“What’s cookin’, good lookin’?” That prompted me to choke on my cheerios.

“Damn it, Ashley, why can’t you just give it up?”

“Oh, I would give it up to you in a heartbeat, sexy,” she said with a wink.

“Ew, so not what I meant,” I replied.

“Ashley, leave Spencer alone. She’s doing us a favor just by being here to help us set up” Kyla said, entering with a towel on her head. That explains why she didn’t just call me herself earlier.

“Oh, come on, she doesn’t mind, do ya Spence?” she responded with her cocky smile.

“Uh, no, it’s fine. Just know that you’ll never get anywhere with me like you do with every other girl you pull these lines on.”

“Sure, sure, that’s what they all say,” she replied. She just had this confident, if not cocky, air about her. I have to admit, it was admirable. It would be kind of sexy, even, if she were a boy. Too bad.

“Spencer, let’s go set up the music for outside. Ash, you take care of the kegs,” Kyla demanded of her sister.

“Fine. I’ll catch up with you later Spence,” she said suggestively.

“I wonder if she’ll ever give up,” Kyla said.

“I don’t know, but I feel kind of bad. I mean, she been doing this for months now. And it was so out of the blue. I mean, I’ve known the girl for years, and she just randomly started doing this.”

“Don’t feel bad. It’s her own fault. And she’s just a big flirt, I honestly don’t think there are any real feelings there. She wants you because she knows she can’t have you,” Kyla replied. She’s pretty smart when she wants to be.

“Okay, yeah, you’re right. Let’s go get the playlist set.”

Once we were done setting up everything for the music, we started getting ready for the party ourselves. Kyla got dressed, and we did our makeup (waterproof and light to avoid raccoon eyes), and then we started pre-gaming with the last half hour of prep time. Ashley joined us at this point, looking pretty good wearing just her bright blue bikini and a light flannel with the sleeves rolled up. We all took two shots of Grey Goose, no chaser because that stuff is smooth as hell. Then we turned on the music and opened the front door for when the guests started arriving. Then Aiden, Kyla’s boyfriend, showed up, and Kyla went to greet him, so it was just Ashley and me out back by the pool. We both took our outerwear off and began preparing for a day outside. She was applying suntan lotion and I was applying sunblock. She has a better base tan than I do.