Zac and Finn are on the couch when I get downstairs. Zac glances at me, and raises an eyebrow.
"You helped Micah?" He asks.
"How'd you know?"
"You have paint under your fingernails." He says. "And you look exhausted."
"He said Ryder's being annoying?" I say as I sit beside them.
They share a look. Finn sighs.
"We aren't all agreeing about something, that's all." He says. "I fell asleep before you guys got back yesterday, how'd it go?"
I tell him about the party, but I'm interrupted by a loud scream. I start to stand, but Finn shakes his head.
"Just wait." He says.
"MICAH, I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU!"
"Not if you can't catch me!"
I hear footsteps, and Micah sprints into the room. He gives Zac and Finn each a quick kiss and grins at me before dashing to the sunroom. A minute later, Ryder comes into the room.
Finn giggles at him, and Zac coughs to hide a smile. Ryder's in just his boxers, his still-wet hair green with bits of purple on one side. His nails are bright pink, and there's purple paint on his chest from the towel.
"Where is he?" He snaps.
None of us say anything. His eyes narrow, and he comes over to me. He grabs my wrist, looking at my nails.
"You helped him?" He demands.
My face is flaming at how close we are. I can't deny the fact that Ryder is attractive, even looking like this, and he's hardly wearing any clothes. "I-it-he promised me cookies?"
He glares for about two seconds before muttering something, and dropping my hand. "Where'd he go?"
I point to the kitchen, and he goes. He gives me a look when he comes out a minute later, going towards the sunroom. There's a shriek, then Ryder drags Micah upstairs.
Lio comes down the stairs a couple seconds later. "What just happened?"
"Happy birthday." I say.
He tilts his head. "It's my birthday? Oh, yeah. Nevermind. Happy birthday to me. Can I have cake?"
DJ asks me to keep Lio out of the house, and Ari wants to see us anyway, so we go out to meet them at a coffee shop.
"This is so ironic." Lio mutters, pushing open the door.
I spot Ari immediately. They have dark skin, and bright green dreads that are twisted up into a bun. They're wearing a black shirt and bright blue jeans that are rolled up over their shoes that have sharpie doodles on them.
We walk over to their table, and they grin. "Jake! I haven't seen you in so long!"
I laugh as they hug me. "Hey, Ari."
"I'm here, too." Lio says as he sits down.
"I know, Lio, but I saw you two days ago."
I sit down beside Ari. "How've you been?"
"Fine. My new job is boring."
"Where are you working?" I ask.
"Movie theater. The only good thing is getting to watch movies for free, and Ella works there."
"Is Ella going to last?" Lio asks, smiling.
They sigh. "I think so. She's really nice."
"A couple months ago you were calling her an idiot."
"Well, yeah, she is an idiot, but she's not that bad. Just annoying sometimes. Oh! I forgot, Lio I've got something for you."
She hands him a box, and he opens it, then grins. I look over to see what's in it.
His old apron from the Spot is folded on the bottom. There are candy bars on top of that, and a cupcake in a container in the middle. There's a birthday card inside, too, with money peeking out of the top of it.
"Ari," Lio says. "This is awesome."
"I know." They smirk. "And no, you can't give the money back."
He frowns, and opens the card. "Ri, this is two hundred dollars."
"I know."
"No-"
"Yes. Happy birthday."
Lio sighs, but puts the card back in the box. "Thank you."
"No problem. But I expect an amazing birthday gift."
Lio smiles. "Obviously."
"Where is everyone?" Lio asks, frowning.
The house is dark, and we walk into the living room. Ari and I know that they're going to surprise Lio, so we let him walk ahead.
"What-"
"SURPRISE!"
Lio screeches, as everyone jumps out at him. Ari bursts into laughter, and Lio glares at them.
The living room is decorated with streamers and birthday banners. There's a cake on the coffee table, and plates next to it. Ryder, who's hair is still green, Finn, DJ and Zac are all in here. I remember Finn telling me that Aiden and Dominic left again. DJ walks over to Lio, who frowns.
"This was your idea?"
"Yeah. I didn't mean to scare you." He says apologetically.
Lio rolls his eyes, but lets DJ hug him, burying his face in DJ's chest, mumbling, "You didn't scare me."
"Aw," Ari whispers to me. "They're so cute."
I nod, smiling as Finn comes over.
"I helped Zac with the cake!" He says excitedly, pulling me over to the coffee table.
It's a red velvet cake, with vanilla frosting on the outside. In chocolate letters on the top, it says, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIO!
"Which part did you do?" I ask him.
"All the frosting. I'm not as good as Zac at making cakes."
"Can you make a cake for me on my birthday?"
He grins. "Really?"
"Really." I laugh.
Lio asks to cut the cake, so we all eat in the living room. He refuses to let us sing to him. After we're done, DJ and Lio go upstairs, and Ari says they've got to go.
"Hey, where's Micah?" I ask Finn.
He smiles. "In his room."
I go upstairs with a plate of cake, and knock on the door. There's a muffled, "No!"
"Micah? Are you okay?"
"No."
"What's wrong?"
"Ryder's a jerk."
"What happened?"
He doesn't answer, so I push the door open. He's on his bed, blankets covering him. The lights are off, but light is coming in from a window. I sit on the bed, putting the cake on the nightstand, and tug the blankets off of him. My eyes widen.
His curls are a bright, neon red, and it definitely looks terrible.
"It's not...that bad." I mumble.
He groans. "I knew it. I'm never leaving this room."
"How'd this even happen?" I ask.
"Ryder dyed my hair after I pranked him." He grumbles, pulling the blankets back over his head. "I hate red, it's a terrible color., it doesn't look good."
"Hey, I have red hair." I remind him.
"Well, red looks good on you of course, sweets, but this is a terrible color on me. I don't even know why I have it. And Ryder took all of my other hair dye, and I can't go out looking like this."
"Just wear a hat."
"He took those, too!"
"Do you want me to go get them back?"
"It won't work. Finn and Zac already tried. You can if you want."
"Okay. Oh, I brought you cake."
His head pops up. "You did? Oh, sweets, you're the best."
I smile, and stand up as he reaches for the plate on the nightstand. I close the door behind me when I leave, then go downstairs.
"Ryder, Micah wants his hair dye back." I say as I go into the kitchen. Him and Zac are at the sink and look over to me.
"Nope." He says.
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I've told him not to prank me."
"You didn't dye my hair, and I helped him."
He lifts an eyebrow. "Do you want me to dye your hair?"
"No! That's not what I meant."
He snorts. "I'll give him his hair dye back when he apologizes. I already told him that."
Well that's not going to happen. Micah hates apologizing.
"Jake, Ry and I are going to the store." Zac says. "Do you want to come with us?"
"Sure." I say. "When are we going?"
"Now, if that's alright." He says. "We should get back before six."
I nod, and we go to the front door to pull on our shoes. Ryder tells Finn we're leaving, and we walk outside, and down the driveway.
Whenever I go out with anyone from the house, we always take the bus. They all know I don't do well in cars, so we walk or take the bus. It's nice of them, but I always wonder if they just want to drive, since it would be faster.
"Jake?"
I blink, and look up. "Hm?"
"You okay?" Zac asks, tilting his head at me. "You zoned out for a minute."
I nod. "Sorry, just thinking."
"Ah. Well, we're here."
Already? I really wasn't paying attention.
"Oh. Well, what're we getting?" I ask