Chapter 109

Noon, Tuesday

Unsurprisingly, Chris Grant was the first person to show up at Regan's house. The prospect of spending the afternoon with girls in bikinis had him ready to leave his house at 9 a.m.

Once the thermometer showed a temperature higher than 80, he was in his car and on his way. He figured that Ruth and Joy were already at Regan's house - and he was certain Andy was there even if they weren't.

Thus, he was surprised to find himself alone with Regan's cousins when he arrived.

"Andy needed clothes and Regan went with him," Tori told him. "They're going to stop for groceries on the way home. Aunt Rita and Uncle Robert aren't back yet."

"I can come back a little later," Chris said.

"If anyone should leave, it should be us," Tori said sweetly. "But, neither of us has a car so we're stuck here. Just come on in."

She took the bag of sodas that Chris had carried in and headed for the kitchen.

"Uh, Ashlyn, right?" Chris asked, extending a hand in greeting.

"And you're Chris?" Ashlyn replied as she accepted his offering.

"I ... we didn't get the chance to talk much on Friday," Chris said. Ashlyn was wearing sandals but she stood as tall as Chris.

"Yeah, I was a bitch," Ashlyn said, knowing full well that the guy was one of Andy's friends. Anything she said would get back to Regan pretty quickly. "I'm sorry about that."

"I ... I didn't really notice," Chris admitted. "The go-kart thing was fun but it wasn't really designed for talking much."

"Then good," Ashlyn replied with a smile. "We don't have to put aside any horrible first impressions that I might have made. I'm Ashlyn and that was my sister, Tori. We're Regan's cousins."

"I'm Chris Grant," he replied with a smile. "I go to school with Andy. Actually, no. I went to school with Andy and Elizabeth. I think you remember her."

"Aunt Rita told us you're in the orchestra," Tori remarked after she returned from her mission of stashing the drinks in a cooler.

"I was," Chris admitted. "I, uh, quit on Friday."

"Oh?" Tori asked. She had taken the requisite music appreciation classes her freshman year - and the piano lessons her mother insisted upon when she was younger.

"It was a drain on my time," Chris admitted. "It's my last vacation here probably. It might be my last summer vacation ever. I want to enjoy it a little."

"It certainly appeared that you would have your choice of females to enjoy it with," Tori said with a laugh. "I noticed both Ruth and Joy paying a lot of attention to you at the track."

Chris blushed and wondered how much Regan (or Andy) had shared. He decided to stick to the basic facts.

"They helped me out a couple of weeks ago," he said. "I went to a formal with Ruth and, well, the girl I was going to take to my formal got upset and canceled our date at the last minute. So I took both Ruth and Joy to my dance."

"Too cool," Ashlyn said. That was an act of revenge she could get behind - rubbing a girl's face in the fact that she had missed out on a date with a guy who could land two rich girls in a few seconds.

"I have some pictures of us at the dance," Chris said.

"Regan was going to show us some last night but we got distracted," Tori chimed in. Chris extracted his phone and flipped to the photo viewer.

"OK, let me get to the right folder," he said. "He's some of us from the track the other night. This is the group after my concert last weekend. Here they are."

"Holy shit," Tori said when she saw Joy and Ruth in their red dresses.

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "Here's the four of them together - Regan, Elizabeth, Joy and Ruth."

Ashlyn found herself staring at the photo. Her cousin's dress was cut low in the front and high at the bottom. Regan was displaying far more cleavage than Ashlyn knew she would ever possess. She had thought Regan looked cute on Sunday night. But the photo in front of her was evidence that she could look amazingly sexy, too.

"Wow," Tori said, pointing to Ruth. "Uh, are her boobs real?"

"From what I understand, they are," Chris replied, unwilling to provide any further information than the sisters might already have.

"Oh, please," Tori said. "I watched you two. She is way into you. If you don't know by now, I am seriously misjudging the way you act around each other."

"No comment," Chris said. His blush was comment enough.

"Ignore her," Ashlyn said.

"Yeah, I guess that was pretty rude since we barely know each other," Tori agreed. "Sorry. You just seemed so ... cool ... Friday night."

Chris snorted involuntarily.

"I am anything but cool," he said. "A month ago, I was ... I guess you'd say I was the lead band geek. Then Andy sat down with me out of the blue at lunch one day, asked me if I'd go to a formal with Ruth and ... my world got a lot better pretty quickly."

"You and Andy seem like you've been friends forever," Ashlyn said.

"We've known each other for a few years but we weren't really friends," Chris replied. "Andy ... Andy didn't have friends. Everybody knew him but ... he didn't let anyone really near him."

"Except Elizabeth," Tori said. "She told us a ton of stories about him."

"I think if you'd ask Andy, he'd say they've only been friends for a few months," Chris answered. "Elizabeth is ... well, she's nosy. She likes to know everything about everybody. She is ... was ... the most popular person in our class. Andy was always content to be anonymous. Then a cheerleader picked him out for her boyfriend last fall and his anonymity was gone."

"Is that the one that Regan calls 'The Slut, '?" Ashlyn asked.

"That would be her," Chris said with a laugh. "Erin wanted a cute guy to hang out and spend money on her but she didn't want a guy that would get hung up on her. She got two out of the three, I guess."

Tori offered a quizzical look so Chris continued.

"Andy is a decent-looking dude. He wasn't hung up on her at all. But he had no money to spend on her."

"How long did they go out?" Ashlyn wondered.

"Uh, really, I'm not sure," Chris said. "I was in marching band in the fall and I was pretty busy. I guess from the start of school until ... well, until the night he met Regan."

"He dumped his girlfriend for Regan?" Ashlyn asked.

"Not exactly," Chris said. "It was sort of the other way around. Have you heard this story?"

"I don't think so," Tori admitted. She had been told only the barest facts of how Andy and Regan met - but she suspected the story was far more interesting than anyone had let on. She figured she and Ashlyn could convince Chris to fill in the blanks.

"I'll let Regan tell you if she wants," Chris declared. "But Erin actually broke up with Andy a few minutes before he met Regan."

"Ding."

"Dong."

Two voices sounded from the doorway - Ruth saying one word and Joy adding the other. They walked into the Riley household as though they owned the place - because they had spent the past two weeks living there and commuting to school with Regan.

Ruth leaned over the back of Chris' chair and kissed him on the cheek. Joy waited for Ruth to stand up before doing the same to the other side.

Ashlyn and Tori both stared at the newcomers. Both wore only skimpy white shorts and bikini tops - and she knew instantly that Ruth's breasts had not been augmented in any way.

Ruth's bikini top was peach - as were the strings sticking out above her shorts. Joy wore a bright orange top and a matching bottom could be seen through the fabric of her thin shorts.

"I hope he's not boring you two with stories about the oboe!" Ruth said with a laugh.

"You play the oboe?" Tori asked. "I pictured sax or trumpet, something..."

"Cooler," Joy finished. She and Ruth immediately exchanged a high five. "Nope. He's a total dweeb."

"Andy and Regan upstairs?" Ruth asked.

"Andy needed clothes so they went to his hotel," Tori explained. Ruth looked at Joy and lifted an eyebrow.

"Uh, his parents hosted a drinking party last night, I guess," Ashlyn said. "Our parents and Regan's parents got..."

"Toasted," Joy finished again. "So he shacked up here?"

"He stayed overnight," Tori said, trying to be the beacon of discretion, "in the room down from Regan's."

Again, Ruth and Joy shared a glance and Tori figured they were about to spill the beans on her secret.

"That's our room," Ruth said with mock disgust.

"His mother stayed there Sunday night," Tori said.

"We've been disowned," Joy lamented. "Next we'll hear that we're out of the will, too!"

"That's what we get for staying with our own parents for a few days," Ruth said.

"Knock it off," Chris advised. "They think you're serious."

Both girls tilted their heads back and laughed at the expression the McKenzie sisters' faces. They sat down, Joy on a chair and Ruth on Chris' lap.

"We are rarely serious," Joy said. "We stayed here for a couple of weeks with Regan. It's closer to school than our houses. It was pretty cool, actually. Your aunt and uncle are really great people. I'm looking forward to getting to know your mom and dad - and you guys, of course."

"Chris was just about to tell us how Regan and Andy met," Tori said, hoping that one of the three would provide the details she wanted.

"Uh, no, I wasn't," Chris corrected. "I was just finished saying that the story is Regan's to tell if she wants."

"Oh, yeah," Tori said, abashed at being busted so quickly.

Ruth winked at Chris where the sisters couldn't see it.

"Well, I'm ready for the pool," she declared.

"Me, too," Joy added. She stood and pulled her shorts to her ankles. With a quick backward kick, she sent them flying over her head and caught them in front of her.

"If you take off your clothes as often as she does, you learn little tricks like that," Ruth said when she saw the amazement on Tori's face.

Joy offered a one-finger salute to her friend before darting through the kitchen and out the backdoor.

Chris, Joy and Ruth were splashing around in the pool when Andy and Regan returned. Regan had worn her bikini beneath her shorts so she immediately stripped down and jumped in. Andy went upstairs to the room he'd slept in the night before to change into his trunks.

He had barely closed the door when the closet door opened. He turned, expecting to see Regan but instead it was Tori.

"I knew it!" she said with a giggle.

"Knew what?" Andy asked.

"How you and Regan convinced my sister you slept in separate beds," Tori replied.