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Chapter 17
My mouth fell open as we pulled up in front of the largest house I'd ever seen. "Are you sure this is the right house?" asked Stacie.
I checked the numbers on the mailbox with the address Howie had given me. "Yeah, this is it. Their place is huge!"
"What do you expect? They're famous. They make millions of dollars a year," Deb rationalized. She checked her watch. "We're 5 minutes early, but let's go now anyway."
All three of us got out of the car and, closing the car doors behind us began walking up to the huge front door. Deb rang the doorbell. A couple of seconds later I heard footsteps inside the house and the door swung open.
"Hi girls! How are you doing? Come on in," said Howie rambling uncontrollably.
Not being able to control myself, I giggled. "Sorry Howie," I apologized.
"Oh, that's OK, I know I'm rambling, but I'm kinda in a hurry."
"HOWIE!!!!!!" came a roar from the back of the house.
"Gotta go!" said Howie as he turned and ran off.
"OK, now what do we do?" asked Stacie, the ever-impatient one. I heard footsteps from the second floor begin to run down the stairs.
"Wait for the herd of elephants," I suggested, referring to the people on the stairs. It sounded like the house was falling down around us. Suddenly Nick, AJ, and Brian appeared. Nick scooped Stacie up in a giant bear hug as means of saying hello, and AJ leapt off the steps landing with a bow in front of Deb. Brian gave me a hug.
"Hi Nick. Hey AJ," I said greeting the other two guys. "What's up?"
"I'm hungry," Nick stated.
"There's a surprise," said Brian sarcastically.
"You're always hungry."
"Let's go out back," AJ suggested. "Then we can swim, and those of us more concerned about our stomachs can bug Kev. He's the resident chef for the day," AJ explained. Then he led the way down the hall to the TV room.
The sliding doors to the back yard were at the back of the TV room. AJ slid the door open and gestured for us to go out. Once outside I surveyed the surroundings. (I always look at everything. Probably the artsy part of me.) The lawn was thick and green. There were bushes around the perimeter of the yard against the fence, and in one corner was a paved section with a basketball hoop. That must have been Nick and Brian's doing. In the center was an in-ground pool, with a cement pathway around it. On the cement lawn chairs were set up along with a picnic table and benches. This was also where Kevin was barbecuing on the grill. Howie was seated on one of the benches. I walked over to join them.
"Hey Kevin. How are you doing?" I asked.
"OK, but I'd be a lot better if the grill would cooperate. It won't light for anything!"
"Yeah, that's why I took off before. We were trying to get the grill to light. Sorry if I seemed rude," Howie said.
"That's OK Howie. It was only another few seconds before the elephant herd came tumbling down the stairs," I replied.
Kevin laughed. "Yup! That's them! You always know when they're around. Good thing their jobs require them to be loud!" We all laughed.
"AHHH!!!! That was the last match and this thing still won't light!" Kevin burst out, clearly frustrated. "I'll be right back. I'm going to get more matches." With that he walked off.
"Hey Howie!" AJ called across the yard. "Come here!"
"Alright!" Howie called as he began to walk towards AJ.
"Hmmmm………" I thought. "Why would they have problems lighting the grill?" I glanced at the knob on the propane tank. It was turned all the way to the left. They forgot to turn the propane on! Quickly, before Kevin returned, I reached down and turned the knob to the right. Kevin came out seconds later.
"Hey Kev! Let me try, please," I begged.
"Be my guest, but I don't expect it to light any time……" I lit a match and stuck it between the bars of the grill. It lit! Kevin just stared. "Soon," he finished his sentence. "How did you do that?" he questioned.
"You could have done it too," I said. "All you had to do was remember to turn on the propane tank!" I laughed.
"You mean I forgot?"
"Yup, and you just added more evidence to the theory
that girls are smarter and have more common sense," I taunted.
"What are we? Third graders?"
"YUP!"
"Well, in that case………That's it!" he shouted good-naturedly as he began to chase after me. The other just watched this interestedly. When neither of us could run anymore Kevin called a truce and suggested a swim in the pool.
I walked over to the chair where I had left my backpack, slid off my sneakers and threw my shorts and tank top on the chair. (I had the bathing suit underneath if you don't remember. Just clarifying, Stacie said no one would remember.) Next I went to the side of the pool. "Should I just jump right in or should I use the ladder?" I thought.
As I stood pondering this, oh SO important, question I sensed someone behind me. I stepped to the side just as Kevin dove for me. Everyone laughed along with me as Kevin lost his balance and tumbled into the pool.
"Have a nice trip Kev?" I shouted as I jumped in, splashing him.
"Yeah, wonderful," he replied sarcastically.
"IN-COMING!!!!" shouted Nick, who was already hurtling down towards us. We couldn't move in time and Nick took both Kevin and I under with him. When we resurfaced Stacie, Deb, AJ, Brian, and Howie were all at the side of the pool laughing.
Kevin and I glanced at one another. "One, two, three!" I counted. On three both of us kicked sending a huge spray of water out of the pool, drenching the others. Now it was our turn to laugh. I gave Kevin a high five as he climbed out of the pool and calmly walked away to finally begin barbecuing.
"Come on in!" Nick shouted to everyone on the side of the pool. Everyone kicked off their shoes and began taking off whatever clothing they had on over their suits. I saw Nick watching Stacie intently.
"Guys," I muttered. "They all have a one track mind."
"What was that?" Nick asked.
"I didn't say anything," I replied.
"Oh, OK," he said looking confused. He must have thought that he was hearing things. Then he went back to staring at Stacie who by this time was standing at the side of the pool in a green tankini (one of those bathing suits that has a bikini bottom and a tank top for a top). I smiled and dove under the water.
I came up on the other side of the pool and looked across. Nick had pulled Stacie into the pool, and all of the guys had jumped in. Deb was on the diving board (a grand entrance as always) in her blue and green bikini. Brian and AJ were both watching Deb as she dove, although Brian was attempting not to be obvious.
After having a water volleyball game, eating the burgers Kevin had made (which
turned out to be great), a basketball tournament, and having a water gun
fight the day was almost over. We had all collapsed into lounge chairs around
the pool, and the sun was an orange ball of fire moving slowly down towards
the horizon.
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