Hello, lovelies! It's me again, with your regularly schedule chapter! Oh, I'd like to say that I edited the intro to this story just a tiny bit because what I had before was trash, so check it out if you feel like it. It doesn't really change that much. Anyway, hopefully you lovelies enjoy this chapter! The next one is Halloween! ~Shaymie
Lorin dashed upstairs to change into dry clothes the second Laf pulled up to our house. I could tell she was thankful to get away from the birthday talk. Laf and I helped Laurens into the house since he was still sore, but he pulled away from me the second we walked in. I flinched at the fire in his hazel eyes and let Darcy and Laf help him to the couch. Laurens was definitely jealous of me because I was dating Lorin, and I could only hope that he wouldn't take it out on her more than he already had.
"Alex," Eliza hissed, poking her head out from the kitchen. Her hair was tied back from her face, and she had frosting all over the light blue apron she was wearing. She gestured wildly for me to come over and shoved something into my hands. I vaguely recognized it as one of those things I'd see chefs on TV use to put frosting on a cake. Eliza pointed at a turtle-shaped cake on the counter and sighed.
"Can you help me write on the cake? My hands are too shaky, and your handwriting is way better than mine." She wiped at her forehead with the back of her hand and glared at the cake. "That stupid thing took hours, and your brother wasn't much help. He just texted Peggy the entire time while I did all the work! Mattie held my phone for me so I could read the recipe, but she left to get the pizzas with Herc."
"You made that? Why didn't you just buy a cake from the store?"
"Because no bakery made turtle-shaped cakes, at least not on such short notice! And a cake with turtles on it wasn't nearly as cute! Do you have any idea how much I had to scroll through Pinterest for a tutorial on making a turtle cake?" I looked around the kitchen, which was a mess of flour and frosting. Has Eliza been working on this cake since school ended?
"Uh… What do you want on the cake?"
"Just 'Happy birthday John' would be nice. Can you write it on the shell?" I nodded and walked over to the cake. It was incredibly well-done, and ironically looked like something you would get at a bakery. She had gotten the details on the shell extremely accurate. I piped out the message in my best handwriting and set the bag down. Eliza smiled and gave me a hug.
"I'm going to check on Lo," I said as I pulled away from the hug. She nodded and rolled her sleeves up as she started cleaning up the mess. I went upstairs and stopped outside of Lorin's door as I heard music coming from her room, and her quiet, beautiful voice singing along. My hand stopped just before I knocked. This could probably be my only chance to hear her sing, since she refused to do it in front of me. What was the point of her being in choir if she didn't want to sing in front of other people?
The room was silent for a few seconds as a different song started playing. I recognized it from The Sound of Music, which had been one of my mother's favorite movies. Even though she wasn't singing along anymore, Lorin was still humming as she did whatever it was she was doing. Now was as good a time as any to come in with a little surprise, though I prayed that she wasn't still getting dressed.
"I am seventeen, going on eighteen. I'll take care of you," I sang along as I opened the door. Lorin squeaked and dropped the stuffed bear she had been dancing with, her face bright red. Thankfully she was dressed, having changed into a fluffy blue sweater and gray skirt. Her feet were in mismatched socks that were equally as fluffy as the sweater. Her hair was still slightly damp and pulled back into a high ponytail.
"W-What are you doing? Don't you knock? You… you know this song? You can sing?"
"I'm not anywhere as good as you," I said as I nodded and grinned as I walked over to her. Her face was as red as a tomato as I pulled her into my arms and danced around with her. She smiled up at me nervously. Fuck, her freckled cheeks were even more precious with a blush spread across it.
"I am sixteen, going on seventeen. I know that I'm naive," she shakily sang along with the stereo as we danced around her room, though it was nowhere near as complicated as the routine they had done in the film. We were just moving around in circles. I smiled down at her as she continued to sing. Her voice faded away as she sang the last notes of the song. She grabbed her phone from the speaker as we neared it and shut the music off. She grabbed the abandoned bear and put it next to the speaker.
"We should go downstairs for John's party. I don't want to miss him blowing out the candles." Lorin pulled me along with her. I followed her, smiling at the warmth of her hand in mine and the way her wavy hair bounced in its ponytail. We stumbled onto an… interesting sight when we came downstairs. Herc and Mattie were stood over Laurens, trying to force some kind of paper onto his head. It looked kind of like a crumpled up crown, barely held together by a bunch of tape. It was practically laminated. Lorin giggled as we walked into the living room and looked at Darcy, who was just standing in the corner laughing.
"Thank god, someone sane is here! Lori, can you tell these two idiots that I'm too old for the birthday crown?" Laurens asked, slapping away his sister's hand when she tried to crown him again. I looked around for everyone else and noticed that they were crammed into the kitchen, muttering quietly about Eliza's cake, pointedly ignoring the commotion. Clearly they were used to this argument happening every year.
"I can't believe you guys still have this stupid thing," Lorin laughed, taking the paper crown from Mattie's hands. She grinned devilishly and shoved it onto Laurens' head, the crown barely managing to stay on top of the fluffy mess that is his hair. She whistled innocently when he glared at her. "Come on, John, one more year couldn't possibly hurt! What's the worst that can happen?"
"You haven't had to deal with tape getting stuck in your hair," Laurens grumbled, though I noticed he didn't take it off. She really could get him to do anything she wanted. Herc and Mattie gave each other a high five and grinned. Lorin snorted and sat next to Laurens on the couch.
"And whose fault is that, Mr. I Don't Need a Haircut?" She ran a hand through his curly mane of hair that was just about to burst free of its restraint. If she noticed the blush on his face, she didn't comment on it. Was she this oblivious to his crush on her? "It's getting out of control, John."
"I could say the same to you, Lori. At this rate, you're going to be dragging your hair around."
"Unlike you, John Laurens, I actually plan on cutting my hair. I might even donate it." She removed her hand from his hair and ran it through her own. When it wasn't being held up in a ponytail like it was now, it reached down to the middle of her back. Darcy smiled and bounced over to her sister, taking some of her hair in her hands.
"I can cut your hair for you if you want! I cut Heather's hair before she… dumped me." She sighed and sat on the arm of the couch. Lorin reached up and patted her on the arm, frowning.
"Do you want to talk about it, Dar?" she asked. Darcy shook her head and sighed again as she played with Lorin's hair, her eyes sad. From what I had overheard on the phone the other day, she had been dating a girl named Heather back in Texas until her dad found out about it and kicked her out. Apparently he was one of those conservative assholes. Why did almost everyone I know have such shitty dads?
"It's fine. I have Mari now, anyway. Ooh, I should call her and ask what she's going to be for Halloween!" A blush spread across Darcy's face as she giggled happily and skipped out of the room. I would never understand my girlfriend's sister. Wait, she already had another girlfriend? She had barely been here for two days! Then again, I rarely saw her since she was always out of the house.
"That reminds me," Herc grinned, watching Eliza carry in the cake, "I finished your costume, Rin. I'll bring it over tomorrow so you can try it on."
Lorin nodded and ran over to Angelica to help her with the pizzas. When had she gotten here? And why had they gotten four pizzas when there weren't even ten of us? I knew Herc could shovel food down like it was nobody's business, but four pizzas seemed excessive. Were we stockpiling food for the winter?
"You guys shouldn't support his turtle obsession," Mattie sighed as she looked at the turtle cake and shook her head. Peggy laughed as she stuck candles in the turtle's shell and lit them. Eliza set the cake on a nearby table next to the pizzas and helped Laurens sit up. Lorin took out her phone and recorded him blowing the candles out.
We spent the next few hours sitting around eating pizza and turtle-shaped cake, watching Lorin's collection of Disney movies. About two hours into the party (though really it was more of a gathering), Laf had the genius idea to swap out the soda for wine. How much did we have?! And why were George and Martha never here to stop him from getting into the wine? Lorin hesitantly drank a glass after Peggy called her a chicken if she didn't drink any.
Laurens and Darcy were the heaviest drinkers of the group. Aside from the occasional sip that Peggy and Laf took (why would he keep taking the wine out if he didn't drink it?) and the glass that Lorin had, Laurens and Darcy went through a bottle and a half each before Angelica managed to cut them off, with some help from Peggy.
"Heyyy, Lori," Laurens hiccuped as Lorin and Eliza cleaned up. "You're really cute, you know. It's a good thing you don't wear makeup, because it would hide your freckles and your adorableness. Fuck, you're pretty..."
"Thank you, John… I think." Lorin opened a trash bag and started to throw the paper plates away while Eliza started pressing down the empty pizza boxes. Darcy burped and started to stumble upstairs, thanking Angelica as she wrapped an arm around her waist for support. Mattie sighed as she looked down at her phone.
"Damn it, John, you just had to get drunk… You're fucking lucky you don't have to go back to school until Wednesday, but I'm not babysitting your hungover ass all day tomorrow."
"Don't talk mean like that," Laurens groaned, putting a hand on his sister's shoulder. Mattie rolled her eyes and glared at Laf, who was staring down at his phone. Coward. If he was going to keep getting people drunk, he could at least help us deal with it! "Fine. If you won't take care of me, maybe Lori will."
"What?" Lorin dumped a plate into the trash and looked up at Laurens, who was grinning stupidly at her. Was everyone around here a flirty drunk? "John, I'm not skipping school tomorrow to babysit you. I'm not going anywhere near your house if your dad's there. Why'd you call me out anyway?"
"Because I like you, Lori! Why else? If I'm going to be stuck sitting around all day, it might as well be with someone cute." Mattie let out a small gasp and glanced over at me nervously before helping her brother to his feet. I couldn't find it in myself to be mad at Laurens. Everyone knew about his crush on Lorin. Everyone but her, it seemed. Or if she did know, she refused to acknowledge it.
"I think it's time to go home-"
"I really like you, Lori!" Laurens interrupted his sister, not taking his eyes off of Lorin even as he was quite literally being dragged towards the door. She stared back at him, her eyes wide and her hands trembling. Her mouth moved silently, no words coming out. I had learned that she did this when she was trying to think of what to say. "Why don't you like me, Lori? Why do you keep dating guys you don't know? You've known me for years. It's not fair."
"John… I'm sorry." Lorin set down the trash bag and walked over to Laurens. She hesitated for a few seconds before hugging him, her head not even reaching his chest. He looked down at her sadly and hugged her back. "I wish I had known how you felt sooner. It wouldn't change how I feel, but maybe it would have stopped me from parading my relationships in front of you. I'm so sorry…"