Dirt

It was a couple days later when Jessi, Erin, Lacey, and I decided to put our little plan into action. We slyly convinced the boys to barbeque for us. We told them that if they cooked the meat, we'd cook the sides, and we could invite some people over to hang out. The guys readily agreed. So after a quick trip to the grocery store, which wound up being less than quick and quite hilarious since Jimmy went, we called up Marley from the bar. The guys invited a few friends, but she was the only one the girls wanted there. We were so excited that she agreed to come.

We spent the early part of the day making corn on the cob, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, and sweet potato fries. By the time we had finished and had gotten dressed, Marley had shown up. I was pleasantly surprised to see Jimmy and Marley chatting away when I stepped outside. Matt was manning the grill first, so I went to stand by him. He was adorable in his jeans, tee shirt, and his 'Kiss the Cook' apron. He put an arm around me as he flipped a few burgers and turned some hotdogs. "Baby, could you do me a favor and grab a big serving plate from the kitchen? Some of these are done and people can start eating." I told him yes, but he had to turn the grill over to someone else soon so he could eat too.

When I came back out, Erin was sitting on a deck chair, eating a hamburger and watching Marley and Jimmy intently. I went over and sat with her on the chair. "How's it looking?" I asked her.

"Really good, actually. They've been laughing, and she's touched his arm three times. There's definitely a connection there. I'm so excited!"

I chortled with her. "I know. We might have actually done something right for a change." Brian came over and put the pieces together. He asked if we orchestrated the whole day just so we could hook Jimmy up with the waitress. I couldn't hide my smile. "Maybe. I like how you said orchestrated, like we're some super evil villains from a comic book."

"Sometimes I wonder about you girls. I can't tell if you're using your powers for good or evil half the time," he told me, then wandered off to talk to some other people.

It was sometime later when we saw Jimmy break away from Marley. He came skipping over to us as she slipped inside the house. "You guys!" he practically sang to us as he stopped in front of us. "I'm pretty sure I'm in love and we're gonna get married on top of a mountain." We laughed at him. "I'm serious. You're invited to the wedding, of course, but you have to be dressed in traditional garb." Erin hesitantly asked him what that was. "You know, seventeenth century ball gowns." Of course! "You know, the really big, poofy ones." We asked him where she went. "She was gonna go to the restroom, then I thought I would take her for some ice cream or something."

"Jimmy, you have the best ideas!" I told him excitedly. "I think Zee had the keys last, you should drive her. That way you at least have to come back here for her car. Then you can convince her to just spend the night."

"Now, now. I'm not that kind of guy," he chastised me. "I'm not a one night stand kind of guy."

"I wasn't suggesting you were. I was just thinking that she could hang out longer," I informed him.

He smiled. "In that case, I'll think of something."

Marley came back out and chatted with us for a couple minutes before she and Jimmy left. Jessi ran over to us after they were gone to ask how it went. We told her all about the ice cream, and maybe even the sleepover. She high fived the both of us, announced what geniuses we were, then went back to sit on Zacky's lap. He grinned over at me and I gave him a big cheesy smile.

"What are we doing for Matt's birthday in a couple weeks?" Erin asked me. I shrugged. "Well, do you think we should throw him a party?"

"I think we have plenty of time to plan a party. What I really want to do is plan what the three of us are going to do once everyone leaves in a couple days." The boys and Lacey were going to leave on Sunday. Lacey had to go back to work, and the guys had some stuff they had to take care of for my father. The guys would be back in a couple days, and Lacey promised she'd be back in a week or so.

"Oh, maybe we can kidnap Lacey! I haven't been involved in a kidnapping in a long time. Then she can stay with us. You can't get fired from a job if your being held against your will."

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Matt asked us as he pulled his own chair up to ours.

"Kidnappings," I told him easily.

"Adult kidnappings?" We both told him yes. "Do people still do that in our...community?"

I laughed at him. "It happens more than you think. Of course, we've never been involved, but...I mean, I know it happens." He studied me for a second. He said that it sounded like I knew that from experience. I shrugged one shoulder. Erin looked away from the both of us. "All I know is that it does happen. That's all I can say."

The rest of the week came and went. We spent most of the days outside at the beach, and when she wasn't working, Marley came over and spent a lot of time with us. She was so cool, and her and Jimmy really seemed to be hitting it off. I was so happy about it. Jimmy deserved a little happiness. Erin, Jessi, and I were a little sad to see everyone go, but once we got over that, we spent the first night camped out in the living room watching movies. We even fell asleep on the big comfy couches. We spent the next few days doing pretty much the same thing we'd been doing all week. They even helped me figure out what to do for Matt's birthday.

That came around faster than I had expected. Before I knew it, there were just a couple days left before Matt's big day. I wanted to make everything perfect, so I had Lacey, Johnny, and Jimmy stall him by taking him out for lunch. I knew Jimmy would do a good job of finding reasons to stay out for a while. I invited everyone the guys could get me phone numbers for, including his parents, and younger sister. I was a little nervous to meet them, but I thought I could suck it up for one night since it was his birthday.

I had prepared enough food to last our little group for months if we were to face the zombie uprising. All I had to do was warm up or bake most of it while Matt was out of the house. After making sure the house was clean, and the food was warming, I made everyone go get ready, and went in the room to do the same. I wanted to make a good impression on Matt's family, but I also knew that we were having a laid back party, and I didn't want to go completely overdressed. I chose a pair of comfortable jeans, and a slightly shimmery, loose fitting shirt with fat, black and white horizontal stripes. I went with a pair of cute sneakers and some simple silver accessories. I left my hair down in waves and applied a pretty pink lip gloss. Once I was satisfied with my look I went to the back yard to make sure Brian had started on the food. I shouldn't have worried because he had everything under control.

People started arriving then. I was glad that Zacky and Brian had stayed behind because I didn't really know some of the people that were coming, and I wasn't sure how to properly entertain them. Pop showed up fairly early in the night with Wolf and Smokes, as usual. I was so happy to see him. I wanted an update on what was happening back home with Harrison, but Pop simply told me that now was not the time. We had a party to attend. He promised to bring me up to speed soon. I knew that would have to do. I wasn't going to get anything else out of him after that. Matt's family came after that. I greeted them at the door and tried to shake their hand's, but they weren't having that.

"No, come here," his mom, Lucy, told me. "We're big huggers in this family." After getting another hug from his dad, Frank, and his younger sister, Amanda, his mom had a huge smile on her face. "Oh, honey I'm so glad to finally meet you. Matt has told us so much about you."

"He said you were pretty," Frank said, "but he didn't do you justice. He lucked out when he got with you, my dear."

I could only giggle. Now I knew where Matt got his charm from. I was instantly in love with his family. His sister was so cute. She was 16, and I could tell how much she loved her brother. From the way she talked, they seemed to have a really close relationship. I was brought back to my relationship with my own brother. I was jealous that they got to grow up together. They probably had thousands of memories of Christmases and birthdays, or even just summer days where one of them fell of their bike. I looked over to Zee, who was cracking up at a joke one of their friends was telling, and promised myself that I was going to spend more time with him. We had a lot of time to make up, and I was determined that we would.

I didn't have time to revel in my musings for long. Someone standing at the window alerted us that Matt, Lacy, Johnny, and Jimmy were back. Everyone rushed out to the back yard. I ran through the house turning off lights as fast as possible, then took my place out back with everyone else. I could hear them talking and coming through the house. I silently prayed that Matt liked what I had planned. It was anything extravagant, but I really did mean well. It's the thought that counts, right?

The anticipation was killing me. The four of them seemed to be taking forever to get to the back door. Finally, after I'd been sweating bullets, the handle of the door turned. Everyone took a collective breath. Matt opened the door and his face was a perfect mask of confusion and shock.

"Surprise!"