Boy Stuff, Girl Stuff

"I can't believe I let you do this to me." He muttered as he wiggled his nose.

"Let me?" His sister laughed. "I used to give you wedgies and put you in a dress. I still could do that. Now hold still for your mascara."

"Aren't we done yet?"

"Nope. I need to practice."

"On me?"

"Yep." She grinned and focused. "But aren't your friends coming over tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Maybe I can practice on them?"

"They won't go for that."

"Not like you?" He glared at her. "Hey! No moving."

"They won't want to do this. We're doing boy stuff tomorrow."

"Uh-huh." She shrugged. "Guess I'd better make the most of this practice. Let's get that makeup off you and we'll do a facial!"

"Ugh! Ashley!"

"What's that? And a manicure? Absolutely, little bro!"

* * *

By the next morning, Dylan had forgiven Ashley. After all, every Friday night where she didn't have plans, she experimented on her little brother. Today, however, was sure to be better. Jason and Charlie were coming over and they always made things better.

"You're not going to bug us, right?" Dylan asked over breakfast.

"Oh," Ashley scoffed. "Nothing I'd like more than listening to you three talk about, what was it again, boy stuff?" He grunted. Having her hang around might be more trouble than it was worth. Jason lately had started talking about her more and more. Dylan found it gross, but that did not make Jason stop.

"Just promise."

"Geez, I promise." She rolled her eyes, but it sounded genuine enough. "But remember, this is my house too, so you can't really stop me from coming in public places." Dylan sighed, but he knew she was right.

Unable to shake the nagging feeling Ashley was up to something, Dylan tried to steer Jason and Charlie to his bedroom. All the same, they ended up sitting at the dining room table. Dylan tried to focus on the game Jason had brought, but he kept glancing toward the stairs every time he heard Ashley moving up there.

"Is your sister here?" Jason asked.

"Huh?" Dylan blinked. "Uh, yeah. I think she's upstairs."

"I was kinda hoping to see her in her bikini."

"Ew, dude. That's my sister."'

"She's hot."

"She's bossy." He liked it better back when Jason had kept his crush a secret.

Her ears must have been burning because Ashley came downstairs shortly thereafter, barely even glancing up from her phone at the boys around the table. She went into the kitchen and then came strolling leisurely back out. Here we go, Dylan thought.

"Hi, boys!" She said cheerfully. "How's it going?"

"Fine." Charlie said, studying his hand of cards.

"Whatcha playing?"

"Oh, it's called Everdell." Jason said. "It's really fun. Resource management and all that. Wanna play?"

"Oh, hmm." Dylan eyed her suspiciously. There was something off about her, but he could not think of what it was. Usually, she avoided him and his friends, but now she was so friendly! And she looked different. But how? It was something about her tank top. Jason seemed to be staring at her. "Looks like you boys are almost done."

"Yeah, but we can play again." Dylan's eyes nearly bugged out as his sister sauntered over, leaning down between him and Jason. Jason looked like he might explode even before she put a hand on his shoulder as she studied the board.

"Hmm, play with you guys? Are you sure that's ok?" Dylan shook his head behind Ashley's head, but he could practically feel his hopes shriveling away even before Jason grinned.

"Oh, it'd be great." He said.

"Uh, but we were thinking about doing something else after this game." Dylan said, hoping his desperation wasn't showing.

"Perfect." Ashley straightened up and Jason looked like he might faint. "I've got just the activity for us. You three finish this up and I'll go get it set up in the other room."

"We are not playing with her."

"We totally are." Jason said.

"You don't understand. She's planning something!"

"What? What is she planning?" Charlie asked.

"Something!"

"She's being nice." Jason shrugged. "What do you think, Charlie? You're the tiebreaker."

"Let's just do whatever she wants to do, I guess." Charlie shrugged. Dylan groaned. "We voted." Charlie said defensively.

"Whatever. Let's just finish this." Dylan tried his best to slow down the game, but Charlie was just too good and they soon were filing into the living room. There was a sheet hanging up in one corner and what looked like a makeshift bed on the floor where the coffee table usually was. Ashley's grin was friendly as she looked over Jason and Charlie, but it turned almost predatory as her eyes met her brother's.

"So, what are we gonna do?" Jason asked.

"Well, I need to practice my spa treatments, so you three are my spa guests!"

"Girl stuff." Dylan said dismissively, but Jason punched him in the arm. God, he was lovesick or something!

"You're gonna put makeup on us?" Charlie asked nervously. Dylan almost pumped his fist. Charlie! Perfect.

"Not really makeup. It's basically like facepaint. This one's for relaxation, this one's for cleaning your face, stuff like that."

"And what do we have to do?"

"You'll lie down." She showed them a trio of pillows on top of a blanket. "But not yet!" She said as the boys shuffled forward. "You need to change first." She patted a pile of spa wraps. "Basically, you wear a towel at the spa."

"Well, let's do it." Jason said eagerly.

"Alright!" Ashley grinned. "So you'll go behind that curtain there and take off everything except your underwear. This wraps around your chest, it's too long to go around your waist, kay?" Jason nodded and disappeared inside. He emerged a moment later in nothing but the spa wrap, grinning confidently.

"They're really soft, guys."

"Guess I'll go next." Charlie disappeared.

"Ashley." Dylan muttered.

"What? It'll be fun." She said with a grin, pushing him toward the hanging sheet as Charlie emerged.

By the time Dylan had changed, both Jason and Charlie were lying down, their heads wrapped in towels and resting on two of the three pillows.

"Come and join us." Ashley said with a smile, coming over and wrapping a towel around his head and securing it with velcro. He flopped down next to his friends and sighed. "See? Relaxing already. So, we're going to start with this relaxation face mask. It's got lavender in it, so you'll feel all nice and relaxed. Fall asleep if you want!" She laughed.

"And cucumbers over the eyes?" Charlie asked. "I've seen that on TV."

"Exactly." Ashley got to work, chattering away and giggling as the boys' faces twitched. "You'll get used to it. After this one, we'll do an exfoliant, then a redness reducing one, and I've got a few others to try." She moved down the row of boys, ending at her brother. "Hold still, Dylan." She said, smearing the goop all over his glowering face. As she put the cucumbers into place, she leaned down and whispered. "So much for boy stuff." She stood back up. "Alright, those need to sit for twenty minutes, so I'll play some soothing spa music for you boys." She turned it on and snapped a few photos. Then, she got to work.

Twenty minutes seemed to pass slowly, but then Ashley wiped their faces clean.

"Ah, lovely." She said as they all sat up. "Looks like a couple of you were dozing and cozy, huh?"

"Well, that was fun," Charlie said. "But we should get back to our game."

"Your game?" Ashley pouted. "But you can't go yet. You three have won the deluxe spa package!"

"What's that?" Jason asked curiously. Ashley smiled and fixed his head towel.

"Well, it's all the facials I mentioned, plus a foot soak, and some other fun surprises!"

"Uh, maybe some other time." Charlie said. Ashley grinned.

"Oh, it's mandatory."

"What?" The boys yelped in unison.

"You see, I hid your clothes in Dylan's room, which is locked. Only good little boys who complete the whole spa package get their clothes back." She grinned. "Show of hands. Who's ready for their next facial?"