Hello August, Please Be Good To Me

Chapter 55: Happy Birthday

AUGUST

                  

This year's Moore child has the honor of their birthday being planned by... Alisha! I had already bought a cake, but the day before, I got a text with instructions for a surprise party for my brother.

sounds awesome...who is dis?

Oh sorry!! its Alisha J

ahh kay. well a cake is at our aunt and uncle's house

I think 2 will be better than one

            Alisha is the host, and has put her friends and my brother's as well as me in charge of things. It must be a last minute idea.

Hey thank u! Ik this is last minute, but he gets suspicious so I had to wait...

Yep, called it. I'm in charge of decorations. I bring Justin along with me. "Since when are you planning a party?" he asks when I unlock the car door for him. He climbs in and I stick my tongue out. "I'm not, Alisha is," and he nods in understanding before turning on the radio. "So we're gonna go to Party City and get some stuff, and hopefully my brother will be legit surprised tomorrow." Justin plays with the lever and pushes his seat back and pulls it forward.

"This is supposed to be tomorrow?" 

"Yep."

"So where are you gonna hide all the crap?"

            I think about this for a second. "We'll just drop it off at her house. She is the host." Justin keeps changing stations, and as I joke, I change them back. This goes back and forth until at a red light the color changes, and three cars honk at me from behind. Flustered, I quickly grip the steering wheel with both hands and drive. I look over and catch Justin bearing his middle finger to the cars behind us, and slap his thigh. Hard. "Don't do that," I nag him, and he takes that same hand and slaps me just as hard on my thigh. This ensures another play fight and another missing of the changing light. Eventually we make it to the other side of town, and as we pass the mall and the movie theater I sigh and shake my head, thinking of Cat and Mariana. Justin is still flipping through stations when we arrive in front of Party City. I easily slip my hand into his, and we walk into the store, which has some many different party themes and color schemes at once. "Let's just get everything," I joke, and Justin nods in agreement. "Okay." I call Alisha for more insight on what she has up her sleeve, but it keeps going to voicemail and I've left two messages. "I don't even know what his favorite color is!" I sigh picking up pink napkins and yellow plastic plates. "And those are it?" Justin asks me, before guarding himself against my slap to his shoulder.

"Hmmm, what colors are the cake?" Justin asks me, and I put my hands on my hips.

"Which one?

"Never mind."

As serious as come in about buying party stuff and leaving, of course we have to spend some time trying some things out. I walk around shopping with a party hat, large, fluffy, itchy, polka dot boa, with white party gloves. When I pass by Justin a couple of times, he's in a pirate hat, with a cowboy scarf tied around his wrist, and an eye patch. I know people are staring at us, but for once that's okay with me. We regroup within twenty minutes, both of us playing with various items on the shelves.

"Banner!"

"Check."

"Streamers!"

"Check!"

"Candy!"

"Noo, put that back, we can get it cheaper someplace else."

Justin tosses the bag of mixed candy back into the bin, and we continue,

"Noisemakers!"

"Cool! I mean, check."

"Alright you're turn." We are most definitely getting stares now, but one lady gives me a friendly smile before turning her attention to her son in a cart. "Well some of these things are duplicates," I pretend I'm Vanna White taking out items and showing them off to Justin. "Party hats," I also tap the one on my head. "Balloons...that's all," I say and he boos me. "Hey! I told you we already had some of the same stuff." I start taking off my costume, and reach for Justin's eye patch, but he steps back quickly. "Well I guess I won." I throw my boa on him instead and call him a pretty woman. We grab the attention of the store manager, who clears his throat and gazes down at us from the storage room at the back of the store.

Not until I'm buckled in and pulling out of the plaza where the store is does Alisha call me back. I hit speakerphone. "Hey, we were just leaving," I tell her, and I'm not sure if she can hear me, with commotion I hear in the background. "Great, just bring it over to my house!" I get Justin to write it down on my arm in pen, and we're off. "You think she'll feed us?" I ask seriously, as we pass a McDonald's and Justin shrugs. "She better, I just got volunteered to go party shipping and I didn't eat breakfast this morning," Justin starts messing with my station settings so I turn the volume down. "I think this girl is headed to the east side of town," I look around, not really sure where I'm going, even though Alisha said it was near Big Lots. "Put the address in your phone, so we can see how far I'm off," I say, and pull over. We're not as lost as we thought we were. "Take the next light, but stay in the left lane," Justin instructs me, and I wait for a car to pass by before driving back into the lane.

When we reach Alisha's neighborhood, both of us keep our eyes peeled for the numbers 4732. But there are two mailboxes with that number. Let's do eenie meenie miney moe," Justin suggests. I roll my eyes. "Yeah, no, let's not," I call Alisha, hopping the girl will answer her cell. I'm not down for knocking on the wrong door on the first try. The phone rings and rings, and I watch as Justin gets out and takes a closer look at the mailbox. Then he walks over to the other mailbox with the same numbers. He comes back to me and points to the house in front of us. "This is it. That other number has two threes, it just looks like a two 'cause it's faded." I look around, not convinced. "Okay, well you go knock on the door, and I'll wait here in the car," I pat the steering wheel and cross my arms to wait.

"So you don' trust me?"

"Nope. Go ahead and knock though."

Justin lips twitch up and down before settling in a thin laugh. I know he thinks I'm being funny, but I don't move, and watch him walk by himself up to the cream colored door. He knocks twice and rings the doorbell, then waits. I hold my breath as the door opens, and I see Alisha's face poke through, then the door opens fully and she looks over at Justin slightly confused. Justin looks back at me smug. "Oh shut up!" I yell, and slam the car door shut as I exit.