"What should the theme be? We have four hours and I have no idea what the fuck to pick out. All of these are lame. I mean," Cline ranted off about how awful the party decorations were. "He is either getting ninja turtles, or over the hill," she held up the banners.
"Maybe we can go generic? Get maroon and black balloons because he likes those colors? Do boys really care about themes?" Nova asked.
"No because they are losers," Cline huffed. "Let's just go with the color thing."
"I feel like doing this last minute was the worst idea," Nova sighed.
"We worked until four in the morning all week, this was the only real time that we had," Cline reasoned.
"We could go with princesses," Nova held up the crown with a smile.
"He might actually like that, but I already have all of this maroon shit," Cline replied.
"I already had most of the food made, I was going to go out and eat, but I know how much he loves home-cooked food," Nova sighed. "I hope this turns out okay."
"Rudy will love it," Cline rested her hand on Nova's shoulder.
"Jordyn just texted me, his clan is at the house, we should get there and start setting up," Nova instructed.
"So what did you get him for his birthday?" Cline asked.
"This lame Marvel shirt he just had to have and Bailey and I have Polaroids of his time with the OBX so we made a small flip-book," Nova answered. "Oh! And this pair of Vans with stars on them."
"Such cute nerds," Cline laughed.
"Just in time my beautiful girlfriend," Chase approached them to help with the bags.
"Oh Chase, you're moving much too fast," Nova joked since he didn't greet her.
"Shut up, hi brat."
"You guys get the cake?" Nova asked.
"It's on the counter waiting, I hope you like it, I just knew what flavor he liked."
"I don't care if it had dirt bikes on it with glitter, I'm just glad you got it," Nova replied.
Nova and the girls began decorating the beach by their houses. Nova was putting up balloons when she saw an extremely pretty girl. "Chase," Nova hit the back of his head.
"Ow what?"
"Rudy have a sister?" She nodded towards the girl. She realized that she was being dramatic, but when Chase's face faltered, so did Nova's confidence.
"That isn't a sister."
"First cousin?" Nova tried.
"Oh no."
"Second cousin?" Nova asked.
"Oh shit," Austin said. "Who invited Bri?"
"You know you two better tell me who Bri is," Nova threatened.
"Yeah, who is that?" Sarah asked, crossing her arms.
"So our boy Rudy had a high school, first love toy did thing, the only reason they broke up was because he moved to Los Angeles," Chase started explaining.
"She's a really cool girl though, don't get me wrong. They just kind of have this puppy love thing every time they see each other. She's kind of like the one that got away," Austin finished.
"How many mother fucking girls do I have to fend off?" Nova sighed.
"Honestly if he cares enough, he won't let anything come in between you two and if he does," Bailey snipped the scissors she was holding to wrap his gift she got him. "We cut him."
Nova laughed, "Why do I all of the sudden feel like throwing up?"
"Because you care," Sarah replied.
"Because you like him," Chase said nonchalantly.
"You said love wrong," Bailey suggested.
"I do not love Rudy."
"That's not what's Shawn says," Morgan sang.
"What does Shawn know?" Sarah asked, she defended her best friend.
"That we have thirty-two teeth," Nova replied.
"What?" Austin asked.
"Long story," Nova shrugged.
His entire family made it to the beach finally, "You must be Nova!" His mom walked up to her, giving her a hug.
"Hey, it's so nice to finally meet you," Nova hugged her back. She then introduced Nova to his two and his dad.
"What you're doing for him is so sweet, thank you for inviting us," his mom said am impressed look on her face.
"Well he's a special guy," Nova replied. "Want to help me finish up in the kitchen?"
"That's be lovely, he told me that you could cook," his mom smiled.
"Let's hope," she uttered.
"Do you guys want help?" Bri's voice was like music, it sounded perfect and she just looked so...perfect.
"Oh Nova, this is Bri, a longtime friend of Rudy's," his mom introduced.
"Hi," Nova have her an overly-wide smile.
Sarah was out at the beach, sitting in the sand with Austin, Cline and Chase. She glanced back and could see into the kitchen, "Oh man, Nova is getting introduced to Bri."
"How do you think that's going?" Chase asked, turning to the house.
"We already established she's jealous," Cline turned to him.
"Maybe they will be friends and Rudy won't be an idiot," Austin offered as he also turned to look inside of the house. The other three looked at him, giving him confused looks. "What?" Austin defended himself.
"You're funny," Sarah laughed.
"Yeah man, the Evie thing was bad, but Rudy does have an infatuation with Bri," Cline replied.
"Shit they're coming and they totally saw us staring," Chase said.
"Hey I found it!" Sarah said, holding up and earring she just took out of her ear. "Thanks for helping me look."
"Nice," Chase uttered.
"What'd your lose?" Nova asked.
"Earring," Sarah lied.
"Shawn just texted me, they are gonna be here soon," Bailey said with excitement.
"Okay guys, do we hide or just stay here?" Morgan asked.
"There's nowhere to hide," Cline pointed out.
"Yeah, let's just stay down here," Bri nodded.
"Nobody asked you," Nova muttered through gritted teeth.
Drew laughed, nudging her, "Be nice."
"Not in this lifetime," Nova shook her head.
"It'll be okay," he replied.
As the three walked down to the beach, Rudy was looking down at the comic book Shawn had got him. "This is so cool man, I can't believe this," Rudy thanked him.
"Not as cool as this," JD replied, making Rudy look up.
"Surprise!" Everyone in front of him yelled. His friends and family from back home right along with his friends from here.
"Holy shit! Hi mom!" He ran up to his mom, hugging her.
He was passed around through his friends and family until he stopped at Bri, "Bri! Hey how are you?" He threw his arms around her.
"I've missed you R," she nearly cried.
"I've missed you, R," Nova said in an annoying voice, lowly.
Drew nudged her again, "Stop it."
"Am I irrational to be annoyed?" Nova asked.
"Maybe not so much," Drew shrugged. "Either way, just wait and see how things pan out."
"If this hug lasts any longer and I'm going to bed," Nova threatened.
"I will not let that happen," Bailey shook her head.
"Nova planned the entire thing," Bri said as they pulled away from each other.
"Where is she?" Rudy asked, his eyes locked on Nova, she was standing with Drew and Bailey.
"Nova, I can't thank you enough," Rudy pulled her into a hug.
"You're welcome," she sighed, looking at Bailey and Drew over his shoulder.
"Stop it!" Drew mouthed, Nova shot him the middle finger.
"You're seriously the best, thank you so much Nova," Rudy squeezed her even tighter.
"Come on, your mom and I made all of your favorites," Nova pulled him towards the food.
"Didn't Bri help?" Drew uttered so Novs could hear. She turned around and gave him the dirtiest look she could.
The party was going well, they all shared stories and memories of Rudy. He opened his gifts and when he got to Bri's he was elated. "Oh my god, I love this," he said, looking down at the tickets in his hands.
"Our favorite band!" She gushed.
"I'm getting a drink," Nova announced to her friends.
She was back in the kitchen, she took a shot of whiskey because she was annoyed, shaking her head she began to clean the kitchen.
"Hey Novs," Drew said, he came looking for her when she was gone for half an hour.
"Hey," she sighed, adding dishes to the dish washer.
"What's up?" He asked lightly, picking up some of the garbage.
"Just figured I should clean up, you know I hate when things are messy."
"Like your feelings towards Rudy messy?"
She gave him an unamused look, "Yeah, I think that would be a good way to describe that."
"Listen, as much as I love you both, get this figured out so you guys don't continue to hurt each other. Pass me a sponge, I'll help you clean," Drew offered.
"Don't you want to be down there?" Nova asked.
"There's about fifteen too many people for me down there," Drew shook his head.
They began cleaning the kitchen, it took no time with two people. They talked about a bunch of random things, it definitely helped take her mind off of Rudy who didn't really talk to her much tonight.
"Hey where did Nova and Drew go?" Rudy asked, looking around.
"They went up to the kitchen a while ago," Chase answered.
Rudy furrowed his eyebrows, he excused himself and made his way to the house. He got upset when he saw them sitting on the counter, she was laughing at something Drew was showing her on his phone.
Rudy walked in and they both jumped, "Hey man, how's the party?"
"You guys would know if you were down there," Rudy answered.
Okay, maybe he had one too many beers, but he was annoyed with them. "I'm gonna talk to him," Nova leaned over to Drew who excused himself.
"What's your problem?" She asked.
"My problem? What's yours?" He retorted.
She gave him a dry laugh, "You're joking right now."
"What? Are you mad about Bri?" He humorlessly laughed.
"I'm not thrilled about it," Nova answered, she began finding anything to clean.
"You act like we're together, Nova. You can't get mad about my ex-girlfriends," Rudy said.
"I can when you run back to them. Or when you pay no attention to anyone other than her," Nova snapped.
"Jesus I haven't seen her in months!"
"Well excuse the fuck out of me, but you're acting like she's your girlfriend. I don't deserve to be a secret and I don't deserve to be a sideshow."
"You aren't my girlfriend either Nova! You're in here flirting with Drew!"
"Thank you for continuing to point that out to me. Drew and I are friends, idiot," Nova felt her eyes sting, she also saw half of their friends outside of the kitchen, she didn't even care at this point.
"It's true! We are nothing!" Rudy said and immediately wanted to take it back.
Nova laughed once, "You're right, Rudy. We are nothing I guess."
"Nova-"
"Save it and go fuck yourself," she grabbed her bag and rushed away from him before she could cry in front of him.
Rudy stood there, completely shocked at what just happened. "You fucked up, my dude," Chas was shocked at what just went down.
"You better go fix it before I rearrange your goddamn face," Shawn threatened.
"Guys just leave it alone, she doesn't want to talk to him," Bailey chased after Nova along with Sarah.
"What the hell is wrong with you man?" JD asked.
"I'm gonna go hang out with my family," he replied, taking a swig of the whiskey that Nova has left out.
"She better not go back to him after this," Shawn shook his head.
"Leave it alone, they have issues they have to work though," Ana grabbed his hand.
"I'm so glad we don't have these issues," Cline uttered to Chase.
"There is no way in hell that I could deal with all of this," Chase shook his head.
"Work is about to get a hell of a lot more awkward," JD shook his head.
"Nova, let us in," Bailey knocked on the door, looking at Sarah with concern.
"Guys why am I such a stupid, jealous bitch?" Nova cried as she answered the door.
"Because you have a lot of feelings and you wear them on your sleeve," Sarah pulled her in for a hug.
"We can go fuck him up?" Bailey offered.
Nova laughed. "I'm just going to focus on work and not deal with love or anything."
"That's probably for the better, this boy is really good at sticking his foot deep in his mouth," Sarah answered.
"We could fuck him up," Bailey whispered again.
"Let's just enjoy our time without him, fuck these men," Nova suggested. She didn't care if it was his party or not, she planned it and she planned on having a good time.
"That bit about you saying you aren't a sideshow was hinestly life changing, you're right, Nova," Sarah encourages her friend.
"I've been the side girl too long to not be on the front of someone's mind."