Operation spies in disguise.
We had approximately, 30 minutes before Eli arrived with the birthday boy (well officially man now). All the rest of us were helping decorate Levaeh’s living room in time for the surprise party. Guests were constantly pouring in through the doors filling up all the space. Levaeh's house wasn’t as big as Lilah's and mine, so I was beginning to wonder if we’d all fit.
The party was Christmas themed, most people came in dressed in ugly sweaters and Santa hats or reindeer head bands. Some people went all out and came in full blown costumes. I was not feeling the whole costume thing and jumpers just made me hot and itchy, however Lilah kept going on about me blending in as much as possible if ‘Operation spies in disguise’ was going to work.
Lilah was an elf and all 3 boys and I were in ugly Christmas jumpers. The name didn’t give it justice. When I say it’s ugly, I mean it looks like the kind of jumpers your grandma knits you for Christmas. You thank her and then shove it at the darkest end of your wardrobe, making sure it never sees the light of day.
I physically wanted to tear mine apart, it had a huge light up Rudolph nose right in the centre of my bump. I was trying to draw LESS attention to the fact that I’m pregnant, not have a flashing red signal inviting people to speak to me about it.
Gladly, Louis was going to be here in 5 minutes, then the party was going to start. There would be an excuse not to talk because the music would be too loud.
At the bottom of the road.
Eli texted.
“He’s basically here, so people should get in they’re places.” I said.
“Places everyone!” Levaeh stuck the last balloon beside the birthday banner then ducked behind the sofa. Somehow, every single one of the guests had found a place to hide. There were 30 of us, but at least half were upstairs. I just sat out of sight since I was too big, tired and pissed off at Levaeh to even listen to her. I’m his girlfriend, I was meant to be the one who organised this for him, or his mum, but Not her.
“Um don’t you need to open the door? It is your house.” A boy said.
“Oh yeah.” She walked towards the door and stood beside it.
“Dumb ass.” I muttered, as she walked past me.
Another text from Eli.
We are outside. Should I stall him or just come in?
-We’re ready. Come in. I texted.
A few seconds after, the door bell rang.
“Three...Two...one.” Lilah counted down.
Levaeh opened the door for the boys.
“Awww, I know what this is.” SURPRISE!!! Everyone yelled.
As all the guests began to reveal themselves, I stood up and walked over to Louis giving him a huge hug.
“Happy birthday Lou.”
“Thanks baby.” He said, kissing me on the lips. He had a big smile on his face, so I decided if he was happy, I should be too.
“I got your present in Eijai’s car. I’ll give it to you later.” I whispered.
“I can’t wait.” He smiled.
“Alright, stop hogging the birthday boy, I mean, man.” Levaeh grabbed onto his shoulders and pushed him into the party area.
Louis turned back and mouthed Sorry. I just put on a smile and gave him a thumbs up. I glared at Levaeh as she conversed with Louis in the living room, laughing and showing him around.
Eli was beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder.
“I see what you mean now. Is the plan still on?” he asked.
“Yeah. I don’t trust Levaeh one bit.”
The music began to play and a crowd formed as the people from upstairs joined us. It turned from a quiet house of people to a full blown party in seconds. It was only 6 o’clock and the ‘adults' in the house had already begun drinking, even though they were still drinking illegally until they turned 21. I could tell this was going to be one hell of a night.
Operation spies in disguise sounded like we had a strategic plan, but really, we were just spread out across the house, keeping an eye on Levaeh and looking out for any suspicious activity. The name just sounded cool.
There were five of us, so we were in the five most popular places in the house: Eli was in the kitchen helping pour drinks, I was in the living room, Keign was in the garden, Eijai was upstairs and Lilah was floating between each location.
Keeping your eye on one person in the mist of a huge group of people was very hard. Everyone practically looked the same. The house was polarised into green and red clothes and even then, there was always someone with the same costume or jumper.
We watched for a while, but nothing seemed to be happening. Well, a lot was happening, but nothing out of the ordinary. People sang (screamed) along to popular Christmas tunes. Some moved back and forth from the snack table laid with Christmas cookies, muffins, cup cakes, crisps and a whole lot of sweets. Most of all, everyone mingled around with familiar and new people. It was surprisingly chill and I was actually starting to enjoy watching the atmosphere from the side-lines.
That was, until it hit 9 o’clock. It was like witching hour, but worse. Drunk teenagers were hooking up in every corner you turned to, underage drinkers were throwing up in buckets because their bodies couldn’t handle it and boys were walking around with their shirts off, seeing who could chug a bottle of a beer the fastest. It was like one of the parties I went to with Samuel, which made sense because he was here. Actually, he was walking towards me right now.
“Long time no see.” He yelled over the music, as he sat down beside me on the sofa. He had a half empty bottle of beer in one hand and a unlit cigarette in the other. Exactly as how I remembered him.
“Hi Sam.”
His eyes were a tinted shade of yellow and his clothes, his breath and his whole body radiated beer and BO. You could almost see it, a fainted cloud clinging onto him like his shadow.
“So I heard you’ve...chaanged your name.” He slurred. He scooted closer to me.
“Yeah. Rye.” I moved further away. I didn’t know why he was talking to me, but knowing him, it was never a good idea to be around him when he was drunk. He could go from calm to raging in seconds. So I had to find an escape plan and fast.
“And you’re pregnant. You knooow, we could have had cute kids.” He took a long gulp of beer, some dribbling down his chin and onto his Grinch t-shirt. I backed further away.
“What?”
“I SAID.” He moved closer, grazing his hand up my thigh. “We could have had cute kids.” I slapped his hand away.
“You’re sick! You know that?!” I yelled angrily.
“I have a boyfriend.”
“Who, that Louis guy? Well not anymore.” He sniggered.
“What are you talking about?” I asked angrily.
“You’re so called ‘boyfriend’ just went up the stairs with another girl.” He jerked his hand towards the stairs, almost hitting me in the face.
I stood up squeezed through the crowd and went to Eli, leaving Samuel alone on the sofa.
“Did you see Louis go up the stairs?” I asked.
“Yeah. He asked Levaeh where the toilets were and she went up to show him.” He said, grabbing two cokes from the fridge for two of the only sober boys in the house.
I suddenly stumbled forward, holding myself up on the counter. I realised I didn’t feel very well.
“Rye, are you ok? You don’t look so good.” Eli rushed from behind the kitchen counter to support me.
“Yeah, I don’t feel good. Now that you mentioned it, I feel kinda off.”
“Oh, do you want me to take you home?” he asked.
“Yeah. I need to go toilet first.” I said.
“OK, I’ll let the others know. I think they all gave up on the plan half-way through and went outside in the marquee with some of the other people.”
“I did too, to be honest. I’ll be back in a sec.”
I made my way up the stairs and cautiously searched each closed door for the bathroom. The first two were bedrooms and there were two more doors. One with the door slightly ajar and another closed one.
I tried the closed one and I finally found the bathroom. For some odd reason, something in me told me to check out the last door. I guess I was just curious and I might as well explore Levaeh’s House before I leave. I peeked through the gap and saw a slight glow of pink light. I pushed the door open an inch further and saw a black -over the shoulder- pouch. It was Louis', but that was weird because he usually kept in the car.
“Louis, I’m not feeling well, so Eli’s going to....” I froze. So many different feelings rushed through my body. The room I had walked into was Levaeh's bedroom. That was clear enough from the pink lava lamp in the corner.
Louis was there, laying halfway on top on Levaeh and they were both half clothed, he had red lipstick on his cheek, so they were definitely kissing. At first I was hurt. I was hoping that he was drunk, and that maybe she was provoking him to do it. I’ve never hope and prayed so hard.
Then it was sadness, because I realised he wasn’t. The terrified look on his face when I walked in to the room. He was sober alright, and I had caught him red handed.
“Rye. It’s...it’s not what it looks like.” He looked at me first with shock and then with apologetic eyes, but at this point I didn’t care. I was furious.
Levaeh just sat there, observing the scene like she had nothing to do with it. I thought I might have seen a glimpse of remorse in her face, but nah! That must have been my imagination.
“Its EXACTLY what it looks like! You know what? Have fun at your party.” Then I left.