Just do it, then." Johnny said matter-of-factly. "You've been dating for a month."

"Johnny, I'm not you. I can't just do it. It's difficult for me." Ash said.

"But... it's Jen. She's the farthest thing from intimidating, so what's so difficult about it?" Kyle asked - which made Jen bite her lip and lean forward, anxious to hear Ash's reply.

"She's gorgeous. I'm not used to dating girls at that level of beautiful."

"We know you're not." Johnny said with a snicker. "You're a geeky prude."

"I'd rather be a geeky prude than a man-slut." Ash said, but with no harmful tone detected. He sighed. "But I'd at least like to have the confidence to kiss her."

"You know she likes you. The next time you're in the same room, just grab her and kiss her." said Kyle.

"Prude Number Two's got the idea." said Johnny.

"Fuck you." Kyle said, chuckling.

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"You know what? You've pestered us most of the night. It's your turn."

"Yeah..." Ash said. I heard the screaming zombies in the background come to an abrupt end, which meant he'd paused the game. "I have something to ask you, actually."

"Go right ahead." Johnny said.

"What do you think about my sister?"

Bailey turned to me and licked her lips, raising her eyebrows. I shook my head at her.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You know what I mean, Johnny." My brother said. "I'm asking you what you think of her."

"I think of her as your dumb little sister. Because that's what she is." Johnny said. "She's just a little baby that doesn't know anything about the world, and likes to get on my nerves."

Offended, I opened my mouth and moved to push Jen out of my way to go in there and yell at him. Bailey clamped a hand over my mouth and hauled me backward, hissing into my ear. "Don't you dare! Just wait a second."

"I beg to differ." Kyle said. "I think you got a thing for her."

"The only thing I have for that kid is low tolerance." Johnny replied.

"You don't think she's even a little bit pretty?"

"That's irrelevant. Ash didn't ask me what I thought of how she looks."

"Well, what do you think of it, then?" Kyle asked.

I held my breath.

"Jesus," Johnny breathed. "That girl has the best body on the goddamn planet. It's like... it's like a goddess had sex with an angel and her legs were the baby."

"So you're attracted to her?" asked Ash.

"She's beautiful, Ash. It's no secret."

My eyes widened. I gripped the railing on the stairs beside me and leaned against it for support. Bailey's jaw fell and Jen sprang up from her crouching position by my feet.

"And there you have it, ladies." Bailey whispered. "Our proof."