I Believe in Yesterday

A cool breeze blew across the yard, causing a little chill to touch the surface of the skin. With each breeze, the summer that still lingered in September was packing its bags and making room for fall. Yet, it wasn’t cold enough to put an end to the idea of trips to the beach, laying in the sun, evening barbeques or late night beers around a campfire with friends. The leaves hadn’t started to turn colors yet and lawns were still green, easy to play around in.

A decent sized house, which was not often inhabited, sat in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. Yellow siding with stones built into the porch, which looped around the house, connecting the deck to the front of the house. In the backyard, a grill and patio furniture were set out for entertaining. A few leaves had started to fall off the trees prematurely, the wind letting them hop across the perfectly cut stretch of land. The nicely polished lawn sparkled, but didn’t glisten as the water did when the afternoon sun shined down on the still water. A pool, dug into the ground and circled by a manufactured pool deck and gate, further complimented the backyard ambiance.

Usually the house was affably calm as well as the property. Today however, two boys splashed around in the pool, being obnoxious and loud, nothing out of the ordinary for them. “Vinny, you fucker!” a boy screamed. He emerged out of the water after being dunked, his brown hair dripping water down his face.

A short man with black hair boomed with laughter and swam deeper into the underground pool. He stopped and treaded water, taunting his friend. “Come and get me, Alex. Open target.”

Alex wiped the water out of his eyes and smirked, grabbed a ball and a water noodle that were floating near by and paddled out to attack Vinny. As the boys wrestled and tackled each other, water splashed up on the deck from the waves they made. Once in a while, a few droplets would fly in the air and land on the residents outside of the pool, cooling their tanning skin from the sun.

Reclined in a lounge chair, reading a magazine and sipping a margarita, a brown haired girl relaxed on the pool deck. Her limbs were sprawled out, trying to soak up what was left of the sun rays in September. Clad in a vermilion colored bikini and sunglasses, she attempted to block out the mischievous boys a few feet away from her, but she let a smile show once and while when she heard jokes that couldn’t be ignored. She flipped the page of her magazine and ogled at the recipe she wished she could make and then through her sunglasses, glanced to the left of her. A boy lay feet away, in a chair just like hers. A mop of curly hair sat on his head and his hairline glistened with sweat along with the rest of his muscular body. His lids had fluttered closed almost thirty minutes prior and unlike his lounging partner, he was doing a perfectly fine job at blocking out the loud play in front of him. To confirm that he was asleep, little snores came from his mouth periodically as the sun soaked up the moisture from his shirtless body.

Suddenly a loud a burst of noise came from the front of the house, disturbing the atmosphere that had settled in the back of the suburban home. Soon after, another boy came running around the side of the house to the backyard. He was too skinny for his body and too loud for his own good. His gangly legs involuntarily accelerated as he barreled down the hill that elevated the house. Everyone who was hanging out in the backyard heard the high-pitched Indian cries that the sprinting boy was hollering, but simply ignored it.

The tall, lanky boy ran the distance to the pool deck and immediately came to a halt in front of the girl. “What’s up, guurl?” Sometime between histrip from the car to the pool, he had stripped off his shirt and stood in his swim trunks. “A margarita? Honestly, you’re such a girl. Man up!” The girl rolled her eyes and flipped the page in her magazine, not wanting to take the effort to tell him that she was, in fact, a girl. Not happy that she ignored him, the boy loomed over her with a wicked smile on his lips. Before she had time to react, the brunette was yanked up and out of her chair and tossed over the boy’s shoulder.

She flailed her limbs as she screamed, “Jack! No! Put me down!” The brunette made a point of kicking her feet in the air dangerously and smacking Jack’s bare back. Jack just cackled lightly and walked to the edge of the pool. At the sight of the water and Alex and Vinny splashing tidal waves, her emerald eyes bulged.

“Here comes Jazz!” Jack yelled to boys, who had now stopped squabbling and were swimming closer to where Jack stood on the pool deck. Evil smiles graced their faces as Jack braced himself to toss the weight he had on his back. When he did, Bailey’s body flew through the air and she came down with a giant splash on Alex’s head. Not letting her get settled in the water, Alex immediately cradled her and flung her in the air towards Vinny.

“Delivery!” he shouted. The two started to mess around again, the previous rivalry between the boys gone. This left Bailey to fend for herself. She could do it though; she had put up with the boys for almost three years.

“Stop! Stop!” Bailey yelled, letting out an occasional yelp when the boys tossed her high in the air or dunked her under water. “No fair! You’re double teaming me!” she sputtered after being dunked for the tenth time. Water dripped down her shoulder length hair, making it look black and if she had been wearing makeup it would have been running down her cheeks by this point. Not going to let the boys abuse her, she grabbed a noodle and started to whack the two with it, letting out spurts of laughter as the wrestling turned into a water fight.

Knowing it wouldn’t end easily, Vinny and Alex started to lure Bailey into the deep end, knowing they would have an advantage if she couldn’t touch the bottom. Bailey tried to follow, going on her tip toes to try and keep her head above the water, but she couldn’t reach Alex and Vinny. If she treaded water, she knew the boys would beat her for sure. Instead, she moved towards the shallow end and glared at them, “Now you got my hair wet. Fuckers.”

Alex laughed at his friend and threw a noodle at her, ending the battle. The two boys went back to messing around and Bailey headed towards the stairs. About to climb back out of the pool, Bailey looked up at Jack. He stood with his back towards her, talking with the now awake Zack and sipping her margarita. Seeing payback opportunity, she smirked and quietly she crept out of the pool. Zack saw her tip toeing to Jack and smiled, but kept quiet to watch as Bailey sent Jack flying backwards into the pool.

Bailey laughed loudly at her best friend as Jack’s limbs flailed as he went crashing into the water. She didn’t have time to gloat though, Jack quickly scrambled out of the water, along with Alex and Vinny. Taking the hint, she turned on her heels and dashed out of the pool area and sprinted across the grass. Jack, Alex, and Vinny started to chase the girl around the plush grass, Zack taking the opportunity to run after Bailey as well.

As she tried to keep her swimsuit on and her feet balanced as she ran, Alex gained on her as well as Zack. Bailey always found herself in the situation; the boys always ganging up on her and messing with her. She couldn’t complain though because she enjoyed almost every minute of it. They chased her around the yard and put up a good fight, but finally someone took a risk.

“Geronimo!!” Alex leaped forward and pounced on little Bailey, sending her crashing to the grass. She laid her face down in the blades of grass with Alex on top of her, poking his fingers into her exposed sides, causing her to laugh and roll around. She tried to escape his tickling, but Zack joined in.

“I’ll save you, BayBay!” Jack pulled her out from the torturous boys, coming to her “rescue”. Linking his arms under hers, he started to swing her around.

Bailey was laughing so hard she couldn’t catch a breath to say anything. She looked like a helicopter propeller as her legs spun violently in the air, getting faster and faster. If Jack kept spinning, she was sure he would do one of two things: crash to the ground or let go of her in mid swing and send her flying through the air.

Luckily someone new spoke up. “We’re here!” Jack whipped his head towards the direction of the house. After seeing new people arriving, he set Bailey down. Two figures were walking down the slight slant to the backyard. One carrying Tupperware with some premade food and the other with towels.

“Kara and Rian are here! Yay!” Alex cheered. Bailey noticed the distraction Kara and Rian caused and took the opportunity to sneak out of the clutches of the guys and go greet Kara. Once the four boys noticed she was gone, they simply shrugged and started to hog pile on each other.

“Hey, Bailey,” Kara greeted happily, slipping off her tank top to reveal her turquoise bathing suit. Bailey smiled and the two girls immediately started to chat about the things they left off on during their last conversation, which had been just yesterday. Rian put down the bowl of salad he was carrying and sprinted over to his friends and hog piled on the giant mound of wrestling limbs.

“MY VAGINA!!” The girls stopped mid sentence and looked over at the pile of boys in the middle of the lawn.

Bailey stared, confused. “Douches,” Kara mumbled, rolling her eyes.

=========

Hours later, after swimming, drinking, telling stories, water fights, drinking and more swimming, the group of friends gathered on Vinny’s deck. More people had shown up and laughter filled the air where the sun had started to set. No occasion was ever necessary for the good group of friends to gather. To enjoy the night together was always enough.

Rian stood in the corner of the deck, flipping burgers and whistling to himself as he worked. Melanie, who showed up late, as per usual, Kara and Vinny were trying to get together the side dishes and put them out on the patio for every one to eat.

The sun had started to set, causing the sky to turn various shades of oranges and pinks. The guys sat in the patio furniture, sipping their beers and enjoying the evening, cracking a few jokes here and there.

As the sun lowered, a few mosquitoes decided to come out when a little chill settled. One by one, people slipped on their shirt and pants after a long day of swimming after they felt the cooler air touch their sun-kissed skin.

Zack didn’t even have a shirt with him, naturally. Seeing the goose bumps arise on his arms, he put down his beer to silently stand up and walk through the sliding door and find a shirt.

Stepping in the temperature regulated house, his body adjusted and he felt comfortable with the air warming the tips of his toes and fingers. No lights were on, causing the room to be dim with the sun retreating behind the trees.

Silence lingered and Zack could hear the company outside every once in a while. Walking through the dark, the only thing he heard inside was the soft footsteps from the pads of bare feet. “Hey,” he said coyly, purposefully running into Bailey who was returning from the bathroom.

“Hey, you. You following me?” she joked, trying to sidestep him. Zack smirked at her and when she stepped to the right, he moved in front of her. When she moved to the left, he stepped in her way.

“Nope, I came in to get a shirt.”

“You, putting on a shirt? Are you okay?!” She dramatically reached up to feel his forehead for a temperature.

Zack pulled her hand away from him and kissed her knuckles sweetly. “Ha. Ha,” he said flatly. After, he dropped her arm and put his hands on her hips, tightly gripping her hipbones and pulling her towards him. Their stomachs pressed against each other and their faces were centimeters apart. Bailey could feel Zack’s breath brush over her face as he looked her. “Happy anniversary, babe,” he murmured, gazing in her bright emerald eyes. Admiring back at his, she stood on her tip toes and connected her lips to his.

Zack instinctively tried to hold Bailey even closer to him, to feel her beating heart against his. He let his hands slowly roam the torso that had grown so familiar to him, and Bailey twisted and coiled her fingers in his curly hair. They kissed slow and passionately, trying to get every ounce of each other as they could.

Outside, Grieco, Jack and Melanie threw a Frisbee and chased Alex’s dogs around in the yard. Danny, Danny’s girlfriend, Evan, Kara and Alex sat and laughed at each other’s drunken night stories and Vinny and Rian cooked at the grill. Soft crickets chirped in the background, along with Alex’s barking dog.

“Hey guys! Food!” Vinny yelled over the deck railing to people in the yard. At the sound of the word food, everyone dropped what they were doing and ran up the deck stairs to eat.

“Gaskarth, can you get plates? We don’t have enough,” Rian commented, sizing up the stack of plates to people. Alex let out a huge groan and threw his head back, dreading. “Oh no, your life is so hard,” Rian whined, mocking him.

Alex flicked Rian off, but stood up nonetheless. “…Plates, plates, plates, plates…” Alex muttered as he walked through the sliding door into the dim house. “Plates, plates, plates-whoa ho ho.” Alex was greeting with Zack and Bailey pressed together, still engaged in heated make-out. Not often did Alex see them so animated, usually only subtle PDA “Starting the festivities early, huh?” As Alex walked by the couple, he smacked Zack’s ass and ruffled Bailey’s already messy hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your hair in two seconds so you two can continue sucking face and doing the nasty.”

Alex made a beeline for the kitchen to fetch plates and Bailey grimaced as he went. Groaning, Zack leaned his head down to rest on Bailey’s forehead, irritated at Alex for interrupting.

“Goddamn him,” Zack muttered and he played with a belt loop on Bailey’s shorts.

Bailey giggled, running a hand through her boyfriend’s hair. “You love him though.”

“Not as much as I love you,” he murmured, nudging his nose against her. Bailey smiled adoringly and they both looked at each other with a gleam in their eyes. After stealing a quick kiss, Bailey entwined their fingers and headed out to join the others.

==========

“You still got that old man peeping through your window Bailey?” Rian asked from across the table, Kara half asleep in his lap. Bailey nodded, with an overdramatic look of horror on her face.

“You know what you gotta do,” Alex said, taking a gulp from his beer, “When you think he’s peeping, have Jack come over and then have him run around your house naked. That otta do the trick.” A round of chuckles erupted.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. My body is a temple of blueberry cotton candy, dipped in chocolate with sprinkles on the top,” Jack said, fingering his nipples. “Plus, my dick is so fetch,” he added, using his valley girl voice.

It was hard to see in the dark, but in the soft candle light on the deck, Jack was smiling goofily at Alex and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“On that note,” Alex stood up with an amused smirk on his face. “I’d like to make a toast.” Everyone was used to Alex’s speeches or sentimental toasts, and they always enjoyed listening to what Alex had to say, so they quieted down and all eyes focused on him.

He looked around at all the faces looking back at him. Some were leaning up against the railing of the deck, some were sitting in lawn chairs and others were lazing in laps. They were all so different, but all great friends. Alex smiled softly before speaking leisurely. “To everything we have done, the hoops we have jumped through, the people we have painfully lost and the friends we have made. To broken hearts and rainy days, bad fights and dead end dreams; they taught us how to keep striving for better.” A couple of grunts in agreement came from a few of the boys’ throats and Alex took a breath and continued on, a smile warmly creeping on his face.

“To Zack and Bailey.” The couple smiled sweetly at each other. “Because they are so fucking disgusting. So fucking perfect for each other. Two years today, Zack finally grew a pair and asked Jazz out. Thank God.” They all chuckled and Zack stuck his middle finger up at Alex before leaning over to give Bailey a sweet kiss, pulling away with a smile on his face and a twinkly in his eye.

“And of course! To my boys! I could say a lot more and be a pussy at how proud I am of us, but not tonight. I’ll keep this short and save that speech for later. We leave in five days, let’s make this tour a fuckin’ good one.”

“I’ll drink to that!” Jack shouted.

Rian held up his drink, “To family, tour and damn good times.”