It was until a few more minutes later that Crystal finally decided to come out of the pool shed to join the rest of the group. She knew she couldn't just stay in the small building for the entirety of the hangout, and knew she had to leave it eventually. Not to mention, it was literately almost lunchtime for the small group of friends, so she felt like now was a good enough time than ever to join the others.
Walking out of the pool shed, Crystal decided to see what everyone was doing first. She glanced over to Tim first, who was just sitting there by himself, just keeping his eyes focused on the piece of paper that Pinky had given him. Seeing this didn't really surprise her. She knew that after her and Chaz had teased him about the assumption that Pinky invited him on a date, he would rather not do anything with either her or his best friend right now after all of that. At least for what it's worth, from the look on his face, he doesn't seem too mad about it anymore...but she chose not to talk to him, feeling like he's probably annoyed with her still.
Crystal then turned her head towards where Katie was, seeing that she was still just sitting there sunbathing. She honestly half-expected her best friend to have fallen asleep by accident when she got out here. She still remembered the last time that they last went to the beach, and she definitely remembered her best friend accidentally falling asleep on her towel after refusing to swim with her in the ocean. She even remembered using somebody's pail to pour water onto her in order to wake the tomboy up. Just the thought of that alone made Crystal chuckle softly to herself, but at least her best friend is awake so that she didn't have to do that again.
While she just stood there staring at her best friend, Crystal immediately took notice of Chaz making his way over to Katie. The biker sat down onto the beach-chair that was right next to her best friend, handing her a can of soda as he sat down. After that, the two of them just smiled at each other and just talked. Crystal wasn't too sure what they were even talking about, but felt like now was a good enough time than ever to finally go over there and join their conversation.
Approaching the two, Crystal went over to the beach-chair Chaz was sitting on, then spoke. "Hey dudes, I'm finally here now." She said, before sitting down next to her crush. "Anyways...did I miss anything out here while I was in the pool shed?"
Chaz shook his head to the rebel's question. "No...not really." He simply said. "Me and Katie were just talking over here, while Tim is over there...I can only assume that he's thinking about his date with Pinky later tonight."
"I bet he is too." Crystal said, as a smirk appeared on her face.
"Oh brother...this again?" Tim's voice rang out, right behind them. Chaz and Crystal quickly turned their heads behind themselves, seeing the blue-haired man standing there with an annoyed look on his face. "For the last time, this isn't a date that I'm going on tonight! How many times do I have to say this?!"
"Probably until you quit being in denial about it." Chaz told his best friend before facing forward at the tomboyish dentist, who instead of laughing like him and Crystal were, just glared at them with an irritated look on her face. "Some girl we've met recently just invited Tim over to her house for a date tonight. He's in complete denial and claiming that it's really just a hangout like this one if you haven't noticed..."
"I know...he already told me." Katie told the biker. "Also, I'm going to have to side with Tim on this one. From everything that he had told me minutes ago, it's clearly not a date."
"Katie, you can't seriously be taking Tim's side on this one." Crystal said.
"Well, I hate to break it to you, but yeah, I'm going to have to side with Tim on this one." Katie then glared at the biker, before continuing to talk. "I don't know all that much about his friendship with that Pinky girl he was talking about, but from what he had explained to me moments ago, it doesn't sound anything like a date. Sure, couples go out to dinner all that time, but even then, Tim's situation doesn't sound like that's really the case here."
Crystal then scoffed at her best friend's words. "Do you honestly think that we're gonna take your word on this one?" She asked sarcastically, with an eyebrow raised. "You never even had a boyfriend before."
"That's irrelevant to what I'm trying to say here, Crystal." Katie said as she glared at her best friend for even having to mention that. Crystal just turned to look away from her best friend, as the tomboy just faced forward and continued talking about Tim's situation. "What I was trying to say here is that with everything that Tim had described to me about, it's pretty clear that this isn't exactly a date that he's going on. He never asked her out, nor did she ever asked him out either. If this really was a date that he was going on, then one of them would've brought up it during their previous conversation. So in hindsight, this is not a date, whatsoever." Katie then pointed at the biker right in front of her. "Also, shame on you especially for teasing him about this, considering that Tim's supposed to be your best friend." Chaz just sat there rather speechless, before Katie then pointed at the blue-haired man who was standing nearby them still. "Now will you guys lay off of him already? I thought this hangout was supposed to be fun and relaxing, not harsh and troublesome."
Chaz was about to say something, but right before he could even say anything, Crystal immediately stood up from her chair letting out an annoyed groan. "Oh whatever, Kate. You don't get Chaz's sense of humor like I do..." She then pats the biker on the shoulder, before walking away from the chair. "Come on, dude. Let's just go swimming already. If Katie's going to be a killjoy like she normally is, leave her be."
Chaz just stared at Katie for a few more seconds, cringing in guilt after her entire rant towards him and Crystal. He wanted to say something to her about their teasing towards Tim about his current situation, but knew that there really wasn't anything he could say to excuse this. He knew she was right, and really couldn't argue against her about this. He wanted to apologize too, but doubted that either she, nor Tim, really wants to hear it right now. To him, maybe it was the better option to just leave them be and go hang out with Crystal for now.
"Hey, before we swim, do you mind if I ask you something?" Crystal asked as Chaz approached the edge of the pool alongside her.
All that the biker could really do was shrug at the rebel girl's question. "Sure...what's up?" He asked her.
"Well..." Crystal steps forward towards him, smiling at the biker as she did. "...I was just thinking lately, since I like a lot of the things that you like...I think you're totally cool..." The rebel then chuckles. "...Not to mention, I also think you're totally sexy too..."
"Honestly, her flirting skills could be a lot better..." Katie said as she was staring over at Tim, causing her best friend to glare at her for saying this.
"God damn it, Katie!" Crystal shouts, now miffed with her best friend. "You're lucky I don't..."
Right before Crystal could even finish her sentence, unknowingly to her, she accidentally stepped on a spilt bottle of suntan bottle lotion that was coincidentally on the ground right next to her. Stepping onto it causes her to slip backwards, flying backwards into the pool behind her while screaming in the process. The other three just stared in surprise at what had just happened, all while Crystal swam up out of the water and made her way over to the edge of the pool. She pulled herself out of the pool, before glaring at Katie in the process. The rebel then headed inside the house, now soaking wet and feeling both furious and humiliated.
Chaz just stood there cringing at everything that had just occurred right in front of him, while Tim walked up next to him, equally as surprised as his two other friends. "Um...should we start lunch now, dude?" The blue-haired man asked, unsure what to do right now.
"Probably for the best..." The biker said, as the three ended up heading inside the house.
A few more minutes later...
The group finally went inside, gotten dressed, then got ready for lunch. Chaz and Tim were both in the kitchen, while Katie was sitting on the couch in the living room, and Crystal was upstairs away from the rest of the group...again. Katie tried to talk to her best friend after everything that went down outside, but Crystal refused to listen to her or the two other men as she was still too angry. So for now, all three of them decided to leave her be until she feels ready enough to rejoin the rest of the group.
In the kitchen, Chaz was looking through the cabinets trying to find what he and Tim had bought for lunch the previous night, as his best friend was busy making sandwiches for the group. It took Chaz a bit to find what he had bought, since his kitchen cabinets were usually always unorganized. It wasn't until he opened the last cabinet that he had finally found what he was looking for, which were two large bags of chips. He collected two bowls to fill them up with chips, before going over to Tim to talk to him about what had happened out there.
"Hey dude..." Chaz said as he placed the four items in his hands down on the counter beside them. Tim looks to his right, seeing his best friend beside him. "Sorry about teasing you out there. It's not everyday for me or Crystal to hear that you're going to be hanging out with a girl you really like. No hard feelings?"
Tim silently stared at him for a few good seconds, seemingly still disappointed in his best friend. He then sighed with a smile, before nodding his head. "No hard feelings here, Chaz." The blue-haired man said. "Really, I would've been skeptical if it were the other way around. Regardless.
"Thanks dude." The two men then high-fived on it. "Also...and this isn't me teasing again, but if you really are in love with this girl, all I can say that it's totally up to you and not me and Crystal." Chaz then pats his best friend on the back. "You've been like a brother to me the first day we met, and...like me...I want you to be happily dating somebody too."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it." Tim kept his smile for a few more seconds, before it slowly disappeared as he looked upward at the ceiling above. "So...I'm guessing that you and Crystal being together is no longer an option after what had happened outside, huh? She seemed pretty upset after slipping into the pool like that minutes ago."
"To be perfectly honestly with you, I have no idea. I tried to talk to her after we got inside, but when I tried, she refused to talk to me. So...your guess is as good as mine..."
"Man...that can't be good. Here I thought you and her would end up together."
"Yeah, I thought that we'd be together too."
Tim just stared upward at the ceiling for a few more seconds, before he became to hear the sound of somebody entering the kitchen behind him. He looks over his shoulder, seeing Katie had entered the room so that she can collect herself another can of soda from the refrigerator. If anyone is able to reason with Crystal to come back downstairs, it had to be her. Hopefully, she'll be able to try to talk to her best friend about coming back down to hang out with the rest of the group.
"Hey Katie. Do you mind if you do me a favor?" Tim asked, right as the brown-haired girl was about to exit the room. Katie stopped in her tracks, then turned her head towards the two men. "Lunch is almost ready. Do you mind telling Crystal to come down here?"
"Sure thing." Katie said while nodding her head, before exiting the kitchen. She immediately went over to the stairs, then went up them.
Once she was upstairs, Katie turned her head towards where the bathroom door was located to see if Crystal was finally out or not. From the looks of it, she didn't see her best friend anywhere in sight, nor did it appear that she was in any of the other rooms that were also up here. She felt a bit nervous to actually go over to the bathroom to try to talk to her, knowing that her best friend had a bit of a temper at times, but she knew she couldn't let her best friend miss out more on their hangout. Taking a deep breath, Katie places her hands in her jacket pockets, then made her way over to where the bathroom door was.
Giving the door a knock, Katie remained silent to see if Crystal was willing to talk yet or not. "What is it?" The girl inside muttered, still sounding pretty annoyed.
"It's just me, Crystal." Katie said as she stood by the door.
"Oh great...what the hell do you want?"
"I came up here to see if you're willing to come downstairs with the rest of us or not, but..." The tomboyish dentist paused for a moment, before proceeding to talk. "...I take it that you're still mad right now."
"Mad?! Oh no, I'm furious!" Crystal then opened the door, keeping her glare focused on her best friend as she proceeded to rant about having to invite her here in the first place. "I brought you here to help me out with getting Chaz to become my boyfriend, and what do you do? The moment I finally was able to ask him out, decide to make sarcastic remarks as I was prepared to make a move on him! Not to mention the fact that you kept your suntan lotion laying there out in the open for me to trip on, causing me to make an even bigger chump of myself and fall straight into the pool! You're lucky that Summer's no longer hanging out with us, or she would've been texting about that bullshit to her other asshole friends!"
"Dude, calm down. Alright?" Katie asked while calming up her hands in an attempt to calm her best friend down. "Look, I'll admit that I shouldn't have even made a remark back there in the first place. I was still annoyed at you for teasing Tim about his plans tonight, and really, I should've just kept my mouth shut when you were trying to ask Chaz out. Regardless, I'm sorry about all of that." She then smiled at Crystal, who was still just glaring at her. "But hey, look on the bright side here...it's not like this was the only time that you could tell Chaz about your feelings for him. You could still talk to him about it now."
Crystal could only scoff at Katie's optimism to her current situation. "After I was made a fool of myself out there?!" She rolled her eyes. "Not a chance, man!"
"Crystal, come on..."
"No. I don't need to hear whatever you have to say here, Katie. Alright?" The dentist just remained quiet, as her best friend decided to explain to her about what Chaz is going to be doing tonight. "Earlier this morning, Chaz told me that he was going to be heading off to Club Candy later on tonight. He was planning on bringing Tim along with him, but then he ended up having plans with Pinky...obviously...so that pretty much leaves only me to hang out with him tonight..."
"Club Candy?" Katie raises an eyebrow at her best friend. "Crystal, you know I'm not..."
"I didn't say I was inviting you along with me to Club Candy." The rebel interrupted once again. "Considering that you've made me look like an idiot in front of one of my friends, I don't think I really want support from you when it comes to trying to get Chaz to be mine." Crystal steps forward, glaring directly into her best friends eyes. "Do you understand me?"
"Uh...yeah...I understand, dude." Katie said with a cringe.
"Good." Crystal then picks up her jacket off of the bathroom sink, before placing it on and zipping it up. She then picks up her backpack, before glaring at her best friend one more time. "Anyways, I think I'm just gonna head home now. I feel like I need more time to myself before I can even talk to Chaz...let alone you." Crystal walks away from her best friend, as Katie watched her leave.
"Crystal, don't be like that..." Katie attempted to say something to her best friend, but it didn't seem like Crystal was really wanting to hear about it. Once she heard the front door open and close below, she just lets out a sigh and headed downstairs to join the other two men for lunch.