𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 (𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙱𝚡𝙱)

Track 41 | 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀

"It's no problem at all," I brushed it off, just happy to see him happy. "You deserve it. Besides, you should really be thanking my mom for allowing us to do it here."

"Oh, could you please tell her I said 'thank you'?"

"Quit being so kind and considerate, just make a wish and blow out your damn candle already," Eden groaned, noticing that the wax on the candle was beginning to melt into the chocolate.

"I'm sorry—!" Levi panicked, quickly thinking of a wish and blowing out the flame. I turned to my mother and signed Levi's message of gratitude to her. She smiled and touched her paw to her heart.

"Y'all really started without me?!" A loud voice could be heard entering the kitchen. We all turned our heads to see Rosie welcoming in the guest from outside, who just so happened to be—

"Harley!" Levi squealed excitedly, hopping up out of his chair and running to give Harley a great, big bear hug.

"Sorry I'm late, bud," Harley apologized, rubbing his paw against Levi's back as the fox squeezed him tightly as if he'd never let go. "College prep kept me working overtime."

"I was scared you weren't coming..." Levi released a deep, quivery sigh of relief, parting his head from Harley's chest and noticing the newspaper-wrapped gift in his other hand.

"Are you kidding? This guy can't go one day without inserting himself into everyone's business," Eden jabbed, walking up to Harley and giving him a hug as Levi stared at his present with bubbling emotion.

"Ugh, I missed you faggots," Harley groaned as he squeezed Eden tightly. "So, we all havin' an orgy tonight or what?"

"Dude..." I grumbled, face-palming out of embarrassment.

"C'mon, it's for Levi's birthday!" Harley joked, wrapping his arms around the shoulders of both Eden and Levi. "I know you're down to fuck me, Rian."

"Dude," Torrence hissed through his teeth, careful not to move his mouth too much. "Harvey's mom is in the fucking room."

"What—she can't even hear me?" Harley laughed, glancing back at my mom, who stood in the corner of the kitchen with her arms crossed, a judgemental look on her face. Harley's smile slowly faded.

"She can read lips..." I notified him, which made the reasoning for her intense glare much more, well, reasonable. I watched as the color slowly drained out of Harley's face.

"...Um," he hesitated, awkwardly clearing his throat and scratching the back of his head. "...Time for cake?"

"Hell yeah," Torrence cheered, shoving his fists in the air.

Rosie stood with her arms crossed, shaking her head disapprovingly. 

"Y'all are weird," she huffed.

➤ ➤ ➤

Wonderstruck, I gazed at the fluorescent screen of Torrence's phone in my hands, displaying the high-definition renderings of the photographs Fiona had taken during our set earlier tonight. I don't know what I was expecting from Fiona, but already, whatever expectations I had were blown out of the water. 

I mean, these looked good. She had taken so many great stills at such perfect moments; really capturing the heat and the thrill of our set and what it felt like to be in that room, witnessing live music being played directly in front of you. The images were bursting with vibrancy and energy, almost leaping off the screen and grabbing me by the pupils. The more I scrolled, the more impressed I became. Somehow, she was able to snap pics from every possible angle imaginable, from the front of the stage to the back of the room, to high above and down below. These pictures felt like the work of a professional.