One Year of You and I

October 27th

Sunday, October 27th, 2013

Holly

  “Piper!” Brin called out with faked-anger, letting out giggles in the meantime. “Get off!” 

  “Never!” Piper replied. 

  As Piper flicked through channels on the TV, she propped herself across Brin’s stomach, who was now pinned to the ground with nowhere else to go. I watched from the couch, unable to keep my own giggles hidden. 

  Yesterday, Brin had called me saying that her and Piper were inviting me to a sleepover. Well, it technically wasn’t an invitation, seeing as they didn’t give me a choice on the matter. To quote her exactly, with Piper in the background, the two had said, “Holly, we’ll see you at Brin’s place at seven. Bring a pillow and pajamas. Here’s the address...”. I had been ecstatic from the moment I had put the phone down, as was my mother when I had asked her if she would be able to drive me out to Brin’s. 

  When we had received the news that I wouldn’t be returning to Barthrow this school year, my parents had found themselves in much worry. This is the school where I had grown up, as well as where I had made all of my friends. Hearing that I had made new friends at Orchid, their largest hope for me, my mother glowed with happiness. 

 Now four in the morning, I found myself wide awake; energized by sugar and the failed iced coffees that we had attempted making an hour ago. I laid on the couch in the living room with the two other’s fighting on the ground.  

  Brin and Ed had a mother and a father that were just as happy as they were. They lived in a quaint little apartment with pastel colored walls in every room. It was incredibly cozy in every way: from the furniture to the smell. It was evident that Piper was nearly like a third child in the household, seeing as she was so comfortable. Of course, it could easily be her carefree personality. 

  “Get off!” Brin squealed, finally managing to push Piper away. The redhead rolled off and landed on the ground with a thud, this being followed with a loud laugh. 

  “How we haven’t woken up Ed or your parents, I have no idea,” I said, letting out my own chuckles. “Scratch that. The whole apartment complex.” 

  Brin came to join me on the couch, slipping into her sleeping bag. Her brown hair hung in two high ponytails on the top of her head; one of the previous jokes of the night. “You’re right, you’re right,” She said. “We should probably be a bit quieter.” 

  Piper joined us on the huge velvet couch, not holding back from letting out a loud yawn in the meantime. She laid down on the couch, her head against the pillow she had brought along. “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done at a sleepover?” 

  “Well, once our cousins came over from Montana for a few nights,” Brin began. “One night, them, Ed, and me found an old karaoke machine in the closet. It’d be a waste of cheesily terrible music if we didn’t use it, so at two in the morning we had a whole entire stage made out of couch cushions. We spent the whole night singing Neil Diamond and Salt N’ Pepa. Our parents came out at around two in the morning to see what the hell we were doing, and at first we just sat there terrified, the background music of Sweet Caroline playing as we waited for them to lash out. It was a pretty big surprise when my dad grabbed the mic and began belting out the chorus. That night, our family band became official: The Tasty Tartaran’s.” 

  Smiles were spread across Piper and my face. “That’s the thing,” I said. “Everyone’s always talking about their most wicked of nights being the one’s where they got “mad drunk” and “can’t remember a thing that happened”. But that’s it! They can’t remember what happened. A story like that one-” I pointed at Brin, “-is one to remember forever. A real memory.”