Arise | Jordan Poole

51| surprise poole party

"You're insane for this Mari. How much did this party gonna cost?" Audi asked looking over the final details of Jordan's surprise party.

"Girl, you don't even want to know." She laughed.

Amaria was spending an arm and a leg to celebrate her boyfriend. She found it ironic that he had something to say about how she spent money. But, little did he know, she had been saving since last year to have this party. Of course, they were still friends at the time. She wanted to do something special for him anyways.

Alyssa volunteered to do the party planning and decor for free, since they were family. But, over the last year of planning, Amaria matched the price it would cost to hire Alyssa too.

She was going to take care of her friend.

"You really booked BabyTron?" Hazel snorted.

"Yeah, he's performing his entrance music. I don't know why he loves him so much but whatever."

"Entrance music? You really thought this through." Ayesha pointed.

The parade would be in three days, his birthday was tomorrow. And Amaria had been running on fumes for the last four days. Right after the winning game, she had told him she was booked for a few gigs and would be busy all week. It was a partial lie.

Her Netflix meeting was next week, this week she would finish highlight videos from their finals run.

She sat in the middle of her living room floor on her laptop as Alyssa prepped her balloons.

"What time are we going to the venue tonight?" Juan asked bringing Amaria a cup of tea. "Aye, drink this."

"The time is now 5:32 PM Pacific Standard time and we shall be at the venue at 8:30 PM Pacific standard time." She looked at her watch.

Amaria was in show mode, this party was a whole production. From the lighting to the sound, it would be a movie.

"Thank you, what's in it?" She asked warming her hands with the mug.
"Don't worry about that; it's A recipe ma taught me. Since you have no appetite, this will help with that."

"Did you ever get that checked out? Like I know you were suffering from dehydration and exhaustion around my wedding, but did they ever get to the root of it and this appetite thing?"

"It's just nerves. I'm anxious about the party going well. I'm anxious about this Netflix thing. The days are running together honestly." Amaria shrugged. She couldn't worry about that until after the party was over.

No room for distractions.

Jordan and his family sat at a restaurant to indulge in an early birthday dinner. They were aware of the party and convinced him they were okay with him celebrating the day of, with this friends. They all would be in attendance, even Alex.

"We're proud of you son," Anthony praised, "raised a fine young man if I do say so myself."

"My baby is about to be 27. I don't know how to feel." Monet sighed.

"He's not a baby anymore mom." Alex laughed.

"I wish Mari could be here. She would've loved the mussels. Jordan, make sure you order some to go." Jaiden spoke up.

"Yeah, I'll do that when the waiter comes back. I wish she could be here too, but she had to work." Jordan missed his woman. They barely saw each other after she rolled out of bed the following morning of the finals win.

"That's a good thing right? That she's working? Her career choice isn't exactly stable." Alex mentioned.

Jordan looked up from his phone, trying to understand where that comment came from.