"Take these." Trinity said, handing me a box of cookies as we got out of the car.
"You bought them though." I said.
"Just take them."
"Fine."
We walked through the gate of Kelley O'Hara's backyard, and I could see the fire smoking before we even walked in. I heard laughing, and I stopped.
"What's wrong?" Asked Trin.
"I'm just a little nervous."
"Please. These girls are the nicest ever."
"Is Ashley here?"
"What's your obsession with Ash?" She asked.
"Obsession? What?"
"Kyla let's go." She grabbed my hand and dragged me through the gate.
"Hey!" Kelley O'Hara said. "Trinity Rodman and Kyla Ripley!"
"What's up Kel?" Trinity said, giving her a hug.
"Hi." I said.
"Good to finally meet you, Kyla. I'm Kelley."
"Hi Kelley."
"Hey Ky." Ashley said.
"Ash! Hi!"
"Kyla brought these for everyone. And I brought these." Trinity said.
"I-" I started to say that I didn't bring them, but Trinity elbowed me really hard in the ribs so I shut up.
She's a good friend.
"Thanks!" Kelley said, taking the boxes from us and bringing them to the table. "Kyla let me introduce you to everyone."
She went around and said everyone's names, but I wasn't about to tell them that I already knew them due to watching all of Trinity's games last season.
"Well I heard from somewhere that KC Current is gonna regret trading you." Said Emily Sonnett. She motioned toward Ashley with her head.
I looked at her and smiled.
"You'll have more fun here with us anyway." Kelley said.
"So is it true that you and Trinity have been best friends since you guys were 7 years old?" Sonnett asked.
"Yeah, actually. We played together all through elementary school, middle school, high school and now here we are." I said.
"Want a s'more?"Asked Kelley, pointing over to a table.
"Sure." I said, and went to go get some.
"Wait, Ky. You BURN yours like that completely?" Ashley laughed.
"Um, how else do you eat a s'more?" I asked.
"You just hold it over the fire for a few minutes. Don't burn it."
"Burnt is the way to go." Trinity said with a mouthful of s'more.
"How about you Kelley?" Asked Ashley.
"Burnt. I'm not a freak like you."
"Well thanks." Ashley rolled her eyes. "How about you, Tara?"
I looked at the gate, where Tara McKeown walked in and looked very confused.
"What?" She asked.
"Do you burn your marshmallows completely or just a little bit like a freak?" Trinity asked.
"Burnt all the way."
"Exactly!" I said as Trinity gave Tara a high-five.
"You must by Kyla. I'm Tara." She said, sticking out her hand to shake mine.
"That's me. Nice to meet you." I said, shaking her hand.
"Hi Ashley. How are you?"
"I'm good. How are you?" She asked.
"Pretty good. I'm gonna go make a s'more." And Tara left.
Ashley sat down, and I sat down right next to her, pressed against her.
"No need to be shy." She whispered.
"There's just a lot of people here that I don't know."
"It's fine! Let's go meet some of the others."
Ashley took me around to meet all the other girls there, starting with Bayley Feist and Anna Heilfrety.
After a half an hour, everyone just sat down around the fire and we were just talking and hanging out. It was also freezing, but I wasn't gonna complain.
"Kelley can I please use your bathroom?" I asked.
"Of course. I'll show you where it is." She said.
"I got it. I have to go too anyway." Ashley said, standing up.
I did the same and followed her.
"You having fun?" She asked.
"Yeah. Everyone's super cool." I replied.
"I just have a question." She said.
"Ask away."
"What are we?"
"Oh great."
"I'm serious! Kelley sees it! So are we going to say it or not?" Asked Ashley.
"But Trinity....she'll be upset, don't you think?"
"Upset? That's stupid."
"What if something happens between us? Won't that be bad for her?"
"Nothing's gonna happen. I promise."
"How do you know?"
"I just do." She said, and she kissed me.
"You keep kissing me like that and leaving you for Tara wouldn't even be on the table anymore." I laughed.
"Shut up." SHe shoved me a bit, laughing.
"I'm kidding. I really am!" I said, tucking my brown hair behind my ear. "I'm joking."
"Yeah you better be." Ashley kissed me again.
The back door opened, and I jumped away from her so fast.
"Close proximity there, you guys." Tara laughed.
"Just telling her a secret." Ashley said.
"If that secret involves touching lips, I think I know it."
"Shit." I whispered.
"Don't worry about it. This never happened. I never saw you guys." She said, grabbing the paper towels and walking out the back door again.
"Will she tell?" I asked.
"I think we're okay." Ashley had kept the same wide-eyed look on her face the whole time.
"Let me actually go to the bathroom, then we can regroup." I said, walking to the bathroom.
"Sounds good."
Once I got out, she went in, and I just went outside because I didn't feel like dealing with that right now.
I sat down next to Trinity and moved in close to her, trying to stay warm. It wasn't really working very well because of our big coats though.
"Someone's tired." She laughed.
"Who me?" I asked.
"You only get cuddly when you're tired."
"Shut up." I said.
"You've been like that forever. Remember that time that your boyfriend was over when we were, like 15 or 16, and he put his arm around you and you just took a pillow and put it behind your head instead?" Trinity laughed so hard trying to tell the story that everyone else was laughing too. "That was one of the many missed signals from him."
"I'm not very good at reading signals! So what?" I said.
"It was just hilarious."
"Not that funny." I rolled my eyes. "No funnier than the time that you liked that guy and were so desperate for his attention that you broke your finger trying to play me in basketball in gym class."
"That was sad, not funny."
"But how you did it was the best. You went in for a layup and ran right into me, you fell over, and HIS FRIEND STEPPED ON IT!" I laughed.
"So it wasn't even the action of playing basketball. It was the action of falling over after running into someone and getting stepped on." Sonnett laughed.
"Yep!" I said.
"Hey Kyla? Can you come here for a minute?" Ashley asked from the house.
"Um, sure." I said and went inside to see what she wanted.