Forgetting You, But Not the Time

Banner by myself. Hold the applause. :D
It's meant specifically for this chapter only.

I gaped at the size of Kristen's backyard. Seriously, my mouth was hanging wide open in a rather unattractive way. But Mike and Carly seemed to have similar reactions as they stood motionless next to me. But honestly, who wouldn't have this reaction? They could fit the fucking White House back there and still have room for their pool that seemed to be the size of the community pool we had in Hercules; which was fairly large for us.

There were at least four dozen people there already, in the very least. My eyes widened at the fact that they had their own person stage with instruments set up ahead of time, just waiting to be played. I guessed they were allowing live music to be played.

There was a rather long table sitting on the far side of the yard next to the stage where the food sat, consisting of—what I could see, at least—a bowl of fresh strawberries, chips and dip, mini pizzas, punch, many different types of soda, nachos, muffins, half-cut sandwiches... the whole shebang plus more probably. There were at least a dozen and a half of people in the large pool already while most of the other half (the girls) lay out in the grass on beach towels, tanning. A few guys were playing frisbee, others were goofing off with water guns and even a few of them were plotting some of the girls' demises for choosing tanning over them.

The sun was beating down, sizzling nearly everything underneath it; making the pool look very inviting to me. I smiled slightly and began making my way towards the pool, tearing off my beach towel and kicking my flip-flops to the side before running over to the high diving board (oh, did I forget to mention those?). Carly chased after me, followed by Mike as they stripped down to just their swimming suits as well. I made a running start and did a cannon ball into the deep end.

The water. Felt. Amazing.

Carly jumped in seconds afterwards, followed by Mike who basically landed on top of me, sinking me towards the bottom (mind you, the pool was at least 12 feet in the deep end). Mike laughed as he pulled me up to the surface, Carly laughing as well. I laughed along with them after taking a few moments to glare at Mike.

More people continued to arrive as Carly, Mike and I chased each other around the pool, laughing and having a good time. After a while, we decided to take a break and crawled out of the pool and onto the warm grass beneath umbrellas. Hearing the splashing of the pool water and the smell of suntan lotion on our bodies gave me the feeling of being at the beach; it had a very calming affect on me.

I felt my eyelids start to grow heavy and slowly started to drift to sleep; that is, until a figure came and stood at the foot of us, blocking a bit of the sun. I managed to open one eye to see a very gorgeous boy standing in front of us. He had dark brown hair, nearly black and dazzling blue eyes. And the fact that his chest was fully exposed with some white swimming trunks that were hanging rather low on his hips, contrasting to his skin, making him seem much tanner than he probably was made me stare, my mouth hanging slightly open and my eyebrows raised somewhere past my hairline.

"Hey Mike," he greeted, nodding in Mike's direction. "Didn't think you'd show up." He commented, taking a seat in front of us. I continued to stare—nearly drooling in the process— which was causing Carly to hold back the powerful urge to laugh hysterically at me.

Mike chuckled softly to himself. "Hey, I didn't think I would either, but Billie basically forced us to go. Speaking of Billie; the man who couldn't seem to live without us prior to us showing up, where is he?"

"I think I saw him over by the stage with some chick attached to his hip," The guy waved the fact aside as if it meant nothing.

"You do know that 'that chick' is the one who owns this place, right?" inquired Mike with a raise of his eyebrows. The guy seemed to pale slightly, nearly turning the shade of his swimming trunks as if he was regretting treating her a certain way; or even looking at her a certain way for that matter.

"You see, I didn't even know that and yet I still attended." He said, regaining his original skin color, laughing it off. Mike and Carly joined in on the laughter while I continued to gawk, feeling much like an idiot but unable to stop. Carly gave me a look that I noticed out of the corner of my eye and I quickly snapped out of my daze. The attractive boy finally looked over at me and his eyes brightened slightly. I could already feel myself blush beneath his gaze.

"Oh!" Mike gasped, as if just now remembering I was still there. "I forgot to introduce the two of you," the boy didn't take his eyes off of me once. "Spencer, this is Chasen... Chasen, this is Spencer." We shook hands and I smiled shyly at him.

"Call me Chase." He said, grinning slightly at me. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Why? It's only one letter shorter." I giggled faintly at my statement. Chase laughed as well.

"Yeah, well, it's easier to say." And then, realization seemed to hit him and I could nearly picture a light bulb forming over his head. "You go to our school, don't you?" he basically stated rather than asked. I nodded and laughed at his facial expression, which was full of surprise. "I see you almost every day, but I haven't really gotten the chance to see you up close." said Chase, observing me from his spot.

"Like what you see?" I asked jokingly, but Chase nodded quickly.

"Very much so." I laughed nervously and looked over at Mike and Carly who were positively beaming at us. "Hey, you guys want something to drink?" He asked everyone, though was mainly staring at me. I felt my cheeks flush.

"Oh yeah, I'd like—"

"Yeah yeah, okay... want to come?" Chase stood from the grass, holding his hand out to me. I smiled to myself and gratefully took his helping hand, allowing him to pull me up. I wrapped my thin towel around my hips and slid on my flip-flops before following him. He never let go of my hand as he pushed his way through a mob of teenagers that began to form as a few boys ran onto the stage to start the music.

Chase led me to the snack table where we stopped to look over the multiple foods and drinks.

"That's a lot of food." I commented. "Too much to choose from." Chase laughed; I really loved his laugh. It was so smooth and friendly. I mentally smacked myself.

"I don't know about you, but those mini pizzas seem to be calling my name." Chase said, making his way over to the mini pizzas where he grabbed one and nearly stuffed it down his throat. I laughed at him and he shrugged innocently at me. "Couldn't help myself." He admitted after swallowing. I raised an eyebrow while smirking in his direction. That smirk quickly vanished however when he smashed a mini pizza onto my mouth. I gasped and took a step back, laughing slightly at his antics. He grinned and pointed at my face, "You got a little something," he motioned to his chin before he started cracking up. I glared and wiped my face off.

"How nice of you." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. He grinned goofily at me.

"You know you love it."

"Ha ha h—"

Before I knew it, he was dragging me over to the edge of the stage, beckoning me to dance. I honestly couldn't stop laughing.

3 cups of Coke, 4 cups of coffee and piece of chocolate cake later, I was dancing to "Kick the Can" by London Bus Stop (Me: I don't know if that song was around then, but it's seriously one of the best songs to dance to so let's just pretend it was a major hit in that year, m'kay?) with Chase, his friends Bobby and Ryan and their girlfriends Tammy and Paige. I befriended them quickly, just like I had done with Billie and company.

Bobby was 17 and also attended Pinole Valley High. He had brown hair that, if straightened, went down to his shoulders. It was currently sporting a dreadlock appearance, sticking up all over the place at odd ends. But the look fit him and I only figured that was his natural hairstyle. He had brown eyes and he was also rather attractive. He was a natural-born drummer, so he obviously possessed the same overly hyper personality that Tre and John had. From how long I had been hanging out with him, I knew that he was very funny and tended to look at the funny side of situations rather than taking them seriously... but if something were to go wrong or one of his friends were hurt, he was there to comfort them in a heartbeat. He was very passionate with what he did and he actually did rather well in school; not that he particularly enjoyed it, but at least he tried, using his intelligence to its full potential.

Ryan was an 18 year old boy, though was still a senior and also went to Pinole Valley. He had a black head of naturally straight hair that went down to his jaw line that he didn't plan on trimming any time soon. He had hazel eyes and claimed he was a very talented guitarist. I first assumed that was his overly boosted ego talking, but the others nodded their heads vigorously in agreement, burying my theory. He had a very hyper attitude as well, but wasn't nearly as insane as Bobby, but he sure came close. I noticed that he was very bouncy and loved to dance; he was also rather good. Apparently he took some classes when he was kid, focusing on hip hop until he came to the discovery of guitar lessons. He was more of a slacker when it came to school, but I could tell that he was smart, he just didn't try.

Tammy was a very interesting girl; definitely more like me than Paige was. Tammy had brown hair with green streaks and she was more of the outgoing teenager than the troublemaking hooligan. She had blue eyes, very similar to Chase's eyes but not as bright. She always tried to find the fun side in someone and always loved tagging along in her friends' crazy adventures but not to the point where they did something illegal or grounding-worthy. On occasions, she would let loose and act troublesome, but that was only on rare circumstances.

Paige was more on the shy said; more shy than I was. She had blonde hair with light ginger highlights and washed out green eyes. She was more of the quiet type and tried not getting involved with anyone's wild schemes. Paige is the kind of girl you'd expect to see browsing an A&F store rather than visiting a Hot Topic. She actually loved school and constantly scolded Tammy and Ryan for not paying attention in class or skipping their homework. She actually had a great personality and very trustworthy, but she was more of a goody-goody than out-going and risky.

"We should go up there," Chase said after the song ended, shouting slightly over the cheering crowd that continuously begged for more music to dance to.

"You guys are in a band?" I wondered out loud, looking over at the five teenagers. Bobby shook his head.

"Oh, definitely not. We just kind of play our instruments at random... it's just luck that they happen to sound good together." I laughed at that. "We've considered it, but never actually went for it. We're kind of aiming for after high school so we can get the chance to think things over. It'll be less crazy that way." I nodded my understanding. "But hey, you guys go ahead, I'll be right back." Bobby wandered off into the crowd. I shrugged to myself.

"You guys should." I said, smiling up at Chase who returned the smile.

"We would, but now we don't have a drummer."

I simply beamed. "I play drums. Not many songs, but I play." Chase's eyes seemed to light up after that fact.

"Really?" he asked happily. I nodded. "Well then, let's go! Tammy, you can sing. Paige, you can sing back up if you'd like. Ryan, you do your kick ass thing with the guitar and I'll play bass while Spence takes up the drums." We nodded our agreement and ran up onto the stage, people clapping at our appearance and gathering around the stage. I was surprised how nervous I didn't feel. There were, after all, at least 100 people there and I had never played in front of anyone before.

We discussed for a moment before agreeing to play "Do You Wanna Touch Me" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. We got situated and I saw Carly and Mike standing towards the back, staring dumbfounded up at me. I grinned weakly before grabbing the drumsticks.

"1, 2, 3, 4!" Chase motioned for me to start and I started drumming the beginning of the song. Ryan joined in soon afterwards and we played the beginning of the song together before Tammy started to sing and Chase soon joining in,

"We've been here too long, tryin' to get along, pretendin' that you're oh so shy," Ryan paused before playing again as I continued on with the few beats I had to play. "I'm a natural ma'am, doin' all i can, my temperature is runnin' high—"

"Cry at night, no one in sight," I joined in, along with Paige, our voices blending perfectly. "An' we got so much to share! Talking's fine, if you got the time, but i ain't got the time to spare! Yeah!" I picked up the pace as we entered the chorus. "Do you wanna touch—"

"Yeah!" Chase and Ryan shouted in the background, joining in with the rest of us.

"Do you wanna touch (yeah!), do you wanna touch me there, where?! Do you wanna touch (yeah!), do you wanna touch (yeah!), do you wanna touch me there... where?!... There! Yeah!" Tammy continued on into the next verse as everyone in the crowd shouted the lyrics with her, moshing and head banging to the beat. I smiled brightly to myself; I never knew how much fun this would be... the feeling it gave me.

"Every girl an' boy, needs a little joy, all you do is sit an' stare... beggin' on my knees, baby won't you please run your fingers through my hair—"

"My, my, my," Paige and I once again joined in, Ryan and Chase singing the background vocals in unison. "Whiskey and rye, don't it make you feel so fine? Right or wrong... don't it turn you on? Can't you see we're wastin' time! Yeah!"

We sang the chorus one last time before finishing with Ryan and Chase singing, "Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah!" The crowd went wild; applauding, whistling and smiling brightly at us as we left the stage, shaking a few hands and such on our way to the back where Mike and Carly continued to stand, gawking at us.

"SPENCER!" Was the first thing I heard from Carly as she marched her way over to me, glaring. "Why didn't you tell us you were a drummer?!" The fact that she sounded annoyed completely faded as she let a smile slip onto her lips. "That was fucking amazing!"

I grinned. "Thanks! I didn't think it was that important, so I didn't mention anything." I explained to her. Mike returned and scowled playfully at me as well, but congratulated us on a song well played and a show well done. The eight of us made our way to our original spots in the grass near the edge of the deep end of the pool as the pool lights were shining a dark blue, lighting up the party in an intriguing way. The stars were shining rather brightly as the sky looked nearly pitch black, the moon shining off in the distance. It was a very beautiful.

"Where's Billie?" I questioned out of curiosity, not seeing him since we first arrived there. Mike shrugged carelessly.

"The hell if I know. He came over to see us—with Kristen—a little after the two of you left—which I'm still pissed at you for not bringing me my lemonade!" Mike scolded Chase before continuing on, "They sucked some face; seriously, they were in some sort of a tongue war or something. It was disgusting," I frowned at that, feeling something pulling at the pit of my stomach, but ignored it and continued listening to him. "After that, they left—Kristen giggling a little too loudly and Carly nearly slapping her for being so annoying—and went to get some food. They sucked face near the tables too. Then they went and danced for a while; grinding and nearly having sex in the mosh, I swear they were really going at it. They sucked some more face, swapped spit and shit and the last thing I saw was Kristen dragging Billie into the house. I think I saw her bikini top untied already."

"Haven't seen them since; which was let alone about 2 hours ago." Carly finished for him. I wanted to be sick. I knew what they were doing, it was obvious. Why did I even like Billie? Wait, no, I didn't like him. But why was I even friends with someone like him? How could he spend so much time with Kristen? It was absolutely degrading.

"What about Tre?" I choked out, trying to end my train of thought on a certain Mr. Armstrong.

"He saw a brunette about 20 minutes ago and literally stalked her until she agreed to dance with him. Haven't seen him since then either." Mike answered with a chuckle. I couldn't help but crack a smile at that.

"Are the two of you you enjoying yourselves?" Chase smirked at Mike and Carly, who both immediately began to blush.

"I guess we should be asking the two of you the same thing." Carly said, grinning at Chase and myself. Now it was our turn to blush. Everyone laughed and Chase and I soon joined in.

[Carly's POV]

I sighed dreamily in Mike's arms as we looked up at the sky. It was nearing midnight and only 1/5 of the people had left. Basically, it was still as crazy as before. I managed to tilt my head to the left where I saw Spencer sleeping peacefully up against Chase, who was cradling her gently in his arms, almost as if he was afraid he'd break her. I smiled softly at the two of them; I knew they'd get together eventually, it was only a matter of time. And I knew that Chase was right for her, but I couldn't help but shake the feeling that Billie would be better for her. Ignoring the fact that he was currently doing who-knows-what with Kristen, he was still very fond of Spencer. It was very obvious, only not to Spencer. And I knew she liked him as well, the both of them were just too stubborn to admit their feelings.

Tammy and Paige were mirroring Chase and Spencer's positions with Bobby and Ryan, both couples in deep slumbers as well on their beach towels. Mike was also asleep as I laid my head back down on his chest. I concentrated on his measured heartbeat, once again sighing in a happy manner before closing my eyes and drifting off into a dream state of my own.

I felt something tickling the side of my neck and I suppressed a muffled moan of frustration as I shifted my weight onto something other than that hard thing it was laying on before. I giggled when I felt a pair of familiar lips peck my neck softly and managed to open my eyes to see Mike's blue ones gazing lovingly down at me. He gave me a brief kiss on the lips before sitting up, bringing me up with him. The other couples were still asleep so we remained quiet as we stood, stretching and yawning.

I noticed Billie come walking towards us alone, his hair ruffled and his swimming trunks on lopsided. I rolled my eyes at him and bent down to pick up my towel, not wanted to wake up the cute Spencer and Chase just yet.

"Hey." Billie said, nearly out of breath, lacking the energy he usually had. Hm, I wonder why that is? I thought sarcastically. We nodded our heads in acknowledgement at him before continuing to pack up our stuff. Billie looked down at Spencer and I saw him grimace.

"What's he doing with her?" He asked in an almost protective way. I smirked and Mike snickered.

"They've been together ever since we first got here. Been inseparable since." I told him, not trying to hide the smirk that formed on my lips. Mike walked over to them and gently woke them up. Billie didn't take his eyes off of them. We were a couple feet away from them, so they obviously didn't hear our conversation.

"I never liked him." Billie spoke up after a few more moments of ripping Chase's testicles off with his eyes. I scoffed disbelievingly.

"Right. And yet you were still the one who happily introduced us to him." I pointed out, giving Billie a look of 'do I have stupid written across my forehead, you twat?'.

"I never said I liked him." He spat. Mike walked over to us after saying good bye to Chase, Ryan, Tammy, Paige and Bobby. Spencer was obviously coming with us. And at the moment, Spencer and Chase were currently sharing their saddened good byes while exchanging phone numbers. I could nearly see steam coming out of Billie's reddened ears. Mike noticed this and chuckled.

"S'there a problem, Bill?" he asked, suppressing the urge to laugh at his best friend. I too was trying to hold back the laugh that was close to escape my lips. Billie shrugged and finally took his eyes off the two to grab his things; pulling a shirt over his head that had not been used since much earlier that day. "So..." Mike said, trying to think up a conversation while Spencer continued talking to Chase, giggling nervously at what he had just said to her. Billie tensed up. "You and Kristen were awful close today." He observed.

"Yeah, and?" Billie asked, brushing Mike's proclamation off. Mike shrugged.

"Did you get laid? 'Cause either way you still seem tense." I could tell Mike was trying very hard not to smirk. Too late, I was already smirking. Billie looked up at Mike, clearly irritated.

"So what if I did? What's with the 20 questions?"

"I don't know, you just look annoyed. Something bothering you that you'd like to share with us?" That time, Mike smiled deviously at Billie. Billie ignored his question and instead watched Spencer as she hugged Chase good bye. I walked over to Billie, close enough to whisper in his ear.

"Looks like you've got some competition, Billie."

"Beg pardon?"

I shrugged innocently. "Just saying. If you want Spencer for yourself, I'd suggest you do something now before Chase does."

Billie scoffed, mocking disgusted. "I don't know what you're talking about." I shook my head at how thick-headed he was. Spencer walked over and joined us, bending down to pick her towel up off the grass. I noticed Billie's eyes glide over her backside and muttered to him,

"I think you do."

"What?" He asked, startled as he looked away quickly like someone had just spotted him peek down a woman's shirt. I only laughed and pulled Spencer along with me.

Billie was so screwed.