"Hey, can I stay at your place tonight?" Kenzie asked when I picked up the phone. It was my favorite question, and my answer was pretty much a given.

"Of course! Want me to pick you up from work?"

"Yes please, if it's not too much trouble. And this is a little awkward, but could I invite Riley to come with us? We've become really good friends, but with all the time I've been spending with you, and making up with Becky on top of it, she's been feeling a little abandoned. It's not just about making her feel better. I miss her too."

Riley was Kenzie's best work friend and she spoke about her all the time. As a matter of fact, I was pretty sure they were working together at this very moment. "Of course! The guest room is all made up and ready to go, so she can stay over or we could take her home. Besides, I'd like to meet her, you talk about her a lot. Or do you want me to make myself scarce?" I asked.

"Of course not, it's your house after all," Kenzie said, "I was actually hoping to introduce her to the whole group, but that can wait. I think everyone will like her; she's one of the few people I actually enjoy working with. She's the smartest, funniest, clumsiest person I've ever met. She always, always keeps me laughing."

"Sounds too good to miss," I said. "See you after work."

* * *

Around three o'clock Kenzie's phone beeped with the arrival of a new text from Becky, "Can you come to the bakery when you get out of class?"

Kenzie fired off a quick reply: "Actually, I'm already done with class, but I'm working until about 6:30, then going over to Sam's for the night. Why don't you come over?"

The response from Becky was close to instantaneous. "I actually wanted to introduce you to my new employee, Taylor. And Molly will be with me as well. Would Sam be okay if we all came over for a few minutes? There's something I want to ask you."

"My friend Riley is coming over and we're getting Barro's," Kenzie texted. "So yeah, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Sam will be okay having pizza with five pretty girls. "

"Sounds yummy. Can we bring anything?"

Kenzie thought for a moment. "You guys bring the beer and I'll get the pizza. See you tonight."

* * *

"Sounds like fun, the more the merrier," I told Kenzie when she called to tell me that she'd invited Becky and Molly and Taylor to join us. "Plus, you said you wanted Riley to meet the group and with Taylor coming along she won't be the only one there that doesn't already know everyone." I paused for a minute, "When we spoke earlier, did you say that she's smart and clumsy? That's kind of a strange way to describe someone."

"Just wait until you meet her," Kenzie said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. "She's really smart, but in a classroom kind of way, and as far as clumsy, well, the girl just has a way of inviting accidents to happen wherever she goes. You'll see."

"It can't be that bad."

"So, you doubt me, huh? Tell you what, Doubtie McDoubterson, I'll show her the pool when we get to your place, and I bet you that she finds a way to fall into it within five minutes."

"I wasn't born yesterday, Kenz. You'll just push her in."

"I promise I won't. You'll see," she repeated.

"Okay, it's a bet. Stakes?"

"You know that thing you like when we're in bed? The thing we only do when I'm feeling extra kinky? Well, if I'm wrong, tonight's your lucky night!"

* * *

The girls worked at a locally owned juice bar called Slurp that closed at 6:00, just long enough to serve people on their evening commutes. "Hello!," I greeted them as they left the store, Riley locking the door behind them. Their uniforms were pretty casual, jeans and sneakers with their choice of a few different kinds of t-shirts advertising the business. The shirt that Kenzie was wearing was a faded black color that was the result of a work shirt being washed over and over again. She also wore a blue, black, and white light-weight flannel shirt unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up, since the owner kept the temperature pretty cool. Instead of an extra shirt, Riley wore a long sleeved navy blue work t-shirt that had also seen quite a few washings. They had closed up together many times previously, and were ready to leave shortly after 6:00, so we made it back to the condo around 6:30. I'd ordered a few pizzas right after Kenzie filled me in on the night's guests and asked for delivery between 7:00 and 7:30 since there was never a guarantee that the girls would get out of work right on time. That meant that we were well ahead of the delivery driver when I turned into our parking lot. All the parking places right behind my condo were full, so I parked right by the pool, which was just across the lot from my place anyway.

"What a pretty pool!" Riley exclaimed as we pulled into the parking space.

"Come and check it out, Riley," Kenzie said as we got out of the car. "I was thinking maybe we'd come over here after dinner. Even if we don't swim, it's a nice place to hang out."

Riley wasn't tall, but she had a few inches on Kenzie and rocked that slim Asian build with really dark brown hair that she still had pulled back into a ponytail from her day at work. "Ooh, it is nice," she said as Kenzie held open the gate for her. The pool deck was deserted but was still wet and there were deck chairs and lounges still scattered around in an unorganized fashion. My guess was that families with kids had just returned to their condos for dinner.

Riley walked to the edge of the pool and seemed awfully sure-footed to me for someone that Kenzie said was so prone to accidents. She even leaned down and put her fingers in the water to test the temperature without the slightest wobble. I winked at Kenzie, thinking about my special treat later that evening. "It's only been thirty seconds," Kenzie said quietly, "just wait for it."

"What's in here, Sam?" Riley asked, walking over to a good sized deck box.

"The condo association bought the box and the residents use it to store their pool toys instead of carting them back and forth all the time. Something gets swiped or broken every once in a while, but it's still better than making three trips every time you want to use the pool. Just be careful with the --"

Riley had been toying with the latch on the top of the deck box and suddenly it popped open, but instead of just the top opening, the whole front of the box fell open as well, spilling floaties and pool noodles and toy boats onto the deck. And about a dozen balls of all sizes, from tennis balls up to basketballs.

"Here we go!" said Kenzie.

Riley jumped back, not wanting the falling front of the deck box to land on her foot. It was light and wouldn't have hurt her but getting out of the way was a natural reaction. Her right foot came down on one of the lounge chairs that were spread around the pool deck and of course went right between the plastic straps that crisscrossed the chair, tripping her and spinning her around toward the pool. Just as she caught herself, her other foot landed squarely on a tennis ball, which upended her as it rolled away from under her foot. She started to stagger backwards when her trapped foot unexpectedly sprang loose from the lounge chair. This added momentum to her spinning, and it looked like she was about to careen right into the pool, but the back of her knees made contact with one of the regular deck chairs that had been dragged over from a table for some unknown reason. Riley's wild spinning suddenly stopped as she landed right on her butt in a perfect sitting position in the chair about six inches from the side of the pool. She grabbed the arms of the chair, not believing what had just happened, and the look of shock on her face slowly turned into relief. "Just the way I planned it," she said.

I was just turning to Kenzie to declare victory when I saw one of the back feet of Riley's chair bend just ever so slightly. There was just enough time for Riley's eyebrows to raise in surprise as she felt the shift in balance. She uttered a quick, "Uh-oh," and didn't even bother to loosen her grip as she and the chair tipped over backwards and dropped into the pool with barely a splash.

Riley stood up in the slightly deeper than waist level water, holding her arms away from her body and looking down at herself. Her faded navy blue t-shirt had turned even darker and clung to her like it was painted on, revealing that she wasn't wearing a bra, even though nothing was actually visible. Her hair was plastered to the sides of her head with her bangs hanging down into her eyes. Both her hair and her shirt were super shiny, and she sort of sparkled in the sunlight along with the pool water. Her face didn't give away anything she might be feeling until she spat a stream of water out of her mouth and chuckled. "I should know better than to get that close to a swimming pool!" She waded over to the side and climbed out of the pool, water streaming out of her jeans and running from the cuffs of her long sleeves. She tried to wring some water out of her soaked uniform, but quickly gave up and sat down on the side of the pool, plunging her feet and lower legs back into the water. "I normally wouldn't have even come through the gate, but I didn't think anything would happen with no one here." It didn't seem like Riley was specifically talking to either one of us, but Kenzie answered her as I started to pick up the pool toys.

"Oh, Riley, I wouldn't normally have let you come in here either, but I told Sam how these accidents always happen to you and he didn't believe that anyone could be so, um, unlucky."

"So you set me up?" Riley wasn't exactly mad, but she didn't seem to be very happy about the situation either. She pulled her feet out of the water and spun around to confront Kenzie, but as she turned her shoe slipped on the edge and she fell straight backward into the pool again, this time with a much bigger splash.

She surfaced for the second time, this time already laughing. "Okay, I guess I see your point," she told Kenzie as she took out the ponytail, shaking her head back and forth as she put the hair tie around her wrist. Now that her hair was free, she leaned back and ducked under water again, coming back up with her fingers running through her long brunette locks, slicking it straight back.

Kenzie had run over to where Riley had fallen in to ask if she was okay, "It looked like you were going to land right on that chair and I thought you might get hurt." She motioned to the chair that still rested on the bottom of the shallow end of the pool.

"Nope, didn't even touch it, but that makes me think that we shouldn't leave it in the pool like this," Riley replied. She ducked under the surface again and grabbed the back of the chair, lifting it out of the pool and pushing it onto the pool deck feet first.

Riley let go of the chair for a moment to change her grip, and as it started to tip back into the pool Kenzie grabbed it by the legs. One of the tennis balls that had rolled out of the deck box and into the pool brushed Riley's ear as it floated by her just as she leaned deeper into the shallow water to grab the sinking chair. The tennis ball startled her and she jumped up and back, unintentionally pulling the deck chair with her. Kenzie, who was holding the other end of the chair, was pulled past the point where she could balance and toppled headfirst into the pool beside her friend. It looked to me like there had been plenty of time for Kenzie to let go of the chair, but who am I to argue?

After seeing that there no injuries from their aqua-tumbling act, I tried to give the girls a little privacy and continued picking up the pool toys that had rolled all over the place. They were talking and laughing and splashing each other as they gathered the renegade pool toys floating around them, and I could tell from the atmosphere that everything was okay. If Riley had ever been upset it seemed like Kenzie's fully clothed header into the pool had cured it.

Just then I saw Becky's delivery van pull into the lot and park next to my old convertible. Becky and Molly got out first, followed by a pretty college aged blond girl I figured must be Taylor.

"Hi Sam!" Molly called and waved when she saw me on the pool deck. "Is Kenzie inside?"

"Nope," I replied, and pointed at the pool where Kenzie and Riley were still goofing around. At least they'd managed to get the chair out of the water.

Molly called the other two over and they joined us where I was holding the gate open. Becky was dressed, as usual, in her work uniform: jeans and a logoed polo shirt with sneakers. It seemed like she always had a different colored polo to wear, and today was no exception, as she sported a pale light blue shirt that I'd never seen before along with dark jeans. Her brown hair wasn't as dark as Riley's, but it made a beautiful contrast to her light shirt. Taylor had replaced her work shirt with a white tank top under a light weight, loose fitting yellow button up shirt, which she wore French tucked into her faded work jeans. Her light brown hair with blonde streaks didn't quite hang down to her shoulders, but what it lacked in length it more than made up for in fullness. Molly was usually the best dresser of our little group, working in an office all day long, and today was no exception. She wore a knee length khaki dress, unbuttoned most of the way down the front with a black tank top underneath. I was beginning to see that she like hats, and today she had her long and straight red hair tucked into a wide brimmed fedora, which was just a shade darker than her dress.

I'd known Becky and Molly for at least a few weeks now, so I gave Taylor most of my attention. "Hi Taylor, I'm Sam," I said as I held out my hand.

Her handshake was firmer than I expected, but not overly so. She went up a notch or two in my book immediately. "Nice to meet you, Sam. I've heard a lot about you and your girlfriend."

"Speaking of girlfriends hey Kenzie, come over and meet Taylor," I called. "And bring Riley with you if you want."

Taylor looked at the pool for the first time and did a comical doubletake, then asked me, "Are they...?"

"Still wearing their work clothes?" I finished her question for her. "Yep. We never even made it to the condo."

Taylor paused for just a few seconds, thinking. Then her face broke into a huge smile, "Awesome!"

Kenzie and Riley had made it over to the shallow end by then, close to where we were standing. Kenzie waved at Taylor and called out, "Hi, I'm Kenzie. This is my friend Riley."

Taylor waved back, "Hello in there! You two look like you're having fun."

"In the pool is always more fun than not in the pool," Riley said, and splashed Kenzie, who splashed her right back. "It's nice to meet you. Come closer to the edge so I can shake your hand. I promise I won't pull you in," she said with a wink and a smile, obviously fibbing.

Taylor wasn't buying any of it, but she did take a couple steps forward until she was standing right at the edge, even running the tip of her shoe back and forth on the lip of the pool, nearly dipping it into the water. "You know, I've heard so much about you that I always imagined I'd give you a big hug when we finally met," she said to Kenzie.

Kenzie'd had enough stalling, so she climbed out of the pool and grabbed Taylor in a big bear hug, even wrapping one of her legs around the new girl to get her as wet as possible. Kenzie'd never bothered to remove her flannel shirt, and that coupled with getting out of the pool right at Taylor's feet meant that she was gushing water when she hugged Taylor.

Taylor laughed and squeezed back as good as she got, obviously not minding getting wet, and suddenly let loose with a rush of words. "I'm not scared of getting wet, it actually sounds like fun. I'm just not an exhibitionist, and I'm not sure if this light shirt will give too much away. I've been thrown into tons of pools and jumped into even more, no matter what I'm wearing! It looked like so much fun when I saw you there, but I didn't want to make a bad impression or anything. I mean, you're my boss's friends after all. I think my top looks okay now, but it's not super wet. If I jump in will you let me know if my shirt goes see through?"

"Wow," Kenzie said, looking at Taylor as she finally stopped to take a breath. "And for a second I thought you were going to be too quiet. You know, there's only one way to find out about your shirt," and she gave the already damp Taylor a little push. The push may have been little, but it was perfectly executed, and Taylor gave a little yelp and raised her arms as she fell backwards right into the water, just like those old Nestea Plunge commercials. Kenzie dove back in and Riley swam over to join them. Taylor was quickly assured by both girls that as long as she kept both shirts in place she looked sexy, not slutty. Well, maybe just a little bit slutty, they joked.

About then we saw a car with the Barro's logo on the door pull into the parking lot. "Oh shit," Kenzie said, "I wanted to buy the pizza tonight," and she quickly climbed out of the pool, the water streaming from her wet clothes once again, and her shoes making loud squishing noises as she hustled through the pool gate and over toward the back door to my condo, where the driver was just getting out of her car. We watched as she paid the driver with some soaking wet cash, and they stood there talking for a minute before they both headed back over to the pool.

Kenzie was still dripping as she said, "Hey everyone, this is Allie. She was just telling me that the air conditioner in her car isn't working and she's running a few minutes ahead of schedule. For some reason she mentioned that going for a swim would really feel great. I have no idea where she got that idea"

"Hi everyone!" Allie waved to the group. She was wearing short denim shorts and a red Barro's t-shirt with a baseball cap, white ankle socks and sneakers. She kicked the sneakers off as soon as she came through the gate. "I hope you don't think I'm rude, but I have to get back to work in just a minute or two." She said as she walked over to the deep end of the pool and just kept walking when she got to the edge. She did it so matter of factly that I half expected her to just keep walking across the water, but of course she disappeared into the pool as she took that last step. "Oh, that's fantastic!" she exclaimed as she came up for air. Her hat had come off and it floated a few feet away from her. She filled it with water before placing it back on her head.

Allie swan over to the edge of the pool and climbed out, grabbed her sneakers, and sat on one of the scattered lounges to put them back on. "You're welcome to stop by for a dip anytime we're out her, Allie," Kenzie told her as I nodded my head in agreement. "We know you're working so we won't think you're rude if you only have time to splash and run."

"Thanks, you guys are my favorite customers. Have fun but try to eat that pizza while its hot. Thanks for the tip! Bye now!"

"We'll be out here later if you want to come back later," Riley called after her.

"I have got to hang out with you guys more often!" Taylor exclaimed. "None of this stuff happens with my other friends. I've never seen a drive by soaking before."

"Sounds like you need to upgrade your friends," Molly told her with a gentle smile.

The two girls remaining in the pool climbed out, and I led the way over to the condo to dig into the pizza.

"Oh shit," Molly said as we gathered on the patio, "I forgot to grab the beer from the van. Will you give me a hand, Babe?" she asked Becky.

"Of course," she said and they both went back to the parking lot. As the only dry one left, I ran inside to retrieve paper plates and few forks and knives just in case. I'd ordered wings along with the pizza, so I grabbed a roll of paper towels as well as enough napkins for an army.

Becky and Molly returned with the beer, and to the surprise of no one, they were both soaked from head to toe. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist jumping in!" Taylor crowed triumphantly. It turned out that her yellow blouse did a much better job of protecting her modestly than Becky's pale blue polo shirt, which had gone nearly transparent, and her thin white bra wasn't doing her any favors either. The girls all chose to ignore the nipple issue, so I wasn't about to say anything and make her feel uncomfortable. Riley had been in and out of the pool for the last hour or so and it had been obvious, to me at least, that she wasn't wearing a bra, but rather a tank top under her work shirt. With her slim figure, she didn't need a bra on a daily basis for either support or aesthetics. The fact remained that no one had said anything to Riley, so I expected the precedence to hold with Becky. Besides, I was the only guy in our group tonight, and as much as I appreciated her gorgeous friends, I was so head over heels for Kenzie by that time that it didn't matter to me the way it would have just a few months earlier.

"It was this crazy person's fault," Molly said, gesturing at Becky good naturedly. "She grabbed my phone out of the van and chucked it into the pool! All the way from the parking lot no less!" Her khaki dress was a little darker than before, and strangely at the same time it had turned a little see though - I could clearly see the outline of her tank top through the soaked dress, and her long red hair was slicked down her back. She'd lost her Fedora somewhere, and I hoped it was in the van and not the pool. She showed her phone to the group. "It's waterproof, but she knew I couldn't just leave it in the pool like that. Besides, it gave me an excuse to toss her in too."

"I would have gotten it for you, Molly!" Taylor told her, as we all helped ourselves to pizza and wings.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. But if you were me would you rather ask someone for help, or take a running dive into the pool on a night like tonight?" Molly asked her with a twinkle in her eye, as she washed down a bite of pizza with a swig of Four Peaks Golden Lager.

"I see your point," The younger girl replied. Taylor's yellow blouse held a surprising amount of water for being so thin - she literally dripped all the way through dinner.

Kenzie and Riley both looked sexy as hell, I thought. Jeans and t-shirts were kind of my kink anyway, and when they got wet and shiny and clingy it only multiplied the effect for me.

While I'd been musing over my good luck, Becky had turned the talk to the reason for their visit, "I wanted to introduce Taylor to everyone because she asked for my help with a school project, and it's against the rules for Molly and I to be in the presentation. When she told me what she had in mind, I thought that Kenzie would probably be willing. Riley, I know we've never met before, but after tonight I have a hunch that you might volunteer to be part of this as well." She'd brought Taylor's iPad back from the van when they'd gone for the beer, and she handed it to her now.

Taylor wiped her hands after quickly polishing off a few wings and started fiddling with her iPad "I'm taking Introduction to Acting, and the professor assigned each student to pick a specific subject and then put on a presentation in the auditorium. One of my classmates chose Courtroom Drama and is doing the climactic scene from A Few Good Men. Another is trying to put together a dance scene from a Bollywood movie but has been running into some problems. I want to do something like this," she said and turned around her iPad to show us a YouTube video of Monty Python's History of the Joke sketch. We continued eating and drinking as we watched the sketch but were all laughing more than eating by the time it was over.

"I want to do something like that," Taylor told us, "but I'd like to make an all-female version to show the changing times. Also, the performers are supposed to be ASU students, which is why Becky and Molly can't be in it. I'm happy to play the person in the middle that gets hit with most of the pies, but I'm not sure who else to recruit. When I asked Becky about donating the pies, she said that I just have to ask her friend Kenzie to be in it, so here I am! What do you think?"

"I'm in!" Riley volunteered immediately. "It looks like a blast and I've been hit with a pie before. It's kind of fun." And she went back to concentrating on her pizza and beer.

Kenzie thought for a moment then spoke, "It seems like I'm getting a reputation. I'll tell you what, of course I'll do it, but I don't think you should be the girl getting hit with the pies," she told Taylor. "If it's your project, you should be the moderator or announcer, or whatever the title is."

"Makes sense," Taylor admitted, although I could swear that she looked disappointed.

"That gives us you as the narrator," Kenzie continued, pointing to Taylor, "and Riley and me as stooges. So, we need at least one more girl who's willing to take a pie." She turned to me, "Sam, do remember the night we met? I've got a class with Annie, the girl that waited on us and then was in the trivia contest with us as well. I bet she'd do it. She and her girlfriend were really getting into it by the time the pie throwing was over." Taylor raised her eyebrows at this, but Kenzie was already talking again. "Hey, that gives me an idea. Taylor, if your professor will stretch the rules to allow ASU alumni, I bet Annie's girlfriend Lindsay would agree to be the pretty girl handing out the pies. That would give you a full cast."

"I knew coming here tonight was a great idea." Becky congratulated herself. "What do you think, Taylor?"

"I think I'd better get started on a script!"

It didn't take us long to polish off the pizza and the wings (and a couple more beers), and the clean-up was a quick job with all of us chipping in. We sat around brainstorming with Taylor, but my patio was a little small for the six of us, and we returned to the pool area for a final beer and strategy session before Becky, Molly, and Taylor had to hit the road. No one was intending on swimming again, but of course Riley managed to fall back into the pool, tripping over Becky, who had bent over to tie one of her shoes. From then it was only a matter of minutes until we were all in the water. We had a blast batting one of the balls around and generally being goofy. To our surprise, Allie showed up again after she was done working and this time she didn't even stop to take her shoes off before she was in the pool and having fun with the rest of us. She stayed for almost an hour before leaving in her unairconditioned car.

Kenzie and I were surprised when the night ended with Riley leaving with the other three girls, who promised to get her home safely. No one had been drinking enough to make us worried about them but thinking about it led me to a mental picture that made me let out a quick chuckle. Kenzie asked me what I was laughing about and I told her that I was imagining a cop stopping the van and being greeted by four soaking wet girls, one with no bra and another with her nipples clearly showing. "Your friends can make quite an impression," I told her.

"They certainly can, and you'd better get used to it because they're your friends now too."

I kissed her and we squished into the house together, arm in arm. And it turned out that even though I'd lost the bet, I still got my special treat later that night.