Chapter 2
All Night Party
August Griffin
Light music played in the background as quiet discussion filled the room. Some laughter here and there and smiles all around. I pulled at my tie before finishing the drink that I managed to snatch without my parents realizing. This party was way too civil for a high school students birthday but with my parents in charge, it was to be expected. I looked at April and Lyle giggling and whispering to each other on the other side of the room.
I wanted to wait until the party had started before getting Kai. I needed a reason to leave. My mother always hosted big events like this for out birthday and April and I would have our own little party with our actual friends. I begged her not to this year but evidently, the pleading of her eldest child meant nothing to her. I checked the time. It had been about 30 minutes since it officially began but people had been arriving much earlier. Most of them adults wanting to get into business with my parents. I rolled my eyes as I watched one pretend to bump into my father to start a conversation. I walked around for a bit, smiled and conversed. That should be enough, right? I started to inch towards the door. As I picked up my car keys, I heard my name called.
"Leaving so soon?" April said with Lyle standing right behind her.
I faced them thinking of what to say.
"I can't believe that you tried to leave without me!"
"Without us!" Lyle added on.
I laughed and said, "I'm just going to pick up Kai. I'll be back in a little while."
"We'll accompany you. I'm dying here." She headed for the door.
"Is it a good idea for the both of us to leave our own birthday party?"
"Auggie, these parties were never for us and we both know that. Besides, we just have to be back before the big speech and that always happens at the end anyway."
I grimaced at the nickname. I hadn't heard it in years. April noticed and looked down.
"Sorry. But there is no way you are leaving here without me."
"Without us." Lyle said, following her out the door and into the backseat of my car.
I rolled my eyes and hurried out after them. The drive to Kai's house was quick and quiet. Lyle and April kept looking at each other, while I looked at them confused through the rear view mirror. Lyle and I made eye contact and he spent the rest of the trip looking out the window.
"Please stay in the car while I get him." I said as I parked in front of the house.
"Don't worry. We won't embarrass you in front of your boyfriend." She shouted as I walked away.
I glared at her as I muttered under my breath. He wasn't even my boyfriend, at least I didn't think so. We hadn't really kissed since the day at his front door and I didn't want to push the whole idea of being in a relationship on him. I texted him that I was here when I got to the door. Should I have just rang the doorbell? But then his dad would've opened it. Not that I was avoiding him, just a factual statement. Maybe I should just ring the bell in case he doesn't have his phone on him. Yeah, I should.
The door pulled open as I reached for the bell, making me jump back a bit.
"Hi." I said a little shaky. "You look nice, really nice."
He smiled as he tucked a strand of hair behind his hair. He moved the jacket that he had over his arm to the other one. He was wearing a navy blue button up and black pants with the shirt tucked in. It wasn't an unique outfit but on him, it looked one of a kind. He whispered a thank you and followed me back to my car.
"April and Lyle are here so you'll have to sit in the front. Or I could kick them out. They invited themselves anyway."
He laughed and hesitantly spoke, "It's fine."
"Hi, Kai!" April said eagerly as we got into the car. Lyle waved. Kai responded with a wave of his own.
"Are we already going back?" She whined.
"Where else would we go?" I asked as I put my seatbelt on.
"Mhmm."
I turned back to face her. "Well?"
"I was thinking that we could go to the coast."
"The coast is a 30 minute drive from our party. Like you said we have to be there for our toast."
"Yes, but that won't happen for a while and we were being bored to death anyway. We can go for like 15 minutes, 20 at most. And then we'll come back."
"And you don't think that mom will notice that we are gone?"
"So what is she notices? So what if we miss it?"
"That's easy for you to say. She doesn't hate you!"
It got quiet. I sighed as I started the car. I sat back as the engine ran. April never seemed to pick up on our mother's disdain for me. They got along too well, most of the time anyway. And I didn't want take that away from her. She never understood that no matter what went wrong in either of our lives, it would somehow be my fault in her eyes. I ran my hand through my hair and down my face with a groan. I felt Kai's hand over mine. I looked up at him and he gave me a small smile.
"Fuck it. Let's go."
April cheered in the back and hugged me from behind which was more of a chokehold than a hug.
"Yes! Thank you. We'll be quick. There shouldn't be too much traffic right now. It's only 7:52 right now. Mom will probably start wrapping up around 9:30, probably later if someone gets her to start talking about herself. So we just have to leave at 9 and we'll be back on time. That's about 30 minutes of beach time or we can leave earlier. Smile a little, big brother. It's our birthday!"
Right, happy birthday to me.
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1/22/20