"Oooooh…Michaela, you look hot!"

I smiled at my reflection in the mirror next to Laurel's. "Thanks," I grinned. "You do, too."

"Obviously," Laurel rolled her eyes. "So are we ready for the best party of the fall?"

I examined both of us carefully. We wore matching solid bikinis: mine was a hot pink cutout style and Laurel's a royal blue string bikini. She covered hers up with a pair of light wash denim cutoffs and I covered mine with a Grecian-inspired white maxi dress with a deep V down the front. Laurel had done a messy-on-purpose side braid while I went for a sleek topknot. In the interest of pretending we would actually get in my pool, neither of us had on makeup (except lip gloss, waterproof mascara and brow pomade, of course. We weren't insane).

"Dressed to impress," I affirmed. "Let's go downstairs."

As we made our way down the staircase, we could hear my mother arguing with the cab driver about how to pack her luggage:

"…It's not a lump of coal, you know. Could you at least pretend to be delicate?" Mom was saying.

"Listen lady, if you want me to act like it's a newborn baby here, it's gonna cost you extra," the cabbie huffed as he struggled onto the porch with her next suitcase.

"Extra? I have to pay extra for you to do your job?"

I cleared my throat while the cab driver grumbled obscenities on his way to the taxi. "Bye, Mom."

"Girls! It's been a nightmare. Never travel out of town for two conferences back to back when you grow up." She looked around for her purse.

"Have a safe flight, Mrs. Keating," Laurel chuckled, not looking up from her phone. Mom grabbed both of us in a quick hug. "Now, you know you can always call me if you need me. All the emergency numbers are on the fridge. If you want anything for fun, I left you my Visa card. Please keep it reasonable, Michaela."

"Sure." I grinned.

"And no parties."

"Of course, Mom," I said with a straight face. "We're going out, actually."

"Uh-huh. I wasn't born yesterday, you know." Mom eyed both of us for a minute, knowing I was lying but trying to decide if she cared or not.

"When I come back this house better be in pristine condition, you understand me?"

"Good-bye, Mom," I said. The taxi honked loudly just then. Mom shook her head and finally strode out of the door. Laurel and I waited until we could no longer hear the car in the distance.

"Let's grab your mail," Laurel suggested. So we popped out front to the mailbox, sifting through catalogues as we sauntered back to the front door. As we dumped the mail on the front table and shut the door, I squealed. "There. We went out. Now let's throw this party!"

...

Two hours in and he still hadn't arrived.

"Any word yet?" Laurel shouted at me over the blaring loudspeakers.

"Nothing!" I screamed back. "I don't think he's coming!"

Laurel made a pouty face at me, then brightened. "Well, at least someone is glad to see you. 2 o'clock!"

I looked in that direction and saw that guy who'd been hanging around us a lot lately. Aaron? Allen? Yeah, I think Allen….something…

"Asher looks like he wants him some Michaela…" Laurel teased. Asher. That's it, I thought. He waved tentatively at me from across the room. I gave him a hollow smile and flung my hand in his general direction. The guy next to him frowned, looking blatantly unhappy. It was that new guy Connor. Why did he even come? He already rubbed me the wrong way; I just didn't like the way he looked at me. I mean, I could tell he didn't like me. But that made no sense; everybody liked me.

All the other kids at school just saw him as your stereotypical bratty white boy- a boarding school snob who thought he was God's enlightening gift to the world because he was gay and pretty. I personally didn't care if he was gay but I did have a problem with it: because it meant I couldn't figure him out. Straight guys were easy. They either wanted to get in your pants, or they didn't. If they did, they'd be putty in your hands (until you gave it up). If they didn't want to get in your pants, they usually ignored you entirely. But gay guys were different- Connor actually looked at me like a person and not a goal. And I didn't need that. Laurel was the only person who actually knew anything about me and I wasn't trying to add more people to that list. So I really couldn't help hating how Connor looked at me like he didn't like what he saw.

And now here he was standing in my living room.

"Ayyyyyy, look who's coming!" Laurel gushed. Asher was making his way across the room to me. I sighed inwardly. I really wasn't in the mood tonight.

"What up, foxy mamas?" Asher raised his Solo cup by way of greeting.

"Hey," I checked my phone again. Nothing.

"Cool house," Asher shouted.

"Not like I bought it!" I yelled back, shrugging.

"I see homegirl's got jokes!" Asher mimed a hurt expression and laughed. Laurel and I exchanged looks. Did this guy really come to my party sounding like a dad? Asher stepped closer to me and I turned my ear so I could hear him. Laurel unabashedly looked on with interest.

"Uh, I just meant…" Asher began. "Cool party, you know?" There was a pause. "And you look fantastic, by the way."

I pulled back. "Thanks. So I'll see you around?" I turned to go, but Asher gently brushed my arm.

"Well, I was thinking…well, I mean…I just…you look so great right now. Um, not that you don't always! But I mean, of course you're more than good looks…would you… could we go somewhere quieter for a little bit and talk? Maybe?"

"Uhhhh…" I stood there and frowned, unsure of what to say. Was this guy serious? I could count on one hand the amount of times we'd spoken. He didn't even know me and now here he was with empty flattery and trying to get me alone?

"I have a boyfriend."

Asher's face fell but he quickly recomposed himself, his upbeat demeanor returning.

"Oh…yeah, sure. Of course. Of course you do." We both stood there for a second, awkwardly unsure of what to do next. But I wasn't going to say anything. He'd probably only talked to me to win a bet with his stupid friends. High school boys were literally the worst.

Asher recovered first. "Well…he's very lucky. Thanks, uh, thanks for inviting me to your party." He sort of half-smiled, mimicked tipping an imaginary hat, and walked off. I watched him for a moment then grabbed Laurel.

"Soooo, what was that about?" she asked. "Does he want to have your babies?!"

"Stop it. I think he was trying to hit on me. He asked if we could go somewhere "just to talk." I raised an eyebrow so she would know what I meant.

"Seriously?" Laurel squinted at Asher's retreating figure with suspicion. "Like we haven't all heard that one before. What a creep."

"I know."

She took my hands in hers and swung them back and forth, holding her cup with her teeth. "But who currz? You hvv da besht boyfrenn uv, like, evurr," she said through her clenched jaw.

I smiled. "Right?" Although he wasn't here right now…

Laurel removed the cup from her mouth and turned her back to me. "Listen, double knot this for me? I wanna go out to the pool; I can barely hear myself think in here." I reached up to adjust her bikini top and when I finished re-tying the strings, I noticed someone tall, male, and very familiar slipping through the front door, someone who looked a lot like—

"AIDENNNNNNNNNN!" I screamed and ran across the room.

A/N: I had fun writing this chapter! Let me know what you think with reviews, reviews review, pretty please!