(For context, in the UK having 'beef' with someone means you have a conflict with them).

"Noah!" I shouted from the front door. Tabs and I had been ready for about twenty minutes, stood by the door, just waiting for Noah, who was taking forever trying to fix his hair, choose the right outfit and the right aftershave, just to impress Kyle.

"Noah I'm sure you look gorgeous, we are so late now though!" Tabs shouted.

"Look bitches," started Noah, walking out of his room and towards us, "today I am getting myself a gorgeous Columbian boxer, and in order to do that, I need to look good, and it doesn't take five minutes to look this good," he gestured to his outfit. He was wearing a floral blue shirt, white with blue flowers, that had the top 4 buttons undone, revealing his tanned chest, matched with boat shoes, chinos and some aviator glasses. He carried a jacket in his hand, which he threw over his shoulder, making his large biceps bulge, and he strutted towards us.

"You look fit, now let's go," I said, grabbing his free arm and dragging him out of the house.

We parked up in front of the boys' house and got out, Tabs and I getting out normally, whilst Noah decided to do some dramatic, almost slow motion exit where he stepped out, put his jacket over his shoulder and his sunglasses on his face, and then walked over to us.

"What are you doing?" asked Tabs.

"It's called peacocking, I'm currently showing off my feathers, like a peacock would do, and hopefully I get to see Kyle's peacock soon," he winked at me.

"You are disgusting Noah," I lightly shoved him.

"Woah, don't crinkle the shirt, I only just ironed this baby," he stepped away from me. I rolled my eyes and followed Tabs into the house.

We were greeted at the door by Max and Dylan, who were both topless, but wearing aprons, Max's had a giant red kiss mark, and Dylan's had a print of a bikini on it.

"Nice tits Dylan," I said.

"Thanks, I got them done recently," he joked, grabbing both of his pecs, where the bikini top on the apron was.

"Your surgeon is amazing," I raised an eyebrow.

"Tell me about it boo," he winked.

"Stop flirting before Jordan comes running down here and rips your balls off Dildo," Max stated.

"He wouldn't do that," I laughed, nervously.

"Oh, you didn't see what he did to guys in high school who even mentioned your name, you saw maybe two fights, whilst I saw at least two a day," Max shook his head.

"What are you talking about?" Jordan asked, suddenly coming into the picture and walking over to us.

"Apparently you fought loads of guys back in high school for me?" I asked Jordan, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, um, maybe," he looked nervous.

"You're such a beast," I shook my head in disbelief.

"Well if I'm a beast, you're beauty, and we both know what happens at the end of that story," he flirted with me.

"Oh really, well, I'm not familiar, do enlighten me," I flirted back.

"This is so damned cute, is anyone filming?" asked Dylan, to which Jordan punched him in the arm, hard.

"FIRE!" we heard someone shout from outside, so we all ran outside to see what was happening.

"Where's the fire you moron?" asked Max, looking over at Kyle and Ryan, who were both housemates of Jordan.

"Just wanted everyone back here, there's no fire," stated Kyle, before turning back around to the barbecue. From the front, he looks like he's wearing an apron, topless like the rest of the boys, but when he turned around, he was wearing very skimpy shorts, and his entire butt was on display.

"Bubble butt," Noah whispered into my ear, making me burst out into a little giggle.

The boys fought a lot over the cooking, it was actually quite funny to watch, and at times it even got a bit heated. Ryan, who was a personal trainer at the gym all of the boys worked at, was mainly fighting with Kyle over the various kebabs. It was the smallest of things though, about how many peppers they wanted in between chunks of chicken, Ryan wanted two peppers, one chicken, Kyle wanted one pepper then two chicken.

"I think it should be pepper, chicken, pepper," Tabs decided to throw in there, just to get the two of them even more worked up, which actually worked. When she tried to provoke them again, tall Oli, who's lap she was sat on, put his hand over her mouth and told her to shush, as well as whispering a few things into her ear, which were obviously not meant for my holy ears to hear.

You would thing that that was the only thing they could argue about, or at least you would think you can't even argue over a barbecue, but that was only the beginning. It stemmed from how well-done the sweetcorn had to be, to how long the steaks needed on each side, to the chicken drumsticks, even to the salad.

"I don't want tomatoes in the salad," complained Smoli.

"You literally can just pick them out," replied Dylan, running his hands through his hair frustratedly.

"But the tomato juice will still be there!" Smoli retorted.

"You're going to overcook the ribs!" Jordan tuned in, arguing with Max, who was currently holding one of the various barbecue utensils, occasionally turning things over.

"You're going to give us all food poisoning if you thing that rib is done," Max replied.

"You're so stupid," Jordan sighed heavily.

The boys really were funny, it was actually the best entertainment of the night, watching them in all very weird aprons, topless, butts out on full display, arguing over things like tomatoes. Tabs, Noah and I were in stitches laughing, at one point we even had to go inside to get away from them, because our stomachs were hurting way too much.

"Let's get this party started," Noah said, after looking through all of the cupboards in their kitchen and finally opening the liquor one.

"What are we drinking?" I asked, walking over to him to assess the different alcohols they had.

"Shots of tequila, then vodka redbulls?" Noah suggested.

"I'm down, let's make them for everyone," Tabs added. So that's what we did, putting all of the shot glasses filled with tequila on a tray, and all of the glasses with vodka redbulls on another tray. Tabs carried the first, Noah the second, and I just opened the doors for them.

When we arrived back to where the barbecue was, there was a full-blown argument going on, between everyone this time, about who even knows what.

"GUYS," Tabs shouted. They all snapped out of it and turned to look at her.

"We brought shots," I smiled, picking up two shot glasses and holding them in the air, showing them off. We all stood in a circle, holding our shot glasses, before clinking them together and downing them at the same time. It burnt.

Eventually the barbecue was finished, and we all stuffed our faces till we could barely move anymore.

"I have never seen a girl eat more than you," tall Oli said to Tabs, "it is so fucking attractive," he moaned slightly, grabbing her and pulling him back onto his lap. They were actually so cute together. I smiled over at Tabs, who smiled back at me, before turning and snuggling into Oli's chest.

Once our food had gone down more, and we weren't all at risk of getting a stitch, someone put on some music and we all jumped into the pool, except Tabs and Oli, who were busy making out back where we had left them, sat at the table.

We played a few games of chicken in the pool, where the boys got on eachother's shoulders and tried to push the other off. Firstly, it was Max on Smoli's shoulders, versus Dylan on Ryan's shoulders, Max and Smoli won. Winner stayed on, and so after that it was actually Noah on Kyle's shoulders. I could just tell that Noah was absolutely loving every single second of it, you could tell from his beaming smile. They also actually won.

"Come on Berry, your turn," Max said, gesturing for me to get on his shoulders.

"Fuck off Maxine," Jordan grumbled, picking me up with one arm and placing me on his shoulders. I have to say, it was really hot, and got me all tingling down there. Of course, we lost, but it was a load of fun.

As it got later into the night, we decided to set up the fire pit, and sat around it, exactly like it was at that Halloween party, which seems like an age away. As I looked around, I could see that Noah and Kyle had actually disappeared, as well as Tabs and Oli.

"Where's Kyle?" asked Smoli, taking a look around the circle, much like I had just done.

"Probably with Noah," Ryan shrugged his shoulders.

"Do you think they're getting with eachother?" asked Dylan.

"Definitely," answered Max.

"Finally, he can stop asking me to wingman him now," Dylan sighed with relief, throwing his head back against his chair. That is actually adorable how Kyle has a crush on Noah, who had a crush on him, I'm so happy for him.

"I still don't understand why he thought you would be a good wingman, you can't even get a girl on your own," laughed Ryan.

"It doesn't exactly help that everytime I try, one of you fuckers tells them the story about buying that dildo," complained Smoli, grabbing a beer can and throwing it at Ryan's face.

"In all fairness, they need to know what they're getting into," laughed Max, to which Smoli threw a separate beer can at him, and everyone burst out laughing.

At some point during the night, I started shivering, even though there was a huge fire pit in front of me. Jordan actually took it upon himself to get up, go inside and grab me a blanket, wrapping it around me, before rubbing my arms to try and creating friction to give me more heat.

"Where's my blanket baby?" asked Smoli.

"Get one yourself lazy ass," grumbled Jordan, which just made Smoli laugh.

"You know, you'll probably warm up quicker on my lap," Jordan said to me, just low enough so that only I could hear. I wasn't sure if it was the cold, or how sexy he was, but my hairs all over my body were now standing on end. I looked over at him, biting my lip slightly, and gave a subtle nod. Jordan grabbed my arm, picking me up out of the chair, before taking my seat. Then he pulled me back down onto his lap by my waist. After he adjusted the blanket around me more, and I adjusted myself so it was comfortable, I relaxed into his embrace, as his arms formed a protective and very warm cage around me. I made eye contact with Max, who gave me a little wink, which I was sure Jordan didn't see, making me grin slightly at him, before turning my head and resting it on Jordan's chest, dozing off.

***

1842 words

26/01/2021