“Who needs this many damn balloons anyway?” She huffs, blowing away a balloon that seems to really like her hair.
“It’s not a birthday party without balloons.”
“I’m going to go get these taken care of,” Lyric says, gracefully bowing out, foil swirls in hand. Not that I can blame her. Char and I fight like we’re sisters ninety percent of the time, and poor Lyric seems to always get caught in the crossfire.
“Thank you,” I call after her as she walks away. “As for you.” I turn back to Char. “Stop bitching and help or go home and we’ll make do without you.”
“Stop it. You know I’m just busting your balls.” She gives me a cheeky grin.
“In case you’ve forgotten, I don’t have balls.”
“I meant figuratively, and you know it.” She huffs out a laugh. “You need to lighten up, Mais. It’s just a birthday party. And with all the thought and planning you’ve put into it, it’s going to be a killer one.”
“Thank you for saying so.”
She gives me a nod before heading toward the door to place her balloons.
I spin around, trying to figure out where I want to place the other two, when Kai appears, immediately reaching out to take the bouquets from me.
“I’ve got the perfect spot,” he says as if reading my mind.
“Thank you.” I reach out, giving his forearm an appreciative squeeze. “Any idea where my brother is?” I ask, knowing if anyone knows it’s Kai.
“Last I heard, he was picking up the cupcakes. Still can’t believe you trusted him with that task.”
“He has the biggest trunk, and it’sa lotof cupcakes.”
“How many people are you expecting?”
“Well, this is Macallan, so... a lot. That man has more friends than anyone I’ve ever met, and then of course, I had to invite the entire football team.”
“Now I see why you rented an entire event hall.”
“Exactly.” I blow out a hard breath.
“I’ll go get these placed.” He holds the balloons in his hands higher.
“Thank you.” I turn my attention back to placing tablecloths after he walks away, knowing if I don’t get a move on, there’s no way I’m going to get this all done and have time to go home and get ready.
Once I have all the tablecloths on and the center pieces in place, I take a step back to look over the room. Given that when we started a few hours ago it was a barren room with concrete floors and not a single decoration, I’d say we’ve done rather well transforming it. Foil spirals dangle from the ceiling, catching the light just so, casting shapes onto the floor. There are fifteen ten-foot tables, all dressed.
In the corner of the room is a small stage, where the DJ I hired for the night is already setting up. Balloons on either side of the entrance, compliments of Kai, while the other two I placed on either side of the bar. A photo op area is set up where guests can pose for professional photographs. And then along the back wall are two ten-foot tables pushed together where the pizza will be placed later on when it gets here, right alongside the cupcakes.
“Well, sis.” Jackson steps up next to me, looking over the room much like I was just doing. “I don’t know about you, but I think perhaps you outdid yourself.”
“Perhaps. But this is his last birthday before he starts medical school, and since we still don’t know where he’s going, it might be the only one I get with him for a while.”
“You worried he’s going to end up in Ohio?”
“A little,” I admit, knowing that out of all the schools he applied to, that one is the farthest. And since I still have a full year left here... I shake off the thought. Every time I givemyself time to really consider what the future might look like for us, that we might be separated for an entire year at a minimum, it honestly terrifies me.
Macallan and I wasted so much time and now that we’re finally together, we’re facing being separated all over again. The circumstances are much different, of course, but that doesn’t really change the fact that the thought makes me want to curl into a ball and cry.
“What’s the worst-case scenario if he does end up in Ohio? No chance you two don’t stick it out. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, and while sometimes I’d like to punch his face off for eyeing my sister the way he does, I can’t imagine he’s going to let you slip through his fingers so easily.”
“I don’t know...”
“Is that why you’re doing all this? Because you’re trying to prove you’re worthy of fighting for?”
