𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝒏𝒘𝒂𝒓'𝒔 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚, 𝑱𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍, we approached Anwar's dad, who was standing next to Anwar, "Ladies!" He greeted us as we approached, he kissed each of us on the cheek.
"Hello, Mr. Kharral," Michelle said to him, smiling at him.
He looked us all over, we weren't too dressed up, just sweaters and jeans, "Nicely dressed too," He said to Anwar, who just let out a sigh, "You see, respectful," He waved a finger out at him and then he looked back at us, "I keep asking Anwar when Maxxie is coming," Once he said this, Michelle and I exchanged looks, then looked over at Anwar who was visibly growing nervous, "He says they fought... Why would anyone fight a boy like Maxxie?"
I cleared my throat, "Well," I said quietly.
"I never see Maxxie," He continued on, "You know, he was such a wonderful dancer... Tap dancing, huh? Superb, physical..."
Jal nodded, "Yeah, we know," She said quietly.
Anwar's dad let out a breath of air before he smiled at us once more, "Anyway, have some fun, huh?" He patted us on our shoulders before he walked away from us.
Jal, Michelle, and I looked up at Anwar and then turned away, walking away, we went towards some tables in the back, just blending into the party. I leaned against the wall that was to my left, the party wasn't anything insane, just some disco music and some awkward dancing. After a while, there was a record scratch and some feedback, we looked up at Anwar's uncle who was standing behind the DJ booth, "Welcome everybody!" He said into the microphone, "And a happy birthday to Anwar!" Everyone cheered for him as he said this, "He is the apple of my sister's eye! A great God-fearing lad..." There was a spotlight on Anwar who stood there awkwardly in front of everyone as they clapped for him, "So we've thrown this party to celebrate his birthday and his marriage to his cousin who's just flown in from Pakistan!" Everyone gasped, murmurs were heard before they died down and everyone stood there quietly as Anwar looked around nervously, like a little lost deer in headlights. The silence was painful until his uncle spoke up, "Ahhh! Got you!" He laughed at his nephew, everyone else started to laugh, Anwar just stood there, "Had you going, didn't I?"
"Jesus," I said quietly.
"Come on, everybody! Let's dance!" The music started up again and everyone walked towards the dance floor.
I took a sip of my drink and Kenny was standing behind us now, "This is a big boy tune! This mofo's got some serious riddims kickin' off, you get me?" He shouted, I furrowed my brow and looked at him, Michelle and Jal doing the same, giving him a strange look. Kenny just looked Jal up and down, raising a brow, "I'd so love you to dance... Would you?" Jal looked over to Michelle and me before she walked towards the dancefloor with Kenny, he looked over at us, raising his brows as he went to follow her, leaving Michelle and I standing there alone.
Michelle ended up walking off, and I just turned to walk towards the front when Anwar and Maxxie walked in, I smiled at the two of them, as they approached the dancefloor, Maxxie put a hand out for me and I just shrugged my shoulders, grabbing his hand as we went to the dancefloor, the music actually started to be danceable around this time, I managed to find Jal in the crowd and we all danced around. I didn't even notice Chris showed up until three posh guys walked up to us as the music died down a little, "Excuse me," The man in the front said to Chris as he turned around, "Give it back, mate."
Chris looked at him, "Huh?"
"My ring's gone walkabout, cobber."
I looked over to Jal who looked over at me about the same time, I furrowed my brow, "Cobber?" I whispered.
"And I've come over all shonky," The man continued.
"Shonky?" Jal and I said at the same time.
Chris let out a small gasp, "I've heard that can happen," Chris replied, raising his brows.
"You looking for a touch of this?" The man got closer to him, I watched nervously, I wasn't ready for some lame fight to break out during Anwar's party.
"Oh! Merve, we hardly know each other," Chris was quick to shoot back at him.
"You don't want me and my Joeys to spit the dummy... Because they'll take you lower than a dead dingo's donger."
Anwar looked over at Chris after this was said, Anwar looked confused, "Right... Now they've lost me," He said to Maxxie.
Before Chris got another word out, Angie came storming in, "Stop it!" She shouted as she ran over, "Stop it, all of you! For fuck's sake!" She walked over to Chris, looking him in his eyes, "Give it back, Chris, okay?" She seemed to scold him.
Maxxie turned her head, furrowing his brow, "Give what back?" Maxxie whispered to him and Chris let out a small sigh.
Chris reached into his pocket, "Alright..." He said quietly, a box fell onto the ground and he knelt down, picking it up, my eyes widened once I noticed that it looked like he was proposing to Angie, "Sorry," He said as he held the box up to her and she looked down at him.
There was feedback from the microphone, I looked over to the DJ booth, Anwar's uncle pointed over at Chris and Angie, "Ladies and gentleman! We have a happy event, a very happy event, everyone, whoo!" He cheered.
Everyone looked over to Chris and started to clap and cheer, "Holy shit," I mumbled looking down at my feet, trying not to laugh.
"No!" Angie shouted, "No, it's not that!" Everyone kept cheering, "Listen!" She struggled to make a point.
Chris looked at the ring and then back to Angie, "It's yours, Angie, do you want it?" He asked her and Angie's face seemed to soften as she stared down at the ring for a moment.
She reached down at took it out of the box, turning around to the man who was shouting at Chirs moments prior. "No," She said to him and handed him the ring.
Chris got up off the floor, a smirk on his face, he looked over at me, "Yeah..." He said to me, "She loves me!" Once he said this, Merve threw a punch, hitting Chris square in the jaw, sending him to the floor, I let out a shout and stepped away from the dancefloor as a fight broke out.
I walked out of the crowd and went towards the bathroom, I lost Michelle forever ago, I assumed that she left ages ago, I went into a stall and sat down on the toilet, letting out a sigh. It was silent in the bathroom until my phone rang. I picked it up, looking at the name on it, Tony. I answered, putting it up to my ear, "Hi, Tony..." I said quietly.
"Astrid?" He replied once he heard my voice.
"Yes?"
"Astrid... I need to talk to you, I want to talk to you."
I noticed a static over the phone, I could barely make out his voice, "Tony? I can't really hear you, hello?"
"Is it a bad signal? Hang on..."
"Tone?"
"I need to tell you something..." He said quietly, "I'm a twat, I don't know why I'm like this, I mean, maybe I can change... I can change." I sat there, furrowing my brow, listening to him, "I'll be honest, the truth is that I do love you."
Before I could say anything, I heard a loud noise over the end, "T- Tone?" I muttered out, "Tony?" I said and there wasn't any answer, I stood up off the toilet and walked out of the stall, Michelle was standing in the bathroom and staring into the mirror.
She turned to look at me, "I think he'll make you happy," She commented, and I didn't utter a word to her before I walked out.
I ran towards the front of the party and to the doors, I shoved them open, growing more and more worried about what happened to Tony, I really busted through the doors, not even knowing where Tony would be at, then I stopped in my tracks, noticing Effy running towards a gutter, screaming, "Effy?" I said to her before I looked down, Tony was lying in the street, bleeding, my eyes widened and I noticed a bus that was screeching to a halt. "Tony!" I yelled out, the bus driver was running over on their phone at this time too. It felt like everything was frozen and I couldn't move on my feet until I ran forward towards Tony and Effy, Effy looked up at me as I fell onto my knees on the concrete, my jeans getting torn up by the rough ground. I put my hand out onto Tony, "Tony?" I managed to sputter out, my hand was shaking as I felt his skin and he didn't move.