Rough Heart | ethan dolan

[thirty two - helping anne & ethan's birthday gift]

I walk into Anne's house to what seems to be utter chaos. 

Anne is literally jogging across the living room, long, white streamers dangling in the air behind her in one hand and what looks to be paper plates in the other. Robert, on the other side of the room, is on the phone with someone as he rapidly writes on the paper in front of him with a dark blue ink pen. I peek around the corner to see Samantha and her mom seated at the dining room table across from one another. Samantha runs her hands through her hair as she yells something at her mom, who sighs dramatically in response.

Well, here goes nothing.

"Jessica! Thank God you're here,"

Anne drops the streamers and plastic plates onto the couch closest to her before rushing over to me and engulfing me into a hug.

"I'm happy to help."

"I'm so glad you could make it. You can be in charge of the snacks, if that's alright with you, of course."

Anne flashes a sympathetic smile almost as if she should feel bad for asking. Considering the fact that I would probably do anything for Anne, I quickly grab one of her hands in mine and squeeze it gently, showing her that it's truly okay.

"Absolutely. Let me know anything I can do to help,"

Anne exhales deeply, closing her eyes for a moment to appreciate my gesture.

"Thank you so much, Jessica. Really, thank you."

"No problem."

Anne turns to walk to the kitchen and I follow slightly behind her. I giggle as we walk through several different decorating options, ranging from long streamers to bouquets of balloons. I have to admit, seeing all of the possible decorations truly gets me excited for tomorrow night.

It really should be a fun party. Samantha was in charge of the guest list, so there's tons of people from school coming. Everyone I know received an invitation, at least.

Anne fiddles with a small stack of papers in front of her on her large kitchen table before finally pulling out a small piece of notebook paper. 

"Aha! Here it is,"

She gently places the paper in front of me, and I glance down to see a list of various snack and drink items.

"I feel terrible about missing the boys' football game tonight," Anne makes conversation as she walks over to the counter to retrieve her purse, which she proceeds to rummage through.

"Me too. I talked to Ethan, though, and he said he didn't mind. He understands that there's a lot to put together for the party."

"That makes me feel a bit better. I wanted to go, but then again it's my own fault for saving all this party preparation for the night before," she lets out a light laugh.

She pulls her wallet out of the purse in front of her, opening it to reveal an immense amount of cash. The money the family has never ceases to amaze me. 

Anne pulls out a few bills before walking over to me once again.

"Don't worry. We'll get everything done." I smile at her.

She sighs.

"I didn't mean for it to be this stressful, but I just want everything to be perfect, you know?" Anne rests her arms on the counter in front of us, the bills still in her left hand.

I nod, listening carefully to Anne's words.

Anne looks around the room, almost as if she's making sure no one else can hear her before continuing.