Who Is Lucas Ryker O'Riley?

29. A FUN LITTLE GAME

Before we left the house, Mom had been able to calm me down from the nervousness of reveling myself in a swimsuit to my dad and brother, but now the anticipation of hanging out with strangers all afternoon, trying to convince them I'm a girl had me so anxious I was shaking.

I searched back to how I had felt while Mom and I were shopping and I told myself I was dressing up in a costume, pretending to be a whole different character, one that I knew would soon no longer be a character at all, but instead would be who I was.

As we left the house, I began to wonder where this new character might take me.

Walking up the Miller's driveway, mom reminded Dave to be on his best behavior and told him, "I better not see anything other than complete support for Carla. Treat her like anything other than your sister, a young lady, and your game console will be two generations out of date before you even so much as see another video game loading screen again."

"Don't you think that's a little harsh, Mom," he replied.

"Try me."

Upon being invited into the Miller's house, Lisa practically grabbed me as if I now belonged to her, taking me straight away to her room.

I guess she was eager to show me her room and prized possessions, getting started on the whole 'making friends' routine.

Upon entering her room, I immediately noticed how it was decorated. Everything in her room was either frilly pink pastel or just ridiculously cute.

Thinking back to when I had last spendt time in Mandy's room, I couldn't help but contrast these two bedrooms.

Mandy was as pretty as any girl I've ever met, and even though her room and clothes were decorated in feminine colors, the colors she chose were always more vibrant/bold than the soft, muted pastels of this room.

I decided I preferred Mandy's room to Lisa's and that I would rather have my room decorated in bold colors, rather than pastels which looked like a gaggle of forest pixies with a stomach virus had thrown up everywhere. It also doesn't get much cooler than when your best friend, guy or girl, has an authentic hand-forged Japanese fighting sword on her wall, and knows full well how to use it.

Returning back to the present, I found myself politely nodding at Lisa's enthusiastic, yet slightly nervous show-and-tell as she filled me in on the significance of each knick-knack and stuffed animal in her collection.

Lisa was talking at a rapid auctioneer's pace by the time she started telling me the story behind her third collectible porcelain figurine. I gave her a big friendly smile, but was bored out of my mind, so I quickly interupted her, asking, "Would you like to go swimming now?"

This knocked her off of her show-and-tell storytelling stride. She cheerfully nodded her agreement and headed to the bathroom to change into her bathing suit.

I took off my shorts and top, then gathered my towel and sunblock from the bag. Seeing the large lensed, girly shades Mom had given me, I decided I might want to hide behind them later, so I put them on my head for now.

Mr. Miller, Dad, Dave and Jeremy were already out back once we headed there, while our moms were still inside talking, and working on side dishes in the kitchen.

"You two look terrific," encouraged Mom, as we walked through the kitchen. "Don't forget to put your sunblock on," she continued. "Crying about sunburn the next day isn't fun for you and it isn't fun for your Mom either. "

Mr. Miller seemed to be setting up last minute preparations for his outdoor grill and judging by the elaborate decor and style of his massive built in barbecue system, it seemed to be his pride and joy.

Stepping out of the rear patio door, a wall of heat practically assaulted me as I adjusted from the air conditioned indoor climate to the rediculously superheated Texas air.

The bright sunlight caused me to squint and I immediately reached up to pull the shades down on my eyes.

I noticed that the Miller's pool wasn't nearly as nice as ours and while it was larger than what you'd see in most people's backyards, it was still only a fraction of the size of our massive pool and it was just a rectangle shape, but it did go from 2 ft on one end to 12 ft on the other, with a diving board, which I couldn't wait to try out.

While Lisa and I put sunscreen on each other's shoulders and back, I noticed Jeremy almost staring at me with a slightly devious smile.

This got me to looking around and thinking about how everyone had reacted to me walking out in a bathing suit. Aside from Jeremy, no one gave me a second thought. This meant they didn't have any questions about my gender and just accepted me as a girl, which served to boost my confidence and allowed me to futher relax.

Jeremy, however, caused some nervousness and discomfort to remain, as he was quite obviously checking me out in a "I'd-like-to-get-to-know-the-new-neighbor-girl-more-intimately" kind of way.

Once Lisa gave me the okay that she was finished applying sunblock to my back, I decided I would overcome the discomfort of having Jeremy checking me out, by turning it back on him and trying to make him uncomfortable.

As I walked over to a lounger on the side of the pool, I played up the extra attention from Jeremy and shook my hips back and forth in an exaggerated manner. When I reached the lounger, I spun around and immediately locked eyes with him, to see if he had observed my faux flirty moves.

Indeed his face instantly turned a deeper shade of red. I knew that he knew I had caught him. He quickly diverted his gaze away from me.

I then took a seat on the lounger and continued to play with Jeremy, fumbling with my swimsuit straps, and adjusting the suit around my breasts just a little more than I probably should have, in order to bring his attention to my small but growing mounds.

I stood back up to adjust the lounger and also pulled on my swimsuit bottom, adjusting it around my crotch before lying down on the lounger.

I mentally thanked Mom for the shades, since they allowed me to observe Jeremy's reactions without him even knowing I was paying him any attention.

Making Jeremy blush turned into a fun little game for me. I continued doing this occasionally for the rest of the afternoon. Having this kind of effect on someone else was empowering and I was throughly enjoying it.

Watching him visibly squirm was icing on the cake.

This little game also created more questions in my mind, questions I didn't want to think about right now.

Lisa noticed from the start, what I was doing and could barely containe herself, breaking out into audible laughter.

At one point, just as I was about to jump from the diving board, intending to make a cannonball splash, I realized at the last second that my bathing suit top may or may not stay in place after such a stunt.

Rather than cause a big stir on my first day among new neighbors, let alone Dad and Dave seeing that, I decided that out in the open, discretion was the better part of valor, at least for today, so I just dove in normally.

I definitely didn't want to give Jeremy that much to stare at.

With the sun and humidity beating down, it didn't take long for Dave and Jeremy to decide to join Lisa and I, in the cool, refreshing water.

It was funny seeing Jeremy pay such rapt attention to me, although he couldn't overcome his shyness whenever he had an opening to say something directly to me. This was fine by me, since I wasn't looking for that kind of interaction with him anyways.

After a few pool games of Marco Polo, water volleyball, and throwing the Frisbee around to each other in the water, we settled down in the adjoining hot tub.