Part 11 (1/2)

We had a pinata for the kids, red, white & blue martinis for the adults, a bonfire and a whole lot of fantastic food made by yours truly. I even built a make-s.h.i.+ft tiki bar for the occasion. Jake joked around and told me I could forget social work and go into party planning or catering instead.

It was about an hour before the guests were to arrive. I was in the kitchen dipping strawberries into white chocolate and blue sugar when Jake came in and s.n.a.t.c.hed one of the freshly dipped strawberries and shoved it into his mouth before I could protest.

”Hey!” I yelled. I tried to swat his hand but I was too late. ”No eating until the guests arrive!”

”I needed to make sure they were good before you tried to serve them,” he said with a smirk.

He didn't know it, but he was messing with the wrong person. GLL Challenge #16 was to start a food fight, and I just so happened to have a great weapon sitting on the counter right next to me: a bowl of white fluff salad that was going to go over the red and blue Jell-O. He was still chewing the strawberry and smirking at me when I picked up a spoonful of fluff and flung it at him like a slingshot. I had better aim than I thought and hit him right on his chin. Go me!

He looked startled at first, then surprised, but then his expression turned mischievous as he grabbed the spoon from my hand. I backed away from the fluff bowl in fear.

”Jake,” I begged. ”I spent an hour on my hair and makeup. Please don't.”

He aimed it for my chest and a big glob of white fluff landed right in the middle of my cleavage and sunk down into my tank top.

”That was a three-pointer!” he yelled. ”And the crowd roars.”

”Okay, you got me. But let's play nice now. I really did spend a long time on my hair.”

”Oh no,” he said, shaking his head. ”You can't start a food fight and wimp out on me.”

He slung another spoonful and this time caught my shoulder, missing my hair by less than an inch.

”Seriously, Jake! Watch the hair!”

Before I could even clean up my shoulder, he hit me on my chest again. That was when I got p.i.s.sed. I took the ponytail holder off my wrist and, very carefully, pulled my hair up, not taking my eyes off Jake for a second. I lunged for the spoon but I slipped on a bit of fluff and, like a total chick-flick cliche, went cras.h.i.+ng into him, knocking us both to the floor. Jennifer Lopez would have been proud.

”OmiG.o.d!” I squealed, scanning his face and head for injuries. ”Are you okay? Are you hurt? I'm so sorry!” I sat up, which was a bad move because it meant I was sitting right on top of him. And in my thin yoga pants I could feel everything. d.a.m.n!

Adam walked in the back door and saw us on the floor.

”What the h.e.l.l?” he asked.

If my face wasn't already red from the food fight, it was definitely red after being caught in a compromising position by my brother. I was mortified, but Jake just laughed.

”Your sister started it,” he said.

”Whatever,” Adam said looking annoyed. ”Just clean it up and get your s.h.i.+t together. People are going to be here soon.”

When Adam walked out of the kitchen, Jake grinned at me. I tried to get up, but he put a hand on each of my hips to keep me in place. He pulled me down even closer to him and I could tell he was having as hard a time being in this position as I was. Pun intended.

”Your face is so red right now,” he said with a grin. ”Are you sure you want to get off me? Or would you rather get off on me?”

I gasped at his nerve. Then I bit my lip. He had a point. I did not want to get up.

”Since you're the one who doesn't want this,” he said, ”I'd really appreciate it if you stopped throwing yourself at me. Or on me.”

I laughed, knowing he was only messing with me, and he smiled back.

I tried to get up again and this time he let me.

”Rain check?” he called out as I walked out of the kitchen.

Jake spent a lot of time at the party behind the bar making the martinis. You'd think he'd hate making drinks when he wasn't at work, but he loved it. I could tell he had a lot of fun. I could also tell things hadn't changed much since I'd worked at The Bar. A few girls he worked with showed up, and every single one of them flirted shamelessly with him. What is it about someone else wanting something that made me want it even more?

Allison's in-laws picked up the kids at about nine. That was when the real party started. Jake's martinis were a bit too tasty because I'm pretty sure I had at least two too many. By the time everyone left around 2am, I had enough liquid courage in me to do something I'd been meaning to do for a while.

”Jake,” I whispered.

He was gathering the alcohol from the bar to bring back in the house. ”Yeah?” he whispered back.

”I have a really good idea.”

”What's that?”

”We should go skinny-dipping in someone else's pool.”

”Why can't we just skinny-dip in our own pool?”

”Because that's boring.”

”Whose pool should we use?”

”I was thinking the neighbor with the two boys would be a good one. You know how much she loves skinny-dipping.”

He smiled and nodded. ”You're right. That does sound like a great idea.”

”I'll go get us some towels.”

Jake and I walked next door in nothing but our towels. In my head, I had imagined a quiet, romantic game of cat and mouse, with steam coming from the water and maybe a kiss or two. But Jake ran into their backyard, threw his towel to the wind and did a cannonball into the deep end. I laughed hysterically as I tended to do when I was drunk. I barely had time to jump in before I saw a light come on in one of the second floor windows. We both scrambled to get out of the pool and grabbed our towels before we took off running.

We didn't get busted by the neighbor, but were not so lucky when it came to being busted by Adam. He was putting food away in the kitchen when we came barging in, dripping from head to toe and wearing nothing but towels.

”Seriously?” he said. ”What is with you two? You're acting like teenagers!”

That made us laugh even harder.

It was approaching three, but I didn't feel tired yet. I was on a roll with my GLL Challenges and didn't feel like stopping.

”I think I'm gonna go dry off, put on my pajamas and sleep outside tonight,” I told them (GLL Challenge #19 Sleep outside overnight). ”It's so nice out. You guys wanna come with me? The fire is still going and we could make s'mores.”

”I have to get some sleep,” Adam said. ”I have to be back at work by ten.”

I looked at Jake. A sober me would have known that inviting Jake to spend the night with me wasn't a good idea, but the non-sober me was very naughty and had a habit of putting her hands up in the air and saying, ”I just don't give a f.u.c.k.” It's the reason I didn't drink often.

”I don't know if I want to sleep outside,” he said. ”But I'll make s'mores with you.”