Bittersweet Sundown

Brian was sipping his beer, watching as Zack prepared the grill and Matt carried some bowls with food, setting them down, next to the grill. He knew Ash was coming too, he’d made sure of it. She had managed to avoid him for three weeks. Three fucking weeks she had silently slipped out of the rooms when he arrived. Three weeks she had pretended she wasn’t home when Brian went by, although he knew she was. And those few times she couldn’t slip away, she’d pretended he wasn’t real, she didn’t acknowledged him at all. Well, Brian wasn’t gonna take this any longer, she was gonna answer him and she was gonna do it tonight. He had it all planned out. He was gonna corner her where no one could come between.

Hearing the familiar roar of her car, pulling in the driveway, made him smirk. He emptied his bottle of beverage and jumped into the pool, letting the cool water soothe his slightly agitated nerves.

Ash got out of the car, satisfied when she didn’t see Brian’s car anywhere. She hoped he wasn’t gonna show up at all. Shaking her head at her stupid hopes, she walked to the door and rang the bell. In seconds, the door was opened by a blond beauty.

“Come on in girl,” Val greeted Ash with a hug and then stepped aside. Ash walked past her. She could hear people talking and laughing somewhere but couldn’t see anyone.

“Where is everyone?” she asked from Val, following her to the kitchen.

“Outside. Can you help me with these?” Val said, handing her a tray with colorful drinks. Then she took two other trays but set one of them back to the counter after only taking one step.

“Too heavy,” she mumbled, flexing her fingers from pain.

“Give it to me,” Ash said, after balancing her first tray on her left hand’s fingertips, instead of holding it by the edge.

She held out her hand and Val gave her that lighter tray she was still holding. Ash placed her right hand under the tray and found quickly a perfect spot. Balancing both trays with ease, she started to walk towards the back door, Val following her with the heavier tray.

“Yayy, drinks,” was heard with lots of cheering when Ash and Val stepped outside. Matt and Zack were grilling some ribs, Brian, Jimmy and Leana were fooling around in the pool and others were just sitting around, chatting with each other.

“Yo, Lee-Lee, get your ass in here,” Jimmy joked, splashing her with water.

“Hell no, Jims, I’m not interested of becoming a ghost yet,” she laughed, setting her trays on the table beside the pool.

“Hmm, I like that idea,” Jimmy said thoughtfully, stroking his chin with his fingers.

“No you don’t, forget I said that,” Ash pretended to be frightened, slowly stepping away from the pool. Jimmy jumped out with an evil grin and started to follow her.

“Jimmy don’t even think about it,” Ash backed away, shaking her head in disapproval. Jimmy only laughed evilly and came closer, so she turned around and ran to Zack, entwining her arms tightly around him.

“Zack, help me, he’s going to drown me,” she cried to his chest, ignoring his surprised expression.

“What?” he asked, lifting his gaze to approaching Jimmy. “Jimmy, you’re not seriously gonna do that?”

“Yes, yes I am. I wanna have a ghost friend,” Jimmy beamed, grabbing a hold of Ash’s sides. Ash held on even tighter and Jimmy started to tickle her.

“Zack please don’t let him kill meeeee,” she cried with laughter, her voice still holding a bit of fear. Zack put his arms around her and gave his friend a disapproving look.

“Fine, I can kill you both then,” Jimmy announced and grabbed a hold of both of them. Second later they were falling over the pool edge.

“Hold your breath,” Zack said to Ash, just before they fell in to the water. Ash did what she was told and held on to him, waiting til he got them back to the surface.

“I’m gonna kill that evil thing,” she sputtered, ignoring the water that ran down her face. “You want some help?” Zack laughed at this, securely keeping her on the surface.

“Yes please. He’s gonna pay for this,” she seethed, looking angrily at Jimmy, who only smiled wider at this. “Just wait til my heart rate goes back to normal.”

Brian, who was near by on a green floating mattress, paddled next to them. He sat up, sliding his legs over the sides. This was a perfect chance to get closer to her, to earn some points.

“Come on here,” he motioned for Ash to climb in front of him. She looked at him for a moment, before deciding to accept his invite. He didn’t look mean or angry. At least not at her. She was willing to risk, only to get out of water.

“Zack, can you help me up there?” she pleaded, scared to slip under the water again.

She still didn’t feel comfortable in the water, regardless of knowing that these guys wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

Zack pushed her up while Brian grabbed her arm and Ash clumsily climbed to the mattress, sitting in front of Brian, mimicking his position and making sure she wouldn’t fall back. Jimmy was laughing so hard, his eyes were closed and he was doubled over with a hand on his stomach.

“Hey, Bri, can you hold on to me for a moment?” Ash asked, carefully leaning to her side and slipping her sneaker off. She held it in her hand ‘til Brian’s arms were securely around her. Then she threw her sneaker straight at Jimmy’s head. He stopped laughing instantly.

“Why did you hit me with your shoe?” he asked in a shock, staring at her.

“Why did you push me in?” Ash asked back, crossing her arms on her chest. She felt like a drowned kitten.

“To have some fun. But why’d you hit me with your shoe?” Jimmy demanded again, holding her sneaker up in the air, water dripping down from it.

“At least I didn’t want to kill you,” she said, without even trying to hide the hurt in her voice and watched how Jimmy’s face fell even more. “It’s not so funny if you think about it now, is it. Besides, I didn’t see anyone laughing when you pushed me in. But everyone is laughing now, so I win,” she ended with a bit lighter tone. She just couldn’t piss about it any longer, seeing how sad Jimmy was now. He obviously didn’t think before how she would feel about it.

She could still feel Brian’s arms around her and they were still in the middle of the pool. She felt so safe with him that she even forgot where she was. Zack was leaning his arms on the edge of the mattress, laughing at his friend.

“Ash, can I have your other sneaker?” he whispered with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Ash nodded her head, she had to take it off anyways, it was soaked. Zack took it off and threw it at Jimmy, hitting his shoulder with it.

“What the hell man?” Jimmy screamed, jumping back a little and looking at the trio in the pool.

“For pushing me in,” Zack said with a grin.

“Oh, I see. If you want a war, you get a war,” Jimmy threatened, looking around. He found some slimy ball near him and threw it at them, nearly hitting Ash with it.

“Eww, man, it’s Bella’s,” Zack protested. But it didn’t stop Jimmy, he was now throwing plastic cups at them.

“Bri, get me out of here so I can kick his sorry ass to the moon,” Ash pleaded, trying to move as little as possible. She caught an empty lemonade bottle before it collided with her face.

“Jimmy! Do you really wanna kill me?” now she was angry again. Did he really have to hurt her with things that were so hard.

“Sorry, it was meant for Zack,” Jimmy said, continuing throwing random things at them. Someones flip-flop flied by her head, making Ash lean back, right into Brian’s bare chest. Instantly she tried to sit up again but lost her balance a bit. Brian quickly grabbed her waist and steadied her.

“Relax, I don’t bite,” he said quietly, leaving one of his hands on her side. Ash felt shivers going through her body, hearing his husky voice so close to her ear.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw how Jimmy got the bottle of pool dye out of his pocket and took the cap off. Smirking, he threw it at them. It was flying straight at Ash and Brian.

“Duck,” she screamed and pushed them both off the mattress. The open bottle flew over their heads and landed next to them, red dye already leaking out and tinting the water. For a moment she was floating by herself, slowly sinking down. But Brian grabbed her soon and pulled back up.

“What the fuck is this?” he cursed, trying to get them further away from the strange red patch that was expanding rather quickly.

“Relax, it’s only a bottle of pool dye. I just didn’t want to get hit with it,” Ash smiled at the frightened look on Brian’s face. He relaxed instantly, slipping his arms around Ash, not trying to pull her away anymore. The red mass seeped around them, making the water look surreal.

“Oh my fucking god! Ash? Are you hurt?” Val ran to the edge, worry evident in her eyes.

Brian got them the edge of the pool, on the opposite side from Jimmy. Zack was already out and held his arms out for Ash. She thankfully held on and let Zack pull her out.

“No, I’m alright, don’t worry,” Ash said, shaking her tripping hair around.

“Then why am I looking at the pool of blood?” Val turned her gaze to the pool and back at Ash. Almost all the water was now red.

“I have no idea. Jimmy threw random things at us. It’s his fault,” Ash accused Jimmy, smirking evilly after Val turned her squinted eyes at him.

“Jimmy, what the fuck did you do to my pool? And why did you push Ash in? Are you really that mean?” Val huffed, getting more worked up by every second that passed. Jimmy slowly floated closer to them.

“She’s fine. And your pool is fine too,” Jimmy said, staying above the water for just in case.

“What the hell did you do?” Val demanded.

“It’s only a...,” he tried to say but Val cut him off.

“Actually I don’t care. You’re cleaning the whole pool,” she pointed her finger at him, her tone firm.

“Ash!?” Jimmy whined, turning his begging eyes at her. Ash only smirked again while accepting the towel Brian entwined around her.

“It’s ow..,” Brian started to say but Ash quickly connected her elbow to his ribs, making him shut up. He understood now that Ash wanted to keep Jimmy under Val’s attention.

“Well? Are you gonna tell me what the hell is this?” Val was still staring at Jimmy with an angry look.

“I just wanted to have some fun,” he whined again, sounding like a child.

“So trying to kill me is fun to you?” Ash inquired, pretending to be in a shock. When Jimmy didn’t say anything, she shook her head and walked away, sitting down to a chair on the other side of the pool.

“Come on Lee, I knew nothing would happen to you. That’s why I pushed Zack in with you. You can’t be that mad at me,” Jimmy followed her, still whining.

“Yes I can, you evil monster,” Ash protested, lifting her chin a little.

“I’ll show you a evil monster. I’ll tickle you until you forgive me,” he claimed, keeping his hands firmly on her squirming body.

“Okay, okay, I’ll forgive you,” Ash laughed, trying to get away from him. She couldn’t take any more tickling. Jimmy stopped and stood up.

“Evil,” she muttered under her breath when he took a step away, making him turn around again.

“Okay, you’re not evil,” Ash quickly took her words back, seeing menacing look in his eyes. Jimmy walked away and Val came to sit by her side.

“We should get you some dry clothes,” she said, eyeing Ash’s soaked pants.

“Nah, don’t worry, it’s warm, they’ll dry up soon,” Ash declined, trying to dry her hair as much as possible.

“Come on, you’ll be much more comfortable in dry clothes. I have just the perfect pants for you that I can’t wear myself. I got them from some modeling job a while ago but they’re a bit short for me now. So you can have them,” she chatted while forcing Ash up from her seat.

Some time later she was wearing long white pants and high heel shoes she actually didn't like, but it felt better than wet jeans and soaked sneakers. She had left her shirt on, it was almost dry already.

"Hey, who's in charge of grilling?" she shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I am. Why?" Zack yelled back from the pool. He was swimming again.

"Your steaks are about to burn man," she laughed, turning few of them around at the same time. Zack jumped out of the pool and ran to her side.

"Shit, I totally forgot to turn them. Thanks Ash," he said when Ash handed him the fork.

"No problem," she kissed his cheek and went to sit down.

​“Hey, Lee, can I talk to you for a moment?” Jimmy stopped behind her back, leaning down to her ear. Ash cast an interested gaze to him, finding his friend looking back at her excitedly.

“Come on,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her inside the house with him. Without saying anything, he guided her upstairs and to one of the guest bedrooms.

“Okay Jims, what did you want from me?” Ash asked, turning to look at him.