Montana Mansion

3...2...1...SPLASH!

Willa's POV:

About an hour after the rest of us arrived, Philby showed up. Having forgiven him for the Charlene comment, I waved him over to sit with me. Not my fault he's adorable.

"Hey, Philby. How are you?" I propped myself up on the armrest of my lounge chair to face him.

"Terrible," he sighed, raking a hand through his firey red hair.

I raised my brows. "Oh? What's wrong?"

Philby glanced briefly at me before turning away to face the pool where the rest of our friends were trying to push Charlene in. Charlene was trying to climb onto Finn's head, much to Amanda's dismay. Philby frowned once she'd finally reached his shoulders.

"Oh. My. Mickey." I could die. Turning to Philby, I hissed. "Do you like Charlene?"

"I told you I was terrible."

Tears pricked my eyes. Was it legal to throttle someone with good reason?

Glancing back to the pool, I saw Finn take Charlene from his shoulders and hold her over the water bridal style.

"3! 2! 1!" Jess and Maybeck chanted. Charlene was kicking at the air, hollering and laughing. "DROP HER!" With a splash, Charlene broke the surface. Coming back up to the surface, Charlene treaded water and shook her finger at them. "You all die!"

The group laughed and Maybeck offered her a hand up. Charlene grasped it with both of her hands, propped her feet up on the side of the pool and pulled as hard as she could. Even Philby couldn't help but laugh as Maybeck fought to stay on the concrete. He smacked her hands with his other palm and pulled back, causing Charlene to start to loose the battle, until the girls got involved. Creeping up behind him, Jess and Amanda body-slammed him from behind, sending Maybeck tumbling face first into the water. 

As Charlene and Maybeck fought, Amanda and Jess jumped in together and Finn came over to join us. Plopping himself down at the end of my lounge chair, he asked. "Can I ask you guys a question?"

Philby and I glanced at each other. "I suppose," Philby finally answered in his hot, British accent. 

"It's not illegal for a 16 year old to make out with a 14 year old, right?"

Philby gagged and I narrowed my eyes. "First of all, gross. Second of all, no, it's not. And lastly, be good to her."

Finn smiled. "I don't mind the age thing. She doesn't look 14, anyway."

I held up a finger, "15 next week."

Philby looked to make sure Charlene hadn't snuck up on us. "I think we all know that. Everything for her party is underway, right?"

"Ball," Finn corrected.

"Yep," I smiled. "She's going to love it." With a shrug, I added, "I'm pretty excited myself, to be honest. But how are we going to get her to buy a ballgown if she doesn't know?"

"We'll tell her the morning of," Philby decided. "She'd kill us if we didn't give her time to get ready."

"I made her an appointment with a cosmetologist," Finn offered. I gawked at him and he shrugged. "I thought she'd like it."

"She'll die!" I whisper shouted. 

Philby broke the silence that had settled over the three of us. "I still can't believe Disney is flying in Wayne, the Imagineers and the rest of the crew in."

"Or that we found a fancy ballroom in Billings, Montana."

"Just luck, I guess?" Finn asked rhetorically.

Amanda appeared, plunking down on the end of Philby's chaise and winked. "Or magic."