A/N: so, i really got back into writing again!! yay for that! i said my good-byes to the agony that was writer's block. seriously, it took me weeks to get those last two chapters out but i was really pumped to write this one and got it all typed out in a matter of days. it's longer than any of the other chapters i've written, so i'm happy about that too. i hope it will suffice for now. i could've made it into two, but decided against it. enjoy it, nevertheless!
i haven't begged in a while: pleeeease read and review. if you read this, please leave a note and give me feedback. it'll mean so much to me! :)
CHAPTER SEVEN - It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To
A smile lingered on my lips as my favorite Coldplay track started playing on the stereo. My foot started tapping intuitively to the beat as I stood in front of a huge bowl of sugary purple frosting on the kitchen counter, carefully coating cupcakes for the party. I didn't hesitate to sing along,
"...Home's places we've grown,
All of us are done for.
...We live in a beautiful world.."
"Yeah we do, yeah we do." An gawky high pitched voice interrupted, singing along. I raised an eyebrow and spun around to face Byron, with the goofiest grin on his face. I burst out laughing.
"Let's leave Chris Martin to do all the singing," I teased. He stuck his tongue out at me and stepped up to the counter to see what I was doing.
"Vanessa kicked me out of your basement and sent me up here to see if there was anything I could do to help out." I swiftly swatted away his hand as he tried to stick a pointed index finger into the bowl of frosting. He grinned sheepishly as he withdrew his hand, but he was too quick for me. He jumped right back in and scooped up a good portion of frosting. Annoyed, I smirked at him as he leaned on the counter, licking his fingers with a smug look on his face.
"So.... anything else I can do to help?" Byron asked, laughing. I was in such a great mood that I couldn't stay annoyed. There was still a ton of things left to do though, so I told him he could leave.
"Aww, you're not mad at you?" he asked with an exaggerated pout, mistaking my tone of voice. I laughed.
"Definitely not, Byron. We're cool, remember?" He looked at me thoughtfully and I looked back at him, perplexed at why he was looking at me that way.
"Do you want to dance?"
"What?" I snorted.
"The song's really good. Let's dance," he said matter-of-factly.
"Um. Byron, what exactly are you on right now?" He made a face but made a move towards me, leaving me breathless as he wrapped his arm around me and placed his hand in the small of my back, gently pulling me closer. I grinned widely as I looked into his smiling eyes as his other hand held mine outstretched and we swayed to the mellow tempo.
"We live in a beautiful world. (Yeah we do, yeah we do)
We live in a beautiful world. (Yeah we do, yeah we do)
....Oh, all that I know is there's nothing to run from.
'Cause, yeah, everybody here's got somebody to lean on."
"Weeeeirdo! What the hell?!" Vanessa laughed, walking into the kitchen just as the song ended. I blushed and hastily stepped away from Byron and back to the counter. "I come into the kitchen looking for cupcakes and I find lunatics instead."
"Uh, just practising for Homecoming, I guess," Byron chuckled, scratching the back of his head, turning red with embarrassment. Vanessa raised an eyebrow.
"Rrrright. If you've had enough, uh, practice up here, the two boys downstairs need help putting up the banner, if you don't mind." Byron looked at me questioningly.
"You really don't need any help with the food?" he asked.
"Uh, nope.. no. I don't think so," I replied, slightly flustered.
"Ohhkay then." He walked out of the kitchen a little too quickly but that didn't stop Vanessa from rushing over to my side.
"What was that?!" she asked excitedly. I felt blood rush to my face.
"Nothing..." I replied awkwardly, avoiding her eyes, staring intently at the cupcake I was frosting. "We were just goofing around."
"Aww..." she gushed. "You know how much I loved it when you guys were together. Don't tell me – " I furrowed my eyebrows and stopped her.
"No," I said in a hollow voice. "We're done and it's over. It's not going to happen again. That's the last thing I want."
I clenched my jaw but I was left unconvinced. I didn't believe a word I was saying.
- -
I fingered the edge of the Venetian blinds covering our front window and gently pushed them to one side. I peeked through, biting my bottom lip nervously. Jordan just called twenty minutes ago, from the restaurant where he and Becca were having dinner, and said they'd be over soon.
Just as I looked up from the clock in the foyer, bright beams from the car's headlights lit up the dark living room. I took another look through the blinds and was excited to see that it was black SUV turning into the driveway. Soon enough, I heard a pair of voices and footsteps walking up the front path.
The doorbell echoed through the seemingly empty house and I waited a few seconds before heading for that door. I didn't want to seem too eager, after all. I opened the front door and upon seeing them, I screeched an excited birthday greeting and enveloped my bestfriend in an enormous hug.
"So..... how was the dinner?" I asked, winking mischievously, as both Jordan and Becca walked into the foyer.
"It was perfect," Becca replied sincerely, smiling as she gave Jordan a quick kiss. Jordan looked at her with so much love in his eyes and I smiled at them wistfully.
....I yearned for someone to look at me that way. I wanted to be in love.
I erased the thought quickly, knowing that this night wasn't about me and what I wanted. It was about Becca and seeing her so happy was more than enough for the both of us. I grinned as I linked my arm in hers and slowly walked her towards the basement door with Jordan at our heels.
"I found it extremely strange how you needed me to come all the way over here to get my present," Becca said curiously.
"Oh," I said simply, not breaking a sweat. "You really think I'd spare myself the look on your face when you see how huge and amazing your birthday present is?" Becca smiled.
"Hmm... Now you're making me antsy. I totally feel like a six year old on Christmas Day," she replied ecstatically.
"Ready?" I asked, my heart racing with anticipation. "You have to close your eyes though," I instructed as we reach the stairs leading to the basement. She complied and I took her hand in mine. "No peeking!" I exclaimed, automatically raising my other hand to her eyes.
"What?! Do you want me to fall flat on my face?" Becca laughed. "These are stairs, dummy!"
"Don't worry about it. We'll go slowly and there's railings on your left." I led her down the flight of stairs and into the awesomely decorated room. Helium balloons all shades of purple were floating on the ceiling, streamers were strung and a huge banner was pinned up. All my friends were waiting, all with huge grins plastered on their faces.
I stopped at the landing and told her not to open her eyes as I took my hand away.
"Okay. Open your eyes at the count of three," I instructed, trying my best to keep from laughing. "One... Two... Three!"
"SURPRISE!!" Everyone in the room cheered with everything they had in them.
The look on Becca's face was priceless as she stood there in disbelief, her eyes wide and her jaw dropping to the ground. After a few moments of letting everything sink in, she closed her mouth and her lip started quivering, her eyes tearing.
"You guys.... are amazing," she said quietly, at a loss for words as tears slowly ran down her cheeks. "You can't ask for better friends. This is definitely for life. I don't doubt that for a second." Her small speech got everyone in the room choked up and I think even Craig got a little teary (a fact that he vehemently denied the whole night.).
We all took turns hugging and greeting the birthday girl and soon enough, we all got down to the business of partying as music started thumping and we dug into all the junkfood that was laid out. Sugar was definitely the cause of all the ruckus as the birthday cake was brought out later on that night, lit with candles burning brightly. We all sang Happy Birthday loudly and as Becca blew her candles out, we pulled out what we were hiding behind our backs: cans of silly string supplied by the ingenious prankster that is Adam and covered a shocked Becca in a gooey mess.
"Great. Now this kind of surprise, I can do without," Becca smirked.
I squealed with laughter as we all turned on each other, starting a silly string war. Byron chose me, of all people, to unleash his attack. We ran around the room, bumping into everyone else, when he eventually got me cornered up against a wall.
With a devilish smile, Byron pulled his can out and cowardly, I accepted defeat. He mocked an evil laugh as he covered my whole head and face with string until his can ran out. I smirked playfully. Now it was my turn.
"Uh oh." With a panicked look on his face, he threw down his empty can and made a move to run away but I quickly grabbed his arm and roughly pushed his back against the wall. Laughing, I stood on my toes and did exactly what he did to me but also placing an extra dollop on his nose.
"Now... we're even," I said smugly as I squirted the remains of the can on top of his head. I looked down into his eyes and that was when I realized how incredibly close we were standing. Our faces were only inches apart and I stared at his lips that were smiling the smile that I'd always found irresistible. I swallowed nervously.
My body grew stiff as he raised his hand, and his fingers gently pushed the silly string away from eyes. At his touch, my heart started racing and all I could think about was kissing him.
Suddenly, a door upstairs slammed loudly and I reflexively jumped at the loud sound. That broke me away from my thoughts and Byron tore his eyes away from mine as he looked upwards anxiously.
"I'm going to check it out," I muttered, brushing off most of silly string as I walked towards the stairs.
"Want me to go with you?" Byron asked, concerned. I smiled at him thankfully.
"I'm sure it's nothing. Probably just the wind. Plus, my parents are home anyway."
At that, I walked up the stairs and began to investigate where the sound came from. As I moved around my dimly lit house, I was trying to convince myself that there was nothing to worry about. I obviously wasn't very successful as I started getting very nervous.
I made my way into the front and let out a big sigh of relief as I saw my mom with her back to me, perched up, leaning against the couch. The front door was opened a crack and I rolled my eyes as I walked over and closed it.
"God! I almost had a heart attack! I thought some robber came in and -- " I stopped mid-sentence as I turned around and saw my mom standing there with a stricken look on her face. She looked like she had been crying. "Mom?" I asked quietly, worried as I stepped towards her. "Wh-What's wrong?"
She looked at me with so much sadness in her eyes and started to slowly stroked my hair.
"Mom, what's wrong? Please talk to me." I was getting desperate. I'd never seen her this way before.
"Your Dad's left for another business meeting in Seattle," she said flatly.
Okay. So now I understood. We both missed him terribly every time he'd leave. I was relieved to find out that it wasn't really anything serious. It was obviously normal to miss your husband whenever he was gone. They were two halves of a whole, after all. I gave my mom a tight hug, trying to comfort her.
"We both miss him, Mom," I said emphatically, leaning my forehead on her shoulder. "I know it must be hard not being with him all this time. But it's not for forever and plus, I'm here. I hope that's enough consolation." That got a small smile out of her.
"It's more than enough, honey." She gently kissed my forehead. "Now get back to your party. I don't want people saying my daughter's a bad host." I quietly laughed and hugged her one more time before walking away.
After a few steps, I snuck a look over my shoulder and saw that she had started to cry again. I bit my lip anxiously but knew that she wanted to be left alone. I guess everyone needs a good cry every now and then. I sighed and took comfort in the fact that everything would eventually work itself out: in a few days, Dad would be home and Mom would transform into her usual cheerful self.
I walked back to the basement, hopping down the stairs. Once there, I was back with friends, back to where the night was perfect: I was finally really happy and content. There was nothing that could ruin it for me.
A/N: does that sound a little too ominous? hahah. if you know me at all, you know i'm not going to make it that easy for poor old assuming charlotte. i'd like to get some drama up in here. who's with me?? read & review!! i'd love to get a few more reviews before the next update. erm, i know i was gone for a while... so i'm not sure if anyone's still reading this. :P let me know if you are! thanks!