Jesse left the construction site he was working on and headed into town to pay his gas bill at the local hardware store. After making the payment, he headed down Main Street, on his way home, which was in the country on the other side of town. He was approaching the stop light and saw a old blue ford car in the center lane with it's turn signal on, waiting to pull into the lane he was driving in. He saw a cute face looking in his direction and waved his hand to the girl, signaling for her to go in front of him.
The girl's face lingered in his mind a few seconds as he pulled up behind her and waited for the light to turn green. Jesse followed the car for a few blocks until she took a left turn and drove away from him. He headed through town then turned off to a road that lead into the country. A few minutes later, he pulled onto his dirt driveway that lead to his trailer.
There was a message blinking on the answering machine. Jesse pushed play and listened to the message from his friend, Buck. Buck was inviting Jesse to a cookout at his house Saturday around 4pm and mentioned that there would be food and lots of pretty women. Jesse laughed at the message and headed straight to his bathroom to clean all the dirt and mud off his body from work.
Sunday morning, Jesse headed to work at the crack of dawn with the thought of the cookout later in the day on his mind. He was looking forward to hanging out with his friends, enjoying a few drinks and eating some grub. Cookouts on Saturday were a normal event in his farm town.
Jesse pulled into his driveway around 1:30pm, took a cool shower and laid down for a quick nap. Jesse heard his alarm buzzing at 3:30, reached over and turned the alarm off then sat up in bed. He spent a few minutes dressing then headed to his friend's house.
He drove down Buck's long dirt driveway that lead to his old farm house, surrounded by 3 acres of grass. One acre was fenced off and had been used for a cow grazing area before Buck purchased the house. Jesse could hear country music blaring outside the house, coming from the pole barn.
Several cars were already parked just to the left and right of the long driveway. Jesse hopped out of his truck and walked up the driveway, meeting Buck, who was putting burgers and corn ears on the grill, next to the pole barn.
"What's up Jesse? I am glad you made it. How was work today?" Buck asked as he shook Jesse's hand.
Jesse responded, "Hot and tiring, but not too bad. Looks like you have a great turnout so far."
"Yeah, I am going to make a ton of burgers and corn so I don't have to stand here all day. Pete, Sandy, Holly, Sammy and Tinkle toes are in the barn already. Pete's cousin came too and brought a big group of chicks with him. Some of them are pretty hot."
"For real? That is good to hear. I wondered who some of the vehicles were hear. I didn't recognize a few of them."
"Yeah, a few of the girls drove because there were too many to fit in Pete's truck. There is supposed to be a group of people coming from Huntersville too. It should be a hell of a party." Buck commented.
"I am going to get a drink. Do you want anything?" Jesse asked.
Buck replied, "Nah. I already got a cold one." He held up his beer with a can coolie on it.
Jesse headed inside the barn and chatted with a few of his friends while making his way to a large metal tub at the rear of the pole barn. The metal tub was filled with ice and beer, sitting next to the stereo pumping the music out.
As Jesse was grabbing a beer, he saw a group of people mingling toward the opposite rear corner of the barn. He saw one face he thought he recognized, but did not know the rest of the people. He stared at the face of the female he thought he recognized for a few seconds, trying to figure out where he had seen her before. After looking at her for a few seconds, while taking a drink of beer, the girl turned and glanced in Jesse's direction.
She looked toward a guy who had is back to Jesse, who was talking, for a few seconds before looking back at Jesse. She could feel him looking at her. She looked back at him and their eyes met. He saw her give him warm smile and returned the smile. He took another drink of the beer, which tasted great, and scanned the barn, looking for a few of his friends. He did not realize that the woman he had been staring at was walking his way until she was standing next to him and started talking.
"Hey, where do I know you from? You look familiar." the girl said to him.
Jesse quickly turned his head in the direction of the voice, momentarily startled. He saw who it was and replied, "You know, I am not sure, but I was thinking the same thing."
"Do you drive an older, gray Chevy truck?" she asked.
"Yes. Yes I do actually." he answered.
"I know. Weren't you the guy that let me in at the red light on Main Street earlier in the week?"
"That is why your beautiful face looks so familiar." Jesse answered. "Yes, I think that was you."
The two of them introduced themselves and get to know each other a little bit before going separate ways. Jesse walked over to his buddies while the girl, who introduced herself as Liz, went back to her group of friends.
Jesse thought Liz was really attractive. She sounded like a nice girl to him and he made a mental note to find her a little later and strike up a conversation again. After finishing the beer and grabbing another one, Jesse helped Buck carry a couple plates, piled with burgers and corn ears, into the garage. A line quickly formed in front of the food. Jesse had set two burger aside before bringing the food into the garage.
Jesse walked around the back of the pole barn and pissed away one of the beers then pulled up a lawn chair on the concrete pad on the side of the house, close to the grill. He sat next to Buck and started eating. A half way through his sandwich, Liz came around the corner of the barn and sat down next to Jesse.
"It is a little loud in there. You don't mind if I join you two do you?" Liz said, breaking the silence.
Jesse quickly swallowed his bite of hamburger and replied, "Not at all."
Buck noticed the way they were looking at each other. He stood up and said, "I will be right back. I gotta grab something from inside."
Liz took a bite of her sandwich and Jesse asked, "So, do you have a boyfriend?"
She finished chewing then answered him. "Not anymore. I was dating a guy for a few months but I found out he was messing around with another girl so I broke up with him a few weeks ago. How about you? I good looking guy like you surely has a beautiful girlfriend, right?"
Jesse blushed at her compliment and replied, "No actually. I broke up with my girlfriend from high school a couple months ago. We just didn't get along like we used to and decided to break it off."
She gave him a frown and said, "Sorry to hear that."
"No. It's okay. I don't know why a guy would cheat on you though. He must have been an idiot. You seem like a very nice girl and are very pretty."
It was Liz's turn to blush. "Well, thank you."
Jesse saw Buck return from inside the house, carrying another plate of hamburgers. Buck placed several hamburgers on the grill then sat back down and started to finish eating his food. When he finished, he turned toward Jesse and Liz.
"So who is your friend here Jesse?"
"Buck, this is Liz. Liz, this is my best friend, Buck."
"There you are." a friend of Liz's said as she turned the corner of the barn and walked toward the three of them. "I wondered where you went."
"Hey Betsy! It got a little too loud for me in there with everyone talking so I stepped out for a minute."
Betsy extended her hand to Liz and said, "Pete broke out a box of strawberry wine. Come on, you have got to try it. It tastes great."
Liz took Betsy's hand and stood up. She looked back at Jesse and said, "I will find you later."
Jesse watched Liz as she walked away. He wondered to himself how she fit into the tight pair of blue jeans she was wearing, that hugged her body. The jeans were tucked into pink cowgirl boots at the bottom. She was wearing a black t-shirt that said, "Let's get Bucked up" in pink letters across her chest. Below the letters, was the outline of a buck, also in pink.
When the girls disappeared around the corner of the pole barn, Buck said to Jesse, "Wow! She is hot! How do you know her?"
Jesse nodded his head in agreement and answered, "Yes she is! I let her in front of me at the red light on Main earlier this week, but today was the first day I met her."
The crowd grew as the afternoon became long. People started disbursing throughout the property, some sitting on the tail gate of their trucks and others gathered in the grass where the cows once grazed. A large fire pit sat in the middle of the fenced in area. A cool breeze moved in as the sun started to set, making it a little chilly outside.
Buck decided it would be a good idea to start a bonfire so he gathered help to carry logs of wood and fallen twigs from the trees to the fire pit. About twenty people gathered around the fire. Jesse walked out to his truck, to find a private place to piss. He stood at the far corner of his truck and relieved himself. As he was finishing, he was startled by the sound of footsteps.
"Whatcha' doin?" he heard a familiar voice say, coming from the dark.
"Um, nothing." He said, looking to see if it was Liz's voice.
He quickly zipped up his jeans and walked to the back of his truck. He was hard to see with his camouflage shirt on. Liz was at least fifteen feet away from his truck and walking in his direction. She saw him heading down the drive, while inside the barn, and decided to catch up with him.
