The next morning, I woke up in the same position. I shifted myself so I could look up at Brian, who was still sound asleep. I kissed his forehead softly and attempted to get up. His arms tightened around my waist as I moved.
"How long have you been awake?" I asked him. He shrugged, not opening his eyes. I laid back down and looked at him. "Did I wake you?" He shrugged, eyes still closed. I moved closer and kissed him softly. His arms, again, tightened around my waist and he returned the kiss forcefully. When we broke apart, he finally opened his eyes. He looked at me, his eyes shining. "Good morning," I said.
"Definitely a good morning," he said. "I'm staying in this spot forever."
"Well, you'll be here alone," I said, trying to wiggle my way out of his strong embrace. "I've gotta . . . get things . . . ready . . . for . . . Jess." When I finally got out of his embrace, I stood in front of him, just out of his reach. "You are too strange."
"But that's why you love me, right?" he asked, hopefully.
"No, that's not the reason I love you," I said. "Just an unlucky addition." He got up quickly and started chasing me around the house. When we stopped fooling, I threw on a baby-blue tank-top and black, cut-off, hipster shorts. I made sure the guest bedroom was in order and opened the windows, letting some air in. When the doorbell rang at a quarter-to-twelve, I opened it to find Jessica standing there, three bags in hand.
"Alex!" she exclaimed, dropping all of her bags and hugging me. I hugged her back and picked up a bag.
"And just how long are you planning on staying?" I asked.
"I don't know," she said, truthfully. "My ticket is exchangeable. Besides, the hanging bag is some outfits I made for you and the little bag is something I found that I thought you might want to get a look at. I also have a surprise for you." We lugged all of the bags up the steps and into the guest room. As we set the bags down, Brian walked in wearing Jean shorts and a black shirt.
"Men," Jessica said, shaking her head. "Never there when you need 'em." "What?" Brian asked. I rolled my eyes. "Did you guys plan this?"
"Plan what?" we asked in unison. It's a twin thing.
"Look at your outfits." I looked at Jessica, who had on the exact same outfit as me with the colors were switched. We just shrugged.
"So," I said to Jess as the three of us sat on her bed, "what is it you wanted to show me?"
"Which do you want first: the bag of outfits, the big surprise, or the paper?" she asked.
"How 'bout you give her two now and save the best for last?" Brian suggested. I elbowed him lightly in the stomach.
"For once, the male species has a good idea," Jessica said, "but that doesn't exactly mean I'm gonna use it." I laughed while Brian gave me the puppy face. "Okay, here's the first one." She opened the hanging bag that I had laid on the bed. First, she pulled out a short, purple satin dress that had a black velvet zig-zag going diagonal across the front, which started out thick at the bottom and got thinner until it reached the shoulder at a point. Next, she pulled out a long, baby-blue gown. It was a shear material with an attached slip underneath it. It had a scoop neck and the back was beaded up completely with royal-blue beads. Then she pulled out a pair of silver pants that flared a little at the bottom. They had blue pockets by the ankles and on the hips. The last thing she pulled out was a green, sued skirt. It was knee length, but had a slit on either side that went half-way up.
"Jess, I love them!" I said.
"Good, because they're for you," she said. "Think of them as a late birthday present."
"But you already gave me that diamond drop necklace and the framed picture of you, me, and Steven from the cruise."
"And you got me that silver Maxima, but when you advertised my clothing on the American Music Awards, my sales went up by sixty-five percent," she said. "So, if I keep giving you clothes and you keep advertising them, we'll be even."
"Works for me," I said, laughing.
"The other surprise is something I really hope you'll like," Jessica said.
"What is it?" Brian asked.
"You," she said, pointing to him, "have to leave the room for it."
"Do I have to?" Brian whined. Jessica nodded and Brian trudged out of the room. I kicked him on the butt on his way out and shut the door.
"Okay, what is it?" I asked. Jessica went to the other hanging bag and hung it on the hook on the back of the door just in case Brian came in. She unzipped the bag and took out a plastic bag. She opened it and took out a long white dress.
"Oh, my god," I said, reaching out and touching the dress delicately. "Jess, it's beautiful!" It was satin, sleeveless, had thick straps, a scoop neck, and an incredibly low back. At the shoulder, there was a single rhinestone. As the rhinestones wrapped diagonally down and around the dress, the rows of rhinestones got thicker until they reached the train, where it spread out across almost the whole back.
"I made it for your wedding, but when I heard about you and Brian splitting up, I hid it," she said, laying the dress about the bed.
"You mean, this is for me?" I asked.
"Of course, silly," she said, laughing. "I'm not the one getting married!"
"Thank you!" I exclaimed, hugging my sister tightly. There was a knock at the door and Jessica rapidly picked up the dress and put it back in the bag.
"Come in," I said, once she'd finished. Brian walked in.
"I hate to break up the fun," he said, coming in and wrapping his arms around my waist from behind, "but we have to be at AJ's in fifteen minutes."
"Why are we going to AJ's?" Jessica asked, putting the bag in her closet.
"He and MB are having a barbecue," I told her.
"Who would eat anything AJ made?" Jessica asked as we walked down the stairs.
"My reaction, exactly," I said, laughing. Brian grabbed his keys and we were out the door. With Jessica in the back and Brian in the passenger seat, I drove my convertible to AJ and Maribeth's house, which was only five or ten minutes away. When we got there, I parked in front and we walked around the back. Maribeth and Joanne were sitting on lounge chairs by the pool, AJ was talking to Joey and Lance by the barbecue, and Kevin was flipping burgers.
"He's got you working, already?" I asked Kevin. He laughed. "Kev, this is Jess. Jess, Kevin." They said hi and I left him and Brian alone to talk. Jess and I walked over to AJ and Joey.
"Hey," AJ said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "Hey, Jess."
"Hi," Jessica said, absently. I looked back and forth between her and Joey. They were gazing at each other.
"Jess, Joey. Joey, Jess," I said, holding back a laugh. I said hi to Lance and left Jessica with them, going over and joining Maribeth and Joanne.
"Hey," they said when I walked over to them.
"Hey, what's up?" I said, sitting down on another lounge chair.
"It looks like Jess and Joey are hitting it off," Joanne said, wiggling her eyebrows.
"It should be interesting to see what happens."
"A soap opera special, if I ever saw one," Maribeth said, putting her sunglasses on top of her head. After a few minutes, Jamie, Howie, Nick, Rachel, Justin, JC, and Chris arrived.
"Who wants to go for a swim?" Justin yelled.
"Not me!" Jessica yelled back. She walked over to me and was about to ask something, but I interrupted her.
"No," I said, "Joey does not have a girlfriend."
"How'd you know?" she asked, giving me a confused look.
"Twin instinct," I said. "Besides, you've been hanging all over him ever since we got here.
"But don't worry," Rachel said. "He's been hanging all over you, too."
"Am I that obvious?" she asked sheepishly. The five of us nodded. Then Justin ran by, carrying a bag of deflated balloons.
"Do you have a bathing suit I could borrow?" I asked Maribeth. "I have something I wanna do to Justin that will probably get me considerably wet." She nodded and smiled mischievously, leading me upstairs. She went through her drawers and found a royal-blue, two-piece bikini with a v-neck halter top and a French-cut bottom. She gave it to me and I went into the bathroom and changed. When I came out, she was wearing a similar one in yellow. She gave me a black sarong, putting on an orange one herself. We went to the garage and found two Super Soakers. We filled them up with the hose and snuck around the side of the house. When we saw Justin appear, two water balloons in hand, we sprayed him, then hid on the side of the house.
"What the-" I heard him say. As he began to walk towards the side of the house, we jumped out and soaked him. "Aah!" he screamed, running over to where Jessica, Joey, Rachel, Joanne, and Jamie were talking. "You can't get me now," he said, sticking out his tongue.
"And why not?" Maribeth asked as we walked towards him and stopped in front of where the others were standing.
"Because you wouldn't dare get me wet," Jessica said warningly. I smiled at her and looked at Maribeth. We turned back towards them and emptied both water guns on them. Justin threw both water balloons at us, hitting Joey and Rachel accidentally. Justin ran around the chairs, picked me up, and held me over the pool.
"Don't even think about it," I warned. He looked at me innocently and smiled. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his head down towards mine. I whispered something in his ear and he grinned, putting my feet down on the ground. We looked at Jessica, who was standing near the pool, wringing out her shirt. I looked at Justin and he smiled. We went up behind Jessica and pushed her in the pool. She let out a shriek before the water covered her head.
"Yes!" Justin cheered, high-fiving me.
"Oh, you are so dead," Jessica said, treading water. I smiled at her and wiggled my eyebrows. She just rolled her eyes and went over to the shallow end, standing up.
"Cannonball!" Justin yelled, jumping into the pool. I laughed and took off the sarong, throwing it onto a chair. I dove into the pool, followed by Maribeth and Joey.
"Kids," JC mumbled from the chair he was sitting on. I raised an eyebrow at Justin and the two of us got out of the pool. I grabbed the back of the chair while Justin grabbed the front legs. We picked up the chair and dumped a struggling JC into the water. We laughed as he scowled at us.
"Sore sport," I said, picking up my sarong and tying it around my waist. I wandered up behind Kevin and wrung my soaking wet hair onto his back. He gasped and turned around to face me. I only smiled and walked to the other side of the grill. I gave Brian a kiss on the cheek and jumped onto his back.
"Hey," he said, kissing my hand as my arms wrapped around his neck.
"Why are you still barbecuing?" I asked Kevin. "It should be AJ's job."
"I'd rather be stuck making the food myself than let AJ burn it," Kevin said.
"True," I agreed.
"So, what was the surprise that Jess gave you?" Brian asked.
"You'll see," I kissing his cheek.