It has been a week since the whole misunderstanding happened and Hillary and Vince had already rekindled their relationship. Laura and Angela were having so much fun with Dean and Drew, pranking everyone in a five mile radius. Laura and Dean and Angela and Drew had taken it to the next level of their relationships. I was so proud of all of them. All of my friends were having fun with each other.
Ryan and I were also getting closer. I practically lived in his apartment. I had fun messing with him by surprising him every time I went over to his house. He wanted to know how I always got in without him knowing but I kept it a secret. Well, after Ryan confessed about going through my bag, I secretly stole his keys and made two copies of each. Now, I could walk in on his crazy dances whenever I wanted.
School has been going really great also. According to the principal, we have weekly tests that rank us; just like highschool. Of course, Ryan was number one, but this time there was a twist. Ryan and I had been getting the same grades ever since I called him over to help Hillary. So, along with Ryan's name on number one, my name was printed. Our Easter break started yesterday, and Ryan, Hillary, Vince, and I were planning to go back home to celebrate. Hannah had already called Ryan to tell him that she was going to throw a party for Easter and the four of us were pumped. According to Ryan, Hannah threw amazing parties.
I turned my phone on and it beeped with three new messages from Ryan.
Ryan: Kelly! Are you ready?!!
Ryan: I'm coming over to literally pick you up!
Ryan: Fine! Don't answer! I'm coming over!!
I laughed and texted him back.
Kelly: I'm waiting "Prince Charming" ;)
Ryan: Very funny!!!
Ryan and I arrived at his house late in the afternoon. Hillary and Vince were already at Hillary's house. He had insisted on meeting her parents. Hannah opened the door and squeezed me so hard, I thought I was going to die. She then kissed Ryan on the forehead and pulled us in.
"Whoa! Hannah, slow down okay! I know you miss us but-" She clapped her free hand over my mouth and shushed me. She then continued to pull Ryan and I towards the living room. When we finally arrived at the destination, (the living room), Hannah pushed us both on the couch and smiled.
"Mom! What was that for?" Hannah started laughing. It was so contagious that Ryan and I began to laugh with her. "I'm sorry guys. I was so excited that I forgot what I was doing for a second. I miss you guys so much though!" Hannah jumped up and squealed. I'm telling you, she did not look a day over nineteen.
"So, Hannah. Where did you get these decorations?", I said, while admiring the pretty Easter decorations. "I made them, why?" My eyes literally bulged out of my head. I examined the exquisite designs or the plastic eggs. "You're lying! This is amazing!" She laughed. "I know. I'm kidding. Marcus bought them for me." I smiled and kept designing. This is going to be amazing.
"Oh, and Kelly. Your dad is coming back for the party. He said he has a surprise for you". I smiled but in my head, I was like 'woooohooo'! My dad was coming back! On top of that, he had a surprise for me! Could this break get any better?
Once we were finished, we stood back to admire our work. The house was transformed into a beautiful multi-colored ballroom. There were plastic eggs everywhere. The party tomorrow will be a total success. But.... What would I wear? Hannah probably had something cool in her closet.
I pulled Hannah away from everyone else. "Can I borrow a dress, please?" I pouted and she rolled her eyes. "Really?" I continued to pout and she smiled. "I was kidding. I was just mad that you asked me". She shooed me in the direction of her room. "Shoo! Go find something pretty". I giggled and ran up to her bedroom.
Once I was in, I pulled open the closet door and went inside. I didn't know where to start. What color should I wear? What type of dress? I laughed at myself for being so petty. I mean, it was only my dad. But, I wanted to look good for whatever surprise he was planning.
I walked around the closet, observing every dress that caught my eyes. It felt like I had been in there for an hour when my eyes finally landed on a really pretty dress. It was a light green knee-length dress with a white flowery belt. I picked it off of the shelf and admired it. It had a lacy back and a pretty lace stripe around the bottom of the dress. This is perfect!
Hannah, Hillary, and I were racing around in the kitchen, rushing to finish everything before the guests arrived, while Ryan, Marcus, and Vince were struggling to add the finishing touches to the house. The party was going to start in ten minutes and the food was almost done. We had made cookies, pies, cakes, pretzels, fruit salad, regular salad, multi colored boiled eggs, and smoothies. We also had a bunch of chips and candy. Marcus was already outside cleaning the grill. I could already tell that this would be the best party I have ever been to.
There were like five hundred people at the party! I didn't even know half of them! Every once in a while I would see someone I knew from school and greet them, but that was only once in a while. It was crazy! The music was turned all of the way up and I couldn't even find the hosts of the party!
I made my way towards the kitchen and found Hillary dancing while Vince was hugging her from behind. "Hey guys! How do you like the party?" I yelled. Vince turned to me, smiled, and waved. "Hey Kelly!" I laughed. He obviously did not here my last comment. I looked around and spotted Ryan and Hannah talking loudly by the stove. I ran over to them. "Hey guys!! Hannah, this is the best party I have ever been to!" She giggled and flipped her hair back playfully. "Well, you know how I am!" Ryan and I laughed at her growing ego and she just pouted.
"So, Kelly!" I turned to Ryan. "Do you want to go to the backyard? Its quieter!" I nodded and he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the back door. The noise seemed to die down a bit after we closed the door and walked farther into the garden. Ryan pulled me towards a bench and sat down.
"Even though the party is the best one I have ever been to, I am so happy we left. One more second and I'd be deaf!" He laughed at my small joke and I sat down next to him. "Well, I'm so happy to be able to save my Damsel in Distress!" I laughed and focused more on the garden. "I can't believe you guys have a patch of Gerbera!" He furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, but we don't keep baby food in the garden. Are you okay?" I slapped him on the arm. "Ow! What did I do?" I laughed. "No, I mean you guys have planted Gerbera! Its my favorite flower." I pointed to the small red one with the yellow- ish center. "You see, that's a red Germini! That's my favorite type of Gerbera!" He laughed. "I thought you said Gerber. Like, the baby food! Wow! I can be so stupid sometimes!" I laughed. "You got that right!" He stared at me and I sheepishly smiled.
"So, I heard your dad was coming today with a surprise for you. Do you have any guesses what it is?", he said. I shrugged. My dad always was full of surprises and he did a good job every time with surprising me over and over. He made sure every surprise was better than the last one. "My dad is good at surprises so my only job, is to be surprised!"
He smiled and relaxed on the chair a little. "What place relaxes you the most?", he said while closing his eyes. "You mean like a place to unwind?" He nodded, his eyes still closed. "Well, I like piers. They have everything I would need to relax. I like the ones with a roaring ocean, a beautiful view of the horizon, and of course, benches, where I could sit and read. What about you?" He smiled and put his hands behind his head. "I like a place where I could run forever. I like parks with tracks. I like to just keep running until I feel like every trouble I had was left behind in the dust." I smiled and closed my eyes, but I opened my eyes again at the sound of my stomach rumbling. "This is really fun, but I am starving. Could we like go steal some food and come back?"
"I thought you would never ask. Seriously, I was fighting the urge to run back into the house." We laughed for a moment and then eyed each other. I knew exactly what he was about to do and so I did it first. In like two seconds, we were racing to the grill, where Marcus was. At first, I was in the lead and laughing after I felt my hair band come undone and fly away somewhere. My hair came out of the ponytail and was blowing in the wind while I struggled to keep up with Ryan, who passed me already. Of course, he got to Marcus and his grill first, but its not like I would admit that. "Ha, I won!", he bragged. "Nuh-uh! I won. Its because you cheated!", I retorted. Marcus interrupted our little fight with a "Burger anyone?" I laughed and took the plate.
I waited for Ryan to get his plate and our drinks before walking over to the bench we were previously sitting on. Once we both settled down, I began to devour my burger. Ryan stared at me with fascination plastered across his face. "What?", I said with my mouth half full, which resulted with it sounding like "wart". He smiled wickedly and continued. "I have never seen a girl eat like that." I swallowed the last of the burger and furrowed my brows. "Like what?" He laughed. "Like a guy. All of the girls I have ever known always act weight-conscious when eating. You just swallowed that whole burger before I even took a bite!" I punched his arm and he continued to laugh.
"Well, I'm not like other girls. I actually enjoy eating". He laughed and bit into his burger. I stared at it, and he got the memo. "I will not give you my food!" I licked my lips and crept closer, scaring him. He pulled his plate back little by little. "I said, no food for you!" I choked on my laughter at the scared face he was making. He relaxed a little, but kept pulling his burger back. "One bite?" He shook his head. "Fine then!" I pulled the Gatorade he brought me from his lap and began to 'quench my thirst'.
"So....", he started. I raised my left eyebrow. "I still want that burger." He laughed. "Then why don't you just get another one?" I shook my head. "I will look fat. I don't want to look fat". He shook his head and smiled. "You're impossible, you know that? Let's go, I'll get you another burger." I jumped up and hugged him. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Best Easter ever!" He laughed and pulled me towards Marcus and his grill.
"Can we get two more burgers Dad?" Marcus smiled and took our plates. Two minutes later, we had delicious burgers in our hands. "Thanks Marcus!" Marcus laughed and said, "The party ends in an hour lovebirds, so you guys should head in and start dancing and having fun. You might regret it if you don't!"
"Yea, he's right. We should actually go inside. We might be missing something." We waved goodbye to Marcus and walked into the house. Marcus was right. The people in the house were having a dance competition in the middle of the living room.
"Ryan! Do you wanna dance!?" He shook his head no, but I pulled him to the dance floor anyway. "I don't wanna dance!" I laughed and started dancing. "Well, too bad!" I grabbed his arm and spun him around. The song changed to "Literally I Can't" by Play -N- Skillz. When the beat dropped, Ryan and I began to dance crazily. It was hilarious. This was the most fun I have ever had since the day of my mother's death.