Chapter 17

Jack poured the briquettes into the grill then returned to the kitchen to snag the matches, while Denise poured the chips into a large bowl and set them on the counter, next to an open bottle of salsa. Wandering back outside Jack began looking for the lighter fluid. After scanning the perimeter of the deck, Jack discovered the tall gray plastic closet. The double doors stretched to a little over six feet high and it looked to be only about three or four feet deep. Not exactly an expensive piece of storage, thought Jack as he eased the right door open. The lighter fluid was on the floor inside, next to some old paint cans.

The storage shed also contained four thatched beach mats, the volleyball net and flat volleyball, a large floor broom, and a detached showerhead. Jack reached down and grabbed the almost empty lighter fluid and backed up to close the door. As he shoved the door shut, Jack felt Denise rubbing up against him.

"Need some help there," she asked sliding her arms around his waist and pressing up against him.

"Hmmm... well, not really, but since you're here..." he replied slowly as he turned to face her. Laying a gentle kiss on her nose, Jack extracted himself from Denise's embrace, and worked his way over to the grill. Shaking the can, he found it to be nearly empty, so Jack used the remaining lighter fluid on the dry charcoal and tossed a lighted match on the black pyramid. The fire sparked up immediately and Jack retreated to the wooden bench that ran the length of the deck to sit with his girlfriend. Denise smiled as he sat down and immediately snuggled up next to him. Jack could feel her unencumbered breasts rubbing against him as she pressed up against him.

"You're in an affectionate mood," he remarked quietly, sliding an arm around her shoulders.

Denise nuzzled his neck before replying. "Yeah, like you hate it so much," she teased.

"Anytime you want to go without a bra and rub up against me, I'm all for it. Did you forget to put on anything else?" Jack retorted dryly.

Denise rubbed up against him some more and nibbled on his ear. "Do you think anyone else will notice," she asked.

"Do you really want an answer?"

"Nah, because even if they do, I don't care. I just wanted you to have easy access," replied Denise seductively as she began running her hand lightly over his crotch.

Jack actually blushed at her last statement and jumped a little as her hand contacted his cock through his pants.

Denise giggled and pulled away as Jill came outside carrying a can of insect repellant and two citronella candles. Jill gave Denise a long frank look, staring briefly at the redheads erect nipples before handing Jack the spray can.

"I thought you two might need some of this, the mosquitoes can get pretty aggressive around here and I know that Denise has a tendency to get eaten alive. I think these two candles will help and we have the bug zapper next to the door," Jill explained while holding her hand out.

Jack handed her the matches and accepted the insect spray. He started with his legs, spraying on a thin layer then moving up to his exposed arms. When he finished he sprayed some on Denise as well, while Jill lighted the two smoky candles and set them on either end of the deck.

"I don't know that we'll have a huge turnout," Jill said as she settled in on the other side of Jack, "I called the Thompson's and Brian and Sean are coming, as is Leigh, but no one else is around this weekend. I guess we're going to be drinking a lot of beer ourselves."

Jack shrugged as Denise wormed her way in under his right arm again. "That's ok. I think with the six of us not going anywhere it'll be ok. Might as well get good and liquored up. But can you tell me who Brian, Sean and Leigh are?"

Jill chuckled before she answered. "That's right, you don't know anyone here do you. Brian and Sean are the sons of my aunt's best friend, Kathy Thompson. Brian is 19, I think and Sean is like 21 or 22. Anyway, I've known them for years and they love to party, in addition to being really nice guys. Leigh, on the other hand, is the nice Polynesian girl who works in the swimsuit shop that Denise and I went to yesterday. She's a real sweetheart and since she's coming to school with us in a couple weeks I thought she should get to know some people. By the way, did you like Denise's new suit?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah, that suit was really awesome, Denise looked so hot in it."

Denise giggled, "You should have seen the affect it had on him. My god, it went on all afternoon."

Jack's head spun to face his girlfriend. "Denise," he said flabbergasted, "I don't think Jill needs to hear about everything we did this afternoon."

Jill and Denise began laughing loudly as Jack flushed and sat looking embarrassed.

Jill calmed down first and gave Jack a friendly squeeze on the shoulder as she stood up to go back inside. "Don't worry about it. I think we all knew what was likely to happen if we left you two alone for the day. Hope you enjoyed it, sport."

As Jill disappeared inside, Jack turned and gave Denise a look.

"What," she exclaimed.

"Jesus, do you tell her everything?" he exclaimed.

"More or less. Why? She's my best friend Jack. I don't keep many secrets from her."

Jack shrugged. "I guess I'm just not used to having my sex life as an open book for all to read. I'm kind of embarrassed about it," Jack said coolly. Denise tried to snuggle back in next to Jack saying, "Don't worry about it hon. It's not that big a deal, Jill was just teasing you."

Jack pulled away and stood up. "I'm going upstairs to change to jeans," he announced and calmly walked inside.

Denise sat on the bench, stunned as he stalked off. Jill came back out a minute later and sat down next to her.

"What was that all about," she asked.

"I don't know," replied Denise sounding hurt, "he just bit my head off about what you said and when I tried explain that you were just joking around, he got mad and walked away."

Jill smiled at Denise and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry about it," she said softly, "I'm sure he's just embarrassed about how much I know about you two. He'll get over it."

"Are you sure," Denise whispered softly, "I don't want to ruin everybody's evening by fighting with Jack all night."

"Sure, just go upstairs and tell him you won't do it again. Apologize again if you have to. If that doesn't work, just tell him that you're going to throw him in the hot tub and drown his ass unless he gets over it!" Jill replied with a large grin.

"Thanks Jill," smiled Denise as she leaned over and gave the brunette a quick buss on the lips, "I'll do that."

The two girls stood up together and headed back into the house hand in hand, oblivious to Jack glowering from the window above. He was still staring out the window when Denise approached him from the stairs.

"Jack," she began, "Look I'm sorry about the thing with Jill. She was just teasing you and she really has no idea that we didn't hang out at the beach all afternoon."

"Don't worry about it," he said shortly, "Let's just go downstairs and have a good time ok?"

"What is wrong with you," Denise said in a quavering voice, "it seems like all you want to do is pick a fight with me. You started in on me last night and you're doing it again tonight."

"Nothing's wrong," answered Jack calmly as he walked across the room to the stairs, "Everything's just fine. C'mon I need your help moving the keg to the deck."

Denise gave his back a hurt look as Jack descended the stairs, leaving her standing in the middle of the bedroom. At first she wasn't even aware of the tears streaming down her face, until the first drops hit the part of her feet uncovered by her faded yellow flipflops. Moments later she shut herself in the bathroom and began bawling. She had more or less cried it out when she heard knocking on the door.

"Denise, are you ok?" came Staci's soft voice through the closed door.

"I'm fine, just a little problem with a contact lens," she called back, hoping her voice wasn't breaking up too badly, "I'll be out in a minute."

"That didn't sound like a contact lens problem," replied Staci as she opened the door and came into the bathroom. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what," sniffed Denise.

Staci grabbed a tissue and handed it to her friend before giving the redhead a hug. Denise collapsed against her, tears running down her chin and wiped her nose with the tissue. "It's Jack," she sobbed quietly, "I think he wants to break up with me."

"Why would you think that?" asked Staci reasonably, "you two seemed pretty happy earlier when we came back from the beach."

"Oh Staci," Denise mumbled as she pulled back and blew her nose, "I can't explain it. It's just that all weekend he's tried to find excuses to pick a fight with me. Last night he accused me of smothering him and then tonight Jill made a wisecrack about what we did all afternoon and now he's all in a snit over it."

"I thought you guys spent the afternoon on the beach," Staci said calmly, "you told us that when we got here. So what could Jill have possibly said? Something along the lines of having sex on the beach I suppose. I don't get it."

"It's not that. Jack and I... well... this stays between us, but we spent some time on the beach then came back here and... used the hot tub if you know what I mean... then came up here for a while. Jill implied that she knew as much, which embarrassed Jack for some reason and he's taking it out on me."

Staci shook her head, "normally it would be the girl who was worried about looking like a slut while the guys go out and congratulate their buddy on getting some. Why does he have to be the sensitive type."

"Oh, I don't know," sniffed Denise, "I mean, I never thought about it before. I think he's feeling like I give you and Jill a blow-by-blow account. I guess he's just worried that we might be comparing notes or something. I think he'll get over it."

Denise stared at her reflection for a moment then grabbed a washcloth off the towel rod next to the sick. Washing her face to get the worst of her smeared mascara off, she put on a brave smile and turned to face her friend. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'm just not used to fighting with him yet. I'm going to have a good time and he's just going to have to deal with it." Staci smiled back at her, and the two girls walked out of the bathroom and down the stairs.

Upon entering the kitchen, Denise caught sight of Jack, Jill, Renee and John shoving the keg outside and thought about helping. Realizing that there was nowhere for her to get a grip on the heavy trashcan, she changed her mind and walked over to the freezer.

"We got you something," she announced to Staci over her shoulder, "a present from Jack, John and myself."

"Oh really," the blonde replied, "and what might that be?"

Denise gave Staci a big grin and handed her the small square green bottle, "Jaegermonster!"

Staci snorted loudly as she took the bottle from Denise, "you dork! You know that I love this stuff."

"Yes I do, I thought we'd have a good time tonight. Do a few shots, drink some beer, raise some hell. Did you bring any shot glasses?"

"No, but I'm sure we can improvise," answered Staci with a grin as she leaned over to hug Denise, "you're really too much."

"What's going on in here," boomed Jill as she returned from the deck.

"Look what those turkeys bought me," Staci crowed, "My favorite."

"Oh god, it's going to be one of THOSE evenings," retorted Jill with a large grin.

"Maybe not, since we don't have any shot glasses," replied Staci with a slight downcast look, "but it was a sweet thought."

Jill nodded in agreement, "yeah it was and come to think of it, I believe there are some shot glasses around here somewhere, let's take a look."

Renee and John came back in from the deck, while the three girls were madly looking through the cupboards.

"What's up," chirped Renee.

"We're looking for some shot glasses," called Staci over her shoulder, "we have some shots to do before people show up."

"Hate to burst your bubble, but some of them already have," came an unfamiliar male voice from behind Renee, causing the Hispanic girl to jump a little.

Renee turned to discover its source and found herself staring into the chest of a large muscular individual. Tilting her head back, Renee located his baldhead some six and a half feet from the ground.

"Sean," called Jill as she paused her search to make her way over to him, "good to see you. How you been?" "Fine," he called back. Tilting his head down to Renee, he thrust out his hand, "Sorry if I scared you. My name's Sean Thompson, I'm a friend of Jill's. That other guy out there with your friend is my brother Brian."

"Nice to meet you Sean," replied the fast recovering Renee, "I'm Renee and this is my boyfriend John."

"Nice ter meetcha," Sean said shaking hands with both. "Now what was it I hear about shot glasses," he called to Jill.

Jill reached out and gave him a big hug, reaching up to run her hand over his bare head. "Cute," she said, "is this recent?"

"Yah. You know Dad's as bald a cue ball and I just couldn't take the receding hairline anymore. I shaved it off a month or so ago and bought a straight razor. Brian or mom takes care of the back every few days and I do the rest. You like?"

"Not bad," Jill confessed, "you have a nicely shaped head."

Sean blushed lightly. "I think I have some shot glasses in the truck, you want me to get them kid?" he asked

"Kid," said Jill mock offended as she punched him in the shoulder, "I'm older than you."

"You want me to call you shorty instead?"

Jill laughed and made like she was going to punch him in the stomach. Sean obediently doubled over as though in great pain. "What in the world would you be doing with shot glasses in your truck," she asked with a grin.

"Well, I've been doing some work with one of the local liquor distributors and as a bonus they gave me a bunch of plastic shot glasses they got from one of the manufacturers. I was going to take them back to school with me next week, but I'm sure I can break out a few if you need them."

"Great," retorted Jill with her eyes wide, "what are you standing there waiting for?"

Sean chuckled and excused himself to get the glasses. Jill grinned and turned to Renee.

"I hope he didn't scare you too badly," she said, "He's really a big teddy bear and definitely a gentleman. We went out a few times a couple summers ago and he wouldn't even kiss me goodnight after the first date, said it wouldn't be polite."

Renee grinned, "He seems nice enough. I just wasn't expecting anyone behind me so that's what startled me. What's his brother like?"

Jill glanced out the window to see Jack talking to Brian. "Oh fairly similar I think," she offered, "Brian's a little quieter, more cerebral than Sean. He used to be a musician, played guitar and bass in a few bands here and there. Now he's more into computers and uses them to compose music from time to time. He and Jack might find a lot to talk about."

Sean interrupted the discussion of his brother by bounding in holding a small cardboard box. "Here ya go," he bellowed, "some shot glasses for my favorite lady."