Four

"You watched a movie together and you didn't even make out," Olivia stared at me in disbelief, sitting across from me on my bed. "That's bogus, man."

"Bogus?" I questioned. "That was pretty much the first time we hung out. Who makes out the first time they hang out?"

Did people do that? I guess I wouldn't know, anyways. It took me four dates to kiss my last boyfriend, but that was mostly on his end. He was a mormon.

"Do you know how many first dates I've been on, Kate? A lot. And do you know how many times I kissed my date on them? Pretty much all of them. Live a little! You haven't gotten any action for who the hell knows how long." I hate to admit it, but she was right. I always hated feeling like I needed or boy or even wanted one. But I did one want one, this one anyways.

"Fine," I stated. "Next time, I'll kiss him."

"Now that's what I like to hear, I'll drink to that." She held up a bottle of water and then took a sip. "To a new era of man candy for Kate Watson."

"Shut up," I blushed.

***

It was Saturday now, and I contemplated whether I wanted to go out or not. There were plenty of parties every weekend near campus, and I hadn't been in a while. It might feel good to dance out some of the stress I'd been feeling because of school recently. Yeah, I'll go out tonight. Almost immediately after that thought, my phone rang. It was a number I didn't have in my contacts.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Kate! It's Sam. From the coffee shop. Josh gave me your number, hope that's okay," Sam said.

"Oh, so you actually have a cell phone?" I joked. I was confused as to why he'd be calling, I hoped it was about Josh. "And yeah, of course it's okay."

"Yeah, I do. Josh is weird. Anyways, a buddy and I are having a party tonight at my house, and I thought maybe you'd want to come? It's a high school party, so it's pretty lame, but Josh will be here I think. And you can meet some people."

I thought about what a coincidence it was I'd just decided to go out and then invited to a party. This would definitely beat going to a dirty frat house, and I get to see Josh and Sam and their friends. It wouldn't be lame at all. I was only a year out of high school, anyways.

"That sounds fun, yeah, I'll be there. What time you think?" I asked. It was seven right now.

"I mean you can come whenever and hang out, but people are gonna get here around ten. But it's just me and my friend Danny home right now. And my other brother Jake. Everyone else is at work."

It'd be nice to get to know Josh's brothers, and I could always use more friends. Especially ones that lived so conveniently close to me. I agreed to get ready now and come before eight. We said our goodbyes, and I went straight to my closet knowing I was about to face another major outfit dilemma. But, to my surprise, I found something quite quickly.

I slipped on some slightly baggy skinny jeans along with some chunky black boots. To contrast with the bagginess of the jeans, I decided on a tight red tank top that, I must say, made my boobs look pretty great. I left my hair in its naturally wavy state and kept a scrunchie on my wrist in case I got hot later dancing. With that, it was 7:45 and I was out the door.

I typed the address Sam gave me into the map app on my phone, and turns out they were even closer to me than I expected. The walk was two minutes, the closet thing to a neighbor you can get when you live up here. Their house was a lot bigger than mine. It was a two-story with at least a dozen huge, tall windows. It looked almost like a glass house. There was a light on upstairs, and I saw the silhouette of someone that looked like Sam notice I'd been standing there staring at the house and wave at me. They pointed down and disappeared. I'd assumed they'd be meeting me at the door. I waited until it finally opened.

"Hey, come in. You must be Kate. I'm Jake," he smiled. He looked extremely similar to Josh, and I said to him how uncanny the family resemblance was. He chuckled, "Twins."

"Oh, makes more sense." I looked around. The whole place was really well-decorated. It looked like a high school party would destroy a lot of the expensive-looking stuff they had. "Your house is really nice."

Jake started walking towards the stairs, and I followed. "Thanks, mom's big on HGTV so she knows how to decorate. Speaking of, we have a lot of shit to put away before tonight so nothing breaks." We reached a hallway with five doors which I assumed was all of their bedrooms. "This is Sam's room."

He opened the door and Sam immediately saw me and grinned, "Kate, hey." He was sat on his bed, and a tall guy with long dark hair was in a swiveling desk chair next to him. "This is my best friend Danny."

I shook his hand, "Hi. Nice to meet you." I realized what music was playing from the record player in the corner. "Are you spinning Howlin' Wolf?"

"I like this girl already," Danny smirked.

We spent the next couple of hours sitting in a circle talking about music and anything else that came to mind. They seemed really genuine, and I thought we could all really be friends. I hoped we would be. Then my phone rang.

"Olivia," I said into the phone. "What's up?"

"What's up? Seriously, Kate. I've been texting you nonstop for an hour. What's the move tonight?"

I looked to the guys, mouthed "I'll be right back", and stepped into the hall to talk.

"I'm actually at Josh, Sam, and Jake's house. They invited me to a party, you should come." I knew they wouldn't mind me inviting her.

"Duh, send me the addy and I'll be there in ten," she said. "Are his brothers hot? Have you kissed?"

"Josh isn't here right now. And just come see for yourself."

Now that I thought about it, Sam and Jake were attractive. And, honestly, so was Danny, but he said he had a girlfriend. As far as I knew, Jake and Sam were fair game for her, although I'm not sure how she'd feel about a high school guy, so Jake might be her only option.

"On my way," she said and hung up without a goodbye.

I entered back into Sam's room, "I invited my best friend, I hope that's okay."

"Of course," Sam said.

Then Jake chimed in, "Is she hot?"

"Funny, she asked the same thing about you guys," I laughed.

That's when the bedroom door swung open and my eye's met Josh's.

"I can't believe you guys are hanging out without me," he made an exaggerated pouty face. "I got the booze, though."