When I hang up the phone and turn around I am met with brown eyes bursting with curiosity. Her eye brow crooks up and her foot begins to tap as her lips move although I can not hear what she is saying. My mind is too busy worrying about what she has heard. With the look she is giving me she has probably heard enough. My cheeks fill with heat and I can feel them turn a shade of pink. Come on Spencer… your smooth you got this… you never have girl troubles. Just act cool.
“I uhhhh… I didn’t know you wanted a choice?” What the fuck? That’s not smooth! She giggles and shakes her head slightly with confidence I have yet to see in her.
“Well I think its just a little early to be fighting over me don’t you think? I mean, for all you guys know I could of murdered my mom with a chain saw… would ya’ll still want me then?” She smiles and grabs a soda out of the fridge then walks past me and up the stairs. When I don’t follow her she stops on the stairs, turns around and looks at me with a fire I can’t quite understand.
    “So the party is at 9 or something and its like 7:30… shouldn’t we be getting ready? Should  I go wake Glen?” she says reminding me of the phone call I just placed.
    “Uhm. I guess we should. But if you just stayed in your bikini I’m sure no one would have a problem with it.” I smile at her as she nods her head and heads up the stairs.
    “Is that a no?!” I yell at her. A smile creases my face for a minute. I have never really smiled this much in a very long time. Things have been so hectic lately. Ashley gives off this essence I guess you’d call it. Its not quite happy, in fact its kind of sad. But most of all its just… peaceful and calm and warm. Everything that I am lacking at the moment. All the while she almost represents a form of wild, unstable life style. I know, it makes no sense, its all contrasting. A warm, slobbery tongue slides between my fingers a few times reminding me that I am still at the bottom of the stairs smiling like a dork. My gaze falls to the floor where I see a rusty Miniature Australian Shepherd lovingly licking my hand.
    “Hi Jak!” I crouch down and rub her back and she puts one paw on my leg. Her eyes are gorgeous. A hazel background with an inner ring of Hawaiian ocean blue and specs of yellow all around. “Everyone at the party is going to love you huh? Huh puppy” I say still petting her. Her lips curl up into a smile and she winks at me, whether it was intentional or not, it made me smile.
    “Are you going to come get ready with me or are you just going to continue giving my dog pep talks?” Ashley is once again standing at the top of my stairs looking down on us with a smile. Her hair is half wet and half dry causing it to curl into little bunches. I stand up and smile back at her and slowly walk my way up the stairs. Although it is my own house I feel like I am walking up these stairs for the first time. I have that feeling in my stomach… the kind you get when you go over to a new friends house and your afraid that if you walk on the carpet their parents will rush out and scream at you. Yeah… that feeling. She leads the way into my room as if it were her own. My bathroom light is already on and my closet door is open.
    “So I picked out your outfit already. Its on the bed.” She says through a smile.
    “Who’s house is this again?” I ask sarcastically.
    “Well I was going to let you pick out your own outfit but you sat out their for 30 minutes so I decided to save some time.” Wow.. really 30 minutes? I look at the clock and see that it is 8:15. Mentally kicking myself I walk over to my bed and find an unfamiliar torn rock tee and one of my favorite short skirts that is frayed at the end.
    “Where did you get this tee shirt?” I ask her while running my fingers over the words.
    “It’s mine. I brought a bag of clothes to change back in and I decided that it would look way cuter on you with that skirt so I am just going to borrow one of your shirts. Is that okay?” She asks in a semi polite, semi commanding voice.
    “Yeah. Totally fine.” I yell loud enough for her to hear in my closet. The front of the shirt is black with grey lettering on it reading, “Hidden Vaccinations” in a splatter print. Turning the tee shirt over the main color is white and there is an outline of a syringe with a quote that says, “Just because your paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not after you.” In bold red letters.