“Don’t forget to remind your mum to bring the potato salad to the barbecue tonight!” she yelled before leaping gracefully over the hedge, her rear foot barely grazing the top of the rough foliage.
She landed like she had done this a hundred times before, which she had, and turned striking a bicep flexing pose and sticking her tongue out in my direction.
“Yeah, and I’ll bring over a helmet and a first aid kit just to be safe!” I replied, taking out my headphones and taking a few steps onto the lawn towards her, adjusting the bag on my shoulder in the process. “I know your dad must go through them like wildfire.”
She flipped me the bird on both hands before backing up towards her house. “See you at seven, loser!”
“See you then, punk!”
And with that she turned and skipped up her front steps and into the house, her dirty blonde hair bobbing from left to right the whole way. I took a deep breath and shoved my headphones in my jean’s pocket. That girl, I thought to myself. I’m going to miss her.
“I’m home,” I sung out as I closed the front door behind me and went about removing my shoes.
“Hi, Joe,” my mom’s voice echoed back to me. “I’m just about to jump in the shower, I’ll be down in a little while. Remember we’re going next door to Steve and Nera’s for dinner.”
“I know,” I said to myself as I walked into the kitchen for a glass of water before heading upstairs.
The stairs creaked with each step as I climbed them, and when I reached the second floor a question came to mind.
“What did Nera want, mom?” I called down the hall, knowing my mother had a habit of never closing the bathroom door.
“She wanted to ask what meats we’d like for the barbecue, and to drop off a gift for you. I left it on your bed.”
Huh.
I continued down to the other end of the hall where my bedroom was. And sure enough, sitting in the middle of the bed was a square shaped box wrapped in blue wrapping paper. I threw my bag lightly on the carpet, dug out my headphones and phone, placed them on my desk, and then slumped onto the bed. Picking up the gift and turning it in my hands, I frowned. Nera definitely wrapped this, because it was done so terribly. But it’s rare to receive a gift from her on a birthday let alone something like this. I tore off the wrapping paper to reveal a jumbo box of condoms. Wow. I could feel my face get a little flushed. I hope mom doesn’t know she got me this, I thought to myself. The last thing I need is an awkward talk with mom about sex before I leave. I put the box in my closet behind a sports bag. I slid the closet door closed and stared at my reflection in the mirror on the outside of it.
“Always giving me weird signals,” I murmured out loud pulling off my shirt and jeans, and looking myself up and down.
I wasn’t a bad looking guy, and I was tall and fit which left a good first impression on girls. Unfortunately I tended to ruin things when I opened my mouth. I just wasn’t incredibly confident to say the least. Sigh, time to get ready for tonight.
“Honey, it’s time to go! Can you carry the cooler? My hands are full with the wine and towels.”
Of course your just taking over the necessities to make the most of their hot tub, I thought, rolling my eyes. “Yes, mom.”
Nera’s dad owned a really nice house and paid every expense to make a fun house for her to grow up in. After all it was only the two of them. Nera lost her mom at a very young age due to cancer, and her dad never remarried. Which I guess is why him and my mom got on so well. She having divorced my dad shortly after I was born, and over the years he ceased being a part of our lives altogether, but at least my mom got a generous payout for selling her half of the business they started together. Coming from broken homes, I suppose it was very natural that when my mom and I moved next door, Nera and I would become close friends.
Mom began twirling the bottle of wine she was holding after knocking, obviously in eager anticipation for the evening to get started. I rolled my eyes again when the door swung open widely and Steve stood there grinning with arms out, ready to give welcoming hugs in typical Steve fashion. Mom gave a little greeting cry and walked into his embrace, keeping her arms out holding the wine and towels to her sides.
“There’s glasses already on the patio table, Helen. Go right through, I think the others have started without you.”
“How impatient!” my mom exclaimed in fake irritation before she strutted her way into the house. Steve then turned to me with a big grin.
“The man himself!” he said, and gave me a firm but familiar hug and clapped my shoulder as he did. “Glad you could make it, Joe. I think Nera’s in the pool, could you grab her for me? I need her to help with a few more things before she completely forgets she’s supposed to be helping me host this thing.”
“Sure thing,” I said and motioned to the cooler in my hand.
“Put it on the kitchen counter and I’ll take it from there.”
I nodded and made my way through the house towards the backyard, passing the kitchen as I did.
I stepped out into the backyard to the sound of laughing voices. Mom was already deep into gossip with a few other neighbors and coworkers that Steve had invited around the patio table, a couple of their young kids were playing with toys together not far away. I waved at them when they called out to me, and continued down the grass towards the pool.
Nera was doing laps when I opened the gate and plopped myself down on a deck chair to watch her. I was always impressed by the way she glided through the water effortlessly. She’d always been a very athletic person and excelled in most sports she participated in. When we were younger she would always want to wrestle with me because she was two years older and had the upper hand, until I hit puberty and grew almost a full foot taller than her. After a few more laps I picked up a foam pool noodle lying beside the chair and tossed at her.
“Hey!” she cried out as it struck her perfectly on the head.
“Hi to you too,” I responded with a smile.
She swam over to the pool ledge closest to me on top of which she places both her arms and rested her chin on them, looking up at me with mischief written all over her face.
“Are you coming in or do I have to drag you?”
I laughed. “Not yet. Your dad asked me to come get you for him.”
“Lame!” she exclaimed, kicking her feet in the water in tantrum. “Can you at least help me out?” she asked, reaching towards me with both hands.
“Not a chance,” I said knowingly.
“You’re no fun,” she sighed, before bracing her hands on the ledge and hoisting herself out.
Nera stood in front of me, glistening in the late afternoon sunlight with the water dripping from her slim but toned figure, her lightly tanned skin emphasizing the definition on her flat stomach, her perfect handful sized breasts clad in a navy blue bikini top and her firm ass, that made my cock stir, in matching bottoms. She was ringing out the excess water from her long dirty-blonde hair when I realized she was watching me watch her. Our eyes met and she had a strange look in hers.
Feeling the blood suddenly rush to me face, as it was beginning to elsewhere, I said “Wild night you guys have got planned out. Those kids look like real heavyweights in the drinking department,” in an attempt to avoid any awkwardness.
She laughed and the strange look disappeared. “Sorry, but dad doesn’t know any of your friends that well and you know how he is with inviting strangers into our house.”
“They wouldn’t be strangers to us,” I mumbled. Then I glanced up at her and smiled. “But I actually wanted a small send off anyway.”
She smiled back. “Good,” she said, “now pass me one of those towels. I need to go make sure dad remembers there’s more than just meat for dinner.”
Over the next few hours I made small talk with the other adults and played cards and drank with them, just beer because I had to be in driving condition the following day.
When dinner was ready we all went inside to sit around the large dining table and, once everyone was seated, Steve stood at the head of the table, beer in hand, and said, “Thank you all for coming tonight. As most of you know, Joe here is leaving us tomorrow. Moving across the country to where he will be starting college in a few weeks time, studying medicine. And we’re all very proud of him, especially Helen, who will be needing his expertise when her liver finally gives out.”
Everyone laughed including my mom, who hadn’t been without a glass in her hand all night.
“Shush, Steve, like you’re any better!” my mum cried from her seat next to me.
I looked across the table at Nera, seated next to her dad, and shared a look of second-hand embarrassment. Steve shrugged and turned to me, raising his beer.
“To Joe,” he said, “who is always welcome in my home, and who has always been like a son to me.”
“To Joe,” the group echoed with drinks raised.
I could feel my chest fill with gratitude, but I couldn’t formulate the words, so I raised my own drink and nodded towards Steve in return.
He smiled knowingly before turning back towards everyone and saying, “Let’s eat!”
Dinner was great and I spent most of the time filling in the other guests about my future studies and plans, and telling my mom to go easy on the wine. In between which I would steal occasional glances at Nera, still in her navy bikini but wearing an unbuttoned oversized white shirt over the top, and catch her looking at me while talking to someone else, that strange look in her eyes once again.
Soon after dinner it got dark and the temperature dropped so Steve brought out a fire pit for people to sit around in camp chairs, along with sticks and marshmallows for the novelty. I sat next to Nera, supervising the kids attempting to cook their marshmallows while we reminisced about old times. I watched her laughing in the firelight and I became mesmerized by the shadows that danced across the curves of her body. Her hand drew her beer up to her lips where she rested it, before lightly pushing it against her bottom lip and slowly rolling the tip across it. I blinked, moving my gaze up to meet her eyes. They were staring intensely into my own. I felt my face growing red yet again, and was thankful to the fire for hiding it.