The Arts

8 - Party Prepping

IVAN

If he was being totally honest with himself, Ivan didn't have the first clue on how to throw a party. After all, he had never been invited to one. That is, until Jack came along.

          Sure, maybe it wasn't okay that Jack and Ivan were friends. There was a three-year age gap between the boys, which on a high school scale meant they were basically in two completely different worlds. Ivan had just graduated middle school, for goodness's sake, and Jack was waiting to hear back from college admissions committees. So they couldn't exactly relate to each other. But Jack was kind to him. And for someone like Ivan, he had to take that kindness and lock it in a box so it never got away from him. He needed bros more than anything.

          Jack was hard at work cleaning his apartment — in lieu of dorms, the seniors had bigger spaces with separate bedrooms, a shared living room, and a kitchenette. It was the coolest thing. While the senior picked up stray trash and fluffed the couch pillows, Ivan flipped through a menu of the local pizzeria.

          "So do we have alcohol for tonight?" Ivan asked nonchalantly.

          Jack looked up at him and frowned. "No. What is this, a CW show? No one's gonna drink."

          "Sorry I asked?" Ivan bristled at Jack's rude tone, which was out of character for him. "I've never been to a party before."

          Jack's normal stature of goofy senior who's friendly with everyone returned, and he smiled. "That's all about to change, bro."

          "So what do you guys normally do at parties if you don't drink?"

          "We talk and play games. It's just like hanging out with your buddies, except instead of three or four of you, there's like fifty of you."

          "Oh." Ivan felt stupid asking, but he had essentially convinced about 25% of his class that he was the cool guy with connections, so he figured it was time for him to actually learn everything about parties.

          "Hey, you order those pizzas yet?" Jack grabbed a towel from the kitchenette, ran it under the faucet, and sloppily wiped down the countertop.

          "Just about to." Ivan pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed the number.

***
KIARA

            "Okay, how about this?"

          Kiara diverted her attention away from her laptop to look at the dress that Andi was holding. It was a baby pink color with thin spaghetti straps and tiny white polka dots, flaring out at the waist with the skirt landing just above the knees. Kiara was putting the finishing touches on a graphic design homework assignment and had entrusted Andi to pick out a party outfit for her. Andi had done well. Kiara nodded in approval.

          "Yeah, that's cute. I've been looking for an excuse to wear it anyway."

          "Yes! This with a jean jacket maybe. And your white sneakers. So it's all like, 'I'm cute but also casual' kinda thing. Okay, so now me." Andi hung Kiara's dress on the door handle and resumed digging through the closet.

          Kiara's head whipped back up to face her friend. "What? You haven't picked out an outfit yet? You care about fashion more than anyone I've ever met."

          Andi went quiet for a bit. "Yeah," she finally admitted. "It's just...Tyler's gonna be there. It's important that I look good."