Chapter 4: The Party

Chloe was glad she and her parents could work something out for her birthday. Before going out to what ended up being more of an early dinner, they had given her their big birthday gift: a brand-new computer for college.

Her father had proudly listed off all kinds of statistics about its memory, graphics, and processor speed, which she didn’t fully grasp but that he clearly found impressive. Regardless, it sounded pretty top-of-the-line. She also felt a sense of relief, as she had not given much thought to the fact that she would need a new computer for college, and that problem was now solved.

Her parents took her to one of the top Italian restaurants in town for dinner. It was one of those places where "if you have to ask how much it is, the answer is too much." This wasn’t your Olive Garden fare or even the sort of greasy but still tasty fare one would get at a “better” Italian restaurant one might normally go to. This food was marvelous. Chloe had to watch to keep from overstuffing herself, especially as she wanted to try one of the desserts. She ended up sending a take-home box back home with her parents with half of her uneaten dinner so that she could enjoy dessert. She looked forward to eating the other half of her dinner the next day.

She may have had issues with her parents at times, but it was at times like this that she knew they still deeply cared for her, and while she may disagree with a lot of their worldviews, she still felt an obligation to respect them nonetheless.

Chloe spent as much time with her parents celebrating and opening presents as she could before it was finally time for her to go to Madison’s house. She hugged her parents, thanking them for such a wonderful afternoon and the impressive gift. She then left and got to her car, in which she had already sneakily put a bag containing her swimsuit. She had been able to sneak the bag out to the car while her parents were getting ready to go out to eat, and Chloe knew this was the best way for them to not ask any questions. To not be too suspicious, she did grab a pair of pajamas, a change of clothes, and some personal items on her way out to the car since this was going to be a sleepover party and her parents might wonder why she wasn’t bringing anything with her.

After waving her parents goodbye from the car, Chloe headed out for the evening. After a short drive, she found herself pulling into the driveway of a large brick house, which somewhat reminded her of the house in Home Alone. This was, of course, Madison’s house. Although she had been there before, it always made her wonder what it would be like to live there. Chloe couldn’t imagine what Madison’s family could even do with such a large house.

Once parked, Chloe grabbed the bag containing her pajamas and change of clothes, tossed the bag containing her swimsuit into it and walked towards the front door. However, before she could even get there, Madison threw the door open, her face beaming.

“Glad you could make it!” Madison beamed, letting Chloe inside. Chloe was the most overdressed person there, still wearing the dress she wore from going out to dinner earlier. Madison, meanwhile, wore a black, off-the-shoulder knitted crop top and short black shorts. Chloe was half-surprised that Madison wasn’t already in her swimsuit.

“You look absolutely stunning!” a voice from inside the house commented. Chloe recognized the voice and turned to see another one of her friends, Morgan, standing there smiling. Morgan had red hair, tied up into a bun, blue eyes, and a lot of freckles. She was wearing a simple yellow and blue summer dress.

Chloe scampered over and hugged Morgan. “Thank you. I've had a wonderful time already today,” she added with a beaming smile.

“I hope you didn’t use up your entire quota of fun,” Morgan grinned.

“Hey, what about me!?” another voice called out before joining to make it a three-way hug.

“Kat!” exclaimed Chloe, taking the brunt of the girl’s impact into the hug.

“Sorry. Just too excited,” Kat laughed.

Kat, or Katherine, was the other girl in Chloe’s friend group. She had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a black miniskirt and a white blouse.

“I’d offer you a drink, but Madison hasn’t broken out the booze yet,” came yet another voice, this one from a boy. Chloe broke off the hug and turned to look at Jason.

Jason was perhaps the oddest one out in the friend group. He was handsome and had been a member of the school’s soccer team. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and he was wearing a pair of jogger shorts and a Beatles T-shirt.

Many of the other girls at school gnashed their teeth in jealousy that he spent most of his time hanging out with Chloe and her friends. Indeed, Jason could probably hang out with whomever he wished to. But he, Chloe, and Madison had been friends since elementary school, and there was nothing that had caused him to feel like he needed or wanted to break up that trio. Sure, he had his fellow soccer buddies he would hang out with occasionally, but when it came to his core friend group, it was this one.

However, there was a bit of a truce between all the girls regarding Jason. Chloe thought he was attractive, and if he had asked her out, she’d probably say yes. But this was true of all the girls. So, there was an informal, unspoken arrangement that as long as he was part of the general friend group, they would all stay that—friends—and not date.

“Silly, we still have soda. That’s a drink,” Madison reacted to Jason with a laugh. “We even have root beer!” she added, holding up a bottle of the drink. “That counts, right?”

Chloe had to laugh a little at Jason’s failed attempt to flirt with her and then being called out on it by Madison. He took the receiving end of a lot of teasing, but seemed completely fine with that arrangement, given he was allowed to hang out with a group of beautiful women who would invite him to events like swim parties. After all, Chloe figured that if he wanted a really fun night out, there would be no shortage of other girls willing to give him one.

“Is Noah here yet?” Chloe inquired, noticing there was still one person left that she hadn’t seen.

“Oh yeah, he’s over there,” Jason said, pointing to another boy sitting on a couch in the living room, who sheepishly waved back at Chloe.

“How are ya doing?” Chloe asked, walking over and sitting next to Noah.

“I’m doing good. Morgan is right, you do look ... fantastic,” he sheepishly remarked with a bit of a blush.

Noah was the person in her friend group Chloe could identify with the most. He had a similar upbringing and was fairly reserved and unsure of himself, much like she was. He had been teased quite a bit by the other boys at school, which had pushed him towards associating with some of the girls a bit more. From there, he slowly became a part of her friend group throughout high school, much to the dismay of the boys who had made it a habit to rag on him.

Noah wasn’t as good-looking as Jason, but he still wasn’t bad, Chloe thought. He was tall—over six feet—and a member of the basketball team, although not exactly one of the stars. He had brown hair and green eyes, and was somewhat lanky. He was also wearing shorts and a striped T-shirt.

“Thank you,” Chloe sheepishly smiled, blushing a bit herself. "But, I think I should probably switch it out for something more appropriate. But I'm glad you like it," she added as she stood back up and gave Noah a few angles of her wearing the dress. Noah blushed even harder and darted his eyes away occasionally to keep himself from staring.

Chloe flashed him a slight smile before walking back towards the entrance where she had left her bag. “I’m going to go change,” she remarked, grabbing the bag and entering one of the nearby bathrooms.

Once there, she took out a plastic hanger that was in the bag and hung it on the door before unzipping and slipping off her dress, trying to be careful not to let too much of it touch the floor as she didn’t want it to get too dirty. She was half tempted to just leave it on since everyone seemed to think it looked so good on her, but she decided she should change into something a bit more comfortable and appropriate for the night.

She hung the dress on a hook on the bathroom door, making a mental note that this was where she left it. She then unhooked and slid off her bra and panties, and stuffed them into the bag while grabbing both her swimsuit and her change of clothes.

She once again looked at herself a bit in the mirror. She was eighteen now, but she didn’t seem to look any different from a couple of days ago. Of course, she knew that was to be expected, but she was still a bit disappointed that there wasn’t something more obvious that changed come the day.

She then slipped on her bikini bottoms. However, before she could get farther, she suddenly felt someone hug her from behind.

“Aww, those are grannie bottoms. I was hoping you’d be more adventurous!” Madison half-whispered into her ear from behind.

“Madison!” Chloe exclaimed while also trying to be quiet. She instinctively moved her arms so that they blocked any view of her breasts, then glanced behind her. She felt relief upon seeing that Madison had at least quietly closed the bathroom door behind her while sneaking up on her.

“I almost wish you had worn it under your dress. Do you know how sexy it would have been for you to slip that off in front of everyone?” Madison spoke with a hint of sultriness in her voice. As she spoke, Chloe could feel her breath in her ear.

“Madison!” Chloe exclaimed again, although this time she was a bit more flustered, blushing pretty hard from embarrassment. The thought actually kind of enticed her, but she put it out of her head almost as soon as it entered. Madison might get off on doing something like that, but she didn’t!

Madison then let go of her and chuckled. “You’re so easy to get worked up. But you also don’t recognize your potential. You could get guys to go crazy over you if you wanted to.”

Madison then gently tapped her fingertips down Chloe's side, causing a chill to run up her body. Chloe gave out a little yelp. She could see Madison’s wry smile in the mirror as she did this. 

“Anyway, I’ll let you finish changing,” Madison concluded with another smirk before slipping back out of the bathroom.

Chloe sighed and shook her head. Madison was already getting up to trouble, and this was before the booze had been opened and the sun had set. She was going to be near uncontrollable later.

She quickly put on her bikini top, then slipped on a pair of blue jean shorts and a boyfriend shirt. Even these clothes probably would be too scandalous for her parents, but on this point, she would just roll her eyes. There was nothing particularly revealing about this outfit, other than that it perhaps showed more skin than someone wearing a burka. As good as it felt to be complimented in her black dress, she was glad she had opted for actual comfortable clothes to change into.

She exited the bathroom, whereupon she saw Madison sitting on her knees on one of the sofas, holding up a bottle of wine. “May the party begin!” Madison yelled, to the whooping and clapping of those in attendance.

Chloe just smiled and shook her head slightly. She knew Madison. She was going to try to get Chloe to push her boundaries, but she also knew how to have a good time.

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Chapter 5: Opening Presents

Chloe thought the first hour or so of the party was surprisingly subdued, as the first signs of the sun setting started to appear in the sky. The night so far mostly consisted of snacking and light drinking, along with a few rounds of charades. One particular round had Chloe having to try to act out the word “quicksand” to her befuddled teammates, Morgan and Noah, as Chloe futilely flailed in the air trying to act out the word.

Once everyone had acted out a couple of rounds, the group got around to the business of presents for Chloe.

“I think it’s time for us to honor our guest with our blessings!” Madison declared before walking over and opening a closet, picking up a stack of wrapped packages, and setting them down on a table in the middle of the living room. Chloe took a seat on the couch nearest to the table, next to Noah while everyone else took seats nearby.

Chloe sighed and rubbed her hands together as she assessed the packages, deciding which one she wanted to open first. She finally settled on one that came as a small, wrapped box with pretty standard colorful “Happy Birthday” wrapping paper on it. She took a look at the tag on it, but she could already tell from the fidgeting that Morgan started doing that the gift was from her.

Chloe ripped off the wrapping paper to reveal a small box with a picture of a coffee cup on it. Chloe opened the box and pulled out the cup to make sure what was inside matched the packaging. It was a white cup with “OMG I’m an Adult Now!” written on it in colorful and zany lettering. She let out a chuckle.

“I thought it seemed pretty appropriate,” Morgan commented with a smile.

“Yeah, it is. I like it, thank you,” Chloe smiled. She then held the cup up for all to see. Everyone else gave a little chuckle as well once they saw what it was. Of course, the whole point of the party was that Chloe was the last one of them to actually turn eighteen and so everyone seemed to appreciate it as a very appropriate gift.

“I’ve never been much of a coffee drinker, but I guess now that I’m an adult now, maybe I should try,” Chloe joked, as she placed the cup back into the box and set it aside. She then scrunched the wrapping paper up into a ball and tossed it at Madison.

“Catch!” Chloe mischievously grinned. Madison, while a bit surprised, was able to catch the slowly moving wad of paper, and returned the smile.

“You know, you could always just drink hot chocolate or something in it too,” Madison reminded her.

“Yeah, I suppose so. I’m sure I’ll find a use for it,” Chloe replied, taking another look at the box. “Thank you again, Morgan.” She actually liked Madison's hot chocolate idea. She was going to have to figure out an excuse to drink out of it once she got back home.

Chloe then decided on the next package to open. It was a smaller box, and she could tell from the less feminine-looking wrapping paper that it was likely from Jason, a suspicion that was confirmed when she checked the tag.

Chloe ripped off the paper and cut the thankfully easy-to-cut tape with her nails to reveal what she thought at first was just a regular beanie hat.

“No, read the full tag,” Jason urged as Chloe examined it.

“Oh!” Chloe exclaimed after reading the full description of the item. “Bluetooth beanie hat with headphones,” she read the description of the package out loud. “I didn’t even know these were a thing. Thank you,” Chloe smiled, as she continued to inspect the item. Jason smiled with approval now that it seemed clear Chloe liked the gift.

Chloe slipped it onto her head to see how it fit and felt and then looked around at everyone to see what they thought. This was met with head nods of approval and a couple of approving comments. Chloe liked how it felt and could definitely see herself using it.

“I figured once it got cold, you could find it useful. You could probably use it before Christmas anyway, which would be the next chance I’d have to give it to you,” Jason added.

“Yes, thank you. I can definitely see putting this to good use.” Chloe smiled. She removed the item from her head and once again carefully put the present back into the box, setting it next to the coffee cup on the table.

The next package Chloe decided to open was a bag, tied closed with a ribbon. She guessed this one was from Kat, who appeared to get nervous when Chloe grabbed it. Once again, the tag confirmed her guess. Chloe untied the ribbon and opened the bag. She then pulled out the package, looked at it, and got a big smile on her face.

“Thank you, I’ll try to remember,” she remarked, as she held it up for everyone else to see. It was a sign to hang on a door that read “Sometimes You Forget You’re Awesome, So This is Your Reminder” across the top and bottom, with a whiteboard in the middle for people to scrawl on.

“Damn right!” Madison added, giving a wink and a smile to Kat in the process.

“Useful for a dorm room door too. Thanks!” Chloe appreciated, smiling at Kat. Chloe then removed the attached pen and wrote in big, flourishing letters “Thank You!” on the whiteboard and showed it to the group, who responded with some happy claps, before Chloe set it down on top of the beanie hat box.

Next, Chloe grabbed what was the bigger of the last two remaining packages. She looked at the tag and saw this one was from Noah, who appeared to start blushing slightly when Chloe looked over at him upon seeing that the package was from him.

She unwrapped the box, which had pretty straightforward red wrapping paper, and opened it—again thankful the tape was not very strong. She then found two things inside, both individually wrapped themselves.

“Great, more work,” Chloe joked, taking the two items out of the original box and holding them up for people to see.

“Noah’s just playing hard to get,” Madison grinned, which elicited a look of consternation from Noah in return. Madison glanced back towards Noah and winked as Chloe started to unwrap the contents.

The first item was fairly small. Chloe unwrapped it and found that it was a key chain with her graduation year on it, as well as a small plaque that had “Be Strong. Be Brave. Be Humble. Be Badass. Everyday.” engraved on it.

“Aww, thank you,” Chloe fawned. She leaned over and hugged Noah before holding the plaque up for everyone to see. She then handed it over to Madison so she could get a closer look at it and pass it around the room. Noah blushed again, displaying a nervous smile.

Next, Chloe unwrapped a small book. “Uh oh,” Chloe remarked with a small laugh as she looked at the cover, which simply said “I wrote a book about you” on it. Chloe held up the front of the book for everyone to see, eliciting slight laughs, and an even bigger blush from Noah.

She started thumbing through the book. It was a book with pages with pre-printed messages but a place for the giver to fill in the blanks. Chloe started to read it out aloud:

“It’s kind of crazy how kind you are, you don’t even have to try.”

“You are always effortlessly elegant.”

“I know it doesn’t qualify as a superpower, but your ability to make everyone smile is still pretty remarkable.”

“If you were an animal, you would be a swan. If you were a color, you would be blue. If you were a soup, you’d be chicken noodle.”

“Of course, the most amazing thing about you is you’ve always been a great friend to me.”

Reading through it, Chloe started to tear up a bit, with everyone else giving off “awwws” as each line was read. Once she was done, Chloe stood up.

“C’mon, stand up,” she beckoned Noah, with some tears in her eyes. Once he did, she wrapped him up in a tight hug.

“I’m sure it’s not as exciting as everything else …” Noah sheepishly remarked, unsure of his gift choice.

“No, no, it’s wonderful. You are so sweet,” Chloe expressed, kissing him on the cheek, before handing the book to Madison to look at and start passing around as well. Chloe felt her chest tighten. Noah was always so nice to her. She felt like sometimes she didn’t always return the appreciation as much as she should, and she wanted to make sure she did.

Chloe grabbed a Kleenex and wiped a couple of stray tears from her eyes before she sat back down and looked at the last package. She had saved this one for last on purpose—the gift from Madison.

She was both very curious and very apprehensive about what was inside. Madison’s emerging smirk once she saw Chloe stare at it wasn’t helping things.

Finally, Chloe grabbed the box and opened it. Inside was a box that had “Happy Birthday” on it and what looked like a book with some gift wrapping around it.

“Open the box last,” Madison asserted, raising Chloe’s suspicion level even higher. Nevertheless, she set the box aside and tore the wrapping from the book.

“Of course,” Chloe quipped with a bit of a sigh. It was a book called “Eat a Bag of Dicks: A Swear Word Coloring Book for Adults.” Chloe held it up for everyone else to see. Everyone else had a good laugh, but Madison was outright cackling.

Chloe then turned to a random page then face-palmed while shaking her head. She held it up for everyone to see: a page that looked like a normal coloring book until you noticed the words “Cock Sucker” in the middle of the page. Everyone gave another good laugh, with Madison now turning red from laughter.

“You know I’m going to have to find some way to smuggle this into my house, right?” Chloe lamented. She did start betraying a smile, however, showing that she did find it humorous herself after all.

Chloe set the book aside. “Now, I’m super concerned about this one,” Chloe commented, picking up the box. Madison could hardly hold her snickering.

“What’s in the box?” Madison whispered loudly, drawing out the vowel to mimic the scene in the referenced movie, to chuckles from the others present. Chloe just flashed her a half-annoyed look before opening it up and looking at what was inside.

Upon seeing the gift, she didn’t know what to think. She didn’t intentionally have any particular look on her face, but whatever look she did have, it must have been amazing as everyone started giggling just looking at her reaction.

“Well...” Chloe started, letting out a little cough. “It’s not a bag of dicks, but …” she groaned as she presented the box to the group: it was a blue box with a plastic window on it, displaying a 6-inch long, very detailed, chocolate penis.

“And you will be enjoying that before the night is over,” Madison added, still trying to keep from busting out laughing.

“Thanks, I guess?” Chloe mumbled, still showing off the gift. She didn’t know why she should have expected anything else from Madison. She figured it would be something like this, but it still somehow ended up being more vulgar than even she had expected. She still couldn’t help but internally laugh a little bit over the absurdity of the present, though.

“Thank you, everyone, except Madison, for your gifts,” Chloe then concluded, flashing a smile as she set down the chocolate dick box.

“Hey!” Madison jokingly protested.

“Eat a bag of dicks, Madison,” Chloe retorted, causing everyone, including herself, to laugh. Chloe then collected her gifts—except the chocolate dick, which Madison grabbed herself, presumably for safekeeping—and carried them into the bathroom to deposit into the bag she had brought before finally returning to the group in the living room.

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Chapter 6: The Pool

“Does this mean it’s pool time?” Jason interjected with a bit of a laugh upon Chloe’s return.

“Oh, you would want to get to that, wouldn’t you?” Morgan jokingly scolded him.

Madison stood up. “I think it’s a fine idea before we get too smashed to be able to do it later,” she chuckled. She then pulled off her shirt revealing a black bikini top with strings tied behind her back and neck which displayed plenty of cleavage. Chloe thought she could almost see Jason and Noah’s eyes briefly pop out of their heads.

Jason let out a whistle. “Mighty fine, Madison, I have to say,” he grinned.

“Just wait for the rest of the girls. Try not to get a nosebleed,” Madison laughed as she threw the shirt on her now vacant chair, before pushing down her shorts to reveal black bikini bottoms, with the front and back connected by strings on either side of her.

“Last one to the pool has to clean the house!” Madison suddenly yelled, before throwing her shorts onto the chair, bolting out the back sliding door, and launching herself into the pool.

“Well shit, then!” Jason declared as he pulled off his shirt, revealing a well-chiseled chest, and slid off his shorts revealing swim trunks underneath with a surfboard pattern on them. “Like hell I’m going to be responsible for that,” he added before running after Madison and diving into the pool as well.

The rest stood there for a moment, amused, as they watched Madison splash water at Jason in the pool.

“I guess we should join them …” Kat remarked with a little laugh, and the remaining four people started slipping off their clothes, revealing their swimsuits.

Morgan wore a fairly standard bikini, which was black with patterned palm trees on it, which were colored from dark pink to yellow in a gradient. It wasn’t as showy as Madison’s by any means, partly because she didn’t have Madison's abundant assets. Nevertheless, it still highlighted her figure pretty well.

Kat wore a high-neck top with a flower design and navy bottoms. She was about as busty as Chloe, although her suit hid it quite a bit. It was certainly the most conservative suit out of the other three girls, although still not as conservative as Chloe’s swimsuit.

Noah wore simple black board shorts. Nice and simple, Chloe thought. Boys usually had it pretty easy in the swimsuit department. Not only did they only have to worry about one piece, but most of the time the option came down to the pattern on the shorts and not the style of the shorts.

Chloe also slid off her shirt and shorts, revealing her brand-new bikini to the group for the first time.

“You—you look good,” Noah nervously complimented to Chloe.

“Thank you. I was nervous getting this, but I’m glad I did,” Chloe blushed. She gave a couple of minor poses to show her suit off.

The four then walked out to the pool together where Jason and Madison were swimming and chatting.

“It took you guys long enough,” Madison remarked with a grin. Then suddenly she got a look of realization on her face. “Just a second! I mean, go ahead and get in the pool, but I’ll be right back.”

Madison climbed out of the pool and walked over to a nearby shed. Meanwhile, Chloe and the others jumped into the pool and started splashing around and laughing. Soon, Madison was back, holding something that Chloe thought looked something like a plastic egg.

“Behold!” Madison announced, holding it up and pushing some buttons. Shortly, the device was playing music, and the bottom half started slowly changing colors. Madison then tossed the device into the pool where it wouldn’t hit anyone.

“Are you sure that’s alright?” Kat asked, curiously.

“It’s alright. It’s a waterproof Bluetooth speaker. I almost forgot we had it! Also …” Madison scrambled back to the shed and grabbed a roll of something. But it soon became clear what it was.

“Can someone throw this to the other side?” Madison asked as she threw one end of what was an unrolled net onto the pool, then set up one end of the net where she was standing, then walked around and set up the other end of the net where Jason had grabbed and tossed it out of the pool. She then grabbed a beach ball and threw it into the pool before jumping in herself once again.

Soon, they had split into two teams for a game of pool volleyball: Chloe, Madison, and Jason on one team and Morgan, Kat, and Noah on the other. Chloe largely had no idea what she was doing, but she tried her best to swim around the pool and be helpful while Madison and Jason did most of the work. Madison in particular was pretty good at playing.

“C’mon, Jason, I thought you’d be a lot better with all of those muscles and everything!” Madison teased him at one point after he mishit the ball and it floated out of the pool.

“I’m better at hitting balls with my feet, not my hands!” he laughed as he slipped out of the pool just long enough to retrieve the escaped ball.

“Mmm, I might want to watch you playing with some balls with your hands,” Madison grinned, resulting in Jason just shaking his head at her. Chloe swam in place, oblivious to the joke Madison had just made. “Just don’t try to hit the ball behind us like Chloe does,” Madison then turned and grinned towards Chloe.

“I’m new at this!” Chloe protested, before being tossed the ball, as it was her turn to serve.

Chloe did eventually get a bit better, and the teams ended up being pretty evenly matched. Both Chloe and Morgan were struggling to help their teams while Madison and Noah were the clear experts on their teams. Jason and Kat ended up being fairly comparable players to each other as well.

It didn’t take too long before they all stopped caring what the score was and just had fun hitting the ball to each other. After all, the point was to have fun and not win, anyway. The sun set as they continued to play and the lights outside the house and in the pool turned on. Chloe thought being lit from underneath in the pool created a curious effect that she found interesting.

Finally, the group decided to take a break, getting out of the pool and taking a rest.

“I have to say, this has been a blast so far,” Chloe beamed as she sat on the edge of the pool, her legs dangling in the water as the speaker still blared out music. “That was a lot of fun.”

“See! I told you that you’d have a lot of fun,” Madison glowed as she walked around the edge of the pool back towards the shed. “But now that it has gotten dark out, the real fun can begin,” she added with a smirk.

“Oh please, you’ve already gotten me enough dirty things as it is,” Chloe laughed in response. A slight blush also lit her face, although it was too dark for anyone to tell.

“Hey Jason, why don’t you get us some more wine and some glasses? I think it’s time we got situated in the hot tub,” Madison then declared.

“Oh hell yeah, I’ll get us more of the good stuff,” Jason approved, sitting up from the edge of the pool and making his way into the house.

“Okay, everyone else get into the hot tub, and I’ll join you in a minute. It should be plenty big for everyone,” Madison motioned towards the nearby hot tub before she started rummaging in the shed again.

Chloe stood up and walked over to the hot tub. She was about to look to see how one turned it on when it suddenly started automatically. Maybe there was a control inside the house that Jason had turned on while he was there? Or maybe it just turns on when someone is close enough? In any case, Chloe stuck her foot in.

“It’ll get warm soon enough,” Morgan remarked as she stepped in and sat down. “Ah, that’s the spot,” she chortled, half to herself, as a jet of water was massaging her back under the water.

Chloe then joined Morgan in the hot tub, soon followed by Noah and Kat. Soon Jason returned carrying a tray with a bottle of wine and six glasses.

“Pray that I don’t break any of this,” he joked as he gingerly set it down next to the hot tub and slid in himself. 

Chloe found herself sitting between Morgan and Noah, with Katherine and Jason sitting on the other side of them, all roughly evenly spaced around the hot tub, leaving a space for Madison between Jason and Morgan.

Chloe could feel herself getting more relaxed, the water warming her up and the jets blowing by her. Soon she heard smacks of wet feet on concrete indicating Madison was walking back to where they were.

“Well, what are you waiting for, dummy? Pour out the good stuff,” she fake-frowned down at Jason.

“Oh, yeah, uh, of course …” he blustered as he started pouring out wine into the glasses and handing them out to the others.

She then revealed what she had been rummaging from the shed: a flat, circular table that looked like it was designed to float between everyone in the hot tub and a deck of waterproof playing cards.

“Time for a card game!” she exclaimed before setting the items down next to the hot tub and getting in herself.