Jen approached her friends who were talking loudly and seemed to be enjoying themselves.
"Hey you guys" Jen said as she went to stand between Rachel and Nancy.
"You finally got separated from your lover" Laura said in amus.e.m.e.nt as she handed Jen a gla.s.s of vodka on the rocks which was ironically served in a whisky gla.s.s.
Jen smiled in thanks as she took the gla.s.s from Laura. When she placed the gla.s.s on her lips she realised that she hadn"t eaten since lunch. With a frown she placed the gla.s.s back on the counter.
"What is it?" Rachel asked worriedly.
"I need to eat if I plan on not being a total idiot tonight" Jen said sheepishly.
"I should have probably thought of that before I guzzled three gla.s.ses of whisky" Laura complained when she realised that she also hadn"t had much to eat all day.
"You guys stay here, I"ll go get some food" Rachel offered as she stood from the barstool. She did not drink much so she was the only one holding a gla.s.s of orange juice among all of them.
"Let"s go together" Nancy offered and followed Rachel to the table that was some distance away to get food.
"So what have you two been up to?" Jen asked curiously since she pretty much lost everyone once they arrived at the estate, which as much as she did not expect it, it made sense since she was being hogged by Lucas.
"I went for a swim after the whole Rachel situation" Laura said as she swirled the whisky in her gla.s.s.
"Oh you swam alright" Leanna said and laughed when she saw Laura"s face turn red.
"Why what happened?" Jen asked sitting on the barstool that was occupied by Rachel.
"Well, we saw her-" Leanna started but got her mouth blocked off by Laura whose face was completely red.
"Why what did you see" Jen asked after pulling Laura away from Leanna.
"She was with J-"
"Please don"t" Laura begged since she knew she wouldn"t hear the end of it from Jen.
"Who?" Jen continued pus.h.i.+ng but before Leanna could continue another splash in the pool was heard.
When the three girls turned, unexpectedly the one in the pool was James. His s.h.i.+rt had floated away and he stood in the pool his upper body completely exposed a fierce wolf tattoo showing on his ribcage. It was completely black except for the grey coloured eyes on its face.
James pushed his hair away from his face with one hand and it slickly flowed down his back. Jason who had been messing around with him could fill a s.h.i.+ver go down his spine and worriedly looked at James. Fortunately for him, James had been drinking and he was in a good mood. When he saw Jason"s worried face he couldn"t even get angry and laughed instead.
"Where"s my s.h.i.+rt?" he mumbled to himself when he realised his upper body wasn"t covered anymore.
He turned to look for it and coincidentally his eyes met Laura"s who had been staring at him for a while. He smiled at her and gave her a wink that was not so subtle. Jen checked who he was looking at and saw Laura"s face that had gone so red it looked like it would drip blood.
"No way" Jen said incredulously. It seemed that Laura had met her match, although it was a completely unexpected person. Jen"s smile suddenly turned into a frown when she realised that this birthday party had suddenly turned into a matchmaking party.
"Did you and Nancy also meet anyone?" Jen asked Leanna but Leanna was tight lipped. She was glad that Nancy was not around because Nancy would have fessed up to everything.
"Anyways, we found Laura and James by the pool when we were walking around, and they were-" Leanna continued but her mouth was blocked once more by Laura.
"How can you throw me under the bus so shamelessly?" Laura complained.
"Fine I won"t say anything" Leanna said raising her hands in surrender and she was finally released by Laura.
"Guys, let"s go eat" Nancy said as she approached them at the bar. She pointed at a large round table that was being loaded with food by a couple of servers.
Nancy had thought that they were going to be carrying the food themselves and was surprised when Rachel rounded up a couple of servers as they walked to the buffet before loading them up with food.
If she had gone, she would have probably done it herself. She was not used to the kind of atmosphere the place had but she did not mind it much since everyone was getting along.
The five girls went to settle at the table and started eating, not long after, Lucas went to the table to say hi and before they knew it their table was packed. Jen looked at Lucas in complaint as he was interrupting her meal but he only smiled sheepishly but made no move to leave.
Jen was talking animatedly with Jason and his old friends and only realised after some time that they were all seated. Where had her friends gone? She turned and glared at Lucas once again but he only shrugged his shoulders like he had nothing to do with it.
When Jen wanted to stand up and go look for them, she was pulled by Lucas and landed on his lap. Before she could say anything she was interrupted by Jason.
"Well that"s our cue boys, let"s go" James said and before could count to three, only she and Lucas were left on the table.
"Where are the girls?" Jen asked.
"You were obviously hogging them, let them mingle" Lucas coaxed as he placed his chin on her shoulder.
"It"s not like they are kids right?" Lucas said and pulled her to sit snugly against him.
"But-"
"No buts, you can see that they are fine" Lucas said as he pointed at them.
They were in the pool messing around with the guys with the exception of Rachel who was sitting on one of the lounge chairs looking at them splash each other with water with a smile on her friends.
"You don"t always have to hover" Lucas said and kissed her neck.
"Shouldn"t you be listening to your own advice?" Jen asked as she turned to look at him with a gaze filled with irony.
"But you are so hard to resist" Lucas flirted and left a peck on her lips. They were pretty secluded so Jen was not pus.h.i.+ng him away.
"You"ll have to learn restraint then" Jen said and stood up from his lap and walked to the pool fully conscious that Lucas" eyes were following her.
Jen stood next to the pool and opened the b.u.t.ton of her shorts. Lucas only had a view of her back so he did not know what she was doing until she was pulling down her shorts. An action that was shortly followed by whistling and shouting by the people in the pool.
Lucas was glad he was the only one who saw the rear view, he knew she was teasing him when she provocatively wriggled her behind at him as she was pulling down her shorts.
Lucas smiled at her when she turned to look at him from the pool with his eyes filled promise and her"s filled with provocation.