I dressed up for this friends movie night. I don't even know why. When we get there it's only the friend group. I'm slightly offended for a split second, thinking that my sister believes I don't dress well, but that was before the lights flickered on and I was showered with confetti. I shut my eyes, but confetti still manages to find its way inside my eyeball. I flinch in pain, slowly opening my eyes and pulling the confetti from them.
"Surprise!" Everyone shouts. Lily grabs her polaroid camera and tells everyone to get in the photo. When she takes it, she leaves it on the counter for the picture to appear.
I stare at her dining table, where she added a light green plastic table cloth, like the ones we had at birthday parties as kids. The cake was incredible. It had matching green frosting and it had white fondant that said "Happy Birthday Matthew."
"Do you like it? I don't know if green's your favourite colour, but." She says without finishing her sentence.
"It's amazing, thank you so much." I smile at everyone. I knew they all arranged this, which is when it hit me when the doorbell rang about 2 seconds later.
"Oh, shit. They're here early. Quick, cut the cake." Leo shouts, before heading to the door.
We were having a party.
Lily quickly cuts into the cake and gives us all a slice. We eat it as fast as we can as people begin to flow into the house. I hear the speakers turn on as music drowns the noise of people I don't know talking. I go back to the counter to grab a glass of water to wash down the cake, when I see the polaroid photo. All of us are there smiling. It feels like we've all been a group forever.
"You can take the photo if you want." Lily says behind me. I turn around, embarrassed for staring at this photo for so long.
"Really? Thanks." I respond, turning back to the photo. I see a permanent marker in a cup full of pencils and markers and grab it. I write on the bottom "Lake House Group." That sounds good.
"Dude, come on." Luka says, pushing me into the living room. I recognize a few people there, I might have seen them at the parties a while ago.
"The reason we are here tonight is to celebrate this guy." Luka says and everyone starts cheering. I look at him awkwardly and he whispers to trust him.
"He's now officially seventeen years old. Congrats, bro." He says, raising his drink as everyone follows.
"To Matthew!" He shouts.
"To Matthew!"
Luka hands me a drink and I take it. I wasn't really looking to drink tonight, so I was not planning on finishing the whole thing. I take a sip and my stomach turns a bit. I bump into someone shorter than me and the polaroid photo slips from my hand.
"Lake House Group." She says, picking it up, smiling. She looks at me with her eyes, those eyes.
"What do you think, Morgan?"
"Think of what?" She says, teasingly.
"Oh you know, my photo, my abs."
She giggles before replying.
"I have more abs than you, you know."
"That's hard to believe."
I need to watch what I say, because she lifts up her top slightly and she indeed has more abs than I do.
"What sport do you play again?" I ask, pretending to take notes.
"Well I've always done swim, but I do volleyball sometimes too."
Someone shouts at me and I apologize for having to leave her. I have to grab her hips to squeeze in between her and someone else. I feel her flinch at my touch so I loosen my grip.
I talk to person after person. Some do not even know who I am. They just know why they are here and so they fake interest in something I have to say before I have to repeat this again. When Colton finally saves me, I hug him in the moment as he stares at me in confusion.
"Anyways, I've got my gift here for you." He says, handing me a small box.
I thank him before opening it. He got me a keychain with a photo of us as kids. We were on his lake house's dock and we had matching life jackets. We had buckets and it looked like we were moving water from the lake and into our buckets. I hug him and thank him again. I think I will end up using this for my house keys.
It then hits me that this is the last summer most of us will be kids. Next year I am going to be an adult. I'm literally leaving for college in two months. I would never say I wasted my summers, but I did wish some of my past summers looked like this.
I hear "Dancing Queen" playing for the second time today. I roll my eyes gently as my sister and Morgan pull me onto the dance floor. They keep encouraging me to sing along, until I just mouth the chorus. They scream and it causes them to sing even louder. When the song finishes they stop jumping around and they lose breath. They high five each other before I give them a little push, yet they still manage to fall to the ground. They laugh and Hailey pulls me down with them. I fall onto Morgan and she screams laughing. I get up and help them both up. Morgan and I walk over to the table and sit in the chairs.
"You should start singing professionally." Morgan says to me.
"Yeah, I'll start a band."
"What would the name be?"
"I don't know. I love The Weeknd so maybe a name similar to that. I think it's cool."
"If we're in our forties and have no job, I'll start that band with you." She says in a calm voice, one that I can still hear over all the music.
We sit in silence and I take another sip of my drink. I offer it to her and she takes a sip as well. When she hands it back to me she opens her mouth to say something.
"Can I see that photo again?" She asks.
"Yeah, for sure."
She observes it. I see her eyes brush over me and then Alexa, and then herself. She smiles.
"Do you feel seventeen in this photo?"
That's a good question. I feel like adults ask me this on every birthday. I don't really know how to feel that age on that day. I only start feeling it about a month in.
"I don't know." I reply, looking at the photo with her, my hands on hers.
"Your hands are cold." She says.
"You make them warm."
She doesn't reply. She just rests her head on my shoulder. We're not scared of getting caught in the moment.
"What if we could just be together, but keep it between us?" She asks me.
"I thought we are together."
"I know, but like add labels to it."
I grin thinking about it. Morgan Irvine, as my girlfriend.
"Like boyfriend and girlfriend?"
She pauses. My stomach drops, even though she was the one asking me.
"Yeah, I guess."
"I'd like that." Her head on my shoulder keeps me calm. I'm calm.
I realize the dining room is empty. I close my eyes, wrapping my arms around her. I feel her head move slightly, before she returns back to the position she was in. Her muscles relax and she takes a deep breath before laying more into me. The music is pounding in the back, but it's too quiet to overshadow our moment.
Nobody barges into the room. It feels like we have the whole house to ourselves.
Until we don't.
My eyes open fast when I hear the door open and several peoples feet moving all around. I take my arms off of Morgan and I turn my head to see my sister and Colton, yet again.
"Oh come on, again?" I ask, disgusted and annoyed. She ruined my moment.
"Why are you two here?" Hailey asks, confused, looking like she's about to kill me.
Morgan opens her eyes and turns her head, her face turning red fully alarmed.
"Hailey?" She says quickly as I feel her heart pounding.