"Zach, is everything ready? They're gonna be here in just an hour or so!"
"Everything is as ready as it's gonna be. Would you just relax, woman?"
"I CAN'T! Tara is going to be home soon. You know how picky she is. And if you know what's good for you, you will not call me woman again. It's so detrimental."
"It is not. It's a term of endearment."
"It's detrimental, and you got that idea from Clueless, Murray."
I had to laugh. Poor Zach, he was going to have to do better than that. I could hear them arguing (although, I'm beginning to understand that it's more of a form of flirting for those two) from the stairwell between the second and third floor. The plan was to surprise Tara by having everything all set up for her and ready to go - including a new bedroom set. But by the sudden lack of noise coming from the girls' third-floor loft, I've almost come to the conclusion that a phone call might have been a wiser decision than just showing up to unload Tara's new things. At least I know I won't be interrupting at a part that's too risqu, the noise only just stopped.
I poked my head into the kitchen in time to see Zach practically launch himself at her lips. Not that I blame the guy, ever since the Fourth of July Bar-B-Q incident, he hasn't gotten anything but minimal amounts of kisses. According to Tara, 'minimal amounts of kisses' means just enough to keep Evie sane. Not that I needed or wanted to know that, I was just dumb enough to ask what happened. Anyhow, right now, that's not the most of my worries. What was the most of my worries was that if I didn't stop them soon, I was going to be blinded by this disgusting (Well, it wasn't really disgusting, or at least, if it were on a movie or Tara and I it wouldn't be disgusting. However, since this was a close friend and a best-friend/sister I was witnessing, I found it to be disturbing.) public display of affection.
"UGH!! Guys! PDA! Honestly!"
"Alex!" Before I knew what was happening, a high speed mass of Evie was headed in my direction. "I'm so glad you're back! It was sooo incredibly lonesome here without you!"
"Hey!" Zach protested.
"Oh, you, I didn't mean it like that," Evie tripped over her tongue trying to take back what she'd implied. "I just meant that it was hard not having anyone to discuss you with, or another girl here to gossip and do all that other girly stuff with." She planted a kiss on his cheek for good measure. "Now go help Alex bring in Tara's new things; I'll finish vacuuming so we can set it up, okay?"
"Alright," Zach grumbled.
When Tara saw all her new things, she was nearly as excited as Eve was about surprising her. I swear, they're rubbing off on each other. She hugged her way around the room. When she finally got to me, I was grinning from ear to ear. Evie winked and pulled Zach out of the room, closing the door behind them. I knew I loved that girl.
A bit later, Evie knocked loudly and stuck her head in the room. "If you and Zach will bring the rest of Tara's stuff up, we'll let you guys run off and have a bit of fun."
We delivered the last box of 'traveling things' (ie: clothes, pictures, books, necessities) and left the girls to unpack and finish setting the room up. "You girls don't get too settled in, I want to go out tonight - all of us."
"Kay babe. It sounds like a plan," Tara said as Zach and I made a beeline for the door.
We returned later than we planned, but found the girls easily enough. They were still in Tara's room "unpacking." They were doubled over from peals of laughter we could hear from the second floor.
"You know, I don't think I'll ever understand," Zach stage whispered as we passed by the room. As punishment, we were subjected to a half hour of gossip, half of which we couldn't follow, because they hardly ever completed a sentence. I was also dumb enough to ask about this one time, and was rewarded with the "girls and boys are differentgirls pick up on subtleties in tone" explanation. I still don't understand.
"Oh, and Lucy was just so peeved about the whole ordeal. It was a nightmare trying to sort out the paperwork on that one. That boy is trouble, I swear"
"And I ran into Heather Pinroyal"
"Heather who?"
"Heather Green, doofus, remember, she married that old guy right out of high school?"
"Oh! Right, right. Barry. Don't they have kids now?"
"Yep, she's got three. And guess what."
"My Lord, is she pregnant again?"
"On the nose, dear."
"Well if I remember the lingerie party correctly, her mother-in-law is probably very, very pleased. Dear me. Do you remember the look on Mrs. Green's face when Heather opened that package? That lingerie was positively scandalous!"
"Why don't the grooms ever get invited to lingerie parties? We're the ones who have to figure out how that stuff works to get it off. It would be helpful if it was explained fully at the party, don't you think Alex?"
"I'm too afraid of my fiance to even askMMPFFF!!" Neither Evie nor Tara allowed us to finish our take on their conversation. We were beaten with pillows.
"Oh, Eve, guess what I brought."
"I dunno, tell me."
"The videos."
"Tara! You didn't! Oh my gosh! I can't believe Nelson let you take them! We have to watch them tonight! After we go out with the boys, that is" Evie amended at my pointed look.
"I know. I figured we'd show Zach here exactly what he misses out on at all of our 4th barbeques."
Ending is in results, loves.
"I know. I figured we'd show Zach here exactly what he misses out on at all of our 4th barbeques."
CCR's Lookin' Out My Back Door is playing in the background
"Looky here girls!" Mrs. Jane hollered as she swung the camera around. Tara, Lanie, Chrissy, and Evie looked over and blew kisses at her. She continued to pan the patio, taking in the decorations and the large banner strung over the patio door. It read: CONGRATULATIONS GIRLS, KNOCK 'EM DEAD! in red, silver, and blue. Apparently, this party was also doubling as a graduation party.
"Mrs. Jane! We have a few words for the camera!" The camera focused back in on the girls, this time without Lanie and Chrissy and with Gregg and me. "Since this is the first time we've been able to get it together and get-together with everyone since graduation," Evie announced as she gestured to all their friends and a few family members in the yard, "I just wanted to commemorate the moment!" Evie and Tara grabbed their plastic cups as if an elaborate toast was about to be made. "All I really wanted to say is that besides the fact that we are now off to kick butt at SOUTHWEST MISSOURI STATE," she paused to allow for the cheers and whooping to die down. "We love you guys so much and we sure are gonna be missin y'all while we're over there. Thank you for everything you've done for all of us! Here's to the class of 2004!" And as everyone else in the picture raised their glasses to toast, Evie and Tara held theirs up high and dumped them on our (mine and Gregg's) unsuspecting heads. We stood there gobsmacked, the girls hopped down off their chairs and pressed kisses to our cheeks and then took off, shrieking and laughing as we chased after them. The camera then strayed to the crowd, and when it found us again, we were enveloping the still shrieking girls in bear hugs. Greg and Eve kissed, as did Tara and I. A voice in the background called out "The dogs are done!" and the camera cut out.
Then, it was dark outside and a few figures were playing with sparklers in the yard.
"I can't believe you got these! I haven't played with sparklers in forever and a day!" Tara's voice called out.
"I don't think I've ever played with any sparklers this big. Who makes three foot sparklers anyhow? ... They are fun though," Eve answered.
Everyone waved at the camera as it panned over them, until a voice in the background rang through and the camera snapped over to the speaker.
"Ummm Tara! Mine's just on fire. Is that good?" Just as Evie finished the question, her sparkler pretty much exploded, generating one shrill shriek and loads of laughter.
"Guess not. ...Who messes up a sparkler?"
"Good Lord. This is why I don't play with fireworks. And that's probably why my parents never bought me any of these big ass things. God. That nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Now do you see why I want you to go to the barbeque?"
"Yes. So you can dump water on me and torture me in front of people." In order to keep Eve from laying into him, Zach turned to me and continued speaking. "How often does she make a fool of herself with her sparkler?"
Evie was making frantic hand motions behind his back, and I tried to stifle a laugh. Tara couldn't manage to hold hers back, and I had to tell Zach the truth. "Well, we never gave her a three-footer after that, but she still manages to cause some sort of small disaster. The year after that, she nearly singed my eyebrows off. Last year she set a leaf that was still attached to a tree on fire, and this year she managed to oomph!" A pillow that Evie had chucked caught me right in the gut, and I couldn't finish my sentence.
"I know where you sleep at night, Alex, and so help me, if you finish that sentence"
Zach was grinning from ear to ear now.
"I wasn't going to tell him! I was just going to say that if he had come to the barbeque, he could have seen for himself what you managed to do." I must say, my face was the picture of perfect innocence, but everyone knew it was a bold faced lie and laughed at my cover story.
A game of Cranium (or three) later, in which Tara and Evie completely annihilated Zach and I, we were all yawning and so tired that we couldn't think straight, much less spell, hum, or sculpt. So we called it quits for the night, and Zach and I headed out for our respective homes.
