Girl Talk

Madison and Ashley both gasped as a small wave of cold water splashed onto them, interrupting the lazy tanning session they'd slipped into after an hour or so of lakeside hijinks. Madison sat bolt upright, deciding whether she'd be angry or entertained on the way, and felt significantly calmer when she saw her squad captain slipping up on to the dock with her and Ashley.

"Rude," Ashley stated calmly, putting away her sunglasses, showing no apparent reaction.

"Come on, you two were being so lame! Plus, tanning gives you cancer. You'll thank me someday." Heather slid between them, looking out on to the lake as their other friends' groups started to merge. What exactly they were doing wasn't clear, but it looked like some kind of game Zack knew the rules to and they seemed to be having a good enough time. Madison noticed Heather's smile widen just a little before she turned to hear someone coming down the docks. Chloe sat down next to her, letting out a light huff as she settled in.

'God, she is sweating something fierce,' Madison thought, glancing over her heavy layers. She averted her eyes for a moment as less appropriate observations flooded her mind. She didn't know Chloe super-well, but the pale, busty redhead was undeniably attractive, and Madison clenched her legs together a little to try to distract from the tingling that thoughts of pressing their lips together summoned. 'Hormones. It's just hormones. Calm the fuck down.'

"So, what are your bets?" Heather's question served as a welcome distraction, not just because it diverted Madison's attention. Truth be told, she always liked it when Heather did this. It was usually just her and Ashley, but Chloe was actually a lot of fun most of the time, so she didn't mind her joining in.

"I'm going to guess I'm going to get with Brandon." Ashley feigned having to really think about it. "You ladies are going to have to avoid going into shock."

"Please, you're basically an old, married lady for this game," Heather dismissively snorted. "But I still want you guessing. You always have guesses for anyone who isn't you."

"I'm an old lady who got completely railed to heaven and back before she came down to the lake, so I'm pretty sure I'm still winning," Ashley sighed out.

"Cool. Love that image. Not a terrible way to start guessing who's going to hook up at all." Madison didn't even look at her friends as she spoke, very purposely staring at absolutely nothing ahead of her as she focused really hard on a tree and not what Ashley was saying. "Can we actually start before I have hear hard details of my brother's sex life?"

"Well, you want to talk about hard ..." Ashley teased.

"I'll have mercy. Mads, while you're recovering from the trauma ... hey, Chloe, who do you think I'm going to hook up with this weekend? And not a list, just top pick."

"So am I supposed to be right or make a case?" Chloe asked, actually looking like she was putting a lot of thought into the matter. "Because that super-changes who I'd say."

"Up to you!"

"Zack. I don't think you're going to be able to ruffle him, it's going to drive you crazy, and he's going to want to get away from Lisa if this is the pace she's going to have all break. Oh, sorry, Mads, that was kind of shitty of me to say!"

"No, she needs to pull back, you right. Um ... Kevin?"

"Boo!" Ashley turned to face Madison, clearly disapproving.

"What boo? He's totally her type! He's smart, he's hot, and of all the boys here, he's the one who acts the most like a forty year-old man!" Heather's face scrunched for a moment, then conceded the point. She didn't so much like old men as old minds. The expectations ahead of her, she never felt like she had any time for boys.

"Exactly! Boring!" Ashley emphatically smacked the back of her hand into the palm of the other. "Chloe's was way better, much less predictable. And reasonable."

"Okay, hit me with your best shot, then Ash. Lot of talk, now walk it," Heather challenged her.

"Oh, you're absolutely going to hook up with Delilah." Heather's eyes actually bugged a little at that, turning to face her friend. "You two put on this big public performance of not liking each other for the teams, but you don't really know each other and you'll be trapped in close quarters for two weeks. You like to tease. She stands her ground. I think you'll end up messing with her, she won't budge, and you'll basically smash into each other."

"... yeah, that's better than mine," Madison admitted after considering it for a moment. Honestly, Ashley's points were solid, and from her own brief dalliance with Delilah, she could completely see her and Heather getting together, at least for a week or two.

"You two are insane." Heather shook her head. "Whatever, who's next for the chop?"

"I can go," Chloe offered, a little meekly. "I mean, it seems like fun, I kind of want to hear what you guys would say."

"Well, Zack and Gavin seem like easy answ-" Madison started to think out loud.

"Kurt," Ashley stated, completely matter-of-fact.

"What the fuck? Why?" Heather looked at her, still a little disbelieving from her last guess.

"Not sure. Just my guess. I think Kurt."

"She's always like this when we play," Madison explained with a slightly-weary tone to Chloe. It would have been less obnoxious if she wasn't right about half the time, while anyone else had very bad odds. "Okay, I'll say ... you know, I will say Zack. All joking aside, I think it'd be cute. They've basically known each other their whole lives, and if it becomes a whole thing, that's kind of adorable. Plus, he's got a great ass and I'm not pretending you haven't noticed it."

"Heather, would appreciate a guess?" Chloe was turning slightly red while asking, not used to speaking this frankly about romantic or sexual interest in general.

"Okay ... okay ..." Heather seemed lost in thought, clearly trying to come up with an answer besides "the other one of your male best friends here," but was struggling a bit. "Okay, hear me out: Lisa."

"Pray tell?" Ashley simply raised an eyebrow, stare demanding an answer.

"Because Chloe and Zack are a lot alike, but she doesn't have a fuckton of baggage with her. I think it'd be healthy if - oh, fuck, I'm being rude, Chloe, you like girls or no?"

"Never given it a lot of thought." The blush suggested otherwise, but Heather seemed to take her at face value.

"Okay, well, if you are, that's my guess. If not ... I dunno'. Cute park ranger when you're here all alone and answer the door? I'm going to call him 'Wilhelm.' That sounds right."

"What's he like?" Madison bumped her shoulder into Heather's, causing both of them to giggle.

"Oh, perfect gentleman. It's Chloe who can't contain herself. He's just too perfect: chiseled features, gorgeous body, just the right-sized cock, which she could totally tell by the outline of his pants. He wants to chivalrous, but she's having none of it, and it becomes a whirlwind love affair that takes the town by storm."

"Honestly, Wilhelm sounds like a catch," Chloe admitted, smiling more comfortably. "Okay, so we obviously skip Ashley ... just Madison left, then?"

"Kevin." Ashley and Heather said almost simultaneously. Madison looked to either side of her, a little offended at the idea she seemed so predictable to her fellow cheerleaders.

"Is this because I messed around with his cousin?"

"It doesn't help." Ashley half-shrugged as she spoke, clearly fairly certain of her position.

"Plus you haven't even kissed anyone in, like, seven months, plus he's drop-dead gorgeous, plus you know he wouldn't be hanging all over you after for Brandon to get weird about," Heather continued, raising a finger for each point.

"Jesus, I guess I fucking have to, huh?" Madison's reply was a little sharper than she meant it. Not that Kevin wasn't hot ... he was. She glanced out on to the water as some part of the game the others were playing caused him to leap up, exposing his rock-hard abs and positively built arms. Madison felt a little less offended in the moment for her friends' presumptions, admiring the basketball captain's well-balanced, but shredded physique.

"Gavin," Chloe interrupted after a few moments, still looking out onto the lake herself.

"I'm pretty sure I'm not his favorite person," Madison sighed, looking back at Chloe. "I mean, I know you two are tight, but he's usually pretty cold to me. Not that he's not cute, I actually like the 'miniature college professor,' thing he has going on, I just can't seem to get a word out of him. Be hard to imagine dick's easier."

"Well, I'm not saying you have to have sex," Chloe rolled out slowly, "but you two have a lot in common, I'm kind of surprised you aren't closer. You really think he doesn't like you? Like, as a person?"

"It's just the impression ... that I've ... got. What do you mean 'a lot in common?' I'm not exactly Ms. Computer."

"I'd talk to him, he's probably just nervous." Chloe shrugged, not explaining any further. "Like, get him alone and really dig in there. That's just my advice. Or you can fuck Kevin. Free country."

As the conversation devolved into who they'd be least likely to hook up with (quickly expanding outside of present company and focusing on who literally the worst hook-up in the world would be), Madison found herself repeatedly glancing back at Chloe. The redhead seemed far more comfortable engaging with the cheerleaders than she had on her own, squirreled away from everyone else by the water. But Madison couldn't get her comments out of her head. Sure, she didn't think that Chloe was right, but Chloe had certainly known Gavin a lot longer and better than she had. Or maybe it was just those deeply inappropriate thoughts wanting to be actualized, still catching herself checking out the barely-visible curves she knew lay under the thick cover or her long, pale legs that did nothing to dissuade the imagination from guessing what crawling between them might feel like.

By the time the sun started to set, everyone began to retire inside, Heather, Kurt, and Victoria handling the meal prep. After a relatively quick and uneventful dinner, people inevitably started to drift into groups for the evening, no central activity planned to hold them for the night as Heather figured everyone would be kind of beat on night one. Not being wrong, several people retired to bed almost immediately (Brandon and Ashely with notable speed). As Madison waved Kurt off from finishing cleaning up with her (half because she needed to think, half because of his less-than-subtle inspection of her ass), she turned around to find the room had entirely emptied almost without her noticing.

"God, that was fast ..." she mumbled to herself, putting the last of the plates up to dry. As she walked out of the kitchen, wearing a flattering pair of denim shorts and an old movie poster t-shirt that hung far looser around her slim frame, she noticed a door to the outside shut and saw a figure obscured by shadow moving down to the lake. As she tried to make out who it might be, it also came to her attention that the large central room wasn't precisely empty, just ... quiet. Gavin looked up from his computer just as she glanced at him, prompting him to swiftly avert his gaze. Madison turned away as well, pondering which of her curiosities to chase.