12. f o r e v e r r i g h t n o w
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"SURPRISE!"
My mouth falls open and my steps halt in the doorway as my eyes lock onto everyone paused in a gesture of celebration.
They're all wide smiles as they throw golden confetti at my feet, getting the loose pieces everywhere but where it's supposed to.
I take a tentative step inside the house as I blink everything into focus."W-What?" I croak out.
My eyes turn, taking in the entire place as I give it a once over. Balloons bounce around the ceiling, littering the room with colorful shades of metallic and pink.
There's clutter of more shimmering confetti spread around the floor, which I can't help but to think about how much of a nuisance it'll be to clean every piece up.
There's red cups spread about the tables, cigarette butts, emptied bottles of various kinds of liquor, and a horde of vaguely familiar enough faces. They were just familiar enough to be considered a friend if I was feeling nice.
The crowd begins to part and Val comes walking out holding a two-tier pink unicorn cake. "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Chandler, happy birthday to you!" She sings, wearing a bright smile on her face as she draws closer and closer to where I stiffly stand.
"What is this, V?" I whisper when she finally reaches me.
She chuckles, then that bright smile is plastered back onto her red painted lips. "I thought it was pretty obvious once I started singing the birthday song..."
When my only response is a blank stare, she laughs again and pushes the cake in my direction.
I cross my arms over my chest as my eyes narrow. "My birthday passed months ago, Val."
"Well, we're celebrating it now," she says. "Now make a wish before the candle burns out, Chandler," she instructs, her eyes silently prompting me to accept the weirdness of everything around me.
I roll my eyes, but ultimately end up bending at the knee, so that I can easily blow out the golden '20' flaming atop the colorful cake.
Once I finally pull away— the gray smoke from the previously flaming numbers following me— the crowd erupts into a fit of cheering again, and before I know it, the corners of my lips are lifting and I feel a smile forming.
My attention shifts away from Val and towards the girl walking up behind her holding two bottles of alcohol in her hand.
"You want a drink, sexy lady?" She shouts, twisting open the bottle before I can even agree. "Open wide, mami!" She yells again, tapping the base of my chin.
I do as I'm told and tip my head back and open my mouth wide enough for her to be able to drop the liquor in without spilling.
"Yes, now let's party!" Val shouts from the side of me as the girl finally stops pouring and wipes the droplets of liquid that made it past my lips.
I whisper a low 'thank you' before she scurries off into the crowd to give everyone else the same treatment.
Val throws her hands into the air and starts swaying her hips as she slowly shuffles towards the actual party, but she stops in her tracks and sends me a confused look as I grab her hand to get her attention.
"Chandler, it's time to have some fun," she instructs as she rubs small circles over my palm.
I suck in a breath, slightly trembling as it unevenly blows out. "I know, but—"
"No buts!" She shouts as her finger pushes against the seam of my lips to shush me. "Forget about your parents. Forget about that cop guy. Forget about those dark thoughts raiding your mind and just try to have fun tonight, ok?" Her eyes soften and my chest deflates in relief.
"I gonna need a little more alcohol to do that," I say truthfully.
"You can have whatever you want tonight... it's your night, Chan." She cradles my cheek and I start to feel my heart finally beat calmly. "Let us celebrate you, even if it's months past your birthday and this all seems random. We just wanna see you happy."
Tears spring to my eyes as I pull Val in for a much needed embrace.
I always wanted to keep her an arms length away because of our rough past, but the truth was; she changed. She changed into a girl that I could confidently call my best friend.
She had evolved, while I was still stuck in my old body and mind. She had made it her mission to be a better friend, and I had made it my duty to fight against every shot she tried to make in that new direction.
It made me wonder if all the pressure I'd been feeling weigh against my chest in animosity was merely a one-sided dispute of rage.
It made me question if every relationship in my life had been amounted to sly words and heated looks solely because of me, and the false premises I conjured up in my head.
It made me really stop to think about the role I played in my own destruction, and whether or not it was too late to build it back up into something worthy of living.
"Hey," Val snaps her fingers in front of my face as her voice commands my attention. "You're thinking about useless stuff right now. Save that for another day, miss overthinker."
I stare into her eyes for a lasting minute as I try to anchor myself back to where I currently am, and not to some gloomy warped world sitting inside my mind.
"Ok..."
"Ok?"
"Ok." I say with finality, dropping my hand from Val's as I start to make my way into the dense crowd of smiling faces.
I grab the nearest person to me, and wrap my arms around them as we sync to the music.
It doesn't feel like the suffocation I felt at the bar, and the man dancing with me doesn't make me feel trapped. And when he grabs my waist and pulls me closer, I sink into his touch.
I feel good.
I feel as if I want this moment to last forever...
A forever that exceeded the great plains of my mind and instead took refugee in the reality I wanted so badly to run away from.
I wanted the salty sweat sliding down my back from dancing too long to continue to pour and drip, until my clothes dampen from it.
The smears of pink frosting painting my face in sugary glee would harden, and leave behind a pink cast of memories.
The only thing that controlled me being the beat of a song that was playing too loud. And the blast of music crowding my thoughts and leaving me with the sole command of wanting to sway my hips to the intoxicating rhythm.
I wanted the feathery lightness of not having to worry about my mistakes or yesterday or if I was drinking too much or if I had a future beyond me.
I wanted... right now to become my eternity.
And so, that's exactly how I treated the night: bottomless drinks, nonstop dancing, all with a constant smile raised onto my lips.
There were no worries. There were no thoughts or concerns, and for once I just lived.
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Cold hands grab onto my arms and shock me like an ice bath. My eyes spring open and blink in a disheveled looking Elijah.
He grips onto my arms tight and presses his freezing palms deeper into my skin."Where's Val, Chandler?" He stumbles out frantically.
My shoulders jump up as my eyes lazily search around the room for the curly-headed beauty, but come up empty.
"Probably off somewhere getting fuc—" Elijah sends me a dark look that tells me not to finish what I was about to say.
Normally, I would get mad at him for trying to control me, but my only reaction now is to giggle.
His eyebrows lower as a scowl mares his lips."Can you stop being drunk for a second and help me find her?" He says. "It's important..."
I giggle again and try pushing Elijah away from me, but he only holds me tighter. "Why can't you go find her yourself? I'm busy right now." I say, trying to turn back to my dance partner, Jaime, who's giving Elijah a hard stare.
"Chandler," he urges, his voice growing hard.
I sigh and push against his arms again. "Let me go first and I'll help."
"Ok," he breaths out a sigh in relief, then slowly releases me, but not before sending Jaime a quick scowl. "Thank you, kid."
I swat him away with an annoyed eye roll, "Yeah Yeah. And thank you for interrupting my night."
I press a kiss to Jaime's cheek as I whisper a quiet 'goodbye' into his ear as we finally pull away from each other after hours of being attached at the hip.
I shift my glare towards Elijah as we turn to leave, but we immediately stop in our tracks as Val comes sauntering back into the party with a man clinging onto her arms.
My eyes scan her appearance, noting how her hair and red lipstick is still in perfect place, so there had been no fucking on her part. The strong smell of smoke clinging onto them as they walk closer to us is hard to ignore, though.
"Im surprised you made it," Val says as she gives Elijah a pat on the back. "Or are you here to be the cliché hovering older brother?" She asks once she sees the frowning expression darkening his features.
"We have a problem. The party needs to end now and we need to talk."
"We..." Val points between his and her chest. "We don't have to end anything. You're the one with the problem," she says as she crosses her arms across her chest.
"We—"and he snatches her arm into his hold. "Do have an issue and you need to listen to me. I don't have time for your attitude."
"Don't touch me!" She shouts, but the defeat is clear on her once relaxed face— her jaw tightens and her eyes darken as she anxiously glares over at her brother— and I know then that she's done fighting.
Val was defiant to a fault; it takes awhile for her to realize how close she's skating to the edge of angering those around her before she quits, but she eventually gets the warning message.
This time she received it quicker than normal.
He rolls his eyes, but aggressively drops her arms as he grabs onto his waist. "Well, what are you waiting for?" He urges, gesturing towards the crowd. "Tell them to get the hell out!"
"But it's Chandler's birthday," she whines as she points over at me with a pout.
He turns to me and gives me a fake smile, "We can try again on your actual birthday."
"Is the problem really a problem or are you just being dramat—"
Our heads snap towards the door as a loud pounding sounds through the door, so strong that it nearly raises pass the blasting music.
"Elijah..." Val's eyes slowly turn away from the door and towards her brother. "Who the fuck is that? I swear to— who is it?!" She yells, grabbing onto his shoulders and slightly shaking him as he stands glaring at the door in complete silence.
His eyes harden and he pushes her away from his person."Tell everyone to leave. Now." He commands lowly.
Elijah then stiffly walks over to the speaker and unplugs it, causing everyone to look around in confusion as silence fills the once noisy room.
"EVERYONE OUT!" Val screams, trying her best to not slur her drunken words. "GET OUT NOW! COPS ARE OUTSIDE!" and that gets everyone moving.
Elijah directs them towards the back door where they quickly pour out, leaving us behind without a second glance.
"Chandler needs to go too..." he looks at me expectingly, surely waiting for me to leave along with everyone else.
"I-I can't go home... my mom is—" and another round of pounding on the door shakes the words from my tongue.
"Chandler, just call Gael. He'll come get you and he doesn't live far," he urges, his eyes growing frantic. "Just please go..."
I let out an audible sigh as I walk over to the counter where my phone haphazardly lays. It's nearly dead, and there's somehow crusted frosting spotted across the screen.
The device feels like a weight in my hand, bringing me back to life as it anchors me to a place I thought I could forget.
I check the time; 2:21. Just shy of the perfect time, but I never should've expected anything else.
Nothing good ever lasted.
The door continues to pound, but a sense of numbness washes over my body as I scroll for Gael's contact and press the call button.
The line rings a long time, so long that I ready to hang up, but at the last minute he answers.
"Chandler?" I hear his voice filter through the speaker, it's deeper than usual and has a gravelly edge that sends a hot shiver through my body.
I stay silent for a while, letting his voice coat my body in warmth.
I hear shuffling as if he were getting up from under his sheets. "Chandler, you there?" He calls out again. "Did you butt dial me?"
"No. I was just..." but my attention drifts to Elijah as he finally musters up the courage to open up the door.
He exhales a long breath before grabbing for the knob and twisting it open to reveal two suited men standing outside with deep scowls and lips curled like a vicious dog ready to attack.
They push their way in, not caring for any introduction or hesitation on their part as they grab for Elijah and lift him off his feet by the collar of his shirt.
I hear a quiet yawn through the speaker, then his hoarse voice again."Chandler?"
"Come get me." That's all I can get out as my eyes widen, taking in the scene before me.
"Where ar—"
"I'll send you my location," I finish, just wanting to get away.
"Is everything ok?"
"It will be one day..." then I hang up, not giving him anymore time to question me.
I quickly text him the address, then I'm stuffing my phone into my back pocket as I slowly walk back away from the increasingly violent scene before me.
"IM GONNA CALL THE COPS!" Val shouts, trying to beat against one of the male's shoulders as he wraps his hand around Elijah's neck.
"Isn't your brother supposed to fill that role?" The one standing off to the side asks. "Or did they see how weak he was and fire his ass?"
"S-Stop... jus...just leave," Elijah grumbles out, while his hands claw at the palms gripping his neck.
But the only response he gets is a fierce punch to the face that collides with so much force that it knocks him out of the male's grip.
He falls to the floor in a heap of unstable bones, and Val immediately runs over to him and wraps a protective arm around him.
And I know I should do more than just stand there blankly, but that's all my mind can think to do. That's the only command my brain seems to be able to conjure up.
That is, until I feel a buzz against my butt and everyone's eyes flicker over to me.
My heart drops and my eyes widen, and before I can realize that my brain had sent out a command, I'm blindly running towards the back door.
I don't stick around to see if there was someone chasing after me or if there were voices arguing over my escape; I just focus on the feet moving me far enough away from the situation.
I keep running and running, so far that I had somehow passed Val's house and was standing under a street lamp in front of an unknown part of the neighborhood.
I should feel panicked and scared, but I feel nothing as I try to catch my breath. I only feel the weight of my bones dragging me to hell, the irregular pound of my heart, and a mind blank but filled with so many uncovered thoughts that I feel like I'm entering a limbo of mania.
A car drives past as I double over trying to catch my breath, but my chest is heaving too hard to flag it down.
"Chandler!" I hear my name as the car slows, and an automatic sense of relief floods my bones as the familiar voice fills the quiet street.
My chest deflates in comfort as I finally take in air enough to stop my lungs from screaming, then I immediately race over to Gael's restored black car.
He opens the door for me from the inside, and watches me closely as I slide into the car heaving, sweating, and covered in a variety of substances.
"Just drive," I say, feeling his cold stare drill into the side of my face. "I'll explain after a hot shower." That seems to satisfy his heart because he mutely turns the key and quickly drives off away from the place I had not long ago wished to be my forever...
"Your house, please." And I feel his silent glare land on me again, sending a cold shiver down my spine, but I face towards the window and try to fight off the goosebumps.
"Ok."
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Okok... I know you're probably confused, but the party scene is the start of ANOTHER book (Val's story), so that's why it's a little chaotic because it's just the "teaser"
I'm not sure when her story will be out officially (probably when this book is close to being finished), but you'll get the in-depth explanation and more background on Val and Eli in that book, so be on the lookout for that in the near future because it's going to be a good one :)
But I might at least upload the first two chapters of that book to give a little "closure" for the party scene
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I hoped you enjoyed this weird chapter
Thank you to everyone that is currently reading and voting on the story... it puts a smile on my face :)
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