Today was the day. Today was The Day. The Day when Larry and I passed from just being “The Johnson Twins” to being high school legends… Until somebody else throws a better party, that is. But we had at least a good while before that would happen, we'd be fine.

I hopped out of bed and took a good long look at myself in the mirror, for whatever reason. I dunno. I looked like I'd just gotten out of bed, what with my raggy blonde hair and one nightie strap having slid down my shoulder, nearly pulling the front of my nightie down with it. I quickly pulled it back up and knew exactly what I needed to do.

And that was take a damn shower. I reeked. I thought I took a shower last night after cheer practice and before the movie. I guess making out with Grant was a little more exertion than I thought it had been. Or maybe it had been my… Playtime just before going to bed. Either way, I needed a shower and this was the perfect opportunity to use the new body wash I got earlier that week. If I ever needed a reason to smell like flowers, it would be the party.

After a long, hot, soothing shower, I wrapped my towel around my chest and had a brain fart for a few seconds where I thought my boobs were bigger. That was a stupid thing to think, since they'd settled into their current size for like six months now. Then again, I guess it wasn't impossible that I was going through a little bit of a growth spurt. Either way, I was wrong, because once I got in my room, my bra fit just as it always had.

I decided on a simple white shirt that exposed my stomach but covered everything above it. Then I slid a pair of denim short shorts up my legs. Last but not least was a pair of flip flops, the same ones I'd worn last night. Next, I tied my hair into a loose ponytail that brushed my shoulders whenever I turned my head. For a second, I thought about changing to a sleeveless top, but decided against it.

There was a knock on my door, and Larry was standing there leaning against my door frame. "Hey, we've still got like three hours before people start showing up. What are you getting all ready for?”

I glared at him. “Were you standing there the whole time I was getting dressed?”

He shook his head. “No, but you really should close your damn door when you do that, because I almost walked in on you naked.”

I rolled my eyes. “So, what are you complaining about me getting dressed for?”

He motioned at his own state of dress, which was a pair of pajama pants and no shirt. “We’ve got hours to get dressed. I don’t get why girls need to do that so far ahead of time.”

I sighed. “Yeah, because you’re not a girl, doofus.”

“You have a point, but you could at least explain it.”

“We like to be ready.”

“Three hours beforehand?”

“I’d be ready twelve hours beforehand if I could.”

He shook his head. “Girls are weird.”

I smirked. “Not as weird as boys.”

Later…

As it turned out, I was the only one ready our party guests when they started showing up. Wheeler and Kelsey were the first to arrive. I was almost surprised that he brought his little sister along, but then I realized he’d probably been told to babysit her while their folks were out for the weekend. Kelsey was a good kid, though, not like I’d been when Larry and I were growing up. I was a wild child through and through.

Less than twenty minutes later, the house was full. We didn’t have an outrageously large house, but I didn’t think we’d fill it up that quickly. There was barely enough room to get to the door whenever new people would show up, and I was pretty sure at least every member of the football team that wasn’t my brother managed to accidentally (or purposefully) grab my boobs or my ass.

(Actually, now that I think about it, Larry might have also done it but his was definitely by accident.)

The place was so loud that I almost couldn’t hear the music. Larry had Charlie hook up a nice set of speakers for the music, and it had been loud enough that I hadn’t really been able to hear the people. There was so much noise I could barely hear myself think. If this was how most parties went, I’d be happy if this was our only one. It’d probably take Larry and I all day on Sunday to clean it all up.

I took a sip of spiked fruit punch and couldn’t even taste the beer. I wondered if Larry hadn’t put in the right amount. I was hoping to at least have a nice buzz going by the time the party got into full swing. If I knew where he’d stashed it, I’d pour some more in. If I could find him in this sea of people, I’d tell him about it. Maybe I’d just try and chug the whole bowl. I remembered a time that I was over at Wheeler’s place and tried to do that once.

I just barely heard the doorbell ringing over the crowd of people. Larry was too busy making out with Chrissie on the couch, with a couple other people making out on the couch beside them. That meant it was once again my turn to get the door. One of these days, I’d havta find a way to get him to own up to his responsibilities. He got away with a lot at school because he was the star quarterback, but that wouldn’t work with me.

Luckily, by the time I got to the door (and about seventeen separate instances of third degree fondling and one instance of a hand that was not my own trying to push its way into my shirt), I realized it was better that I answered the door. My heart nearly burst out of my chest as Grant stood there, a smile on his face and fashionably wearing a polo shirt and gym shorts.

“Hey there, handsome,” I said, adding as much flirt to my voice as I could. “You look lonely out there.”

He smirked. “Oh, I’m plenty lonely, gorgeous. Wanna let me inside where there’s plenty of space?”

I laughed. “Yeah, plenty.” I glanced over my shoulder at the mass of people. “Either way, get your ass in here and put your arms around your girlfriend.”

He grabbed me by the waist and pulled me close. “I’ll havta find her, first.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Oh, wanna do some exploring?”

“So long as you’re only saying this because you’re not drunk. I don’t wanna take advantage.”

I nearly broke out laughing. “Please, there’s more fruit punch in the bowl than beer right now. Larry must have saved most of it for after the party.”

“I think he offhandedly mentioned yesterday that he and Chrissie were going to go up to his bedroom and have a few before bed.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ugh, naturally. Would you do that with a girl?”

He kissed me on the nose. “I would never get you drunk if you didn’t want to.”

“I mean the whole drunk sex thing.”

“Oh, no. I’d rather remember having sex with a pretty girl.”

I kissed him on the lips. “Good boy.”

“Did you… Y’know…”

I shook my head. “No. That is a very big decision and as much as I’d love it if you were the first boy I’d have sex with, I’d rather wait until we were actually ready.”

“Second date?”

“Maybe third. Just to make sure.”

He kissed me again. “You got it, Ashe.”

“Until then, you’d damn well better hold me close and make sure yours are the only hands fondling me.”

“Have other guys been fondling you?”

“Hopefully on accident, but there have been incidents.”

He backed me into the house and shut the door behind us. “Let’s just deal with that by sticking to the wall and going around. I think we can probably kiss all the way from here to the kitchen by doing that, what about you?”

I smirked. “We can damn sure try.”

Later…

It wasn’t all that difficult to make out from one side of the house to the other by sticking to the wall. I was pretty sure Grant’s weren’t the only hands on my ass, but his were the only hands trying to get inside my shirt with very little in the way of resistance. I didn’t want sex just yet, but I didn’t have any problems with being touched.

By the time we made it to the kitchen, I was actually more than a little surprised with how nobody else had decided to use it as a make out spot. It wasn’t like the kitchen was locked or anything, all we really had was a swinging door that didn’t even latch. Granted, it meant that our little session of intimacy would probably be interrupted many times now that we had come back here, but that was no big deal, really.

I hopped up on the counter all the while our mouths were still tightly pressed against each other, his tongue entwined with mine. I couldn’t tell what it was that made this so… Different. I’d made out with boyfriends more than once, to the point that I had a bit of a reputation that I wasn’t sure I enjoyed. According to Larry, my cell number was scratched over at least four urinals at school with “For a good time call” above it.

But making out with Grant just felt so new, so fantastic, like it was my first time all over again. I couldn’t even figure out why, because Grant and I had been friends for so long that people thought we were dating in elementary school. Out of all of Larry’s teammates and friends, Grant and I had always been close. The fact that it took us until now to officially start dating was kinda crazy, really.

But I didn’t mind this feeling. I loved this feeling. It made me feel like a little girl having her first kiss again. I didn’t know if that meant anything, really. Maybe it just meant that Grant was The One, the guy I was destined to spend the rest of my life with. Kind of a stupid notion so early in life, really. My high school life alone had been filled with so many boyfriends that I could barely remember. I was pretty sure I’d dated most of the athletes from middle school onward, and they’d only ever been just that: boyfriends.

Grant, though… Grant felt like a lover.

Everything about being with him felt so romantic that I was pretty sure it had all been written down in one of those cheap romance novels that Chrissie liked to read. But I didn’t care, I didn’t care at all. Nothing. Not. One. Thing. Could ruin this moment.

Naturally, I was wrong.

Grant’s phone rang, ruining the moment for the both of us. He pulled away and sighed, then reached into his pocket and took the call. “Yeah? Oh, shit... Yeah, Coach, we’ll be there. Wait, how did you know…? Yeah, that makes sense.”

“What?” I asked.

He hung up the phone. “I forgot there was a game tonight. And Coach heard about the party from Tim Hyun. He never could keep his mouth shut about this kind of stuff.”

The door to the kitchen burst open and Larry, in the process of buttoning his shirt up, came in nearly exhausted. “So, I dunno about you guys, but I forgot we had a game tonight and Coach heard about the party from Tim.” He glanced back and forth at the two of us. “Were you two…”

I rolled my eyes. “Kissing, that’s all.”

He smirked. “Yeah, I’m sure. You may wanna put your top back on, sis.”

I looked down and saw that he was very right about that. Despite wearing a bra and both guys in the room knowing what I looked like wearing a bra, I felt the need to cover up, so I did, with my arms. Larry just left the room laughing his ass off and then shooing people out of the house.

I looked over at Grant. “Did you do that?”

He shook his head. “No, but I havta say, I did not mind.”

I felt myself smile. “Did you… Y’know… Cop a feel?”

He smiled. “Yeah, but so did you.”

Later…

I was starting to feel the effects of that punch by the time I got on the field in my uniform. The boys were all lined up, Coach berating them for forgetting about the game. Honestly, I don’t know as I’d forgotten the game, but I didn’t remember it being in the middle of the afternoon.

Either way, the rest of the cheer squad and I were ready to get started once we were called out. I shook my pom-pom in my face for a second to try and clear the cobwebs out of my head. Something seemed… Off about this. I couldn’t really tell what, though. Like I said, what little alcohol I managed to squeeze out of that punch was probably starting to get to me.

Chrissie was next to me, adjusting her top. “Gawd, I can’t wait until this is over with. I wanna get home and get into something a little more comfortable.”

I rolled my eyes. “By a little more comfortable, are you talking Larry’s bedroom?”

She looked both shocked and amused. “Hey! Is it my fault your brother is a cutie pie?”

Kristie on the other side of her laughed. “Please, babe, you almost let him do it right there in the middle of the party.”

I acted prissy. “At least I went into the kitchen with Grant.”

Amber, to the other side of me from Chrissie, patted me on the shoulder. “Yeah, but I popped in there to grab a soda and almost tripped all over you two.”

I hadn’t noticed that at all, but I also hadn’t noticed when my shirt came off in that whole ordeal, so it honestly wasn’t a surprise. It was more of a surprise that Amber was even there, because I thought she wasn’t gonna come. “Yeah, we were kinda… Yeah.”

“Were you actually gonna… You know?” Helena asked.

I blushed. “Uh, no! I’m not ready for sex right now.”

“Yeah, but you and Grant are so cute together!” Kristie almost screamed.

“Still, I wanna take it really slow with Grant. He’s… He’s so special to me, I don’t just wanna jump into bed with him as soon as possible.”

Amber nodded. “That’s the smart thing to do.” She smirked. “I mean, you two have been dating for so long that his balls must be ridiculously blue by now.”

I smacked her in the back of the head. “Hey! We’ve only been dating for two days!”

Helen looked like she was about to lose it. “Yeah, officially, but you had to notice that Grant hasn’t dated anybody else since freshman year. He’s probably been waiting for the best time to ask you out.”

I had to admit that I hadn’t noticed that. Had he really been waiting this whole time just to find the perfect way to ask me out? I sorta felt like a bitch for never seeing that. “Really?” I asked.

Kristie looked shocked. “No way, you didn’t see it? Girl, he picked you as the model for that comic he’s been drawing.”

“I knew that!” I folded my arms under my breasts. “After we decided on the story, he went around asking girls if he could use them for her design.”

Chrissie shook her head. “No, he didn’t. He didn’t ask anybody.”

I blinked.

“He didn’t actually want me to tell you this, but… You were the only girl he ever considered using for the comic. At first, he said it was because you were writing it, so he wanted to make it sort of like a… Um… Tribute? I guess?”

“I think the word you’re looking for is homage.”

“Turn off the writer brain for a second, Flashy,” she said with a smirk, “the point is that you were the only girl he ever wanted to draw. The boy loves you.” She giggled. “You’re almost living a real life romance novel.”

The rest of the squad just made an Oooooooooooooooooooooh noise that just made me feel even more embarrassed than I had been when I realized my top was off when I was alone with Grant. I almost wanted to hide, but I knew it was all good-natured. The squad was my best friends, they obviously cared that I find a guy I could fall for.

”And now, geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet ready for the beautiful Trumbull High cheerleading squad!”

I sighed. We’d spent the entire warm-up period just talking about my love life. “Alright, girls,” I said, “let’s get out there and get everybody excited.for the best game of the season. The guys will kick ass this week, and it’ll be because we got ‘em there!”