Notebook

Thirty-Two

Nathan grumbled as he stood in Jago's kitchen, waiting for the orange-haired boy to finish picking reams of confetti and string from his hair.

The younger boy grinned as the brunette side-eyed his friends, waiting for another attack. That was the third time someone launched the colourful confetti at him.

There were six boys altogether, maybe five, if Aiden didn't participate. He was expecting more soon.

The first round came at the restaurant when they finished their food and were about to head to Jago's.

Evan leaned into his cousin and whispered in his ear, but Nathan couldn't hear and Aiden suddenly wouldn't look in the older boy's direction. It must have been a warning because, not a minute later, there was a popping sound, and colourful paper strands covered the brunette.

Aiden barely flinched at the sound, so the preparation must have helped. In fact, he laughed himself into a fit of hysterics, falling into Evan with tears in his eyes as they laughed at the older boy's expense.

After that, just as Jago locked the restaurant doors and said goodbye to Cassidy, another popper went off, resulting in Nathan's dark shirt being covered in more colourful confetti as he closed his eyes and huffed in disgust.

The third time was when they stepped into Jago's apartment.

Nathan anticipated that attack, but he was stuck between Matt, who fired the popper with tremendous glee, and Reid, who refused to move out of the way.

He had no choice but to endure the hyenas laughing around him as he pulled a face.

Aiden dutifully picked each piece out again whilst sitting on the counter, but the humour was getting hard to contain because every pout and grumble of disdain made the scene funnier. Nathan was like a grumpy old man.

As the younger boy picked at the last pieces, he couldn't help himself from admiring the upward flicks of the older boy's hair.

The bright lights highlighted the deep red colour.

Nathan wasn't sure how to style his hair after showering that afternoon, so he let Aiden do whatever he wanted. The orange-haired boy seemed more in-tune with personal grooming than he was; plus, trying to dry his hair always made his one working arm ache for hours afterwards.

As predicted, the younger boy knew what to do, blow-drying it, so it stood up whilst raking his fingers through.

His fingers running through his hair felt like paradise.

Nathan tapped a message into his phone and turned it to the younger boy.

Stop laughing. You're encouraging them!

The statement only made Aiden laugh more; he felt deliriously giddy and hadn't touched a drop of the alcohol Jago placed on the counter.

He'd never been to a party before.

The gathering turned out to be as laid-back as he had expected, with Jasper and Jago already dancing to the music, and the room filled with more food to satisfy the hunger of teenage boys, along with drinks, balloons, and old photographs scattered everywhere.

Aiden already walked around once, observing all the images and laughing at the explanations.

Almost all the photos were of the entire group together in various situations.

Some were taken at the restaurant, others at the pool or the coffee shop. But in every photo, everyone was smiling.

Some photos captured Nathan and Jago, either playing video games or climbing over each other in their early years. There was a picture of Nathan and Matt sleeping and hugging each other, another with Jasper making strange faces.