Page 20 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

I snickered, anticipating something of the sort, but not knowing which way he was going to go. “Hey, this works for me.”

“We’ve got coolers, hard cider, and just regular beer, plus a few selections of hard sparkling water. I’m gonna split ‘em between up here and downstairs in these big ass tubs I got, and once they’re gone, they’re gone.” He turned and stabbed a finger at me. “And I swear to god, Tristan, if I see anyone at this party with hard liquor, I’m ending it, and calling the cops. I’m not joking.”

“Narc,” I grumbled, but then when Taylor threw me a stern glare, I waved my hands through the air. “Don’t worry. I was just telling Molly, we’re going to follow all the rules. Keep it low key. I’m grateful that you let me use your place, so I’m not gonna take advantage.”

“Better not,” he muttered back. “I’ve also got water, soda, and stuff for punch for non-drinkers. Much more of that even in the back, so go crazy with that.”

“Thank you so much.” I looked at Molly and Sherelle. “You guys too. This is really awesome. I’m going to have the best party ever.” I turned back to Taylor, bouncing with excitement. “You said downstairs, so does that mean we get to use the man cave?”

Taylor rolled his eyes. “Yes. I’m letting you use my man cave, but—hey!”

Taylor wasn’t even done with his sentence before I bolted from the kitchen and through the door that led to a staircase leading down. What had started out as an unfinished basement when Taylor first bought his house, had been revamped into an entertainment paradise. Against the wall furthest from the door, there was a projector screen that would take feeds from the projector mounted to the ceiling a handful of feet away. A couple of movie theater style loveseats were situated in front of it for relaxed movie watching, and a functioning popcorn machine sat against the wall to the left of the chairs.

Behind that, was a pool table, with electric pink felt instead of green. The casing for the table was see-through, so that when the balls went into the pockets, you could watch the ball roll in, and the pocket would light up.

Against the wall nearest to the door was a bar that was normally well-stocked, but I could see it had been emptied of all of its options. Chilled bottles of water and cans of soda were stacked on the shelves instead, which I was perfectly okay with, because the neon underside of the shelves shimmered through the water and looked awesome. The entire thing was topped off with an original Galaga and Pacman arcade machine, sandwiched together on the wall between the basement door and the door to the downstairs bathroom. My decorations theme continued down there, with streamers along the ceiling, and twinkle lights in the same color scheme draped along the bar and molded sills.

“Yes!” I said. “This is totally going to be the hot spot of the party!”

Taylor whacked me across the back of my head. “Listen. There is fifty-grand worth of shit down here. If you break anything, it’s coming out of your pocket.”

“Nothing will be broken or damaged, I promise,” I said, then walked over and slumped down into one of the comfy, movie chairs. “I need it to start already. I’m anxious now.”

“Just a couple more hours,” Taylor replied, sinking in next to me. “Is Aria coming?”

“Yeah,” I said. “She says she is anyway.”

“I can’t wait to see her again. God, I hope she sticks around,” Taylor said. “I know I haven’t seen her in years, but I just know she’d be good for you.”

“I’m a little nervous actually. My friends are being a little weird about her,” I said.

“It wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that they're shallow and mean, would it?” Taylor asked.

“Hey,” I snapped. “Can you not be like that? They’re my friends.”

“Sorry, Tris. They’re terrible people. Hannah isn’t completely awful, but I think you should just drop all of them. You turn into this snob when they're around, and if they’re being mean to Aria, I don’t know why you’d keep them around anyway. Let them go and see what the future holds for you without them holding you back.”

“You don’t know them like I do. They have the capacity for kindness. We’re all good to each other,” I said.

“Are you?” Taylor asked

I opened my mouth to offer a rebuttal, but didn’t have anything solid and closed it. Taylor stared at me knowingly until I finally dismissed the subject by saying, “They’re my friends and they’re not going anywhere, so let’s just drop it.”

Taylor crossed his arms as he sighed. “Fine, but I sincerely hope you wouldn’t pass on an opportunity to be with Aria for them. I’ve always been my true blue, geeky self, and I ended up with a real babe.”

“You got that right.” Taylor and I looked back in the direction of the bar, and Molly was dropping a couple of food supplies on top of it. She threw an eyebrow up at us, before heading back upstairs.

“Don’t you walk away from me!” Taylor huffed, hopping up from his chair and rushing over. I heard Molly giggle as they clamored up the stairs.

A longing twisted my stomach into a knot. It wasn’t just because Molly was stunning that I was jealous of my brother’s relationship with her. They’d been thick as thieves ever since they met, and what started out as a tight friendship blossomed into true love as they both came to realize they were made for each other. They could do all that sappy, romance-movie stuff like finish each other’s sentences and be around each other for weeks on end without getting sick of one another, but they were also just so obviously in love. From the little things they did for one another to the minor details of their relationship that proved they were both all-in.

It was what I wanted more than anything.

I pushed the thoughts from my mind, because I didn’t want to be a sappy, lovelorn mess at my party. Standing up from the chair I took another look around Taylor’s man cave, certain that it was going to be the hit of the party, and made my way back upstairs to see if there was anything I could do to help setting up.

Though the party started at 7:00pm, at about five minutes ‘til, people still hadn’t arrived. I wasn’t concerned, knowing that it was thecoolthing to show up fashionably late, but it made waiting that much harder. I figured it’d be until 7:30pm or maybe even 8:00pm before people started arriving, but at about 7:07pm, there was a knock at the front door. Taylor smiled as we walked over to the door, and when we opened the door, his excitement doubled.

As did mine.

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