*This story contains sexual references.
Pajama Party
by Julie
The Girls
The girls had been looking forward to the pajama party all week. It was the last week of school and they had the whole summer to look forward to. Julie had moved into the new house with her father Derek a few days before and wanted to have the chance to spend some time with her new friends. She had decided a pajama party would be the best way to do it.
"I can’t wait to see what the place looks like inside." Trixie could hardly wait to get there and she pulled Honey by the hand as they made their way down the path from the manor house just as the sun was starting to set.
"Well, I know I’m dying to see, too, but I would like to get there with both of my arms still attached." Honey giggled as she tried to keep pace with her friend.
"Gleeps, Honey. I’m sorry."
"I’m just teasing. You’re in such a rush I would think you were on your way to solving another mystery."
"Well in a way it is a mystery. We could call it the Mystery of the Phantom Decorators," Trixie laughed as she slowed her pace and arm in arm they made their way up to the doorstep. "We saw so much furniture and stuff going in the past few days there had to be a zillion people working inside but I never saw a one." She giggled.
Honey laughed as she rang the doorbell. "That’s because you’ve never had any decorators in your home. Your family did everything themselves. I know the decorators we had were funny." Honey dropped her bag on the porch and pinched her nose with her fingers and pointed out dramatically with her other hand. In her snootiest tone she began. "No. No. That belongs over there. Oh and that painting is simply horrid…whatever were you thinking… No I told you that goes over there."
Trixie was in stitches over her best friend’s impersonation and just at that moment the door opened and Derek Tyler put his hand on his hip tilting his head at Honey, a quizzical on his face. Honey stood speechless for a moment. "Well I do say…" Derek grinned at Honey, his eyes laughing. "That is quite an impression you have there. I don’t suppose we used the same decorators did we?" His grin put Honey at ease right away. Somehow this didn’t seem like the same man they had called horrid just a few months before.
"Sorry," Honey apologized, giggling. She held her slim hand out to him. "It’s pleasure to see you again, Mr. Tyler."
"The pleasure is all mine, ladies." He grasped her hand warmly and then picked up her bag and took Trixie’s things. "Come on in. Julie’s in the kitchen with Diana making some snacks. It’s to the left. I’ll take your things up to her room and then I will hide away in my room for the rest of the evening so you girls can do whatever it is you girls do at these things." He laughed as he closed the door with his foot.
"We’ll try not to disturb you," Honey said sweetly.
"You all just enjoy yourselves. Don’t worry about me." He grinned at them and headed up the stairs.
Honey and Trixie headed into the kitchen where Di was pouring melted butter over a huge bowl of popcorn and Julie was mixing a huge pitcher of iced tea on the center island. "Hi there." She looked up and grinned. "I figured it was you both at the door. We’re just getting everything ready."
"I have been looking forward this for simply ages." Trixie beamed. "Can you believe it. No more school classes. Just a whole summer of swimming and barbecues and riding. You are going to have so much fun here."
Julie grinned and her eyes sparkled. "Di has been telling me about all the fun you guys have. I just knew all along that it was going to be great living here. I’ve been dying these past two months waiting to move. I didn’t think that this place was ever going to get finished." She finished mixing the tea and put it in the refrigerator. "Do you want me to give you a tour of the place?" She offered.
"What do you think?" Trixie’s eyes sparkled.
"She practically pulled my arm out of the socket rushing me down here so you had better do it quick." Honey giggled.
"Oh, I see." Julie folded her arms across her chest pretending to be insulted. "The only reason you really came was so you could see the house. You didn’t really want to come to the party."
"Oh, just show us the place." Trixie laughed walking behind her and giving her a little shove toward the kitchen doorway.
Julie gave a deep laugh. "All right already. Come on. The place is really great. Uncle Der…I mean Dad. He had the plans changed around completely. The place is so different from what I expected but I love it. She led them to the dining area. "This is the dining room. Which, as you can see is just an extension of the kitchen. Dad got rid of the first decorator because she envisioned the place as what he called a frilly nightmare. She was going to put lace all over the place." Julie laughed. "He wanted something a bit more manly. So the new one kept everything pretty rustic. " She led them through the hallway to the living room and past it showed them through the double doors that led out to the enclosed veranda. It was filled with plants and flowers and in one corner was an artist’s table and easel with a freshly started painting. "This is basically my room. Dad wanted me to have someplace to do my painting. And he thought this would be great because I have a terrific view of everything."
"You never told us you painted." Honey put her hands on her hips in mock annoyance.
"Well, we never really did get much of a chance to talk about anything with all the other stuff that happened." Julie grinned. "But I do. Or at least I try. Come on. Let’s go get the snacks and I’ll show you all my room. It’s so great."
They went into the kitchen and everyone grabbed something and between them they were so loaded up with chips and dip, popcorn and drinks they could barely make it up the stairs. When they reached Julie’s room Honey let out a sigh. "It’s too perfect."
The walls were papered in pale blue and white pinstripes. The four poster double bed had white eyelet sheets and pillows and a multicolored pastel quilt. The floor was hardwood with large cream colored rug with a blue, white and yellow floral border. There were round glass vases in both windows with fresh cut flowers in them. On one wall was an oak dresser and an oval mirror and between the windows were rows of shelves with all of her favorite belongings, including her CD’s, photos, stuffed animals and the like.
"Isn’t it great? This was the only room that was allowed to be frilly." Julie laughed. "Just sit everything down on the floor." She opened up a door, which they all had assumed was a closet and it led to a small bathroom. "You can change in here if you want."
"No fair," Trixie protested and then giggled. "I have to share a bathroom with five other people and you have your own. It’s absolutely not fair. You all wonder why my hair is always this tousled mess. Try sharing with Brian and Mart. You would think that goofy crew cut would save him some time in there. Honestly I think the guys are worse than we are." She swiped up her pajamas and waltzed into the bathroom laughing.
The three girls laughed at that remark and Julie turned to Honey. "So what are the guys going to be doing tonight?"
Honey grinned. "Jim invited them all over to our house. They are going to have their own pajama party. Or whatever guys call them. I don’t know."
"I bet they’re all sitting around watching some silly sport on TV or something." Di shook her head.
The Boys
Brian and Dan were in the Wheelers' kitchen putting together sandwiches from the leftover roast beef the cook had made for dinner that night. Brian was searching all over for some horseradish and couldn’t find it anywhere.
"Where do you think the cook hides it." Brian stopped and scratched his head.
"You’ve got me beat. I guess you’ll have to wait for Jim to come back with Mart. Though I have trouble picturing the cook using horseradish in anything." Dan laughed as he peeked in the refrigerator again. "Hey, how about some roast pork?"
"On roast beef?" Brian raised a brow and looked over at Dan.
Dan grinned and shook his head as he pulled the platter from the refrigerator along with a bowl of stuffing wrapped in tinfoil. "Not on it. But it sure couldn’t hurt to have some pork too. And this stuffing looks pretty good, too." Dan peeled back the foil and then went searching through the drawers for a spoon.
Brian laughed. "No wonder you’re getting so big. You eat like a horse. I remember when you were this skinny little guy in a black jacket not so long ago and now you’re practically a musclehead."
Dan found some silverware finally and there was a smile on his face. Brian was right it wasn’t so long ago. In fact it was only a little more than a year. "Well," Dan flexed his chest muscles and winked at Brian. "I gotta impress the girls you know." He laughed at first and then shrugged turning serious. "Come on, face it, I am not rich and outdoorsy like Jim, and I’m not exactly Mr. Personality like Mart is, and I haven’t got your looks and brains. I figured I needed to do something to get the girls to notice me. The gym seemed like a good idea."
Brian looked at his friend in amazement. "I had no idea you felt that way." He was bothered by the fact he had never noticed it before.
Dan shook his head and laughed as he piled the meat high on his roll. "Don’t go getting the wrong idea about it. It’s not that I was jealous of you guys or anything, I just sometimes felt like I didn’t have so much to offer. And well, you guys were pretty well paired off when I came along. I always felt a little like I was on the outside looking in."
"And now?"
Dan grinned. "And now I’m not really all that concerned about it."
"I wonder why?" Brian teased, as he resumed his search for the horseradish.
Then they heard the car pull up out in the drive.
"That must be them." Dan looked over his shoulder toward the door leading out to the dining room. "I wonder if they got any good movies?"
Brian was still looking through the cabinets. "All I want is for Jim to tell me where the darn horseradish is." He was becoming completely flustered.
A bemused Dan shook his head. Brian had always been so levelheaded he would never have expected him to lose his mind over something so simple as a jar of horseradish. Who would have thought? Dan laughed to himself as he took a bite from his sandwich.
"Hey guys we’re back." Mart grinned as he flung the door to the kitchen open. "The party can now resume."
"Jim." Brian grinned in relief as he saw his best friend walk in behind Mart. "You have got to find me the horseradish. I have been going crazy looking for it."
"I will testify to that. He’s been like a wild man." Dan laughed.
"What’s this? Not even a hello for me?" Mart pretended to sulk and plopped himself down in a kitchen chair.
Jim laughed. "Why don’t you just tell them what movies we got?" Jim winked at Mart and a mischievous look crossed both their faces and Brian and Dan looked at each other uncertainly.
"What gives?" Dan asked as Jim reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a jar of horseradish and handed it to a bewildered Brian who peeked into the refrigerator himself as if Jim had just performed some sort of magic trick.
"Well." Mart held up each video as he rattled off the titles. "First we have Blade with Wesley Snipes, then there’s Money Train starring previously said person and Woody Harrelson and finally we have a delightful little romp starring a lovely young lady affectionately know as English Muffins."
Dan choked on the bite of sandwich he had just taken and after a quick swallow of water to wash it down he looked at Mart. "You have to be kidding. You aren’t even old enough to rent something like that."
"No, but I am." Jim grinned. "Just barely but I am." He laughed. "You forget that Brian and I have passed into adulthood now. And come this fall we are going to be college freshman to boot." He flung his arm around Brian and patted his shoulder. "We will be expected to be able to watch a movie and not cringe. And that will take practice. I expect we’ll have to watch one of these at least once a week," Jim teased.
Brian nearly doubled over in laughter. "Oh, what a good one. I’ll have to remember the way you explained that word for word so that if anyone catches us they will understand completely that you rented it out of sheer necessity."
Dan blushed and took another sip of water. This was going to be a very interesting evening indeed.
The Girls
Di wrinkled her nose as she looked at the textbook that Trixie had brought with her. She was lying across Julie’s bed and Trixie, Honey and Julie were sitting on the floor in front of her. "You cannot tell me that is what the guys look like. Because if it is, I certainly never want to see any of them naked." She passed the book down to Julie who also looked a little taken back.
"I don’t know." Julie made a face and turned the book sideways hoping it would improve the image. "It sure doesn’t look like anything I would ever want to see in person." Julie looked disappointed and handed the book to Honey. "In the romance novels they make it all sound so perfect."
Honey frowned herself. "Trixie are you sure this is the right book." She knew it was but was hoping she was wrong.
"Geez." Trixie laughed
taking the book back. "After all the trouble I go
through to sneak one of Brian’s textbooks out of his
room this is the thanks I get." She grinned at them all.
"Besides you can’t really go by a drawing."
She took the book back from Honey and studied the picture.
"Besides this one is sort of drawn laying down, if you
read the book they are supposed to be sticking up." That
remark set the girls off into gales of laughter and Trixie
looked at them bewildered. "Well, that’s what it
says right here." She pointed to the passage of text in
the book and read it aloud.
"No more, no more." Honey held her stomach and practically rolled on the floor. "I don’t think I want to know any more details." She laughed.
Julie was wiping away tears of laughter and she looked over to Trixie. "How is it that something that’s supposed to be so romantic and magical can sound so awfully technical?"
"Okay, I give up." Trixie slammed the book shut and grinned. "It’s obvious that none of you are the least bit interested in the facts." Then she laughed herself. "And frankly the facts didn’t sound all that appealing to me either."
"Give me a good romance novel over a textbook any day of the week." Di giggled.
"I don’t believe you read them, Di. I think they are so unrealistic. Give me a good mystery novel and day of the week."
"Oh, come on, Trix. Don’t you ever fantasize about a tall handsome man coming into your life and proclaiming his undying love for you." Di raised her arm up to her head and rolled onto her back pretending to swoon.
Julie and Honey laughed at her and Trixie made a face. "That is too disgusting. I wouldn’t want any man to turn himself into a blubbering idiot over me."
"Well, I think it's kind of sweet when Mart gets like that over me." Di rolled back onto her stomach and blushed.
"Actually Mart is a blubbering idiot all the time whether you are around on not." Trixie laughed.
Di laughed and picked up a pillow throwing it at her friend. "I tell you that sibling rivalry between you gets worse by the day."
"Oh, I just couldn’t resist Di." Trixie laughed and tossed the pillow back to Di who set it under her arms. "Mart is nuts about you. And he does get a little goofier in your presence. And as much as I hate to admit it is kind of cute."
"You may as well know, Julie…" Honey smiled at their new friend. "Mart and Di have kind of a special interest in each other…"
"…And you feel the same about Brian and Trixie the same about Jim. In case you guys didn’t notice, it’s pretty obvious." Julie giggled, her eyes sparkling.
"What makes you think that?" Trixie looked surprised.
"You can’t tell me you all don’t see it. You all kind of veer in the same direction when you get together. Brian is always talking to Honey, and Jim and you, Trixie, and Mart and Di. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of Sleepyside knew it."
"And that leaves Dan." Di smiled poking Julie in the shoulder with her finger.
Julie blushed. "Good thing for me, I guess."
"Well." Trixie sat up straight, a mischievous look in her eye. "Since this conversation somehow got steered in the guy direction. I guess we ought to do the typical teenage girl thing and compare notes."
Honey giggled. "I, for one, think that is a good idea." She scrambled to her feet. "Julie do you have a pad and paper? I think this needs writing down."
The Boys
The guys had all headed up for Jim’s room taking their food and drinks up with them. Brian flopped down on Jim’s bed and Mart sat on the floor in front of him. Dan pulled over the reading chair from the corner of the room and sat in that as Jim set up the VCR and popped in the tape. He lay down next to Brian flipped the movie on with the remote.
"I can not believe you guys got this." Dan was blushing to the roots of his hair.
Jim laughed. "It hasn’t even started yet, Dan. Don’t go getting red-faced on us already."
They sat quietly for a few minutes as the movie started and then suddenly they all leaned forward a bit. They tilted their heads slightly and Brian’s mouth dropped. "I didn’t think that was physically impossible."
"Come on, man," Mart squinted. "That’s not real, Brian. No way--they must be using props or something--" He took a sip of soda and nearly choked on it. "Disregard previous comment…that was real."
"How would you know, Mart?" Dan gave him a nudge with his toe.
"I don’t know but how would you fake that?" Mart looked bewildered and he tilted his head more.
"So what do you think the girls are doing right about now?" Jim took in a deep breath and gaped at the movie.
"I am not so sure it is a good idea to be talking about the girls while we are watching a movie like this." Brian gulped down his orange soda and stared back at the screen.
"Well, I definitely do not think they are doing what we are." Mart leaned forward even more. "I wonder if Di would ever consider doing anything like that."
"MART!" Brian, Jim, and Dan reprimanded him sharply and Jim gave him a playful whack on the head for good measure.
"I didn’t mean now. I mean, maybe sometime in the future when we are older." Mart defended himself. "Don’t tell me you guys aren’t thinking it. I know you are…only it better not be Di you’re thinking about it with."
"Don’t worry, dear brother. None of us are after Di but you."
Dan took a deep breath and watched as the girl in the movie knelt down before a well-dressed man and began to unbuckle his belt. What came next caused Dan to shift uncomfortably in his chair. "Well, I know that has some definite possibilities. " He took a deep breath. "I wonder what Julie is doing right about now?"
"See, see." Mart pointed accusingly at Dan. "I’m not the only one thinking bad thoughts here."
Jim and Brian looked at each other uncomfortably. Neither one dared to say a word.
If Brian knew what I was thinking about Trixie right now, he’d kill me, Jim thought to himself.
If Jim knew what I was thinking about Honey right now, he’d kill me, Brian thought as he looked seriously at his best friend.
"Maybe this would be a good time to put in a different movie," Jim suggested.
"Most definitely," Brian agreed wholeheartedly.
The Girls
"Okay, is everyone ready for me to read off the list now? Or can you think of anything else?" Honey leaned back against the bed and flipped back the pages of the notepad.
"I could think of a million things but then we’ll never finish." Di laughed.
"Go ahead, Honey. Let’s see what we came up with," Trixie urged.
"Okay. Here goes. This is how we split up the guys by personality. First we have Brian. His good qualities include being very intelligent, sensitive, caring, kind, thoughtful, family-oriented and very dependable, the kind of guy every dad wants his daughter to marry." Honey smiled. "To improve on him we decided he needed to be a bit more of a risk taker, more impulsive and spontaneous. Does that sound about right?"
"Yup. Brian definitely needs a bit of help in that spontaneity department." Trixie nodded. "You might want to add that he could be a little messier. It would help me out a lot. That way Moms wouldn’t expect so much of me when it comes to cleaning my room." She grinned.
Honey jotted it down quickly. "Your wish is my command, oh madam chairperson." Honey laughed. "Okay then this brings us to Jim who we decide has pretty much the same qualities as Brian except he’s lacking in the sensitive department at times and can take things too seriously. We also decided he is way too overprotective and needs a little work on the male superiority thing. Which leads us right to Mart who needs a lot of help in both the male superiority and the sensitivity department." Honey laughed. "But we all agree that he has a great sense of humor, he’s witty and also that he must have gotten all of Brian’s spontaneity and is generally a caring person."
"Now, if he would just show it a little more." Di giggled.
"And now we come to Dan. We decided Dan’s best qualities are that he’s caring, sensitive, and dependable like Brian and he’s also very hardworking and responsible. We also agree that he need to be more outgoing and that he is a bit too quiet. He needs to be more impulsive and he also needs a little more confidence in himself."
"Okay enough of that." Di giggled. "Let’s get to the good parts. What about their bodies?"
Julie laughed. "The bodies are definitely the better subject here, I think."
"Well, we decided that all around Jim has the best arms, Dan has the best chest and shoulders, Brian wins out when it comes to legs, and oddly enough," Honey giggled, "Mart has the best butt."
"I still don’t know how you three came up with that. I certainly don’t think there is anything special about Mart's butt. If you ask me Jim’s butt is way better." Trixie folded her arms across her chest.
"You would." Honey laughed.
"Well, personally I think Dan wins in every department hands down but that’s just me." Julie giggled.
"I have to admit," Trixie said with a grin, "Dan has turned into an absolute hottie since he started hitting the gym. But I’m still leaning towards Jim."
"I guess we all have our own opinions. There’s no way all of us are going to agree on this, but wouldn’t it be great if we could take all of their best traits and kind of mash them together," Honey said diplomatically.
"I don’t know." Julie thought a moment. "Who really wants a perfect guy, even if there were such a thing? It would be an awful lot to live up to."
"That’s true." Trixie nodded in agreement. "I need someone who can put up with all my faults. Heaven knows I have enough of them." She giggled.
"Di…" Julie grinned and looked up at Diana who was munching on some chips and dip. "What would be your idea of the perfect date? Other than that it would be with Mart."
"Oh, that’s easy." Di sat up and crossed her legs. "I want to be wined and dined. First he would pick me up and have an armful of long-stemmed blood red roses for me, then he would take me to the finest French restaurant in the city, and then dancing under the moonlight." Di sighed. "That would be absolute heaven." Then Di looked at Julie. "What about you?"
"I think--" she frowned thoughtfully for a moment. "I think I would like to have someone try to cook a romantic dinner for me. Maybe rent some old movies and cuddle up on the sofa. In fact the movies aren’t even necessary." Julie laughed. "Just the cuddling."
"Well, I, for one, would like to have a nice long horseback ride, and take a picnic lunch out to the woods. Just spend the whole day together." Trixie grinned.
"I guess I wouldn’t mind any kind of date as long as it’s with Brian." Honey giggled. "I’m not real particular. It’s the thought behind it that really matters." She busily scribbled down all the things everyone was saying.
Julie looked over at her clock. It was nearly one a.m. already. "Do you think the guys are still up?"
"I’m sure they are. Why?" Honey asked.
"I was thinking we could invite them over for lunch tomorrow. What do you think?"
"I think they would love it." Honey nodded. "Can I use your phone? I’ll call them."
"Sure." Julie reached behind her for the cordless phone on her nightstand and handed it over to Honey, who dialed the number to Jim’s room. He picked up on the second ring.
The Boys
Jim hung up the phone and grinned turning to the guys. "That was Honey. She said Julie is inviting us all over for lunch at her house tomorrow at noon."
"Cool." Mart sat up. "I wonder what she making us."
Dan gave him a little shove and reached over to put the last movie in the VCR. "Does it really matter?"
"No, not really, I suppose. Food is food. But are we going to be able to get these visions of what could be out of our heads by tomorrow morning?"
Dan looked thoughtful as he sat back down. "Probably not. Just watch what you say. You don’t want any of the girls knowing what we were watching tonight."
"Like I would even dare. Di would skin me."
"Yeah, and I don’t think it would do much for Honey’s image of me." Brian laughed.
"Well, I think that I am going to get a shower before going to bed." Mart stood up. "A very cold shower." He grinned as he headed for the bathroom.
"I don’t think that would be such a bad idea," Jim agreed.
Dan grinned. "Why did you two have to get that movie? Now I have all kinds of images running through my head."
"As if you never thought about doing anything like that before," Brain teased.
"I never knew you could do most of those things before," Dan laughed. "I don’t know about you guys but I’m pretty old-fashioned. All I ever really imagined was the basic man and woman together scenario…there is stuff on that movie that I don’t think is legal in most states."
Brian laughed and scratched his head. "I have to admit I was a little amazed at the variety of things on that movie. I wonder if girls really like any of that stuff. I always figured girls went in for the romance of it all. I personally can’t imagine them liking it so…so …well, rough I guess."
Jim shook his head. "Me either. Some of that stuff was pretty intense there. They found uses for things I would never have dreamed of. I’m sure I will never look at the tack room in quite the same way again."
Dan could not help but grin and nod. "I will agree with you there. And, though I may get in trouble for even thinking it, there were quite a few things I wouldn’t mind testing out for myself." Dan stretched out in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair.
"In that case I think we’re all in trouble." Jim grinned. "I think we’d better all stop thinking about this before we make ourselves crazy."
"Too late." Dan sighed and settled back to watch the movie.
The Girls
"Okay, that’s set." Honey set down the phone. "The guys will be here for lunch tomorrow."
"Great." Julie grinned. "I have to admit I’ve been dying to see Dan again."
"Well, then, now that that is done--" Trixie leaned back against the bed and grabbed a handful of popcorn. "--I’ve been dying to ask you how the heck did all this mix up happen with your Dad? How could Derek have not known you were his daughter all this time? Didn’t he at least have an inkling?"
Julie shook here head. "I know it’s hard to believe but it’s really all very simple. Both my Dad and Jerry were in love with my mom but Dad wasn’t ready to settle down and get married and my uncle Jerry was. So mom sort of latched onto Jerry and they ran off and got married before Dad could do anything about it. What Jerry didn’t know was that Mom was already pregnant with me. She hid it from him at first and when I was born she convinced the doctor to tell Jerry I was born a month early. I was a small baby anyway so he never suspected. It was when I was about two that I got really sick and had to go into the hospital. That was when he found out that his blood didn’t match mine. It wasn’t long after that that mom left. It reads like something from a movie of the week doesn’t it?" Julie sighed and reached in for the last bit of popcorn. She looked at the bowl. "Well, enough of the serious stuff. How about we head back to the kitchen for more munchies." She grinned. "I think there’s some chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer."
"Sounds good to me." Honey got up and followed her along with Trixie and Di. They walked quietly down the hall so the would not disturb Julie’s father and they headed directly for the freezer to get to work on making sundaes.
Morning
It was nearly ten a.m. when the girls finally woke. Julie heard her father knock at the door. "Are you girls planning on waking up sometime today?"
Julie looked over at the clock on her bedside table and hopped out of bed frantically. "We’re up, Dad. Be down in a bit."
"Okay. I made some pancakes and bacon for you all. I have to head into town so just heat them up if you need to."
"Okay, thanks, Dad." Julie opened the door and peeked out giving her father a quick peck on the cheek. "See you later."
"Okay, sweetie. Have fun."
Honey rolled over in her sleeping bag and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"
"Almost ten," Julie said quickly. "We’d better get moving if we want to have lunch ready in time." She rooted through her dresser drawers for a pair of shorts and a shirt.
Di hopped quickly from the bed. "Dibs on the bathroom." She giggled and ran to the bathroom with her overnight bag and quickly closed the door behind her.
"Geez. That was fast." Trixie giggled as they all looked at each other. "I didn’t know she could move that fast first thing in the morning.
Julie smiled. "You can use the other bathroom if you need to it’s just down the hall."
"I think I will do that." Trixie got up and dug her clothes out of her bag. "It won’t take me a second."
Shortly after finishing breakfast they started getting the lunch ready. They made a huge bowl of each chicken salad and seafood salads, sliced some croissants in half and laid them on a platter with some white and wheat bread slices for sandwiches. They chopped up some carrots, celery, broccoli and cauliflower to make a quick vegetable tray and Honey made two types of dressing for dipping, Ranch and Blue Cheese. For dessert they made strawberry shortcake and a blueberry cheesecake. They took everything outside and arranged it all on the patio table. They set out plastic plates and silver ware. Finally, feeling proud of themselves, they stood back to survey their work.
"Everything looks great." Di grinned with satisfaction. " I think we outdid ourselves."
"Well, Mart will definitely be happy." Honey giggled. "The sight of food makes his day."
"And--" Trixie looked at her watch. "--we did it with time to spare. Five minutes exactly." Trixie grinned. "They should be here any minute."
"Speak of the devils." Julie grinned. The boys were just headed down the path and waved when they saw the girls.
Mart was the first to reach the table. He took a deep breath. "Ladies, ladies, I must say I have never before seen such a plethora of palate pleasing delicacies in all of my youthful existence."
Julie grinned. "Can I take that to mean you like what you see?"
Dan grinned at her as he, Jim and Brian caught up with Mart. "Absolutely." Dan’s eyes sparkled at her and she blushed.
"Come on, guys, help yourselves." Honey smiled as she handed a plate and some plastic silverware to Brian. "We made enough for an army."
Over lunch the girls noticed that the boys were giving each other odd looks at different points in the conversation. Finally Trixie nudged Jim in the side with her elbow. "Okay, guys, what gives? You’re acting awfully odd today. What did you do last night? You all have those guilty looks on your face."
"Nothing, Trix." Jim felt his face grow hot as he could feel the color rise into his cheeks. "Just guy stuff. We watched a couple of movies. Nothing exciting." He coughed as he felt Brian kick at him beneath the table.
Di frowned and looked at Mart. "For not doing anything much but guy stuff you sure all look like you’re hiding something."