Larry came down, and he helped himself to some pizza. He took a whole box
for himself, infact. A few minutes later the others flocked down in a
massive mob, and gorged themselves on the pizza, chattering excessively.
They were hungry, of course. It was a good thing my parents got so many
pizzas. Larry put in some rap music, and I eventually joined in the
conversation with everyone else, and Tawny wandered off. Everyone was
talking about who they liked and normal gossip, but it was substantially
louder and more giggly. It was good to see that Ruby was a lot more
comfortable with Larry when she was high, I think. She was actually talking
to him at least instead of just staring.
"Where's the flippin' cake? I need something to drink..." Twitty asked.
Donnie busted out laughing. "You don't drink cake, dude!"
It was rather funny, I have to admit, and I said. "It's in the kitchen. Go get some drinks out of the refrigerator and we can eat cake in a minute."
He got up and skipped out of the room, very poorly, it was more like limping with a weird hop.
"Twitty's gay!" Louis shouted.
There was a moment of silence, and then everyone started laughing again, except me, who didn't see why it was so funny..
"Twitty's a fucking faggot!" Louis then shouted.
I didn't find that comment very humorous, but the laughing continued. He must have done something other than just the pot up there in Donnie's room.
"Louis, shut the fuck up. You're being immature." Tawny said loudly from across the room. She had parked herself in a chair by the bookcase.
I looked over in her direction. She was over by herself with a piece of pizza, and she was glaring at Louis. Even when glaring, her blue eyes were like beautiful little crystals.
"Tawny, lighten up. I think you need a joint." Ruby commented, and snapped me back to the real world where I was not fascinated by a girl's eyes.
Tawny glared at her now, sat her pizza down and pulled her straight, black hair back into a pony tail.
"Bitch..." Ruby, mumbled under her breath, but she did it a little loud in her altered state.
Monique elbowed her, "That was rather loud-ish and shit. Shhhh!"
"Yeah..." Mona laughed, "You called her a bitch really loud!"
I sat quietly, and looked back over at Tawny, who wasn't happy again. I felt bad, but I just sat there. She took tiny bites of her pizza and was acting like she didn't hear, but I know she did.
"You think she's a bitch too, don't you Ren?" Ruby asked me, very loudly again.
I looked at her and didn't answer.
"Yeah, Ren, don't you think she's a bitch?" Monique looked at me questioningly. "She's always in a bad mood, and you only invited her for Lou, but you don't really like her."
"Do you, Ren? You do don't you?" Mona re-emphasized.
"Umm..." I looked back over at Tawny quickly. "Yeah, I do." I said quietly, just to agree with them, but I didn't say it loud enough for her to hear. I'm such a dumb ass. I wanted to kick myself. I was scared to disagree with people about such things. I didn't wanna cause conflict at my own party.
"I knew it! You do think she's a bitch!" Ruby said, joyously.
"Why'd you invite her exactly?" Monique asked.
Of course, Mona, commented promptly after Monique, "Gosh, Ren, you're just too nice. You shouldn't pretend you like people. It's really two- faced."
Shit. I should have known that they would say something once I said something. I'm so stupid! You don't tell a high person something that you don't want other people to know at the moment. "No...I meant to say..." I tried correcting myself, but it was too late. I looked over at Tawny as she was getting up, and she looked like she was about to cry. "Shit...no...I..."
"Stoppit guys, Tawny's not a bitch." Louis said. "Leave her alone."
Larry laughed, "You should have seen Ren and Tawny earlier, they were all over each other."
"What?! I heard that!" Twitty said from the kitchen, "I do not like Tawny! Oh yeah...I'm bringing the drinks!"
"I'm thirsty..." Donnie whined. He was very amused by his pizza, and it had kept him quiet for quite a while.
"You're not a lesbian, are you Ren?" Ruby asked me, shocked.
I got up and walked toward Tawny, who was moving toward the door, "Tawny wait." She didn't look at me. I reached out and grabbed her wrist, "Tawny..."
She jerked her arm away, "You don't want me here, so I'm leaving."
"Tawny, don't go." Louis told her sadly, from his seat on the floor. Then he took another bite of his pizza.
Twitty came out of the kitchen carrying five Pepsis, "Is Tawny leaving because I don't like her?"
"No, I'm leaving because no one wants me here."
"I want you here." said Louis, stuffing more pizza into his mouth.
Twitty sat the drinks down on the coffee table next to the many empty pizza boxes, "You lie Louis!" He pointed, with wide eyes. "You lie. You lie. You lie!"
"Dude, don't call my little bro a liar..." Donnie chimed in, "Hey give me a drink and you can if you want..."
Twitty tossed him and entire bottle, and he successfully didn't catch it. Instead, it hit the floor next to him and rolled about three feet away. Everyone was yelling at everyone else, except Larry who was waiting for it to get bad and then calm everyone down.
As I was watching the goings on for that moment, Tawny had walked out the door, and left it open. When I realized that she was gone. I charged out after her. "Tawny! Wait!" I ran and caught up with her, and then got in front of her and blocked her path. "Listen to me for a second, please."
"What? I suppose you want me to go back inside because you didn't mean what you said, and you just said it to agree with your friends that are high off their asses, and have ignored you all afternoon."
"Yes! Exactly!"
She sighed. "I didn't get my stuff anyway..."
"So you're gonna stay?" It was getting dark out already, and her hair was shining in the street light along with her light blue eyes, that were far from being angry with me. Why I noticed, I don't know.
"Yeah, just don't be an ass, unless you mean it."
"You believe me?"
She shrugged, "I don't have any reason not to."
"Thank you. I'm really sorry I did that..."
She almost smiled, "I could tell you didn't mean it, but I wanted to see if you'd try and come get me. That's why I left my stuff. I'm very protective of it, and if I were really leaving, I would have gotten it."
"Why'd you wanna see if I would follow you?"
"Let's go back inside before everyone kills each other."
As we started to walk back up my driveway, I again asked, "Why'd you wanna see if I'd follow you?"
"Um...well...I..."
"Spit it out Tawny, you've never been shy about saying anything to anyone before."
"I know...but..."
"Everyone shut up! We have to sing "Happy Birthday" for Ren, as soon as she comes back in! I'll light the candles on the cake! Twitty go get it, quick!" I heard Larry command from inside.
"Oh, hell no!" I ran back in the house, leaving Tawny at the steps, "Don't let him carry my cake! I'll get my own cake!"
I ran past Twitty, who was moving slowly, and picked up the white box myself. When coming out of the kitchen, Tawny was shutting the front door. "Somebody move the pizza boxes and drinks, please."
Monique, and Mona did as I asked, and I sat the cake on the table. Larry pulled his lighter out of his pocket as I was opening the lid. I looked at my cake, and as soon as I saw it, I yelled, "What the hell?!"
Everyone got quiet, and stared at me.
"This isn't my name on my birthday cake..."
"Well, whose name is then, Ren?" Ruby said, abnormally annoyed.
"It says 'Neville'..."
"Close enough." Louis said, "Let's eat it."
"It's not my cake though..." I said, very hurt because my birthday party wasn't turning out like I wanted it to at all. My parents didn't even check to see if it was the right cake before bringing it home.
"Who cares! Get it out of the fucking box!" Bobby demanded.
I sighed, and carefully picked it up and placed it back down. Other than the name being wrong, it was a cute cake. All nice and light blue and white and stuff. Bobby was such an asshole sometimes. Why did I invite him? Why did I invite almost all of these people? Why didn't I just invite Tawny?
Damn, what was I thinking? Who knows what I would do with the poor girl if I were alone with her right now.
Larry lit his lighter, "Oh...hey...there're no candles, yo."
Bobby and everyone else laughed.
"They're in the kitchen..." I went and rummaged in the cabinet for the box of candles. I found them after a few seconds, and then took them out and put sixteen of them on the cake for Larry to light.
"Now sing!" He said, dictator-like, and everyone did as they were told, though they were absolutely off key. Before they had even finished, he noticed the disgusted expression on my face, and he said, "Now stop!" Everyone did as told again, except Donnie, who continued on and hadn't noticed.
"Donnie, quit now." Louis said.
"Huh?" He mumbled, confused, and looked around at all of us, dazed.
"Make your wish, quick, before he starts singing again." said Larry.
I shut my eyes for a few seconds, inhaled, and strained myself to think of a wish. Then something came to me, that surprised me substantially. I wish Tawny was a lesbian. I blew out the candles, before being able to change my wish, of which's origins weren't certain. I wanted to kick myself for thinking that. I owed myself a good many kicks now. What made me think such a stupid thing like that?! I wasted my wish on something I didn't really want. Why would I want that?! What good would it do me? None. None at all.
Everyone cheered and I realized that I'd blown them all out.
I must've looked kinda glazed over because after my wish sunk in, Louis asked, "Are you ok? Are you gonna pass out?"
I shook my head, and composed myself quickly. Maybe I held my breath longer than a person's meant to, or maybe it was the fact that I wished for something that seemed very foreign to me, for no reason, and very impulsively. I'm glad wishes don't come true.
"Cut the fucking cake, already." Bobby said, frustrated.
"Louis, go and get the knife."
He got up without questioning me and retrieved the cake knife from and also some paper plates.
I cut the cake, and appropriately, got the first piece, then I proceeded to pass out the rest to everyone. Well, everyone except Tawny, who had gone back to her chair in the corner and was sitting quietly.
"Tawny, do you want any?" I asked.
"Nah. Don't like cake."
"Bitch." Ruby muttered.
"Shut up." I told her without even thinking about it.
"Yeah. Be civil." said Larry.
She sneered, and stuffed cake into her mouth.
I stayed over with the group, and left Tawny over by herself. It really frightened me that I was thinking all the things about her that I was, and I kinda wanted to avoid her for a bit, in the hope that I would get over it, and make it go away. I kept wandering what it would be like to kiss her, and I wondered if she was any good, and I kept wanting to touch her. I bet her skin is really soft. I twitched. Why was this happening to me? I know, it's just because I've had a sucky love life and wanted Louis to have one too, and thus I didn't want him to have Tawny. There, logical explanation.
After Larry finished his cake, he changed the CD in the stereo and put in some dance music. Then he went rummaging through his bag and got out a nicely wrapped box. My present apparently. After everyone else finished they took his hint, and went and retrieved their presents from wherever they were located. Except Tawny, who was staring off at nothing now. I didn't bother her. She was a solitary person normally.
First, Ruby handed me her present. It was wrapped in pretty pink paper, and had a matching pink bow. I carefully pulled the bow off and tried not to rip the shiny paper. It was a medium sized box, and it contained and shirt and a twenty dollar bill. "Thanks, Ruby. Cute, and money's always useful."
"You're welcome, Ren!" She said, very enthusiastically, back to her normal self again.
"Here, open mine." Monique said, shoving the bag in my face.
I pulled out all the tissue paper, very slowly. Everyone was silent and watching in anticipation. I don't know why. The girl got me a shirt that said 'cheerleader' on it. I began to wonder if she ever thought about anything else at all, but I said, "Thank you." Smiled widely, and put it aside. "Don't you have a shirt like that?"
"Yeppers!" She nodded, "We can match!"
Next, not to my surprise, Mona threw her present at me. It was in the same kind of bag, and as I looked at it, I almost thought that it would be the same shirt. Luckily, it wasn't. It was a diary with a kitten on it, and a mass amount of gel pens. At least this was useful. "Ooh! Very nice Mona."
She clapped her hands and giggled.
I choked back my annoyance with her, and opened Louis's present, which was a teddy bear. I like stuffed animals, "Awww! Thanks Louis, and you actually remembered my birthday this year too!"
He gleamed with pride at his feat.
"Twitty, what'd you get me?" I asked shaking the small square box.
"Not telling." He crossed his arms.
It was making weird noises, which scared me, but I opened it, and saw that it was, none other than, a bunch of glitter with a quarter in its midst, and I slip of paper. I pulled it out, and read it out loud, "Errr...it says: I O U a birthday present." I smiled, he was cute in all his stupidity. "That's sweet, Twitty."
He grinned, "I know."
The other girls rolled their eyes at him.
"Awww! Stop hitting on Ren." Ruby said, punching him, playfully.
I got a card with twenty dollars in it from Donnie. He wasn't in his right frame of mind, which wasn't much anyway, so he was pretty unresponsive when I thanked him for his gift.
Larry got down on one knee and handed me the little box, "My mom wrapped it." He told me, and I took it from him.
"Thanks. She did a good job." I said smiling at his antics. He was a nice guy, very charming, but there was nothing there between us more than friends, and I could tell. I saw Ruby giving me dirty looks when he got down on his knee for me. I pulled it open, and noticed that it was some kind of jewelry box. I pulled off the lid, and there was a silver necklace with a star hanging from it on the inside. It was cute. I would wear it. "You're really thoughtful Larry."
"Hug?" He said, pathetically.
"Sure." I got up and hugged him. As I looked over his shoulder, Ruby was giving me the most hateful looks I had ever seen from her, and I tried to look and her and signal that it meant nothing, but I don't think she got it.
After Larry and I sat back down, Bobby carried his big box over to me, "Saved the best for last."
I smiled, and opened it. I found a large purple pillow with pink stars on it inside. On one side it said, 'I love you the most-est'. "Um...thank you." I was moderately confused, and then he sat down on the coffee table directly in front of me on the couch.
"Will you go out with me?" He asked, very sweetly.
I blinked, and stared for a few seconds, holding on to the pillow. My eyes drifted over to Tawny, who was looking at me funny. I didn't know what her look meant, but I looked straight into Bobby's face and said, "No."
He took a deep breath. "Oh. Well...you can keep the pillow." Then he got up and sat back down on the floor by Donnie. "I'm sorry I was being a jerk earlier, if that will change your decision."
He said it honestly, and I believed him, but I shook my head, "Bobby, I'm sorry. We've gone out before, and...I just don't want to again. I forgive you for being an ass."
"Hey!" He said, "I didn't say I was an ass, I said I was a jerk."
"Well...then I forgive you for being a jerk."
"Game time!" Announced Larry. "Let's clean up, and move the furniture." He looked at me for approval, "We are allowed to move the furniture around a little, aren't we?"
I nodded, gathered my gifts, and took them up to my room. As I was going up the stairs I heard Ruby mumbling about how I liked Larry and how Tawny was cheap and didn't get me anything. I noticed that Tawny didn't give me her present. I wonder what it was. I was tempted to look in her book bag. I put my stuff on my bed, and then ran back downstairs without doing it. The paper had been picked up, and there was a massive space in the middle of the living room because all the furniture had been moved to the sides. I glanced at the clock, and it was 9:30. Lots of time left. Damn. I was tired, worn out from all the weird things in my head, I guess. I began to think that they'd been there for a while, and I hadn't really acknowledged them until now.
Everyone was gradually forming a circle in my living room on the round area rug. I went and sat by Larry, who had his bag sitting in front of him. "What're we gonna do?" I asked.
"Wait and you'll see. Everyone's gotta get over here first, so I can explain the rules." He told me, "Tawny, come here." He motioned for her to come and sit by me.
She got up and came and sat down, "I'll give you your present later...if you still want it that is."
"Yeah I want it, but why didn't you give it to me before?"
"Because..."
"Alright everybody," Larry stood up, holding his bag, and got everyone's attention.
"Didja bring it?" Louis asked excitedly.
"Bring what?" Tawny asked, leaning over toward me.
"I dunno..."
"Yes, I sure did Lou." Larry grinned.
Everyone cheered except me and Tawny, who were both in a state of confusion. This was my party, dammit, why didn't I know about anything?
Larry pulled out a full bottle of vodka, and held it up for all to see.
"Great..." Tawny said, sarcastically.
I sighed. This was my party, but not really anymore, it was everyone else's party. I wanted to cry. I didn't like this.
"Alright, here's the deal," said Larry, "We're gonna pass this around, and everyone is going to take one drink from it each time it comes to them until it's empty, and when it's empty we're going to play spin the bottle. The person that takes the last drink gets to spin it first. Understand?" The people nodded, and smiled widely. "Ren starts cus it's her birthday." He said handing the glass bottle to me.
How great. I took the bottle, unsurely.
"Don't drink it..." Tawny whispered in my ear. "Pretend."
I nodded, nervously, and pulled the top off. Everyone was watching me in silence, and I lifted it to my lips, pretending to drink out of it, but I didn't let any go in my mouth. I passed it to Larry, who had sat back down, and he took his drink. Tawny smiled slightly.
The bottle went around, and by the time it got to her, it was about a quarter of the way empty. She pretended to drink, as I did, and then she passed it to me and I did the same, but Monique caught me, and said, "Hey, Ren, you didn't drink any!"
I panicked, and said, "I don't like the way it tastes..."
"C'mon Ren," Ruby whined, "Don't be a pussy, silly!"
Oh shit. They were actually paying attention to me now.
Soon all the others, except Tawny, joined in and started chanting for me to drink. I had no choice, but to take a swallow, a very small one, and wince because of the thought that I was doing something very wrong. It tasted revoltingly strong, and burned all the way down, then made my stomach feel rather gross. I passed it on to Larry again, and I leaned over to Tawny, "It wasn't so bad."
"So? I don't wanna kiss someone that's been drinking...errr...I mean...umm...drinking vodka at all...I mean...I..."
"Huh?" I heard what she said very clearly, but I didn't want to acknowledge it. I was confused beyond reason now.
"Nevermind."
The bottle came back around to her and she once again, got away with not drinking any. I drank a tiny bit, and passed it on. What was more wrong, drinking a little vodka, or wanting to kiss the girl next you that happened to be your brother's ex-girlfriend? By this time it was half empty, and I figured I'd have to drink it two more times before it was over. I did, and so did Tawny, both times she got away with not drinking, but I didn't. I think everyone was paying more attention to me. Larry swallowed the last bit, so he got to spin first, but before he did, he got up and made another announcement. "First before we begin, we have to all agree not to be losers, and to kiss whoever the bottle lands on, no matter of the race, gender, or hair color, or anything. When we tire of this we can play Truth or Dare, and I brought some beer. Once one person refuses to kiss their designated person, then the game is over."
He went around the circle and asked everyone if they agreed to the rules and they all did. Me, I did reluctantly, praying that the bottle would never land on Tawny because I wanted to kiss her so bad now that I wanted an excuse not to kiss her. It made sense, to me, at least.
"Where's the flippin' cake? I need something to drink..." Twitty asked.
Donnie busted out laughing. "You don't drink cake, dude!"
It was rather funny, I have to admit, and I said. "It's in the kitchen. Go get some drinks out of the refrigerator and we can eat cake in a minute."
He got up and skipped out of the room, very poorly, it was more like limping with a weird hop.
"Twitty's gay!" Louis shouted.
There was a moment of silence, and then everyone started laughing again, except me, who didn't see why it was so funny..
"Twitty's a fucking faggot!" Louis then shouted.
I didn't find that comment very humorous, but the laughing continued. He must have done something other than just the pot up there in Donnie's room.
"Louis, shut the fuck up. You're being immature." Tawny said loudly from across the room. She had parked herself in a chair by the bookcase.
I looked over in her direction. She was over by herself with a piece of pizza, and she was glaring at Louis. Even when glaring, her blue eyes were like beautiful little crystals.
"Tawny, lighten up. I think you need a joint." Ruby commented, and snapped me back to the real world where I was not fascinated by a girl's eyes.
Tawny glared at her now, sat her pizza down and pulled her straight, black hair back into a pony tail.
"Bitch..." Ruby, mumbled under her breath, but she did it a little loud in her altered state.
Monique elbowed her, "That was rather loud-ish and shit. Shhhh!"
"Yeah..." Mona laughed, "You called her a bitch really loud!"
I sat quietly, and looked back over at Tawny, who wasn't happy again. I felt bad, but I just sat there. She took tiny bites of her pizza and was acting like she didn't hear, but I know she did.
"You think she's a bitch too, don't you Ren?" Ruby asked me, very loudly again.
I looked at her and didn't answer.
"Yeah, Ren, don't you think she's a bitch?" Monique looked at me questioningly. "She's always in a bad mood, and you only invited her for Lou, but you don't really like her."
"Do you, Ren? You do don't you?" Mona re-emphasized.
"Umm..." I looked back over at Tawny quickly. "Yeah, I do." I said quietly, just to agree with them, but I didn't say it loud enough for her to hear. I'm such a dumb ass. I wanted to kick myself. I was scared to disagree with people about such things. I didn't wanna cause conflict at my own party.
"I knew it! You do think she's a bitch!" Ruby said, joyously.
"Why'd you invite her exactly?" Monique asked.
Of course, Mona, commented promptly after Monique, "Gosh, Ren, you're just too nice. You shouldn't pretend you like people. It's really two- faced."
Shit. I should have known that they would say something once I said something. I'm so stupid! You don't tell a high person something that you don't want other people to know at the moment. "No...I meant to say..." I tried correcting myself, but it was too late. I looked over at Tawny as she was getting up, and she looked like she was about to cry. "Shit...no...I..."
"Stoppit guys, Tawny's not a bitch." Louis said. "Leave her alone."
Larry laughed, "You should have seen Ren and Tawny earlier, they were all over each other."
"What?! I heard that!" Twitty said from the kitchen, "I do not like Tawny! Oh yeah...I'm bringing the drinks!"
"I'm thirsty..." Donnie whined. He was very amused by his pizza, and it had kept him quiet for quite a while.
"You're not a lesbian, are you Ren?" Ruby asked me, shocked.
I got up and walked toward Tawny, who was moving toward the door, "Tawny wait." She didn't look at me. I reached out and grabbed her wrist, "Tawny..."
She jerked her arm away, "You don't want me here, so I'm leaving."
"Tawny, don't go." Louis told her sadly, from his seat on the floor. Then he took another bite of his pizza.
Twitty came out of the kitchen carrying five Pepsis, "Is Tawny leaving because I don't like her?"
"No, I'm leaving because no one wants me here."
"I want you here." said Louis, stuffing more pizza into his mouth.
Twitty sat the drinks down on the coffee table next to the many empty pizza boxes, "You lie Louis!" He pointed, with wide eyes. "You lie. You lie. You lie!"
"Dude, don't call my little bro a liar..." Donnie chimed in, "Hey give me a drink and you can if you want..."
Twitty tossed him and entire bottle, and he successfully didn't catch it. Instead, it hit the floor next to him and rolled about three feet away. Everyone was yelling at everyone else, except Larry who was waiting for it to get bad and then calm everyone down.
As I was watching the goings on for that moment, Tawny had walked out the door, and left it open. When I realized that she was gone. I charged out after her. "Tawny! Wait!" I ran and caught up with her, and then got in front of her and blocked her path. "Listen to me for a second, please."
"What? I suppose you want me to go back inside because you didn't mean what you said, and you just said it to agree with your friends that are high off their asses, and have ignored you all afternoon."
"Yes! Exactly!"
She sighed. "I didn't get my stuff anyway..."
"So you're gonna stay?" It was getting dark out already, and her hair was shining in the street light along with her light blue eyes, that were far from being angry with me. Why I noticed, I don't know.
"Yeah, just don't be an ass, unless you mean it."
"You believe me?"
She shrugged, "I don't have any reason not to."
"Thank you. I'm really sorry I did that..."
She almost smiled, "I could tell you didn't mean it, but I wanted to see if you'd try and come get me. That's why I left my stuff. I'm very protective of it, and if I were really leaving, I would have gotten it."
"Why'd you wanna see if I would follow you?"
"Let's go back inside before everyone kills each other."
As we started to walk back up my driveway, I again asked, "Why'd you wanna see if I'd follow you?"
"Um...well...I..."
"Spit it out Tawny, you've never been shy about saying anything to anyone before."
"I know...but..."
"Everyone shut up! We have to sing "Happy Birthday" for Ren, as soon as she comes back in! I'll light the candles on the cake! Twitty go get it, quick!" I heard Larry command from inside.
"Oh, hell no!" I ran back in the house, leaving Tawny at the steps, "Don't let him carry my cake! I'll get my own cake!"
I ran past Twitty, who was moving slowly, and picked up the white box myself. When coming out of the kitchen, Tawny was shutting the front door. "Somebody move the pizza boxes and drinks, please."
Monique, and Mona did as I asked, and I sat the cake on the table. Larry pulled his lighter out of his pocket as I was opening the lid. I looked at my cake, and as soon as I saw it, I yelled, "What the hell?!"
Everyone got quiet, and stared at me.
"This isn't my name on my birthday cake..."
"Well, whose name is then, Ren?" Ruby said, abnormally annoyed.
"It says 'Neville'..."
"Close enough." Louis said, "Let's eat it."
"It's not my cake though..." I said, very hurt because my birthday party wasn't turning out like I wanted it to at all. My parents didn't even check to see if it was the right cake before bringing it home.
"Who cares! Get it out of the fucking box!" Bobby demanded.
I sighed, and carefully picked it up and placed it back down. Other than the name being wrong, it was a cute cake. All nice and light blue and white and stuff. Bobby was such an asshole sometimes. Why did I invite him? Why did I invite almost all of these people? Why didn't I just invite Tawny?
Damn, what was I thinking? Who knows what I would do with the poor girl if I were alone with her right now.
Larry lit his lighter, "Oh...hey...there're no candles, yo."
Bobby and everyone else laughed.
"They're in the kitchen..." I went and rummaged in the cabinet for the box of candles. I found them after a few seconds, and then took them out and put sixteen of them on the cake for Larry to light.
"Now sing!" He said, dictator-like, and everyone did as they were told, though they were absolutely off key. Before they had even finished, he noticed the disgusted expression on my face, and he said, "Now stop!" Everyone did as told again, except Donnie, who continued on and hadn't noticed.
"Donnie, quit now." Louis said.
"Huh?" He mumbled, confused, and looked around at all of us, dazed.
"Make your wish, quick, before he starts singing again." said Larry.
I shut my eyes for a few seconds, inhaled, and strained myself to think of a wish. Then something came to me, that surprised me substantially. I wish Tawny was a lesbian. I blew out the candles, before being able to change my wish, of which's origins weren't certain. I wanted to kick myself for thinking that. I owed myself a good many kicks now. What made me think such a stupid thing like that?! I wasted my wish on something I didn't really want. Why would I want that?! What good would it do me? None. None at all.
Everyone cheered and I realized that I'd blown them all out.
I must've looked kinda glazed over because after my wish sunk in, Louis asked, "Are you ok? Are you gonna pass out?"
I shook my head, and composed myself quickly. Maybe I held my breath longer than a person's meant to, or maybe it was the fact that I wished for something that seemed very foreign to me, for no reason, and very impulsively. I'm glad wishes don't come true.
"Cut the fucking cake, already." Bobby said, frustrated.
"Louis, go and get the knife."
He got up without questioning me and retrieved the cake knife from and also some paper plates.
I cut the cake, and appropriately, got the first piece, then I proceeded to pass out the rest to everyone. Well, everyone except Tawny, who had gone back to her chair in the corner and was sitting quietly.
"Tawny, do you want any?" I asked.
"Nah. Don't like cake."
"Bitch." Ruby muttered.
"Shut up." I told her without even thinking about it.
"Yeah. Be civil." said Larry.
She sneered, and stuffed cake into her mouth.
I stayed over with the group, and left Tawny over by herself. It really frightened me that I was thinking all the things about her that I was, and I kinda wanted to avoid her for a bit, in the hope that I would get over it, and make it go away. I kept wandering what it would be like to kiss her, and I wondered if she was any good, and I kept wanting to touch her. I bet her skin is really soft. I twitched. Why was this happening to me? I know, it's just because I've had a sucky love life and wanted Louis to have one too, and thus I didn't want him to have Tawny. There, logical explanation.
After Larry finished his cake, he changed the CD in the stereo and put in some dance music. Then he went rummaging through his bag and got out a nicely wrapped box. My present apparently. After everyone else finished they took his hint, and went and retrieved their presents from wherever they were located. Except Tawny, who was staring off at nothing now. I didn't bother her. She was a solitary person normally.
First, Ruby handed me her present. It was wrapped in pretty pink paper, and had a matching pink bow. I carefully pulled the bow off and tried not to rip the shiny paper. It was a medium sized box, and it contained and shirt and a twenty dollar bill. "Thanks, Ruby. Cute, and money's always useful."
"You're welcome, Ren!" She said, very enthusiastically, back to her normal self again.
"Here, open mine." Monique said, shoving the bag in my face.
I pulled out all the tissue paper, very slowly. Everyone was silent and watching in anticipation. I don't know why. The girl got me a shirt that said 'cheerleader' on it. I began to wonder if she ever thought about anything else at all, but I said, "Thank you." Smiled widely, and put it aside. "Don't you have a shirt like that?"
"Yeppers!" She nodded, "We can match!"
Next, not to my surprise, Mona threw her present at me. It was in the same kind of bag, and as I looked at it, I almost thought that it would be the same shirt. Luckily, it wasn't. It was a diary with a kitten on it, and a mass amount of gel pens. At least this was useful. "Ooh! Very nice Mona."
She clapped her hands and giggled.
I choked back my annoyance with her, and opened Louis's present, which was a teddy bear. I like stuffed animals, "Awww! Thanks Louis, and you actually remembered my birthday this year too!"
He gleamed with pride at his feat.
"Twitty, what'd you get me?" I asked shaking the small square box.
"Not telling." He crossed his arms.
It was making weird noises, which scared me, but I opened it, and saw that it was, none other than, a bunch of glitter with a quarter in its midst, and I slip of paper. I pulled it out, and read it out loud, "Errr...it says: I O U a birthday present." I smiled, he was cute in all his stupidity. "That's sweet, Twitty."
He grinned, "I know."
The other girls rolled their eyes at him.
"Awww! Stop hitting on Ren." Ruby said, punching him, playfully.
I got a card with twenty dollars in it from Donnie. He wasn't in his right frame of mind, which wasn't much anyway, so he was pretty unresponsive when I thanked him for his gift.
Larry got down on one knee and handed me the little box, "My mom wrapped it." He told me, and I took it from him.
"Thanks. She did a good job." I said smiling at his antics. He was a nice guy, very charming, but there was nothing there between us more than friends, and I could tell. I saw Ruby giving me dirty looks when he got down on his knee for me. I pulled it open, and noticed that it was some kind of jewelry box. I pulled off the lid, and there was a silver necklace with a star hanging from it on the inside. It was cute. I would wear it. "You're really thoughtful Larry."
"Hug?" He said, pathetically.
"Sure." I got up and hugged him. As I looked over his shoulder, Ruby was giving me the most hateful looks I had ever seen from her, and I tried to look and her and signal that it meant nothing, but I don't think she got it.
After Larry and I sat back down, Bobby carried his big box over to me, "Saved the best for last."
I smiled, and opened it. I found a large purple pillow with pink stars on it inside. On one side it said, 'I love you the most-est'. "Um...thank you." I was moderately confused, and then he sat down on the coffee table directly in front of me on the couch.
"Will you go out with me?" He asked, very sweetly.
I blinked, and stared for a few seconds, holding on to the pillow. My eyes drifted over to Tawny, who was looking at me funny. I didn't know what her look meant, but I looked straight into Bobby's face and said, "No."
He took a deep breath. "Oh. Well...you can keep the pillow." Then he got up and sat back down on the floor by Donnie. "I'm sorry I was being a jerk earlier, if that will change your decision."
He said it honestly, and I believed him, but I shook my head, "Bobby, I'm sorry. We've gone out before, and...I just don't want to again. I forgive you for being an ass."
"Hey!" He said, "I didn't say I was an ass, I said I was a jerk."
"Well...then I forgive you for being a jerk."
"Game time!" Announced Larry. "Let's clean up, and move the furniture." He looked at me for approval, "We are allowed to move the furniture around a little, aren't we?"
I nodded, gathered my gifts, and took them up to my room. As I was going up the stairs I heard Ruby mumbling about how I liked Larry and how Tawny was cheap and didn't get me anything. I noticed that Tawny didn't give me her present. I wonder what it was. I was tempted to look in her book bag. I put my stuff on my bed, and then ran back downstairs without doing it. The paper had been picked up, and there was a massive space in the middle of the living room because all the furniture had been moved to the sides. I glanced at the clock, and it was 9:30. Lots of time left. Damn. I was tired, worn out from all the weird things in my head, I guess. I began to think that they'd been there for a while, and I hadn't really acknowledged them until now.
Everyone was gradually forming a circle in my living room on the round area rug. I went and sat by Larry, who had his bag sitting in front of him. "What're we gonna do?" I asked.
"Wait and you'll see. Everyone's gotta get over here first, so I can explain the rules." He told me, "Tawny, come here." He motioned for her to come and sit by me.
She got up and came and sat down, "I'll give you your present later...if you still want it that is."
"Yeah I want it, but why didn't you give it to me before?"
"Because..."
"Alright everybody," Larry stood up, holding his bag, and got everyone's attention.
"Didja bring it?" Louis asked excitedly.
"Bring what?" Tawny asked, leaning over toward me.
"I dunno..."
"Yes, I sure did Lou." Larry grinned.
Everyone cheered except me and Tawny, who were both in a state of confusion. This was my party, dammit, why didn't I know about anything?
Larry pulled out a full bottle of vodka, and held it up for all to see.
"Great..." Tawny said, sarcastically.
I sighed. This was my party, but not really anymore, it was everyone else's party. I wanted to cry. I didn't like this.
"Alright, here's the deal," said Larry, "We're gonna pass this around, and everyone is going to take one drink from it each time it comes to them until it's empty, and when it's empty we're going to play spin the bottle. The person that takes the last drink gets to spin it first. Understand?" The people nodded, and smiled widely. "Ren starts cus it's her birthday." He said handing the glass bottle to me.
How great. I took the bottle, unsurely.
"Don't drink it..." Tawny whispered in my ear. "Pretend."
I nodded, nervously, and pulled the top off. Everyone was watching me in silence, and I lifted it to my lips, pretending to drink out of it, but I didn't let any go in my mouth. I passed it to Larry, who had sat back down, and he took his drink. Tawny smiled slightly.
The bottle went around, and by the time it got to her, it was about a quarter of the way empty. She pretended to drink, as I did, and then she passed it to me and I did the same, but Monique caught me, and said, "Hey, Ren, you didn't drink any!"
I panicked, and said, "I don't like the way it tastes..."
"C'mon Ren," Ruby whined, "Don't be a pussy, silly!"
Oh shit. They were actually paying attention to me now.
Soon all the others, except Tawny, joined in and started chanting for me to drink. I had no choice, but to take a swallow, a very small one, and wince because of the thought that I was doing something very wrong. It tasted revoltingly strong, and burned all the way down, then made my stomach feel rather gross. I passed it on to Larry again, and I leaned over to Tawny, "It wasn't so bad."
"So? I don't wanna kiss someone that's been drinking...errr...I mean...umm...drinking vodka at all...I mean...I..."
"Huh?" I heard what she said very clearly, but I didn't want to acknowledge it. I was confused beyond reason now.
"Nevermind."
The bottle came back around to her and she once again, got away with not drinking any. I drank a tiny bit, and passed it on. What was more wrong, drinking a little vodka, or wanting to kiss the girl next you that happened to be your brother's ex-girlfriend? By this time it was half empty, and I figured I'd have to drink it two more times before it was over. I did, and so did Tawny, both times she got away with not drinking, but I didn't. I think everyone was paying more attention to me. Larry swallowed the last bit, so he got to spin first, but before he did, he got up and made another announcement. "First before we begin, we have to all agree not to be losers, and to kiss whoever the bottle lands on, no matter of the race, gender, or hair color, or anything. When we tire of this we can play Truth or Dare, and I brought some beer. Once one person refuses to kiss their designated person, then the game is over."
He went around the circle and asked everyone if they agreed to the rules and they all did. Me, I did reluctantly, praying that the bottle would never land on Tawny because I wanted to kiss her so bad now that I wanted an excuse not to kiss her. It made sense, to me, at least.