It was my first time at a BBQ with my colleagues. There wasn't much younger staff in my company, so the few of us who were in our 20s and 30s were a rather closely-knit group. Despite being one of the newer employees, my colleagues were friendly and amicable enough that I wasn't feeling too out of place to accept an invitation to a casual BBQ party celebrating one of their birthdays.
The party took place at East Coast Park, with the BBQ pit right beside the park's sandy beach which faced the wide ocean, giving us a glorious sunset view as dusk turned to night.
There were about 15 of us, sitting around the BBQ pit and doing various things from drinking to eating to playing cards to just chatting about anything and everything. At some point there was birthday cake, and at another point there was a mass game of Werewolf. It was all a good time.
But this story is centred around one particular colleague of mine. A few of the others may or may not appear in future chapters, but for now... let's talk about Kyla.
For a physical description, Kyla was short, had long dark blackish hair, and sharp facial features that accentuated her Chinese background, even if her tanned skin made her look far for Southeast-Asian than she was. Many people would expect her to be in her late 20s like me, and not the early 30s that she really was.
In the office, Kyla was efficient. Being the office's Administrative Executive (which was a fancy way to say Receptionist) and seated at the front desk, Kyla was often the first face that everyone would see when entering through our glass doors every morning. And perhaps it was because she knew that she had a certain appeal which drew people to her (she's very pretty), but Kyla always kept her sentences short and to-the-point. She wasn't the kind to fool around or flirt to get her way. Kyla was tough, and everyone knew it.
But outside of office hours, it was a whole different Kyla that we saw. Having had lunch with her and a few other colleagues before a few times, I knew that Kyla was able to able to have fun and really let loose when it came to non-business matters. Throwing back beers and slapping her pals on the back made Kyla very popular with her peers whenever there was a dinner event or a karaoke session.
Me, though? I wasn't particularly close with Kyla. I was able to strike up a conversation with her in the office easily enough, but they never extended beyond work matters. And even if we went out after work for a drink, Kyla would usually be interacting with other guys and not me. I was the quiet type and didn't like attention. Kyla? She knew she naturally drew attention to her, and even if she'd never admit it we all knew she liked it.
So with all that being said, I was surprised to see that Kyla was sitting alone on some rocks a distance away from our BBQ pit when I was coming back from the restroom down the road.
She must be smoking, I thought.
On a whim, I decided to go over to talk to her.
"Yo," I said as I got nearer.
Kyla looked up and indeed she was holding a cigarette in her right hand.
"Oh, hey," she said.
"Smoking alone?" I asked an obvious question.
Kyla nodded. "Carly dont wanna smoke," she said. Carly was the only other smoker in our group that had come down to party.
I looked over at our BBQ pit and saw that Carly was in the middle of laughing her guts out in a conversation with other people. Quite the popular lady, she was.
"Can I join you?" I asked Kyla.
Kyla looked at me, surprised. "Since when did you smoke?" she replied.
"Never," I said. "Just wanna chill."
She shrugged and took a draw of her cig, which I took to mean she didn't mind. I sat down beside her on the rocks as she let out a breath of smoke.
"The smell doesn't bother you?" she asked.
"Nah, my brother is a heavy smoker. He likes Lucky Strike."
"Oh, I prefer Marlboro."
With no personal experience of how the different cigarette brands tasted, our conversation ended there. I watched Kyla as she took another draw from her cig.
Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail. She wore a white button-shirt that was tied-up around her waist, exposing her skinny mid-riff. The shirt was just sheer enough to reveal that she was wearing a black bra underneath, with enough buttons undone at the top to see them just peeking out if you looked from the right angle. She also wore denim shorts and simple sandals.
Kyla was what I would call fun-sized; which was another way of saying she was petite.
"What?" Kyla's voice suddenly pierced my thoughts.
I blinked, and realised that I was staring at her. Kyla was watching me with a wary expression.
I quickly shook my head. "Nothing," I said.
"Are you sure?" Kyla turned her body to face me on the rock she sat on, with her left leg raised up onto the rock like a middle-aged uncle. She was now looking at me with an eyebrow raised. The way that she sat exposed her crotch area, and her tight denim shorts made her thighs look delicious. Her shirt was also showing slightly more bra than normal.
"I- uh- well- I just thought you looked nice today," I said honestly, and rather sheepishly.
Kyla seemed taken aback by my response.
"Oh... well, thanks." Kyla smiled. It was nice, because she didn't smile often.
Taking another puff of her cig, Kyla let out a long sigh.
"Something up with you?" I asked. She shook her head.
"No not really, it's just..."
Her words trailed off.
"It's that bitch Carly."
Kyla gestured with her head behind her, and I looked over to see Carly at the centre of attention of everyone at the BBQ pit.
I realised that she was wearing her bikini top that she'd worn earlier when everyone was playing in the ocean.
"Why she wearing that?" I asked.
"She got sauce on her shirt, apparently," Kyla explained. I then noticed that most of the people surrounding Carly and talking to her were guys.
"An accident?" I asked.
"So it seems," Kyla said, with audible disdain in her voice.
I looked away from the BBQ pit and back at Kyla.
"That's just how Carly is, isn't it?" I said in what I hoped was a light-hearted tone.
"What, a whore?" Kyla looked at me.
I hesitated before responding. "I mean, just like, playful in that way."
"In a whoreish way?"
"Well, if you want to call it that..."
Kyla scoffed, taking another draw of cigarette.
"Just forget about her," I said.
"She's always like that, you know?" Kyla said, seemingly more to everyone in general than to me.
"She's always trying to get guy's attention, acting cute and flirting and being a bimbo."
"You hate girls like that?" I asked.
"I hate bimbos," Kyla replied shortly.
Kyla threw her finished cigarette onto the sand.
"Just because she's tall with big boobs..." Kyla said, and I thought I heard some sadness in her voice.
"Oh c'mon," I said. "Don't be like that."
"All you guys are the same, you know," Kyla said, now turning to face me again. "You like tall bitches with tits too, right?"
Again, I paused before answering.
"Ok that's not fair, everyone loves boobs," I said.
"HAH, I knew it," Kyla exclaimed, acting as though she'd won something.
"BUT, but," I quickly interjected. "I like short girls too!"
Kyla scoffed.
"Oh really? You like short chicks with no tits and stubby legs?"