My Best Friend's Brother | ✔

22. matthew

I dressed up for this friends movie night. I don't even know why. When we get there it's only the friend group. I'm slightly offended for a split second, thinking that my sister believes I don't dress well, but that was before the lights flickered on and I was showered with confetti. I shut my eyes, but confetti still manages to find its way inside my eyeball. I flinch in pain, slowly opening my eyes and pulling the confetti from them.

"Surprise!" Everyone shouts. Lily grabs her polaroid camera and tells everyone to get in the photo. When she takes it, she leaves it on the counter for the picture to appear.

I stare at her dining table, where she added a light green plastic table cloth, like the ones we had at birthday parties as kids. The cake was incredible. It had matching green frosting and it had white fondant that said "Happy Birthday Matthew."

"Do you like it? I don't know if green's your favourite colour, but." She says without finishing her sentence.

"It's amazing, thank you so much." I smile at everyone. I knew they all arranged this, which is when it hit me when the doorbell rang about 2 seconds later.

"Oh, shit. They're here early. Quick, cut the cake." Leo shouts, before heading to the door.

We were having a party.

Lily quickly cuts into the cake and gives us all a slice. We eat it as fast as we can as people begin to flow into the house. I hear the speakers turn on as music drowns the noise of people I don't know talking. I go back to the counter to grab a glass of water to wash down the cake, when I see the polaroid photo. All of us are there smiling. It feels like we've all been a group forever.

"You can take the photo if you want." Lily says behind me. I turn around, embarrassed for staring at this photo for so long.

"Really? Thanks." I respond, turning back to the photo. I see a permanent marker in a cup full of pencils and markers and grab it. I write on the bottom "Lake House Group." That sounds good.

"Dude, come on." Luka says, pushing me into the living room. I recognize a few people there, I might have seen them at the parties a while ago.

"The reason we are here tonight is to celebrate this guy." Luka says and everyone starts cheering. I look at him awkwardly and he whispers to trust him.

"He's now officially seventeen years old. Congrats, bro." He says, raising his drink as everyone follows.

"To Matthew!" He shouts.

"To Matthew!"

Luka hands me a drink and I take it. I wasn't really looking to drink tonight, so I was not planning on finishing the whole thing. I take a sip and my stomach turns a bit. I bump into someone shorter than me and the polaroid photo slips from my hand.

"Lake House Group." She says, picking it up, smiling. She looks at me with her eyes, those eyes.

"What do you think, Morgan?"

"Think of what?" She says, teasingly.

"Oh you know, my photo, my abs."

She giggles before replying.

"I have more abs than you, you know."

"That's hard to believe."

I need to watch what I say, because she lifts up her top slightly and she indeed has more abs than I do.

"What sport do you play again?" I ask, pretending to take notes.

"Well I've always done swim, but I do volleyball sometimes too."