New Bones Same Soul

Scene 10 Part 1~ Birthday Gone Wrong

-later that week, Saturday, May 28, 2022-

Birthday party

I'm walking to the airbnb from my car with Sebastian's birthday gifts in a bag in one hand and a bottle of apple cider in the other. I can hear people socializing inside, and the yellow lights inside the house glow through the windows. I take a deep breath after walking up the front steps then ring the doorbell.

A short, curvy Black woman with black braids opens the door. She looks me up and down then gasps, her eyebrows shoot up. "Are you Zyon?" she asks.

"Yeah."

"Oh my god! Seb has told me so much about you!!" she exclaims energetically. I raise a skeptical eyebrow.

"Good things I hope."

"Yeah, yeah! He undersold it. He said you were hot, but hot damn!" A cold gust of wind blows by. "Here, wait, come on inside!" she ushers me into the nice, sleek modern home. The house is pretty big and spacious, with a lot of white furniture and earth green accents. I admire the creative architectural structure of the space.

There are about a dozen people here. Jazz music is playing from a stereo near a lit fireplace. I don't see Sebastian anywhere as I follow the woman into the dining room.

"You a model or something?" she asks me.

"If being a senior advising mechanical engineer for amusement parks means being a model, then yeah," I say with a chuckle.

"Oh shit so you're smart-smart. And that sounds like a fun ass job. Seb told me you did something engineery, but I didn't expect that. Here's Seb's gift table and you can put the wine-wait, is that wine?"

"It's apple cider. Sebastian doesn't drink, right?"

"Oh yeah. Aw, that's so considerate of you," she says. I put Sebastian's gift bag where the other gifts are. For there to be only about a dozen of us here, there sure were a lot of gifts.

"What's your name?" I ask. The woman facepalms herself.

"I can't believe I forgot to introduce myself. But you know what, Seb should've told you who I am. I'm a little insulted that he didn't."

"Uh, he doesn't talk all that much about anything. Except animals. So I wouldn't take it personal," I say with a light smile.

"You're right on the money with that one." She begins pouring two glasses of wine. "I'm Anise. I work with Seb and we're best friends, so I'm gonna take it personal." She offers me one of the glasses. "Please tell me you drink."

"Indeed I do," I say and take the glass. "Cheers," I say and clink my glass against hers. Just as I take a sip, I see Sebastian walk into the dining room with some other tall Black guy and I immediately know that it's Ethan. Sebastian really does have a type, huh?

"Woah. You're shooting daggers," Anise says with a little laugh.

"Hm?" I look at Anise and set the glass on the table before I squeeze it too hard and break it.

"If looks could kill, Ethan would be dead from the way you were mean muggin' him just now," she says. "Don't worry. I fucking hate his guts too. I have no idea why Sebastian is still friends with that asshole lunatic."

"Asshole lunatic?" I inquire.

"Yeah. He was so disrespectful and patronizing and toxic. Verbally abusive. Really wore down Seb's self esteem and made his anxiety worse," Anise lowers her voice as she speaks. "Always spoke over him and gaslighted him. He even cheated on Seb but Seb forgave him anyway." Anise rolls her eyes.