➤ ➤ ➤
"You guys really don't have to sing it again," Levi begged, rubbing his palm against the side of his face with discomfort as we all continued to sing the same song from earlier:
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!"
Me and the others—Eden, Ari, Rian, and Torrence—all sang together in dissonant harmony, gathering around Levi as he sat before the teensy, grab-and-go-sized chocolate cake we'd gotten him, courtesy of the convenience store where Rian worked.
After the concert had ended and we had performed our final song, thanked the compliment-givers, stayed around for the final band's set, danced in the mosh pit, said our goodbyes, packed up our things, and finally drove off, we all reconvened back at my house to celebrate Levi's birthday eve. The six of us stood in a tightly-knit huddle, cooped up in the kitchen, standing around the dining table as Levi sat in the seat of honor (the chair at the end of the table) and glared at us as we all collectively belted out obnoxious, discordant vocals.
"Happy birthday, dear Levi! Happy birthday to you!"
Eden placed her poorly-made, crayon-scribbled, travesty of a paper crown on the birthday boy's head as my mother leaned over the counter and clicked on the lighter in her hand, igniting the flame of the candle that punctured the center of the dessert. We all clapped our paws together and patted Levi on the back repeatedly, giving him his well-deserved birthday punches and head noogies. The fox blushed fiercely, unable to hide the bubbly smile on his face.
"Wow, that's the best you guys could do?" My sister scoffed, pointing at the pathetic-looking cake as she entered the kitchen.
"Get out of here, dickhead," I groaned as Rosie walked past us to search the cabinets for snacks. Mom gave me a stern look, her way of warning me to watch my mouth.
"Thank you, guys, really," Levi expressed his gratitude, "it means a lot to have you all here with me."
"We can't not be here, dude. You're one of us," Eden reassured, hugging Levi's side and pressing her cheek to his shoulder. Levi beamed and rested his head against hers.
"I can't believe my lil' man is growing up," Torrence mocked and pretended to cry, wiping away an invisible tear.
"We're the same age now," Levi deadpanned.
"You're the heart of this group, man. You hold us together. Not—just—as a band, but, like, as a group of friends," Rian divulged, nudging Levi in the shoulder. "You may be our 'manager', but you're just a great friend in general, Lev."
"You guys are gonna make me cry, stooopp..." Levi whined, covering his eyes with his paws. We all collectively went 'awww' and swooned at his relentless capability to be adorable at all times.
"Live tears! Let us see!" Torrence teased, pulling at Levi's arms to reveal his tear-stained face. Levi attempted to fight back but there was no use, he didn't have the strength in him to best his brother.
"I may have just met you a month ago, but needless to say, you have my heart, Levi," Ari spoke, making Levi blush vibrantly yet again.
"What are you waiting for, dummy? Blow out the candle!" Eden cheered him on, smacking him on the back and making him jolt. Though it was difficult to hear over all the calamity, the doorbell to our house rang, prompting Rosie to handle it while we continued to celebrate Levi.
"One second—Harvey, thank you so much for letting us do this at your house," Levi shared his earnest appreciation with me, a gratified twinkle in his watery eyes.
"It's no problem at all," I brushed it off, just happy to see him happy. "You deserve it. Besides, you should really be thanking my mom for allowing us to do it here."
"Oh, could you please tell her I said 'thank you'?"
"Quit being so kind and considerate, just make a wish and blow out your damn candle already," Eden groaned, noticing that the wax on the candle was beginning to melt into the chocolate.
"I'm sorry—!" Levi panicked, quickly thinking of a wish and blowing out the flame. I turned to my mother and signed Levi's message of gratitude to her. She smiled and touched her paw to her heart.
"Y'all really started without me?!" A loud voice could be heard entering the kitchen. We all turned our heads to see Rosie welcoming in the guest from outside, who just so happened to be—
"Harley!" Levi squealed excitedly, hopping up out of his chair and running to give Harley a great, big bear hug.
"Sorry I'm late, bud," Harley apologized, rubbing his paw against Levi's back as the fox squeezed him tightly as if he'd never let go. "College prep kept me working overtime."
"I was scared you weren't coming..." Levi released a deep, quivery sigh of relief, parting his head from Harley's chest and noticing the newspaper-wrapped gift in his other hand.
"Are you kidding? This guy can't go one day without inserting himself into everyone's business," Eden jabbed, walking up to Harley and giving him a hug as Levi stared at his present with bubbling emotion.
"Ugh, I missed you faggots," Harley groaned as he squeezed Eden tightly. "So, we all havin' an orgy tonight or what?"
"Dude..." I grumbled, face-palming out of embarrassment.
"C'mon, it's for Levi's birthday!" Harley joked, wrapping his arms around the shoulders of both Eden and Levi. "I know you're down to fuck me, Rian."
"Dude," Torrence hissed through his teeth, careful not to move his mouth too much. "Harvey's mom is in the fucking room."
"What—she can't even hear me?" Harley laughed, glancing back at my mom, who stood in the corner of the kitchen with her arms crossed, a judgemental look on her face. Harley's smile slowly faded.
"She can read lips..." I notified him, which made the reasoning for her intense glare much more, well, reasonable. I watched as the color slowly drained out of Harley's face.
"...Um," he hesitated, awkwardly clearing his throat and scratching the back of his head. "...Time for cake?"
"Hell yeah," Torrence cheered, shoving his fists in the air.
Rosie stood with her arms crossed, shaking her head disapprovingly.
"Y'all are weird," she huffed.
➤ ➤ ➤
Wonderstruck, I gazed at the fluorescent screen of Torrence's phone in my hands, displaying the high-definition renderings of the photographs Fiona had taken during our set earlier tonight. I don't know what I was expecting from Fiona, but already, whatever expectations I had were blown out of the water.
I mean, these looked good. She had taken so many great stills at such perfect moments; really capturing the heat and the thrill of our set and what it felt like to be in that room, witnessing live music being played directly in front of you. The images were bursting with vibrancy and energy, almost leaping off the screen and grabbing me by the pupils. The more I scrolled, the more impressed I became. Somehow, she was able to snap pics from every possible angle imaginable, from the front of the stage to the back of the room, to high above and down below. These pictures felt like the work of a professional.
"Oh, wow," I scoffed, clasping my paw over my mouth and rubbing my chin. The pictures were so impressive that I had to scoff out of complete and utter disbelief. I looked up from the phone and then at Torrence, who sat beside me on the edge of the bed, my face shaken with astonishment. "These are good."
"Right? She's incredible at this stuff," Torrence admired, looking over my shoulder as I continued to scroll through the phone. I get why he's so into her now. Honestly, if we toured and shit in the future, I'd want to hire her as our official photographer.
"Is photography, like, what she wants to do for a career?" I asked Torrence while my attention shifted to Eden, who sat on my bedroom floor, engaged in conversation with Levi and Harley. "Yo, Edie, check these out."
"I mean, she wants to do a few other things, but yeah, photography is one of them," Torrence explained as I reached forward, handing his phone over to Eden, who then shared the images with the other two. In the corner, I could see Rian and Ari chatting about something as they admired all the band posters and Polaroid pictures hung up on the bedroom walls.
"Damn, these look professional," Eden's jaw dropped. We both had the same thoughts.
"Let me see!" Levi scooted closer to Eden, practically hugging her side, his interest peaked.
"Haha, look at you in this one, Harvey," Eden laughed, turning the phone around and pointing at the screen, singling out one image in particular. "You look so buff."
For context, during the show, I had gotten a little overheated and sweaty, and since the room was so tight and stuffy, and none of the windows opened up any wider than a foot, I took off my shirt in the middle of the set, and man, that got a lot of people riled up. The image was a portrait of me in this really dramatic but casual stance, bending over my guitar as I ripped my claws against the strings, my hair flying through the air, all while wearing a calm expression of intense, zoned-out concentration on my face. The picture captured my figure really well, too; the camera flash perfectly showed off my build and sculpted the shapes of my muscles. I felt flattered just by looking at it.
"Okay, Harv, you stud," Harley flirted with a sing-song voice, snapping a limp wrist at me and eyeing me promiscuously. In a joking way, of course. At least, I think.
"Yeah, well, that's two whole years of hittin' the gym for ya," I bragged, holding my arms up and flexing my muscles in a comedic fashion. Eden wolf-whistled while Torrence snapped his fingers, the whole room giving me that reassuring confidence boost I so desperately appreciated. I nodded my head casually at Rian, who has been working out alongside me as my gym partner for those last two years, gaining a nod in return.
"Two years?" Ari then entered the conversation, approaching me near the bed with his arms crossed. "Jesus Christ, I couldn't match that even if I tried. I'd give up after one day." Levi nodded his head, mouthing the word 'same'.
"You wouldn't need to work out, you're skinny," Torrence responded to Ari's comment, to which Ari responded: "High metabolism, I guess."
"I personally think you're all hot, by the way," Harley added. We all groaned in unison: "We know."
"We should definitely post these on the account Fiona made for us," Eden suggested, redirecting the topic of discussion back to the photos as she reached out and handed the phone back to Torrence. "Harv, is your mom asleep yet?"
"She usually heads up to her room around 11, it's 12 now. I'll text my sister and ask if she can check." I retrieved my phone and pulled up the text thread between me and my sister, proceeding to tap against the keyboard.
"You can't check yourself?" Torrence asked. I responded, "I don't wanna look suspicious."
"Should I get out the thing?" Harley asked in a low, but eager voice, discreetly bouncing up and down on his ass with excitement.
"Hang on, Harley," Rian warned, holding out his paw and attempting to tame the wild animal. I tapped the send button on the keyboard and watched as my blue bubbled message sent through.
"Wait, what thing?" Levi wondered, wanting to be in on the secret that seemingly everyone else in the room knew about.
Harley wrapped his arms around Levi, whispered into his ear, "Our little present to you, pumpkin," and then kissed his forehead.
Levi's eyes widened with shock. "What? Another one?"
Eden's head perked up and tilted slightly, being reminded of something. "Oh, yeah, Lev! What was that present Harley got you for your birthday?"
"Uh—" Levi's face went red.
"She's asleep," I announced to the room after reading my sister's text notifying me about the current status of my mother.
"LET'S GOOOO!" Harley cheered, hopping up from the floor with exhilaration like a popcorn kernel popping in hot oil, reaching for the backpack he came in with, which sat in the corner of the bedroom.
Levi's head spun, lost and confused. "What's going on?"
"Birthday celebration, baby," Eden answered, standing up from the floor as well, brushing herself off. She reached into her tote bag and pulled out a small, portable Bluetooth speaker, tossing it in Ari's direction. "Ari. Connect this to your phone."
The speaker landed in Ari's hands swimmingly. With the speaker in one hand, he reached into his pocket with his other hand and pulled out his phone, connecting to the device. I leaned in and warned: "Not too loud. My mom might be deaf, but she can feel vibrations."
Ari nodded his head. Torrence chuckled. "Your poor sister ain't sleepin' tonight."
Levi turned his head and watched as Harley reached into his backpack and pulled out a shiny, glistening, brand-new, unopened bottle of vodka. I could see, in real-time, Levi's face going stone-cold with fear as Harley recklessly raised the bottle in the air, worshipping it like a religious talisman.
"Aw, YEAH! Here we go, baby, let's get this party STARTED!"
"You sound like a stereotypical partygoer in one of those teen Netflix romcoms," Eden laughed in response to Harley's manic episode, reaching further into his bag for some additional items.
"What is that??" Levi's eyes were the size of golf balls. It was as if he were seeing the future and all the catastrophic events that would occur if we had all gotten drunk off of this stuff.
"Smirnoff, raspberry flavored," Harley spoke with a careful, loving elegance to his voice while he read off the label of the bottle as if he were an expert wine taster-slash-collector-slash-connoisseur, but, instead, for vodka.
"Vodka?!" Levi jumped to his feet.
Ari looked up at me. "Where did he get that?"
"I dunno," I answered.
"Yup! And you're taking shots!" Harley cackled in response to Levi's startled reaction, dancing around him leisurely and poking his nose playfully.
"I am?!" Levi's jaw dropped further than I thought possible.
Eden retrieved the items she was searching for from the bag, carrying seven different shot glasses in her arms, one for each of us.
"Eighteen shots!" She smiled widely.
Levi's jaw fell through the floor and hit the devil on his head. "EIGHTEEN?!"
"One for each year of life!"
Harley danced even more, hopping up and down in circles around Levi, holding his fist to his mouth and pretending to beatbox, mimicking a DJ stereo announcer on the radio: "We-We-We-We're getting Levi drunk tonight! Uh-huh, oh yeah, mhm, uh-huh!"
Eden joined in, locking arms with Harley and prancing about, making funny noises and doing silly moves. Levi just stood there in horror, his jaw halfway across space by now.
Ari found a song and spun around, holding Eden's phone up to my level, seeking my approval. He had decidedly chosen a song I was familiar with: 'Trustful Hands', an upbeat, energetic, thrill-ride of a record from the intricately frenetic indie pop band 'The Dø'. I nodded and gave him a thumbs up, giving him the permission he desired in order to press play. The music on the speaker filled the room, raising the energy and lifting the spirits of everyone who inhabited it, especially Eden and Harley.
"WOO!" Eden cheered delightfully once the music had found its way into her ears. "Let's get turnt the fuck up! C'mon! Everyone on your feet, let's drink!"
Torrence and I sat up from the bed as Ari lifted himself up from the floor. Rian reluctantly stretched his limbs before joining the group. Ari and I looked at one another as Torrence and Rian made their way over to the little clump of people at the center of the room.
"Hell, I'm down," Ari shrugged.
"I'm down if you're down," I replied, giving him a faint, cheeky smile.
Ari smiled back, only to pause for a second before taking a step closer to my ear, muttering under his breath: "...Are you still down to do this?"
I looked over at my friends, all in their element; laughing, smiling, encouraging a nervous Levi to toughen up. They all stood there, just having a fun time, surrounded by the people they loved. Being their real, true selves.
My eyes scanned over each and every one of them as time began to move in slow motion, the intimate moment staying for a few seconds longer than reality would allow. The smiles, the familiar voices, the comfort and the warmth.
Eden. Harley. Rian. Torrence. Levi.
My friends. My family. My home away from home.
"...Yeah," I whispered back with determination as time carried on at its normal speed. "We're doing this."
"When are we telling them?"
"...We'll tell them when the moment is right."
Ari and I shared a subtle nod before joining the others. Eden handed us both our designated shot glasses as Harley tilt the bottle over, pouring us each a good amount of vodka. Levi stared at the clear liquid in his shot glass with an overwhelming sense of doubt, biting his lip anxiously.
"Hey, Levi, if you're not feeling up to this, you don't have to do it," Ari spoke up, only for Harley to immediately shut him down: "Shut the fuck up, Ari!"
"No, no... It's okay, I-I'm okay," Levi cleared the air, releasing the tension. "I, just... hate the taste of alcohol, that's all. I mean, if it tasted good, I would enjoy it."
"It's just to get you drunk, you're not supposed to enjoy the taste," Eden informed him.
"What?! Seriously?!" Levi's voice rose several pitches higher. "Why do people do this to themselves?!"
"That's why we're taking shots!" Harley bounced up and down like a toddler at his own birthday party.
"Yeah, just a quick—" Torrence placed his empty glass to his lips and quickly rocked his head back and forth as an example "—and then it's over."
"Yeah, but they want me to take eighteen!" Levi whined.
"Hold up, wait, eighteen?" Torrence looked over at Eden and Harley. "Isn't that too much for somebody small like him?"
Eden shrugged. "We're about to find out!"
"This is gonna be an interesting night," Ari mumbled to himself, forcing me to suppress my laughter.
"We're all taking eighteen shots, not just Levi," Harley clarified, spinning his finger in a circle as if he were stirring a pot, referencing each of us individually.
"Oh, boy," Rian exhaled outward.
"Everyone ready?" Eden burst with excitement once Harley finished filling her glass, and then his glass, and then nobody's glass. Everyone's vodka was poured and prepped for takeoff.
We all had somehow formed a circle at the center of the room without realizing it, and once Eden and Harley held out their drinks to the middle of the circle, we all followed and repeated their actions. At first glance, it was almost like a cult gathering; the sight of each of us, holding an outstretched arm with a shot glass in hand.
"Wait, wait—how are we doing this?!" Levi held out his paw, uncomfortable with the speed at which we were taking this. We were progressing so fast that he almost got whiplash.
"What do you mean?" asked Torrence.
"It's three, two, one, drink," Harley answered, clearing it all up for everyone in the circle.
Well, again, except for Levi: "On one or after one?"
"Doesn't fuckin' matter."
"Are we ready or not?!" Eden raised her voice, unable to channel her impatience.
"Ready," Ari and I spoke at the same time, followed by Torrence, and then Rian, and then lastly, Levi.
"Alright," Eden steadied herself, staring at the shot glass held out in front of her face.
We all gripped our individual glasses and prepared ourselves for the first shot out of eighteen, waiting on Eden's signal.
"On your marks... get set... go."