when i was 18 years old i met a boy. 3 boys actually, triplets. these boys had been my neighbors for quite some time but I had never spoken to any of them before. i had never spoken to any of my neighbors before.
that was until i returned from spending christmas vacation of my senior year with my dad up in new york.
my mom decided to throw me a welcome home party. she was way more social than me, so when i walked downstairs after setting my bags down in my room the night of my return to massachusetts, and saw my living room filled with people i had never seen before in my life all holding red plastic party cups, I wasn't as surprised as my mom probably wanted me to be.
i descended the stairs and gave her a look that was less of a glare and more of a confused smile. she spun me around and began introducing me to so many people i could hardly remember all of their names.
they all asked the same kinds of questions, the questions my dad asked when i visited him. what colleges are you applying to?; was the main one.
sometime between grandma #1 and 9 year old girl #3 my mom had let go of my shoulders and joined a circle of women who looked to be about her age clustered by the banister.
this was my chance to eat some non-fast food for the first time in a week, let's just say my dad can't cook.
i walked through the crowd into the kitchen which had all the food my mom prepared for tonight. oh how i missed her cooking. i shuffled past a group of women talking by the fridge and over to a board of cheese, crackers, and grapes. i grabbed a paper plate and began piling grapes and saltines on top of each other until my stacking skills were interrupted.
"hey" i heard a voice say to my right.
i turned and looked up at the brunette boy standing next to me.
"any grapes gonna be left once you're done? asking for a friend. well actually my brother, he's starving." he said pointing behind him at two more brown-haired boys who were playing ping pong at the table my mom had brought up from the basement.
"oh yeah im sorry" i laughed. "i haven't eaten anything not deep-fried or grilled in the past week, so your brother might have some competition."
he smiled. "so i'm gonna take a wild guess and ask if you're the girl this whole things for?" he asked looking around at the party.
"that would be me." i laughed. "i'm sienna."
"i'm matt." he smiled grabbing a plate and dishing up some grapes and cheese. "and those idiots." he laughed pointing back to the ping pong table. "are nick and chris."
from the other side of the room i could hear them yelling at each other, "NICK IT WAS MY BALL!!"; "WELL I DON'T WANT TO TAKE THE CHANCES OF GETTING MY HEAD ALMOST-TAKEN OFF BY YOUR PADDLE AGAIN."
"i better go intervene." matt picked up the plate.
"mind if i come with? this seems a lot more fun then making small talk with middle aged women and their mothers."
"okay." he smiled.
we walked over to the table where chris sighed, "matt you're finally back thank god hand over the grapes." and began shoving them in his mouth. speaking with his mouth full, barely audible, he said "what took you so long."
i then appeared at matt's side.
"oh." chris grinned through his grapes.
"chris you're disgusting, i'm nick nice to meet you." he turned to me.
"i'm sienna."
"would you like to play some ping pong sienna?" chris asked finally swallowing the remainder of his grapes.
"yess now we can finally play 2 against 2."
matt and i picked up the remaining paddles and took our place on the opposite side of the table.
"you're on." i laughed, serving chris the ball.
••••
after we had been playing for about 30 minutes, i heard my mom calling my name.
"i'll be right back guys." i set my paddle down and walked back to the living room to find my mom.
"hey?" i walked up to her and she put her arm around me. she walked me up the stairs to where everyone in the room could see us.
she started banging a spoon on a cup and yelling; "hello everyone can i have your attention please!!!"
I could feel my face turning red as people started looking up at us.
"i just wanted to make a toast, to my beautiful daughter sienna! i am so happy to have her home and host this party for her... well for both of us."
i saw nick, chris, and matt work their way into the back of the crowd. it was hard to see in the dark room so i kept my eyes on them. i could still see matt's smile even in the dark. i caught his eyes for a second then turned back to my mom.
"ok mainly for me, we all know how much i love parties." laughter from my moms friends broke out below us. "but i'm just so glad you're home sienna i love you so much!" she thankfully finished her speech, took a sip of her champagne and walked back down the stairs. i followed her down and walked back to meet the triplets.
"that was some speech." nick laughed.
"definitely." i agreed.
"you up for some more ping pong?" matt looked at me.
"you're on."
we played for a while longer as the party started to mellow, people kept dispersing until there was barely anyone left. i looked at my phone; "11 already??" I set it back down.
"yeah our mom went home a while ago." nick said.
"ughh i'm so hungry." chris threw his head back.
"me too, oh my god sienna you never ate your food!" said matt.
"oh yeah i completely forgot."
"i think it's about that time of night we hit up mcdonald's." chris smirked nudging matt.
"alright alright chris let's go, sienna you should definitely come i'll buy you something, it's the least i can do i mean i am the reason you got distracted from eating in the first place."
"okay but i'm really tired." i yawned.
"don't worry we won't have you back too late." nick grabbed his jacket, and buttoned it up.
YOU ARE READING
you are in love ; matt sturniolo
Romance"you can hear it in the silence you can feel it on the way home you could see it with the lights out you are in love true love." - T.S.
