Oh, when I see you holding on to somebody new,
I won't know what to do.
To tell you the truth,
I just want you to be happy,
but I don't wanna have to see it.
- To Be Happy : Nana Ouyang
It's the day of the birthday party.
I'm getting ready in my room, waiting for Layla's call as she's picking me up. I wore a simple short long-sleeved black dress which I really liked. Sometimes I really think black is my colour, it's seriously the easiest colour to mix and match with anything.
I heard my phone ring, and rushed downstairs after saying goodbye to my mom. I told her I would be staying at Layla's house tonight after the party, the main reason being, I don't know what I should do after seeing Levi confess to Sierra, and she told me to go over to her place if I need a shoulder to lean on. Classic Layla, she's the only friend I would trust with my life.
I saw Tyler in the driver's seat dressed up smartly and Layla in her puffed up sleeved pink short dress which fit her so beautifully. I really love Layla's curly hair, I think she pulls it off so perfectly. I get in the car, saying hi to the both of them and we were off.
When we reached Sierra's house, oh wait, mansion would be a better word to describe it, it was packed with almost everyone from school. There were bottles of beer everywhere, the music was extremely loud, and there were so many drunk people dancing.
Layla and Tyler left to dance after I persuaded her to go, and told her that I'd be fine on my own.
I wanted to find Levi. I wanted to see him. Although I wore heels, it was still hard to spot anyone in the crowd, and I'm not tall either, so that doesn't help either. But as I was moving through a swarm of sweaty bodies, I saw him and his group of friends at the kitchen. He was pretty tall, but it was really easy to spot him even from the back as I was too used to seeing him to recognise him. Layla says I can even recognise him from his shadow and his cough. Damn, I sound like a lovesick obsessed teen.
So, I walked towards him. He was wearing a black button up shirt tucked into his cream coloured slacks. He looked really good, as always. He was drinking beer with his friends.
I tapped his shoulder from the back of him, and he turned to look at me, taking my outfit in, as did his friends when I suddenly I felt a few pairs of eyes on me. I became self-conscious and quickly looked at Levi, trying to only focus on him.
"Hey!" I said.
"Echo..hi."
"Erm, are you okay? Is everything okay, Levi?" Why was he acting weird?
"Echo, erm I'll talk to you later, okay?" He said quickly, turning his eyes away from me and back to his friends.
"Yeah, sure." I murmured and left to find Layla.
Something's definitely wrong, he sounded distant, like I did something wrong. I kept trying to think what went wrong in the past few days and then I remembered that even yesterday, right after school, he sort of avoided me. I thought he was just really busy so I didn't pay attention to it.
As I was looking for Layla, the music stopped, and everyone started singing "Happy Birthday" as Sierra walked down the grand staircase in her beautiful red satin long dress.
As expected, I saw Levi holding out the birthday cake with the lighted candles. I stood at the side watching the scene unfold in front of me. She looked elated and had a dreamy glow on her face as she watched Levi. Maybe they really were each other's soulmates.
After the song ended, Sierra blew out the candles and closed her eyes to make her wish. Levi was smiling brightly at her, as I mentioned before, like she's the only girl in the world. As soon as she opened her eyes, he passed the cake to his friend and gently took her hand in his.
The whole room became silent watching the both of them.
"Sierra, I have loved you the moment I first saw you, I don't believe in love at first sight, but you were exactly that for me. I have always wanted to tell you that I have loved you but I wanted to make sure our timing was right, and I don't think I can wait any longer. You're everything I've ever dreamed of, Sierra. Will you do me the honour of becoming my girlfriend?"
"YES! YES! YES, I WILL!" She squealed in happiness.
He then pulled her in for a hug, and held her face to kiss her lips. I felt tears stinging in my eyes and I knew then that it was my cue to leave.
I could hear cheering and laughter as I walked to the porch of the house. I didn't know what to feel, act or say. All I knew was that I had to find Layla.
"How could you? How could you do that?"
I heard Layla's shouting as I walked closer to where her voice was coming from. I saw Tyler in front of her and from the looks of it, they were in a pretty heated argument.
"Layla, I didn't mean to. Look, Levi deserved to know. They're friends and she hid it from him. She pretended to be happy for him, what kind of friend does that?" Tyler said.
I was so confused, why was Levi's name brought up in the conversation.
"He deserved to read the letter, Layla. You can't deny that." He said.
The letter? What letter? My letter?
"What letter?" I asked, as both their heads turned towards me.
"Echo, shit. Please don't freak out, we're going to figure this out okay?" Layla said.
"What are you talking about? Is it the letter I wrote for Levi? How did he know about it? You were the only one I told." I said.
"I saw it in your bag during lunch break when you two went to the restroom, and it fell out when someone pushed your bag, I took it and it said 'To: Levi'. I didn't know what it would be until I read it, and as his friend I just had to give it to him. You told him you were happy for him when he told you about Sierra but all this time you were lying to his face." Tyler said.
"Y-you..you gave it to him?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing, my head was spinning.
"Yeah," he calmly said.
And as I was breaking apart, he was there with somebody new, and yet, I wish the same damn wish for him. For him to be happy.