Waiting For You

Chapter Twenty-seven

"Sometimes I feel like a kid wanting nothing more than to squeeze you tight and call you mine".

~David Alan Royster

Hunter

Patience was something Alex possessed plenty of. He had been sitting for the past fifteen minutes in the same position after Aurora had yelled at him for moving. It was her eighth birthday, and she had insisted that Alex came to her birthday party. We had put up face-painting stands on one side of our backyard, a petting zoo by the other side and a bunch of small tables for the princess tea party. If my sister was anything, she was unable to pick just one theme for her parties.

Last year we had had a princess-monster truck party, and the year before that a princess-mermaid one. At least, the princess theme stayed every year.

And so, Alex was now patiently waiting for Aurora to finish painting his face. At some point, he had asked me through our bond how ridiculous he looked. I had replied that if anything, this proved that the painter gene hadn't been passed down to Aurora.

For what I could tell, she had tried to go for a tiger or a rabbit, though if you squinted you could clearly make out a robot. I kept staring at her masterpiece -God, now she had put pink in the mix- when thunderous laughter snapped my attention to Calla and Sebastian who had brought their seven-year-old cousin along.

"Annette!" Aurora screamed and turned toward the girl who Calla was holding. "You can move now, I'm done," she told Alex and took off with her friend.

Alex stood up and moved towards me with an exhausted expression. Calla and Seb were still laughing at him.

"Shut up," he grumbled at them with a pout.

"Yeah, she has been dragging him around for the past three hours. Don't laugh," I said, kissing him on the cheek. Even though the party had started not even half an hour ago, Alex had arrived long before to help us prepare. Without saying anything, Alex looked at Sebastian with a coy expression.

"Calla told me about you two. Trust me, if I see Chris anytime soon I won't talk to him, in general, let alone drag you out," Sebastian assured him. His black painted fingernails were noticeable from miles away as he waved his hand at Alex.

Oh Sebastian, always the cliché breaker, right? The emo jock.

"No offense, but he won't talk to you either," Alex replied with a smile.

Sebastian and Chris' rivalry was well-known. From what Alex had told me Chris and Sebastian had been toe-to-toe on being the valedictorian. They had both been addicted to drugs -Chris winning that sick fight since he had been addicted to coke, while Sebastian had been addicted to weed-. And both were captains of their sports teams. Chris used to be captain of the school's football team, while Sebastian used to be captain of the baseball team. Of course, Chris had the upper hand on the hookup department, since Seb only hooked up with girls he had an emotional connection with, but still, they were pretty much tied.

We sat down and started chatting, thankfully without any little child interrupting us. There were around twenty other kids here, running around, screaming and playing together. As per se, Princess Aurora had demanded a big birthday party.

"Okay, but what do you even mean with 'Leviticus 18:22' homophobic?" Alex asked me, the colors on his face not helping him the least bit at looking serious. "Are there different kinds of homophobic?"

"Eh, duh," Calla snapped back and stuffed her face with more chips.

"There's also the Conservative homophobic, like when parents say things like 'my son must find the perfect woman to marry and make a family with'..." Sebastian said.