At approximately 9PM, the DJ pauses the music and makes an announcement through the tower speakers in each corner of the room — it's time for cake-cutting. We head outside to the front yard, where Wayne has always been sitting at since we arrive, to see a big 3D fondant cake in the shape of a Chanel handbag in the center of the dessert table.
Man, I only enjoy fresh cream cakes.
All of the sixty over guests gather around the pink tulle skirting dessert table in a semi-circle, singing her the birthday song, except Cass and I. We whisper into each other's ears about when to execute our plan, seeing as Wayne isn't tipsy at all standing next to Bianca behind the cake.
"He looks too sober, shit."
He stands rigidly, his hands lightly clapping each other as he mouths the lyrics of the song. I say mouth, because I am certain when the crowd sang 'Bianca' his lower lip tucked back lightly behind his teeth.
"Whatever. I'll still make sure to cock-block him tonight."
After passing out slices of cake, Bianca, Wayne and her group of minions goes back to their garden seats while the crowd returns back to their previous activity with their plates. I didn't take any cake since I don't enjoy fondant anyway.
Bianca seems to notice me behind her shoulders and she rolls her eye at me. She proceeds to kiss and suck on Wayne's neck violently, almost like a lion snapping the neck of its prey, as if it's even going to affect me.
Cass laughs. "Look at her! She's so insecure."
I hasten my footsteps, halting right behind Wayne where he's back-facing me. I cover his eyes from the back with both my hands, bending over his shoulders and whispering a seductive "Guess who?" into his ear.
He feels my hands with his thoroughly, probably trying to figure out whose fingers are that. Bianca doesn't gives him a chance to make a guess as she slaps my hands away.
"Wayne!" I whine irritatingly like a little girl who can't get whatever somebody else has, in a bid to annoy the birthday girl.
"Kel?" He throws his head back and his eyes widen, shocked that I'm the one behind him. "Come here," he tugs at my forearm and pulls me to the arm rest of the outdoor rattan sofa he's sitting on. I sit on it, acting all smiley and giggly just to put up the show of what a drunk Kelsey I'd imagine myself to be.
Crash the party it is.
Wayne rests his palm at my lower back while I sit facing my body towards him, our knees touching. It's weird as hell and I almost wince since I hate this person so much, but thank god for alcohol courage, I don't allow myself to overthink it. I'll just let him think this is tipsy me.
"Did anybody touch you?" Wayne cocks his head to the side, probably wondering what the hell is up with this stupid grin on my face. If Bianca is observant enough, she should be able to notice our strikingly similar blue-green eye colour, but she clearly isn't.
"Well yeah," I nod and grin. "Are you ready to punch some idiots?"
I see Cass and Carson chuckling away nearby, holding their fists against their lips. They must be enjoying this.
Bianca is almost ready to slap me at this point, her cheeks flushing red in anger. Damn. I haven't even started my semester and I'm already making enemies in progress.
Wayne instantly shifts to face me completely, his brows furrowing. "Tell me who!"
I would've been frustrated at this point if this isn't supposed to be tipsy me. But this is. So I continue wearing that idiotic smiley face, giggling at nothing that's funny. "Does Drew counts?"
He pushes himself up on his feet, drifting his narrowed eyes around us and yells, "Andrew Miller!"
That picks up the attention and curiousity of those who heard his alarming, infuriated tone.
I can't bite back my laughter as this happens. One, that it worked. Wayne really is getting overprotective about me — something I don't imagine happening since coming here. But whatever the reason, I'm ruining his night. And that's the fucking plan. Two, I'm glad Drew actually isn't out here as I'm pretty sure he would've gotten an earful, or maybe even a punch to his jaw if he is.
"I'm kidding!" I chuckle, standing up next to him and wraps my hand over his forearm. He flickers his narrowed eyes at me and I give a sheepish grin, leaning my head against his bicep as I am too short to even reach his shoulder while in the standing position.
Suddenly, Bianca decides that she's had enough and stands up in a fleet of rage. She pulls roughly at Wayne's other hand while pointing her index finger in my face. "Who the hell is she?! Wayne!"
Wayne's eyes harden into a glare as he meets Bianca's. "What's wrong with you?" He speaks in a deep, commanding voice.
"For fuck's sake!" Bianca steps forward in my direction, but Wayne backs me up behind him. "She's in my house, my party, all over you! Who the fuck do you think you are, bitch?" She grits the last part through her teeth.
I heard that. Wayne heard that. Normal me would've twisted her hair in a ponytail and tug at it so hard she drops all her extensions, but this isn't normal me. Keep reminding myself that.
Wayne balls up both his fist, cracking his knuckles with his thumb. I glance around and realize the people around are frozen in their spots, watching as this scene unfolds before them. Whatever that will be said now is crucial with the number of ears listening.
"Be careful who you talk about, Bianca." Wayne drops his fists and wraps his arm over my shoulders protectively, turning to strut away before he pauses. "She's my little sister!"
And with that, my mouth parts slowly and eventually hangs open, as I quicken my pace to match Wayne's. This happened exactly the way Cass predicted — he chose me over pussy. Holy shit.
He has never once chose me over his girlfriends back in high school. In fact, he was the worst back when he had girlfriends. He brought them home, and on countless occasions he allowed his string of girls to steal my clothes from my wardrobe; despite them being nerdy and all, and they never ever return.
Not just that. He made me clean up after his girls' mess, basically be their servant, and once, when he was supposed to drive me to my performance under the orders of our mom; he drove to the highway and dumped me on the side after a phone call from his pick-me-up. If it wasn't for a random car that stopped and asked if I was stranded, I probably couldn't have made it in the end.
———
"Damn, that was a dick move, babe." Drew goes on and on about it once we all leave Bianca's house and I come clean about my motive for the night.
Of course, you can expect that Wayne didn't take it well.
"Jesus Kel, what are you? Ten?" My brother scowls at me.
"I could say the same to you yesterday at Jovan's party." I cross my arms against my chest, challenging him.
He mutters a curse under his breath, then turn around to reprimand me again. "Enough about that. Justin isn't a simple character."
A part of me may agree that what he did actually saved me, but I can't help the part that this person I hate is interfering my life again.
Carson sighs, dangling his arms over both Wayne's and mine. "Alright, truce?"
I shrug, feeling slightly guilty for ruining the night again for the rest. Wayne lets out a sharp breath, his top two buttons now undone from his earlier hulk transformation. He leans against a red brick wall, a cigeratte in between his lips while he feels around all his pockets — probably for a lighter.
Fine. I'll quit being childish now that we're even.
I manage to retrieve my own Zippo lighter, in the shape of a replica iPhone that I always fool strangers with, and lights it up right in front of his cigeratte. His eyes widen, realizing that the phone in my hand spits fire, but goes ahead to accept the gesture.
"Holy cow, how the hell is your phone a lighter?" Cass snatches the lighter from my hand, inspecting it in all angles along with everyone else, except Zac. He's already seen it the day before in my room when we smoked.
I grin at their perplexed faces, whipping out my own ice blast stick; my silence urging their curiousity even more. Zac moves beside me and offers me his lighter the same way I did to Wayne — the only difference is that his is an ordinary windproof one.
"Since when do you smoke, Kel?" My brother asks, surprisingly chill. I would've thought he might rip the cigarette away from my mouth from the way he's been acting around me.
"A year ago," I brace myself for the flashbacks to come. I wouldn't want anyone here to know that the reason I picked up smoking was to curb my self-harming habits. They don't have to know that.
"From the parties?" Carson lights up his own cigarette with my lighter, before handing it back to me. I take a quick glance around everyone to realize they all have a stick in between their fingers or lips by now. Man, now I don't feel so bad being myself.
It's weird that when I hung out with Cass when we just met at campus, neither of us smoked in front of each other. I haven't been a heavy smoker either; a pack usually lasts me three to four days.
"The night is still young!" I announce in a desperate need to change the topic. It's only 9:45 PM on a Saturday night and we are standing by our two cars, at an empty street further down Bianca's place.
"We aren't heading back so soon, are we? I didn't put on all these make-ups just for a two-hour night!" Cass wraps her arm around my waist, leaning her head down on mine while making puppy eyes at the boys.
"Well, hon, you can absolutely come to mine. I won't let that pretty face go to waste." Drew winks at Cass, while I fake gag. Cass laughs it off.
"Is anybody else hungry or is it just me?" I ask, since I haven't had any food since the toasts this noon.
"Oh my god, I almost thought nobody's gonna ask about that. Me too!" Cass says.
"Me three," Zac and Carson speaks at the same time. They look so different but really are so alike in so many ways.
"Supper it is," Wayne crushes his cigarette butt under his foot. "Where to?"
———
"One Extra-large half Hawaiian half Pepperoni pizza, two garlic bread, a dozen spicy drumlets and six diet coke please." Wayne places the order when the waitress comes to our table, at a hip family Pizzeria.
It's a cozy, twenty-seater place that operates till late. Lucky for us, there's only two other couples in the restaurant, hence we manage to fix three tables side by side for our group.
"Um, and a platter of churros with chocolate dip please!" I wave my hand a little to get the young, brunette waitress' attention; since she has been almost love-struck by the four boys.
I guess any other girl will drool over them too — each of them good-looking in their individual way. Hell, I secretly have a thing for really hot Adam's apple and veiny arms too.
"Girl, you bring out the worst in me." Cass mutters, sitting right next to me while Drew sits on my left.
"Why's that?" I raise my brows.
"You remind me that I am a glutton too," she giggles. "I've never had a girl friend that doesn't sneers at me if I order a cheesecake or something."
"Fuck those friends then. They clearly don't know shit about desserts," I give a crooked smile. I've always been one to be comfortable about eating whatever I want. The only time that I may be self-conscious about food is probably if I have to dine with the King or Queen.
"Babe's right! I love a girl who eats chicken wings instead of greens," Drew hangs his arm on the back of my seat, a lop-sided grin on his face. This is the first time I study so closely into his ashy blue eyes, mesmerized by them.
Just then, the same waitress comes back with our drinks and our sides. I notice her name tag pinned on the left side of her black blouse — Ally. She returns with our pizza and churros platter on her second trip, all the time standing beside Wayne's seat.
I dig into the churros first, crunchy on the outside and softer inside, fried to its golden goodness just the way I like it. With the three sauce dips — milk, dark and white chocolate, it's no doubt I savour half the platter on my own; only leaving one for each of them.
"Dammit. These churros are so good, order another one!" Carson nudges Wayne on the shoulder, who sits beside him.
"Just raise your frickin' hand up," Wayne mumbles while munching on his slice of Hawaiian.
"Didn't you see that waitress totally charmed by you?"
"No, I'm sure it's just you." Wayne replies to Carson, picking up one drumlet.
Drew sighs, "you're oblivious. You realize thrice that she's here, she stands near you instead of me, right?" Wayne is sitting right across Drew on the edge of the rectangular table.
"Mmhmm," Cass and I nod at the same time, while I catch Zac silently chuckle across Cass.
Wayne refuses to call for the waitress, so Carson does it on his own for the sake of the churros. No complains. The short ten seconds that she came, I caught her stealing glances at Wayne again.
"Shit, I'm bloated." Drew throws his head back, sliding down his seat slightly and rub his stomach in circles.
"I'm contented," Carson slurps his drink empty.
"I'm so gaining weight after this meal," Cass rests her chin on her palm, her elbow on the table.
"I'm having a food coma," I say, as I lean back against my seat with a exploding stomach, where Drew has his arm on the back of it again.
"I'm still hungry." All our heads turn to Zac, who's scanning through the menu — probably for take-outs. Damn, how the hell does he eats so much and still remain so buff.
By the time we get out of the pizzeria, it's already 11PM. Wayne pays for the bill, but I'm sure I see Zac stuffing cash into Wayne's back pocket — probably for the absurd amount of take-outs he ordered.
Food coma is real. I begin yawning once I get into the passenger seat of my car; stuffed from the two slices of pizza, a few bites of garlic bread, two drumlets and lots of churros I had.
Cass hops into the backseat shortly after, followed by Zac to the driver's seat with his bag of food. The plan is to drop Cass off at the campus dorms before heading back to Wayne's, but I may have doze off right the minute the car took off.
When I get up forty five minutes later, I find myself covered by something warm and my seat reclined. I check to see what it is — a denim jacket.