Just Good Friends

Chapter 66

"Hey!"

"Yo! My brotha..." Khalil steps inside and we do our handshake before hugging each other. "What's up?"

"Nothin', bro. Good to see you," I reply with a smile before turning to Becca. "What's up, Becca?"

"Hey, Diggy," she replies in a sweet tone, hugging me. "Happy Birthday!"

My face lights up as I see her pull out a small, thin gift wrapped in light blue wrapping paper with a letter attached. She hands it to me.

"Just a little something from me and Khalil."

"Ah, thank you. Come on in..." I shut the front door and follow them into the kitchen. "Dana's also here. You guys are the first ones. We're just kinda chillin' until everyone arrives."

Dana flashes a smug grin as she rests her hip against the kitchen counter. "Well, look who it is... hey, y'all." The three of them greet each other and choose their drinks of choice as we chill and listen to the music before the doorbell rings once again. I invited Chris and some of the guys from the basketball team, and it seems like they invited some other girls from school. I didn't expect a group of eight people at my door but the more the merrier, I guess. I greeted everyone and let them inside, and it noticeably got noisier inside the house.

"Ayo, Dig, thanks again man for inviting me. You're cool peeps!" Chris exclaims with the biggest smile. 

"No problem, man. But... you could've given me a heads up about inviting other people," I reply while watching the large group mingle with my other friends.

"Aw, man. I'm sorry. I just figured you'd be cool about it, and you are, right? We homies, we all friends here."

His confident attitude was slightly annoying, but I shook off the feeling. "Yeah. It's cool. Don't worry about it. There's, uh, drinks on the counter and--"

"Don't mind if I do. Nice home, bro! Aye, you got DDR?!" Chris' voice trails off into the other rooms as I release a deep sigh and begin to close the door. But the sound of the doorbell forces me to open the door again. This time, Julie was standing on the porch with her hair in a bun and a bit more make-up than she usually wears these days.

"Julie. Hi!"

"Hey... happy birthday!" She says as she steps inside the foyer. Similar to Becca, she hands me a card and a lime green gift bag.

"Wow. You didn't have to get me anything."

"I couldn't come here empty-handed. It's just something small..." She shrugs as her relaxed eyes set on mine, radiating a feeling of warmth.

"Thank you."

"It's good to see you feeling better, too."

"Yeah. Those caramels really saved me," I chuckle softly. "I think I finished the box by Friday."

"Dang!" Julie chuckles. "Good thing I bought you some more."

My jaw drops in excitement as I look at her and then down at the lime green gift bag. "Word?"

She nods her head with a grin.

"You just made my whole week..." I reply, which causes her to giggle.

We enter the kitchen and all eyes are on us. "Hey, everyone. Julie's here." I set my gifts to the side as they greeted her, but when I turned back to Julie, I found her gazing toward Chris' noisy posse with a skeptical, bewildered look in her eye. I whisper to her, "Julie... you okay?"

Julie squeezes her balled-up fist and nods her head without a word. I eye Chris in the corner sipping on his non-alcoholic wine cooler with a prideful smirk on his face before he looks away.