Pool Party: Part One

"Hi!" Jessica screeched as I walked through her door with a bowl of guacamole in one hand and a bright pink towel in the other. She threw her arms around my neck with such a force that I almost dropped the guac. It was 7:30, but she was clearly already intoxicated. Since Jessica wasn't really a drinker, I figured she was nervous about this party.

At the very least, it was a beautiful night to go swimming. Josh had a huge, in ground swimming pool. Justin had to stay at work late, so he wouldn't be meeting us until 9, which was probably for the best. It allowed for Darlene, Anna, and I to see how the situation with Josh went before bringing Justin into the mess. Worst case scenario, Josh went insane and we all met Justin for fro-yo near his apartment. Darlene and Anna were running a little late, but I refused to be anything but punctual so I arrived first on my own.

I followed Jessica into the backyard, where Josh was shirtless, skimming the pool. "Hey, stranger," he said with a smile. Josh was super friendly and even though Jessica told us all the crazy things he had done, I never saw any of it first hand. This made things less awkward when we did hang out.

"Hey!" I said as I placed my stuff down on a nearby chair and greeted him with a hug.

"Where's the rest of the crew?" he asked as he finished skimming the pool.

"On their way, of course," I replied. I dipped my foot in the water and felt relief when I found it was the perfect temperature.

"Let's go in, Caroline," Jessica screamed from across the yard as she pulled off her oversize t-shirt to reveal her bathing suit. It looked completely new and a little too skimpy for her taste.

"We went to dinner about an hour ago and someone had one too many glasses of Merlot," Josh whispered motioning to Jessica. A little concerned about drunk swimming, I told her I wanted to wait for everyone else before diving in, even though I was dying to go swimming.

Darlene and Anna arrived about twenty minutes later and it seemed that there was no holding back Jessica from swimming. I decided if we all watched her, and stayed in the shallow end, she'd be fine. The guac should've absorbed some of the alcohol, right?

Josh sat near us with his feet in the water as we relaxed near the stairs of the pool. Jessica's drunk splashing seemed to amuse everyone, even Josh who would have normally freaked out at such a display. Maybe he was changed. While I was optimistic, I saw Darlene roll her eyes several times when he would speak. When Josh got up to use the bathroom, I splashed Darlene.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, yourself," I quietly said back. "Stop making faces!"

"Come on, Caroline," she said dipping her shoulders under the water. "Don't you see through this act?"

"Be nice," I said back, ignoring the question. Jessica, who had been talking with Anna, walked through the water to us at this point.

"Isn't this fun, guys?" she asked, but what she was really saying was, 'don't you see how awesome Josh is now.'

"So much fun," I responded. "I'm just going to check my phone."

I dried off and picked up my phone. Justin had texted me that he couldn't wait to meet us and asked if he needed to bring anything. As I began to write back, Josh walked out of the house.

"Guys, look who decided to join us!" he screamed across the yard. I looked up and saw Josh's best friend, Andrew, strolling in behind him, still wearing his dress shirt, dress pants, and tie from work. Andrew and Josh were two years older than us, so when Andrew and I entertained a brief affair in high school, he completely crushed me by going off to college without even saying goodbye to me. I knew he wouldn't want a long distance relationship, but the last night we were supposed to hang out, he completely ditched me.

I felt my face get red as I looked away. With shaking hands, I finished my text to Justin.

"Nope, we're good, just can't wait to see you!"

I put my phone down and turned to face the other guests. I suddenly felt self conscious in my bikini, even though I sprung for the push up top and the more conservative bottom. As I saw the girls getting out of the pool, I quickly pulled on my beach cover up.

"Hey, Andrew," I said with an awkward wave as him and Josh began to walk over to the seating area. The few times that I ran into Andrew since high school, I felt like I had something to prove to him. I always wanted to display a calm and collective demeanor, even though the little person in my head was having a panic attack. We were never anything, so it was silly for me to feel so weird around him, but still.

"Hey, good to see you," he said reaching in for a hug. Um, since when is Andrew a hugger? I awkwardly half hugged him and kept a weak smile plastered on my face.

There we stood. Darlene, Anna, drunk Jessica, Josh, Andrew, and I. But thank goodness for drunk Jessica who insisted we reenter the pool.

"So, isn't Josh so much better?" she asked me as she splashed her hands. I swear she looked like a five year old learning to swim for the first time. The truth was Josh did seem fine, but he always seemed fine at first. I'd believe he was 'changed' when I saw them deal with their first argument. For now, I think he even won over Darlene. As they chatted, Darlene genuinely laughed at an animated story Josh was telling.

"Yeah, he is," I responded.