On the way to Artie's house, Tina thought about what she would say. She had a feeling that Mrs. Abrams would want to supervise the party, and the more Tina thought about it, she couldn't blame the woman. With four football players and two cheerios there, something was bound to happen. Especially with Puck and Santana.
As Tina stood on the front porch of her friends' house, she tried to compose herself. Then she knocked. "Tina! How are you? Come on in honey, I'm afraid Artie's at a doctor's appointment right now." Mrs. Abrams greeted, without taking a breath. Tina smiled shyly and stepped in the foyer. "Actually, I'm here to talk to you. We want to do something special for Arties birthday, but we need your help." Mrs. Abrams smiled even wider, and lead Tina into the kitchen where she saw Lea leaning against the counter next to the sink with a mixing bowl. "OMG!" she yelled, dropping the mixing bowl on the counter and ran to Tina, hugging her tightly. The two had become close after Lea had helped Artie understand Tina, and constantly IMed each other. "It's good to see you too. Can't…breath" Tina gasped. Lea let go of her and stood back beaming at her. "So, did I hear something about a party?"
By the time Artie and his dad came back from the doctors' office, Mrs. Abrams, Lea and Tina had come up with a rough plan for the party. Lea promised to email Tina with more details later and made her pinky swear that she was going to get Artie to agree to a party "You're the only one he'll listen to", she pointed out. Tina and Lea were helping Mrs. Abrams finish dinner when Artie wheeled himself into the kitchen. "What's going on?" he asked suspiciously "Not that I'm unhappy to see you Tina, but what are you doing here?" Lea threw a dishrag at him and gave him a look that clearly said be nice. Tina just shrugged and said "my parents are out of town, and your mom suggested I eat dinner with you. I just came by to catch up with Lea; I haven't seen her in a while." Artie seemed to accept this, but kept a close eye on his cousin and best friend.
All through dinner, Artie watched Lea and Tina exchange looks and talk about Lea's boyfriend and glee. When they were finished, Mr. Abrams and Lea cleaned up, while Mrs. Abrams went to her room to call her sister. Artie and Tina went to the family room and Artie transferred himself from his chair to the sofa. Tina sat down next to him and turned so that she was facing him. "So, Have you thought about the party?" She asked. He looked startled at her straight forwardness. "It'll be fun, and I'll make sure Rachel doesn't have anything to do with planning it. Especially music choices." Tina smiled, trying to sound convincing. Artie just stared at her. Tina sighed and got up "just think about it, okay? I gotta go, homework and…stuff". Artie watched as Tina quickly walked left the room, stopping to say thank you to his parents and cousin before leaving the house.
After everyone had settled down for the night, Lea sneaked into Artie's room and sat on the floor next to his bed before she proceeded to poke his rib cage. "You are the most annoying cousin ever," Artie muttered with his eyes still closed. "It's a gift," she whispered back. "Are we going out to dinner for your birthday like usual? Can it not be Applebee's again, please? Or TGIF. Last time I went there, we had horrible service." While Lea was speaking, she had continued her poking, and once Artie realized she was done speaking, he swatted at her hand. Which stopped her for about fifteen seconds. He sighed loudly "I just want to do something with mom, dad, you and maybe Tina. Dinner here maybe, nothing major, you know how I feel about parties. Stop poking me, brat"
Artie opened an eye and watched her pull her hands back to her lap and stick her tongue out at him. It always amazed him how she acted like a ten year old since she was…well ten. Her mother said no matter how old she gets, she would always act younger than she really is. That's why she started getting grey hair the day Lea was born. Allegedly.
Lea stretched suddenly and yawned "time for bed. Night" She whispered loudly as she jumped up and attempted to tip toe out of his room. If there was anything Lea was known for, it was her klutziness. The guest room was across from Artie's room and soon Artie heard a thud as his graceless cousin walked into the door, followed by a quiet string of curse words having to do with a fucking ghost shutting the door and something about her mother not letting her stay with her boyfriend.
As Artie drifted to sleep, he thought about the idea of having a birthday party for the time since he was a kid. It could be fun. As long as Rachel doesn't act like it's her party and takes charge. He drifted to sleep coming up with pros and cons for having a party, and when he woke up the next morning he sent a text to Tina:
I'll do it.