"Have you talked to Spencer lately?" I mused as I snapped my bubble gum out of my mouth out of sheer boredom. We were sitting at Olivia's kitchen table planning her end of the summer bbq. Boringggg.

"Uh...yesterday I think," she touched her pen to her mouth in thought and began to nibble on the end which completely grossed me out when people did that, "So we have hot dogs and hamburgers for the meat, that should be good right? But maybe some people don't like either. Should I get some chicken breasts too?"

"Did Spencer text you or what?"

"No she came over yesterday. Chicken breasts?" I shook my head in irritation, "So that's no to the chicken breasts," she crossed off the word chicken breasts on the list quickly and stared down at the piece of paper in thought.

"How come she asked to hang out with you and not me?"

"What kind of beer should we have?"

"That's dumb. She was my friend first."

"You know what, we should definitely have Mikes Lemonade," she scribbled something down on the list.

"I haven't seen her in a week. Since we all slept over at your house."

"So I'm going to tell everyone to arrive at 4ish, does that sound good?" she looked up from the list.

I nodded and continued, "I mean has she said anything about me? She hasn't talked to me."

"Now this isn't a party so I don't want this to get out of hand," Olivia stated putting her hands up as as a warning.

"Is Spencer coming?"

"Will you shut up about Spencer?"

"What…?"

"It's not like she has to be attached to you at all times. You do realize that don't you? Give her some air, jesus."

"Whoa where is this coming from?"

"I just…," she paused and looked around, as she ran both of her hands through her hair in stress, "I think you need to leave her alone."

"Why…? She said something didn't she?"

"No!" she jumped up, "You know what? Let's go to the store, okay? I need to get stuff for the bbq.

We drove to the store in silence and the air in the car felt abnormally thick that it was making me slightly uncomfortable so I'd fidget occasionally. I followed Olivia around the store monotonously because shopping at the market always bored me. The sound of her ringing startled us both as it broke out into B.O.B.'s song.

"Beautiful girls. All over the world. I could be chasing but my time would be wasted, they got nothing on you, baby…"

I eyed Olivia's purse with a mocking facial expression at her poor choice of ringers.

"It's catchy!" she scrambled for her phone and answered it, "Hey! No, yeah you can totally bring her. Uh huh. Yeah, well I'm pretty sure that Ashley's bringing Sam and Chelsea's bringing Derek and I'm having Jerry come," I made a gag face to which Olivia glared and then quickly focused back on her conversation, "I was going to have everybody arrive at 4ish. No, you so don't have to bring anything Spence, don't even worry about it. Just bring yourself and your sexy date," Olivia laughed and I could tell it was a genuine one because I knew Olivia, "I know, right? I know. Wow. She's a keeper already! Anyway, we have to finish shopping. Oh, me and Ashley. Yeah, I dragged her along. I know, you know how she hates the market, just imagine her poor bored face."

"Hi Spencer!" I yelled obnoxiously just to annoy Olivia who again glared at me but then quickly laughed again over something I'm sure Spencer said. Well, she was just a riot wasn't she?

Olivia turned to me, "Spencer says hello, anyway, so we do have to finish shopping. So you can come? Great! I look forward to seeing you there and meeting your no beau! Okay. Take care. Bye," she hung up her phone and continued searching for the food items needed on her list.

"Uh, what was that?"

"What was what? Oh good a deal on hot dogs!" she grabbed a couple packs and put then in our cart.

"You on the phone with Spencer."

"Me on the phone with Spencer…," her mirroring of my question pissed me off.

"What was she saying?"

"That she can come."

"With who?"

"Oh...shit what's her name...Allie I think."

I rolled my eyes at Spencer's nonsense, "So that's the girl of the week?"

"Spencer really likes this one, actually," she informed me grabbing hamburger meat and placing it in the cart.

"I'm sure she does," I replied sarcastically.

She turned around and gave me one of the most serious looks I've ever seen, "She really does, Ashley. And I swear to god if you do something to fuck it up, I'll be so disappointed in you. She needs this right now. It hasn't been her year with romance."

"Who's has it been?" I asked rhetorically.

"I'm serious, Ashy," she lightened up a bit.

I nodded in understanding, "Not a problem."

After taking forever to decide which Hamburger buns to get because that's the kind of shit that mattered to Olivia we headed back to her place and stocked the fridge with everything needed.

Olivia sighed as we finisihed, "I can't believe school's about to start up again…"

"Ugh. Don't remind me."

She shook her head and smiled, "You know I love you, right?"

I laughed a little uncomfortably, "I think so."

"I'm just saying I know I give you a hard time about certain things sometimes but it's coming from the right place."

We hugged. I don't hug people very often and that's probably because I don't like hugs but Olivia always got a hug.

"How hot is it that a girl can barbeque?" Olivia asked me legitimately, as she grabbed hotdogs and hamburger patties out of the fridge, leading them out back to the barbeque.

"It's hot," I nodded eagerly.

"I brought drinks!" Aiden yelled out as he walked through the door.

"Aiden, how do you get alcohol? You're such a baby," Olivia scolded. She was 22 and always frowned upon us when we bought alcohol somehow even though she applauded it.

"What can I say? I look 21 and the I.D. works everytime," he smiled cheesily.

Olivia shook her head at him, "Ash take his beers and put them in the fridge would ya?"

"Sure," I walked with him into the house, unloading the Samuel Adams into the fridge.

"Who's coming?"

"Uh...Chelsea and Derek, Spencer and some girl-,"

"She has a girlfriend?" he asked surprised.

"Pfft. Not a girlfriend. Her weekly play thing."

He shrugged, "I can dig it. Anyway, who else?"

"Uh...Jerry," his shoulders sagged at the mention of the guy's name. He hated him. Probably mostly because he had Olivia and Aiden didn't, "Julian and Sam."

"Sam's coming?" he asked skeptically.

I smiled, "Yeah."

"Considering he's never come inside, I look forward to meeting him."

"And meet him you shall."

"We're here!"

I greeted Chelsea at the door, Derek at her side and she held a container of Potato Salad, which I very quickly grabbed. We love Chelsea's Potato Salad. It's kind of like crack...kind of.

"I'll just go put this away in the fridge. Olivia's outside."

They entered the backyard and I was struggling to find a place for this potato salad in Olivia's overstuffed garage when a familiar voice broke out behind me, "Mmm work it girl!"

I turned around and was met with Julian and he held out his arms for me to hug, which I did because he was one of the other people I'd hug and he handed me a bottle of Champaigne because Julian thought it was best to end the night that way.

"This is Vince," he introduced me to the guy next to him who was really attractive. Bleach blonde surfer hair that kind of stuck up at an angle on his head like it'd just dried from being in the beach water during a surf sesh. He wore a black and grey striped tank top with blue jeans and blue vans. He had the most gorgeous green eyes. I think I had to step back for a minute. That was Julian, shallow as ever, but who knows if he had any personality.

"Hi, I'm Ashley," I smiled and shook his hand.

"Oh, I've heard about you," he smiled back.

"All good things I hope."

He smiled assuringly, "Nothing but."

As we started to make our way to the back I heard a knock at the door and I ran to it opening it quickly, greeted with Sam, "Hey cutie."

I led him to the backyard, "Everyone, this is Sam."

Aiden glared at him in scrupulation and Julian visually scanned him from head to toe and then nodded at me with a flashy smile letting me know he approved which was nice I guess. We sat and we dished and we talked and occasionally I'd turn to glance around back inside through the slider to see if anyone was coming because I could swear Olivia told me Spencer was going to be coming. I hadn't seen her in a like a week and a half and I kind of miss having her around.

"I'm going to fire up the grill because as much as I love chips and guacamole, I need a hot dog."

"Yeah you do!" Aiden joked which led to Jerry having an uncomfortable look on his face.

"Who wants a hot dog?" Olivia called out looking up from the grill, setting a few hot dogs down.

"Uhm...I'm going to say I'll have to pass, but I will take a burger if you're serving them," we all turned around to see Spencer smiling, girl in toe and container in the other hand.

Olivia excitedly ran over to her, "Oooh what do we have here?"

Spencer shrugged nonchalantly, "I decided I'd make a cake."

"Box mix or by scratch?" Julian asked as if it actually mattered. The boy couldn't cook to save his life.

"By scratch. Of course."

"Jer, go put the cake in the fridge will you?" Olivia batted her eyes at him and he smiled like an idiot and skipped up from his chair to place Spencer's cake in the fridge, "And who do we have here?" she turned to the pretty girl next to her.

"Allie," she stuck out her hand kindly for Olivia to shake who then shook the hell out of it, razzling the girl a bit. That's right, if you can't handle us you shouldn't be here.

I have to admit, she was beautiful. In a like 50's girl kind of way. She had these bette bangs that she actually pulled off and black hair with ruby red lipstick that just worked for her.

"That's Chelsea and her boyfriend Derek, Aiden, Julian and...I don't believe we've met," Spencer turned towards Vince.

"Vice," he smiled and waved slightly.

She nodded in embarassment of not knowing who he was which made her a little flushed, "Right. So Vince. Olivia. Her boyfriend Jerry who just went into the kitchen. And uh...Sam is it?," he nodded, "Yeah...uh...Sam...Ashley's...the guy she's dating and uhm...hey Ashley," she turned to me with the most empty look I've ever seen coming out of her.

I half smiled and waved, "Uh, hey."

"Hi," she replied back softer.

"So anyway, that's Ashley and that's everyone," Olivia finished.

"Uh, yeah, that's everyone," Spencer finished after Olivia's finish.

As we stood around and stirred idle chit chat Olivia cooked the food and when it was ready we all sat around her patio table. You're probably wondering why Olivia has such a nice set up for a 22 year old. Well, for one her parents are loaded because her dad's a lawyer but second, she's going into sports medicine which actually makes bank and she has some internship right not at some random place that pays her crazy good money. Ergo, her flashy pad.

"So how long have you guys been going out?" Julian asked Spencer using his fork to point between the two of them.

"Oh uh...like a couple weeks I think?" Spencer asked the girl sat next to her who nodded.

"I think so. I don't really keep track of those kind of things. Never mattered to me," she shrugged.

"Now that's a woman!" Aiden jumped in. I'm pretty sure he was drooling over Spencer's date. Go ahead. Let him. He can have her. Spencer doesn't need a girlfriend.

"So that's around the same time that Ashley and Sam have been dating, then," Olivia mused as she looked at her plate scooping some potato salad.

Spencer shot her an angry look that Olivia looked up just in time to see, "I'm just saying you guys are on the same track is all."

"How funny. Ashley gets a new beau and so does Spencer," Julian laughed, I think trying to hint at something.

Spencer shrugged in annoyance, "Whatever," and she stretched her arms out in a comfortable stretch as well as her legs which totally kicked me.

"Ah!" I jumped in surprise.

"What?"

"Your feet are cold."

"Sorry."

"It's okay."

I don't know who's idea it was to make it so Spencer had to sit across from me but I think Sam could read that I was getting tense because he placed his hand on my thigh and rubbed in a calming motion. I turned to him and smiled until he got a little bit nosy with his hand to which I glared at him.

"What?" he mouthed.

"Not here," I mouthed back.

He looked sullen but he withdrew his hand and I looked up to see Spencer perplexively staring at me. She tilted her head to the side and her eye brows shot up curiously as she mouthed "What?"

I shook my head no telling her to leave it but again she mouthed, "Tell me." But I just shook my head again.

After we ate we all sat around the fire pit talking and drinking while eating pieces of Spencer's cake whicih I have to admit was delicious. Who knew she could cook.

"Let's play five fingers," Aiden suggested like the idiot he is. I swear. I love him but not always the best ideas.

"Fuck. No."

"Why not? You scared Ash?"

"That's ridiculous. Let's go. Let's do this."

"Okay then you start," he challenged.

"Fine. Okay uhm...I've never...I've never taken it up the ass," I smirk looking at Julian and his boy who both put a finger down. My eyes scan around to see if anyone else does and nobody does.

Aiden nods towards Olivia, "You're next."

"Uh okay let's see. I've never...had a threesome."

"Oh babe, we should do that sometime," Jerry suggests like the moron he is.

"And I don't plan on it," she finishes.

I keep my fingers up because I haven't engaged in one but Aiden puts a finger down and I shudder as well as Julian and Derek and Chelsea just shakes her head.

"I've never driven under the influence," Chelsea states proudly and we all are proud of Chelsea. She's kind of like a model citizen.

Basically we all put our fingers down except for Spencer's girl toy and I look at her amused, "Perfect are we?"

"No. I just don't drink or do drugs of any kind."

"Why not…?"

"I choose not to. They're not for me. I've tried them. Didn't like it."

"Well, now that we know you picked the fuckin' virgin mary, Spencer…" I muttered.

"What?" she asked a little irritated.

"Nothing."

"Okay okay my turn," Derek began, "Uh...I've never snorted Coke."

Spencer put her finger down. Oh. My. God, "What?" I yell outraged.

"It was high school. It was only a few times. No big deal."

"You snorted coke?" I yelled again.

"What are you my mother?"

I shook my head, "Whatever. I need to pee. Excuse me," and just like that I removed myself from the conversation.

I had almost made it to the bathroom when I heard footsteps behind me and I didn't have to turn around to know who's they were, "Ashley…," she breathed out.

"What?"

"Why does that even bother you?" I didn't answer, "Because it shouldn't."

"You're right. And it doesn't."

"That's obviously a lie." Again I didn't answer and she sighed.

"Look, Spencer do whatever you want."

"Life's not that simple."

"Shouldn't it be?"

"Well, it's not," she sighed again, "What is wrong, Ashley?"

"You haven't texted me for almost two weeks," I let out shyly, scared.

"So?" She fired back.

"So it bothers me."

"Why?"

"Because you keep in touch with Olivia."

She shrugged, clearly exhausted, "I also didn't have sex with Olivia."

"So this is what this is about then? Because I understand if it's awkward and if you're trying to say that everytime you see me you can't stop invisioning me naked I totally get that too cause I'm kind of having the same problem with you but I just kind of-,"

She cut off my ramble, shaking her head in amusement, "How do you even remember what I look like naked?"

"Bits and pieces have come back to me since…"

She laughed a little bit, "Just enjoy your boyfriend and I'll enjoy my girlfriend and lets not get into eachother's businesses, okay?"

"Fine."