I've Changed

1. internship

~~~~

"What are you doing?"

Every time Theo blows into the balloon, his face flushes a deep red. He continues this routine of widening his eyes, and puffing out his cheeks, before he thrusts his entire body forward to force as much air into it again.

"It's a birthday party." He pinches the top of the balloon and takes a deep breath.

"I know but—" He lets go of the balloon. Its air blowing out in a continuous squeak.

"HAPPY TWENTY BITCHES!!"

The door is thrown open. Our gaze is drawn to Malcom who's skipping down the hall. He has one bottle of champagne in each hand, his silver hair whipping across his face, and his piercing blue eyes staring directly at me and Theo.

"Where's the party?" He frowns, pivoting on the spot.

"Aaron took Sofie out." I say while smiling at Theo because I find him adorable for considering something so simple—blowing balloons—amusing.

His dirty blond hair is messily thrown back. Dark green eyes sparkle as he looks in between me and Malcom, his 6'5 frame towering the both of us as well. For such a sweet person, his exterior protrudes and this is evident in the way his shirt stretches around the chest and biceps. He's a ball of sunshine, always happy and laughing. He's one of the many people that I'm grateful to be friends with because of the lack of positivity my life has.

"Oh goodie!" Theo releases the balloon that he was previously tying. He then runs to the bottle of champagnes in Malcom's grasp, managing to get in reach to one of them.

"Theo not now—" Malcom and Theo tug at the bottle back and forth. "We...have to...wait—" The sound of the champagne cork popping open follows after his deafening scream.

"I'll just take this other one." I'm close enough to grab the unopened bottle from Malcom, rushing to the kitchen so that I don't get in between them.

"Are you serious, Theo?" Malcom's eyes bulge out of his sockets and his face shining red in frustration. "We had one job and you had to ruin it."

"You said we could have some alcohol before they came." Theo gulps down the liquid that drips on the sides of the bottle. I shake my head at the obvious mess I have to clean.

"Good point," Malcom shrugs. "But now we're down to one bottle of champagne. I can't get drunk from that."

"I know," Theo jumps excitedly. "I have a brilliant idea."

"What is it?" Malcom rolls his eyes.

"We can buy another bottle." Theo slaps his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that?" He turns to me with a bright smile.

"I'm not spending another $200." Malcom takes a seat on one of the counter stools.

"You spent $200?" Theo's jaw drops. "Do you know how many of these champagne bottles I can buy?" Theo raises the almost empty bottle.

"Yeah," Malcom scoffs, "two."

"Oh," Theo shifts his gaze from the bottle to us. "I'm not too good at math."

"You're majoring in accounting." I look up from my phone.

"Oh yeah," Theo plops in the chair next to Malcom.

"There are many other chairs in this room and you had to sit in the one next to mine?" Malcom slowly faces him. "Your wide shoulders are taking up half of this penthouse."

"Well your..." Malcom's eyes bulge as a warning in which Theo decides to seal his mouth shut at this realization. "I'll shut up now."

"You better," Malcom says threateningly before he turns back around in his seat. "Ellie."