"One, two, three," said Jeremy right before the group all took a shot of Clase Azul Tequila. It went down so smoothly that Lana could hardly feel it. She mostly felt good. No, really good. The group had stopped by the bar before heading down to the rec room to get a quick drink. After they did, Lana wanted more.

"Grab the bottle," said Lana after they had set their glasses down.

"Yes, girl! Let's have some fun at this party!" said Chloe.

Jeremy grabbed the bottle and led them back towards the stairs. Jack lightly held Lana's arm and called out after Jeremy and Chloe, "We'll be right behind you, just gotta talk to Lana for a sec."

Jack pulled Lana aside into one of the quiet hallways on the main floor. Eyebrows furrowed as he turned to her, he said, "Lana, I feel awful. What can I do to make it up to you?"

"Jack, seriously stop. I'm really okay, and you don't have to do anything."

"I'm the one who caused this whole mess, so I'd like to do something to make it up to you. Can you at least think about it? Also, I'm going to start by sifting through the Google results. Who knows, maybe something will come up."

"Jack, that'll take like a year."

"Whatever it takes, Lana. I always keep my promises, no matter what."

Lana rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever. Now, let's go just get our minds off of it, okay?"

An inkling of guilt swept through her as she saw Jack's expression grow even more concerned. He looked at her for a moment, seeming as if he was about to say something but then simply nodded his head. "Alright, let's head downstairs. I think you're going to like this rec room."

Jack led the way around the corner of the hallway and briefly placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her toward the stairs. Electricity shot through Lana the moment his hand made contact.

Ugh, why do I like this so much? Must be the alcohol.

As soon as they got to the basement, Lana's jaw fell. The high ceilings and wide-open room were nothing like she expected. A pool table, arcade games, and TVs were planted around the space. Those didn't compare to the mid-sized indoor bean-shaped pool and attached jacuzzi that was just a short distance across the room. "This is amazing, Jeremy!" said Lana as they caught up to the other two.

"Let's go swimming!" said Jeremy.

"We don't have our swimsuits, dummy," said Chloe as she turned to look at Jeremy.

"You can borrow some of the extras. We have a drawer full of women's and men's swimsuits," he said. "Or you can go without one," he added, smiling at Chloe.

Um, excuse me, what?

"Haha, yeah right. Okay Lana, let's go get changed!" said Chloe after elbowing Jeremy in his side.

He held his side in mock pain and pointed the girls toward the bathrooms.

Chloe linked arms with Lana, and she didn't protest. The pair headed straight for the bathrooms.

As soon as they got in, Lana turned to Chloe who was still smiling. "Chlo, what was that? Are you in love with Jeremy?"

Chloe looked at Lana and smiled like a kid on Christmas morning. "Lan, I think I may have a teeeensyy weeeensyy crush on him."

"What! Jeremy? The poor guy has no filter. What happened? I was away from you guys for like two seconds."

"I know! I don't know, we talked a little, and he's actually really funny. He told me about his job as a mechanical engineer and asked a ton of questions about my work. He seemed to be interested in my art and asked me to show him pictures. I don't know, he was just a nice guy and it's refreshing after encountering so many bad ones."

Lana smiled. She couldn't not feel happy when Chloe was happy. The joy quickly faded though when a new thought emerged. "Okay, girl but be careful. Remember these are the types of guys who do whatever they want, regardless of the consequences."

Chloe's expression turned serious. "Speaking of, have you talked to Jack?"

"Yeah, for a little bit. He's really sorry. I don't know, Chlo." Lana paused and looked at the closet in front of them. "I think I do like him, but I'm just so scared. I feel uneasy and calm with him at the same time. I feel like I might puke from either giddiness or sickness at any moment."

"Yeah, I get that. But, Lana, please keep an open mind. I know you well enough that when there are unknowns you tend to check out. I know there are a lot of unknowns with Jack, but he's human, and right now he's being honest with you." Chloe paused then added, "Well, except at the very start, but that's all water under the bridge at this point, right?"

Lana laughed. She loved that Chloe was with her at this memorial and that they were actually going to party. "Okay, what swimsuits should we wear?"

The girls looked through the drawers of hundreds of bikini tops and bottoms. Chloe settled on a flowery one that wrapped around her abdomen. Lana chose a standard black string bikini.

When the girls went back out to the pool, the boys were already swimming and dunking a basketball in a small hoop stand that was on the edge of it. They stopped immediately after they noticed the girls walk in. Lana could've sworn she heard Jeremy say 'Damn' but couldn't make out what Jack said back.

"You girls look amazing. Straight fire!" said Jeremy as the girls were almost at the pool's edge and within earshot. Jack remained silent but smiled at Lana as she stood there, practically naked under his gaze.

I should've gone for the one-piece. Why did I choose this swimsuit?

She tried her best not to wrap her arms around herself. Her thoughts steered and heat rose through her body when she noticed Jack's broad shoulders above the water. She looked up at him and smiled back.

"Let's just jump in," Chloe said.

"Wait! We should test the waters first. I'll dip my toes in," Lana called after Chloe who was already gearing up to jump in.

"The water's nice, trust me! No testing, just jump!" Jack said as he tossed the ball in the air.

Lana bit her lip and looked at Chloe, who was waiting for her. "Alright, let's go!"

The girls jumped in, and Lana sank into the water as though it was a warm blanket being wrapped around her. The girls emerged through the surface and began treading the water with grins and giggles.

"Atta girls!" said Jack as he tossed the ball to Lana.

"So, what game are we playing?" asked Chloe as they swam toward the boys.

"We're just playing some water b-ball," replied Jeremy.

"Ooh, what if we tried that one TikTok?" said Chloe.

"What's a TikTok?" said Jeremy.

Chloe and Lana laughed, but the boys stayed quiet, waiting for them to respond.

"Okay, so I'm trying to remember what that TikTok was—" Chloe started before being cut off by Jeremy.

"No, seriously, what is it?" said Jeremy as he looked around at the group. Jack simply shrugged his shoulders.

Chloe and Lana looked at each other for a moment, realization hitting them. Chloe turned back to them, eyes wide and a giggle forming. "What rock are you guys living under? You don't know TikTok? Okay, let me educate you. It's sort of like Instagram but all videos."

"Oh. So it's like YouTube!" said Jeremy.

"No!" Chloe snapped. "It's... like... you know what never mind—I remember what I was thinking about: there's this one video I saw of these moms doing stunts in the pool and throwing a basketball and finally dunking it in the hoop at the end. We should try it," said Chloe eagerly.

Everyone agreed and laughed at how excited Chloe was to try it. She placed her phone on a table nearby with a book propping it up and got to work choreographing all of the stunts.

"Okay, so first Lana will start and jump in the pool and throw the ball behind her head toward the other end of the pool mid-jump."

"Oh God, I feel like I should tape my swimsuit to avoid any mishaps doing that," said Lana with a smirk.

The boys laughed, but Chloe ignored the remark and continued like a commander rallying their troops. "Then, Jack will catch it and jump in whilst throwing it in between his legs to me. Just at that moment, I'll surface from under the water and deflect the ball to Jeremy, who then will flip into the water and dunk the basketball in the hoop in the process. Got it?"

"Wait, can you repeat it? I don't get it," said Jeremy, scratching his head.

"Okay, let's practice. We'll do a dry run while I explain it again."

The group could not stop laughing the whole time as they tried and tried to get the timing right. Lana needed a few times to perfect her throw to Jack. The hardest part was Chloe's though. She seemed to never come up out of the water at the right time, but she insisted that she needed to get it right.

Finally, after what seemed like the sixtieth try, the group got it right. The basketball made it into the hoop successfully and everyone played their part. It was as if they won the Olympic medal when they got it all the way through. Chloe did her high-pitched shriek, and they all started cheering and laughing.

"I can't believe I made my first successful Jib Jab video!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"Tik Tok!" Chloe corrected him. "And yes! We nailed it!"

The group left the pool to go celebrate.

"Cheers to our successful stunt man and woman, group!" said Jack as they all clinked their glasses. By now, they could see the sun was setting through the high windows, and the sounds from the crowds just upstairs and outside were quieting down.

Lana lost track of time after they ordered pizza for dinner. The cheesy goodness was the icing on top of one of the best days of her life. Who knew a memorial could be this fun?

It wasn't until after their air hockey game that Jack looked at his phone. "Guys, it's 11 o'clock. We should probably get going. I have work tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah, same dude," said Jeremy.

"Same, actually except I don't go in until later," said Lana.

"Losersss, I'm taking the whole next month off," said Chloe.

The group stayed silent for a moment looking at each other. Lana desperately wished the night didn't have to end, and she had a feeling the others felt the same.

"Well," Jeremy said, drawing everyone's attention. "Maybe we can all sleepover? I can probably go in a little late tomorrow. Jack, what about you?"

Jack scratched the back of his head. "Um yeah, maybe. I'll have to move a couple of meetings, but I think it should be okay."

"It's settled then. We'll sleep over at Casa Steiner, and then we'll head out tomorrow morning."

No one protested. Lana would be sleeping in the most amazing house she could've only dreamt up near a guy that she really couldn't seem to shake.

***

Thanks so much for reading, comments, and votes! Also, side note, I wrote this chapter a few years ago when TikTok was not as popular. Now I read it and I'm like Jer really needs to get out more haha. ♥️