Birthdays and Holidays
Title:【 Birthday and Holidays 】
Author: NIL » allseeingusagi
Story: Project Airhead
Flavor(s): Chocolate 30 » joy || Pistachio 9 » birth/birthday || Pear 29 » here & now
Toppings/Extras: N/A
Rating: E for Everyone!
Word Count: 1´809
Notes: Yooooo! It's been a while, huh? I've had so many writing projects, and then moving, and still trying to battle some personal demons. But I live. It's great to be here again. I'm trying to get back into the swing of using Livejournal more like I used to. Pretty hard when tumblr's such a bad habit. Anyway! Bringing back the “him and her” of 2015. Hopefully, this is still enjoyable. Catch y'all on the next one.
The bass was so intense, she felt it changing her heartbeat. Though the feeling wasn't unpleasant, the bass was strong. She briefly wondered if the neighbours could see their windows shaking. He smiled down at her and followed her outside when she motioned for him to.
“So, is this your big party?” she asked, gesturing towards the inside.
He opened out his arms and gave a big grin under his rabbit mask. “You like it?”
She paused before replying with “Your birthday… is on Halloween?”
Their voices overlapped with:
“Actually it's not my birthday-” “That would explain why you're so-”
“What?” He asked, squinting at her.
“Huh?” She replied, a wide smile on her face.
He narrowed his eyes into thickly lashed slits. She pouted sweetly at him for about two seconds before she reached up to sweep his eyelashes. He jumped back and slapped her hand away before she could make contact. This time, her pout was real.
“Actually, it's my little cousin's birthday. My aunt hired me to put this together for her.” He crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders.
She nodded her head and looked towards main house. There were youngsters milling about inside. Some were chatting idly; others were playing games in different groups. The blonde leaned closer to her companion with a wily smile.
“There sure are a lot of middle schoolers here,” she said with a singsong. “Are you sure they're not gonna get in any trouble?” She tipped her head and batted her lashes up at him.
He snorted and wagged a finger as he spoke. “If there's one thing I'm happy for, it's that my cousin is a stereotypical nerd in a lot of respects. She's really meek and small, but you can't pressure her into anything.” He moved his hands outward. “She has a push that'll knock you flat on your ass and put you in another room.”
“Wow.” The blonde stood up straight, blinking dumbly at her friend.
“I know right. C'mon. I'll let you meet her.”
They entered through the doors again, and the heavy bass once again tried to take over their very souls. (Mwahaha?) There were a lot of kids at the party. If the blonde had to guess, she would say they were on the better side of thirty. For the most part, they seemed pretty well behaved. The conversations she overheard were pretty innocent. She heard a groan as they passed by the stairs and glanced over. “I hate our English teacher,” a curly haired teen bemoaned. She gave a sympathetic smile as they walked by. Even though it wasn't true, she wanted to say “Me too, kid. Me too.”
They found the brunet's cousin sitting with a group of other kids. There was an animation playing on the big screen behind the birthday girl, and she was passionately lip synching a few lines. The other kids watched her with big smiles on their faces. One of them mouthed along with her, giving a much more unseen performance off to the far right. The two high schoolers hung in the door, watching this little show go down. The blonde leaned against the brunet's back, lips slightly parted as she let out a small sigh. Her gaze flicked up to the TV, and she was a bit surprised when she recognised the program.
The brunet pulled away from his companion and crossed the room when his cousin and one of the other party goers reached out for each other. He clapped his hands; she jolted in surprise, pushing up her thick framed glasses. The blonde brought a hand over her heart. This girl was so precious.
“This is my cousin, Cordelia.”
“Hey, Cordelia.” The blonde waved to her and then to the other kids gathered around. “You know, I actually remember this show. I haven't seen it in a while.”
“Who's your favourite?” Cordelia asked excitedly.
“Ah! I hate picking favourites!” she lied. She dropped down to her knees and looked to everyone in the circle. “Okay, so when I first saw the show, I was rooting for Miss-Punch-and-Shoots-a-Lot - not because we're both blonde!”
“Uh-huh, sure,” one of the other kids teased with a big smile.
The blonde mimicked offense as the other kids laughed. She went back to the conversation, describing which character and weapon she liked better. The brunet watched quietly, having nothing to contribute but happy to see his cousin getting along with someone else. He walked off into the living room to turn down the music's volume. It went from Poltergeist to Casper. He felt better about that. As he closed the control hatch, he heard the front door open and heels clicking against the hardwood in the foyer.
Cordelia's name was shouted in an excited rasp. Her mother (and his aunt) was finally home. The young girl responded excitedly with “Mommy!” sounded from the other room. Her heavy footsteps clattered into the connecting room, and she threw her arms around her mother. “Happy birthday!” His aunt swayed their bodies happily left and right. He leaned his shoulder against the doorframe as he watched. He tilted his gaze to the left and saw his friend watching too.
“Well, go on,” his aunt dismissed. “Lemme go say hey to your cousin.” The brunet smirked when his aunt turned to the left and closed her eyes upon seeing him. “Boy, you scared the mess outta me. Come give your auntie a hug.”
He greeted her warmly and gave her the hug she requested. He wouldn't admit it (though it wasn't any secret), but he didn't mind hugging his aunt. Or his uncle who he saw setting down some bags in the foyer before hugging his daughter. His aunt pulled away and reached into her purse to pay him. She smiled up at him. “I'm very proud of you,” she said. He did his best not to beam back at her.
Instead, he nodded his head to the blonde walking up behind her. He introduced them and smiled at the awkward handshake they exchanged since his aunt was still half-hunched over her purse.
“Baby, stay until Dea opens her birthday presents,” his aunt said, sounding the smallest bit sad as she asked him.
“No problem. We're not doing anything.”
“Better than giving candy to trick or treaters,” the blonde muttered.
“Ooh, I hear that.” The older woman glanced over and gave the briefest nod of her head.
She finally paid the brunet and gave him a kiss on the cheek. His aunt turned away to head upstairs and put away her purse. She grabbed one of the bags from the foyer before she went.
“Take those into the kitchen. Get Dea and her friends to go on in there,” she instructed with a wiggle of her fingers.
“I got it.” To the blonde, he said, “Hey, go get them out the showroom. I'll go get the others.”
“Alright!” She gave an enthusiastic thumbs up before bounding off into another direction.
He chuckled and gave a brief roll of his eyes before setting off to do what his aunt told him to.
They all gathered in the kitchen five or so minutes later. Cordelia stood on the dining chair, overlooking her small kingdom of presents. She placed her hands on her hip to sell the bit. The blonde and brunet took pictures, adoring the birthday girl on her special day. Cordelia unwrapped each of her gifts. The brunet made sure to get each one, ignorant of the smile he had on his face with each snapshot. The blonde took a few here and there. Sometimes she took a few extras just for Cordelia's reactions alone.
When asked “You want a piece of cake?” by Aunt Minnie, both high schoolers said no. She sucked her teeth, pursed her lips, and turned back to the cake. Two minutes later, she handed them disposable plates covered in plastic wrap. “Y'all take some cake.” It was hard to say no.
They stuck around for more thank yous (for the party arranging cousin) and brief chatter about the web show (for the chatty blonde). The brunet gave his aunt and cousin good-bye affections; the blonde was a bit surprised when she was invited too.
“Wanna hang out at my place?” The blonde asked, curling her fingers in her friend's sleeves.
“Nah, I want you to come over. Got a new game to play.”
“Awesome.” She pulled her hands away before clapping them together.
His Uncle Tyrell dropped them off at his place. He gave his uncle a “manly handshake” and a hug before he slipped out the car. Uncle Tyrell turned in his seat, waved, and said “Bye, Lady!” as the blonde began to exit as well. She paused and grinned, giving him a thumbs up. “I'll see you around!” she replied. After a beat, she shrugged. “Maybe.” He laughed. Either that family was really nice or they genuinely thought she was hilarious. Either way, she felt a boost to her self-esteem. Both passengers closed their doors and watched as Uncle Tyrell took off.
The blonde immediately staked her claim on the front room couch and flopped onto her face. She let out a long groan, curling her fingers in the air as she stretched. She felt a weight against her lower back. When she looked, she saw a small bowl of candy. The brunet sighed as he turned on the TV and his laptop. He placed his candy down by the TV. The blonde took her candy and rolled onto her side. She wanted him for a few seconds - and then immediately set to questioning him.
“What're you doing?” she asked, adding a nasally inflection on the final word.
He scrunched his nose when she did but answered her anyway. “Setting up my computer to show you the game. It's keyboard and mouse, but it has external control - plug and play. That's it.”
She nodded her head and let him do his thing. He took all the fun out of interrogating him. Maybe she'd try again later. He eventually came to join her with his bowl, the TV remote tucked under his right arm, and the wireless game controller in his left hand. He immediately set the controller in her hand and leaned back.
“How do I play?” she asked, sweeping up the controller with both hands.
“I dunno.” He shrugged. “Gonna have to figure it out.”
“Jerk,” she mumbled, smiling a bit anyway.
He smiled to himself and unwrapped a candy before placing it in his mouth. He picked up his next one and examined the wrapper. After a second, he set the candy in the bowl on her lap. She glanced down briefly to it.
“Happy Halloween,” he stated, focusing back on the TV.
She smiled a bit, leaning against the couch. “Happy Halloween.”