Discourse over barbecue.

Chapter 5 – Lake House Vacation (continued)

By the time Jason had filled Chloe in of all the sordid details of Kate and him losing their virginity, the sound of running water from the shower had shut off. A few minutes later, Alex emerged from the master bedroom dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, still toweling off her damp hair.

“Oh, hi Bear.” She muttered, blushing as she spotted him sitting with Chloe. “Um, did you… did she…?”

“Jason knows about the deal I made with Heather.” Chloe acknowledged. “How did it go in there?”

Alex shrugged, “It was weird, but… I mean it’s not the first time I’ve showered with other girls present.”

“Is that all you did?” Chloe continued.

Alex sighed, and shook her head, “What are we doing for lunch? Are we firing up the grill today?” Her deflection attempt was obvious, and she knew it, but neither Chloe nor Jason pressed her on it.

The Navajo girl turned to Jason and he answered Alex’s question, “Yeah, I believe that was the plan. I can warm up the grill if you want to pull the meat out of the freezer to get it thawing.”

“Hey Dick-Head. Surprised you’re out here and Cherry is in there.” Heather said as she walked into the room pulling a wide-toothed comb through her damp hair.

“Well, we had our fun. She didn’t want to sit and listen to me telling Chloe about what happened.”

Alex blushed, and even Heather’s cheeks looked a little pink, but the cheerleader didn’t hesitate to follow up, “I wouldn’t mind hearing the dirty deets.”

“Well, I was about to fire up the grill. If Kate’s okay with it, I can fill you in while I’m getting that going.”

“I’ll ask her then.” The blonde girl turned back towards the bedroom as Jason got up from the couch.

But she paused when Chloe called her name, “Hey Heather? Aren’t you going to have to figure out a new nickname for Kate now?”

“Why do you mean?” Heather asked, blinking at the Navajo girl.

“Well, she lost her cherry so…” Chloe trailed off, grinning cheekily.

Heather gaped at her for a moment before exclaiming, “Chloe! That’s…” Alex groaned and hid her face in her hands, and Jason just chuckled and shook his head. Trust his girlfriend to shock even Heather. “It’s not a reference to that, it’s her hair color… You’re bad, Chloe.” The blonde added after a moment, “I’m going to tell her you said that.” She added just before disappearing into the bedroom.

“You have a mean streak sometimes.” Alex pointed out, but with a friendly smile.

Chloe shrugged, “Not trying to be mean, I wouldn’t have said it that way to Kate’s face, but I do like to poke at people’s comfort zones, I guess. Maybe that’s why I pretend to be oblivious to Manny.”

“What about Manny?” Jason asked, pausing at the door to the porch.

“He’s had a bit of a crush on me for years.” She shrugged again, following him outside, “You hadn’t noticed?”

“I guess not. I’ve only been paying attention to that sort of thing recently.” He saw Alex heading into the kitchen as he checked the cabinet next to the grill to ensure it was fully stocked with charcoal. “Maybe that’s what he was jealous about.”

“Oh, did he say something?” Chloe leaned closer, her voice lowering conspiratorially.

Jason shook his head, “No it was…” He lowered his voice as well so Alex couldn’t overhear, “He has a jealousy attitude on the App. It went up a point after our last game night. I hadn’t really been thinking about it, and I guess I didn’t share it with you before now because that happened before I told you about the MRE App.”

“Interesting. Well, I don’t want to encourage him or lead him on, just tease him a little. I can stop though, if you think it’s really bothering him.”

“We can look at it a bit later.” He assured her then went quiet as the porch door opened and both Alex and Heather came out carrying plates and silverware.

“Kate says it’s fine. Her face was pretty red, though.” Heather announced.

“Patties and steaks are defrosting in the microwave.” Alex informed them.

So while he was setting up the grill and getting the charcoal burning, Jason talked with Heather about his first ever sexual intercourse, trying to avoid some of the more intimate details he thought Kate wouldn’t want shared, but also found Heather’s unabashed interest to be surprisingly compelling, which drew out a bit more detail than he might have otherwise shared.

Chloe had heard most of this, but she still sat nearby listening to them with a bright smile and a hint of blush on her cheeks while she cut up vegetables. Alex and Kate stayed inside, both a bit embarrassed by the topic of conversation outside, though Jason’s sister did emerge after about 20 minutes to inform them that Helena and the younger teens had returned from their hike. That put an end to Jason’s recap for the moment, but Heather said she might come back for more later.

Alex then went back inside, and Jason heard Lena’s voice say something about a first-aid kit. “You think everything is okay?” Jason mentioned to Heather and Chloe.

“I’ll go check.” Heather said, and Chloe got up to follow.

Kate emerged just as the other two girls were going inside, carrying a big platter of thawed meat for the grill. “Where are they going?” She asked as she came close.

“They went inside to find out what was going on with Lena and the kids.” Jason explained.

“Oh, I think I heard them say something about poison ivy when Alex asked me to bring out the meat.”

“I hope it’s not serious.”

Kate shrugged, “It doesn’t sound serious, so long as it’s treated quickly.”

“Yeah, that’s usually the case. How are you feeling? Still sore?”

She blushed, “No um… the hot shower helped with that. Plus I…” She lowered her voice to a whisper Jason could barely hear. “I rubbed one out.”

“I’m glad.” Jason smiled at her.

“You’re not upset, or jealous?”

“Why would I be?”

“I dunno.” She looked down at Jason’s grill, where he was flipping the first few burger patties. “I don’t have a lot of experience with this sort of thing.”

“Well, one thing I can say is I wish I could have been in there with you.” He told her, making her blush even more before she turned away to grab a plate, a hamburger bun, lettuce, pickles, and a freshly cut slice of tomato. Then she returned for one of the patties Jason was just finishing.

“No sauce?” He asked her.

“I eat them dry.”

“Not too dry, I hope. I try to cook them juicy.”

She smiled, “I like them juicy; I just don’t like store-bought condiments.”

The porch door opened, and Chloe came back out, “Lucy had a brush with some poison ivy, but she’s doing fine now.” She announced. “She was sent into the shower. Those almost done?” She pointed at the steaks Jason was grilling.

“Getting there. They cook slower than the burgers.” He deposited Kate’s patty onto her bun, and the second patty he’d been cooking onto a nearby plate just as Alex and Heather came outside with a large salad bowl, a bag of plastic cups, and four two-liters of soda, one under each arm.

“You ready for the fish yet?” Alex asked as she deposited her load on one of the tables after brushing a couple stray leaves off its surface.

“Not yet.”

The door banged open as Leo came out, with Tristan close behind him. “Burgers ready yet?!”

“One is ready, got two more cooking.”

“I’ll take that one then.” Leo said.

“You can wait a few minutes for your food.” Helena told them as she came outside. “It would be rude to eat when one of you doesn’t have food yet.”

The boys grumbled, but did as Lena asked. It didn’t actually take that long for Jason to have another pair of hamburger patties ready for them. His older sister disappeared again after assuring herself the rest of them had everything in hand. Then Percy and Lucy arrived, the shorter girl sporting damp hair, and a compression wrap visible between her pant leg and the top of her sock.

Within about half an hour, he’d finished all six burgers, both steaks, and the salmon and cod fillets for Lena and Chloe respectively.

After putting out the charcoal under the grill, Jason started fixing himself a plate with the second steak and a bit of salad. But before he could take his food to one of the outdoor tables, Lena sidled up to him, “Hey.” She began. “Could you bring your food into the dining room with me?”

“Sure.” He followed her inside and sat down with his food, immediately beginning to cut into his steak. “Is this a serious conversation?”

She nodded, glancing towards the living room where Tristan and Leo were eating well out of earshot. “Are we okay?” She asked when she turned back to him.

He gave her a warm smile, “Yeah. We’re great even. You have no reason to feel guilty.” He put his hand on hers and held it briefly.

She sighed, but nodded, “Okay. That’s good. I can barely believe I did that. But, I guess I really needed it.”

“I’m glad I could help. If it’s a one-time thing, that’s fine. If you need to do more sometime, then I’m here for you, no judgment.”

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind.” She gave him a grateful smile, and turned to her plate, bringing another bite of her salmon to her lips.

“Do you have any idea if you want this to be… something of a new dynamic for us?” He asked.

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind having someone to confide in. But I’m not sure that’s fair to you. Aren’t you dating that girl you met online?”

Again, Jason shook his head, “Actually, it turns out she was catfishing me. Are you familiar with that term?”

Lena sighed, “I’m sorry. Well I guess we’re both a bit **** right now, not the time to be making rash decisions, I suppose.”

“You’re probably right, but I’ve had some time to come to terms with it, and I’ve made some plans to get some of my own back.”

“That sounds serious.”

“Don’t worry, I mostly want to get Stephani to admit the truth, apologize, and maybe a bit of embarrassment in the process, nothing major. Not sure where things will go from there. And I’ve got some help with my plans too, since I’ve confided in Chloe and Alex. In fact, Chloe and I are sort of secretly dating.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have…”

“Don’t feel guilty. Chloe and I have a rather special relationship. It’s not my place to share details, but the short version is she’s working through some issues that interfere with her having a physical relationship with me. But as a result, we have a bit of an open relationship, and she encourages that.”

“You think that would extend to your own sister?” Lena was understandably skeptical.

He nodded, “It would. So long as I’m honest with her about who I do things with.”

“Shit, that’s a bit weird. Not that I have room to talk. So are you going to tell her about what we did?”

“She already knows. But I didn’t give her many details. I’m not willing to keep secrets from her, but I also didn’t want to tell her too much without your permission.”

“Thanks for that. It’s embarrassing either way, but I understand your reasoning.” She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So, I’m not going to decide right now if you and I will do something like that again, but at least I know where we stand now, so thanks. And tell Chloe I’m sorry. Even if she’s okay with it, I didn’t ask before we… well you know.”

“You didn’t know she and I were in a relationship. As I said, you’ve no reason to feel guilty.”

“I do anyway. You’re my little brother, I’m supposed to take care of you.”

“And I’m supposed to take care of you too. You needed that. In some ways we both did.”

“I’m glad you see it that way.” She picked up her plate, which still had about a fifth of a salmon fillet on it. “We’ll talk more later.”

Jason nodded, “Any time. I’m always here for you.”

She leaned in to hug him with one arm and then turned to walk away.