6 Years Later

"Heads up!" My brother yells as he throws a Pepsi straight for my head.

My reflexes protect me once more from the spontaneous attacks and I manage to spin my chair, covering me. The Pepsi hitting the floor causes a loud band, "What the hell? Give me yours!" I shout as I spin back around and throw the Pepsi back at him and jump to grab his.

"Nah, dude, you should've just caught it," My brother, Keita, laughs. "So when's your next date with that girl?"

"You've known her for over six years, do you still not know her name?" I laugh, aiming my Pepsi at him and opening it. The bubbles shoot at him like a canon, this is definitely going to leave a stain. "Also, we're best friends, we're not dating."

Keita raises an eyebrow and in a sly voice says, "Sure you're not." He stares at the stain, almost like he's expecting me to rush and clean it up. I take my seat and decide to act like I don't notice. "Dad's going to get really pissed."

I shrug, "I'll just blame it on you then."

Keita rolls his eyes, "Of course you will." He takes a seat on my bed and looks at my screen. "So when's your girlfriend going to be here?"

"She's not my girlfriend," I exclaim. Spinning my chair to face him, he's smirking mischievously. "Also, her name is Alina and she should be here any minute now." I look closer at his smile, "She's already here, isn't she?"

He nods and Alina turns the corner, full of energy chugging a can of Coca-Cola, "Movie night!"

Keita taps my arm, "Dude, she's pretty dope."

I smack his hand away, "Get out already!"

He shrugs and leaves the room, turning around behind Alina to give me a thumbs up. I point towards the stairs and he mumbles, "I'm going, I'm going."

Alina prances into my room and jumps onto my bed, "Just finished up a stream?"

"Yeah, and it was pretty good," I answer, closing my games and turning back to her.

"Oh really?" She asks, sitting straight all happy. "How so?"

"I reached a new high of viewers," I respond, slowly getting hyped up from her energy. "My highest today was 256!"

She jumps up, "Seriously?" She grabs me and pulls me into a hug. "That's over 100 more than two days ago!" She breaks the hug and smiles excitedly at me, "We have to celebrate!"

I shrug and lean forward in my chair, "Wouldn't the movie night be enough of a celebration?"

She vigorously shakes her head, nearly looking like she was about to roll it off of her shoulders, "We have a movie night nearly three times a week, we need something special, something that can't be topped until the next high!"

"Well, what do you have in mind?" I ask, sitting back in my chair with my arms crossed.

"A party?" She perks up, full of joy and excitement.

I shake my head, "My dad would never allow it, and we can't have it at your place because your mom would be pissed."

Alina pouts and slouches, "Maybe we could ask your siblings? Keita and Afia?"

The booming noise of someone sprinting towards us interrupts our thoughts. It stops for a second then Keita and Afia perk their heads on the corner of my door.

Afia is the first one to enter my room, "How about a shopping spree?"

We all look at her completely amazed. "You're joking right?" Alina asks her.

Afia goes back to being her tomboyish self and says, "Of course I'm joking. Hello, do you even know me?"

Alina chuckles, her glossy, narrow lips disappearing into her smile, "Well then what's your actual idea?" Alina asks Afia. "A tea party?" Alina jokes.

"With bright pink princess dresses?" Keita picks on Afia, now also entering the room. "We can set up some stuffed bears and play Barbie Girl on repeat."

Afia punches Keita in the shoulder, "I will kick your ass."

"Maybe talk about your crushes and spill the tea," Keita mocks her. Afia lunges at Keita and Keita jumps out of the room.

Afia rolls her eyes and turns back to us, "How about going out to eat, like a buffet or Red Lobster?"

"Wouldn't we need reservations for that?" I ask her, turning my head partially to the side.

"If you don't want to wait forever then yeah," Afia shrugs. "Although you guys also don't have to celebrate today, you can just make reservations for tomorrow or the next day."

"Let's get a cake and celebrate with all of our friends," Alina recommends.

"What friends?" Keita snorts. "You're the popular one, Alina. You're also Knox's only friend, you know that."

"Shut up," I snarl. Keita, Afia and I start attacking each other.

Alina twists her head partially to the side, thinking deeply, "How about we celebrate with your viewers?" Everyone stops and looks straight towards Alina. "Like we get a cake and do a live stream thanking all of the viewers."

"Cringy!" Keita and Afia shout in unison.

"Shut up," I say again. "That's an amazing idea."

Keita and Afia both look at each other than facepalm. "It's your funeral," Keita shakes his head and they both leave.

I sit back into my seat and turn back to Alina, "What flavour cake should we have?"

"Well I like vanilla and you like chocolate," She mentions. "But we also can't stand the other flavour so it's not like we can do a mix."

"That's true," I nod and place my head in my hands. "Wanna Google a few flavours?"

"Hell yeah," she smiles. I spin back to my computer and she jumps up and leans on the back of my chair.

I open up my browser and type in 'Cake Flavours,' a picture with a few cupcakes with their flavours pop up and I click on it.

I start mumbling off the flavours, "Reeses, key lime, cinnamon toast, strawberry, lemon drop, mocha," I stop and look back at Alina.

She shakes her head, "I don't like coffee."

I nod and turn my attention back to the screen, "Cookies and cream, carrot cake, Boston cream, red velvet, and pink lemonade?"

"Pink lemonade?" She squints, questioning the flavour.

"I don't know," I shrug. "What does key lime cake taste like?"

She shrugs, "Surely not as good as key lime pie."

Then, we both stop and slowly turn our heads to face each other. In unison, we both shout, "Cookie dough!"

I start looking up places where we can buy a cookie dough cake, the worst-case scenario, we have to get cupcakes instead of a cake but whatever. "I will look at places, you think about how the stream should be set up."

"On it," Alina jumps back onto my bed and goes straight to her phone.

I find a place that surprisingly sells cookie dough cakes and I place an order. I spin around to see Alina scrolling heavily through her phone like she was hacking into the Pentagon. "How's yours going?"

"I'm looking through the profiles of your viewers to figure out what kind of celebration they would most likely enjoy the most," she exclaims, continuing to scroll through everything. "Did you find a cake?"

"Yeah, it will be ready by six," I answer. "Have you figured out a theme yet?"

"Definitely need to bring over my dog, and for decorations, it would be best to keep it humble and not change anything up," She responds. "Also, candles, it would be even cooler if they were the kind that played music."

"This live stream is going to be amazing!" I jump next to her and smile, staring at the ceiling. "And after the live stream, we can eat the cake and enjoy our movie night."

"Hopefully Cerberus doesn't eat the cake," Alina mentions, still going through her phone.

"What breed is he again?" I ask her, slightly looking to the side then back to the ceiling.

"Purebred Pitbull," She answers. "Remember, the sweetheart that protects you from your brother whenever he's with you."

"Oh yeah," I nod. Alina got Cerberus two years ago, Alina and I take him for a walk every day.

I'm amazed that I still don't remember his name, especially since I spend so much time with him. A lot of people talk bad about Pitbulls and call them dangerous, but they're really not. Personally, I'd call them a family dog. They're energetic when hyped up, calm down when given time to, and if they're raised properly then they'll even be careful whenever a child is nearby. It's a shame that my mother is allergic to dogs, I would've begged for seven by now. Luckily I spend so much time with Alina that Cerberus pretty much doubles as my dog.

"We'll have to be careful with his fur though," I glance over to Alina who finally put down her phone and joined me with staring at the ceiling.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to clean up all of the fur so then your mom won't have to suffer," Alina smiles. I love her eyes, her left eye is amber and her right eye is an ocean blue.

"Hey, Alina," I mutter, breaking the peaceful silence between us.

"What's up?" She gazes toward me.

"Thank you, for always being there for me," I mumble. What has gotten into me?

She giggles, "Till the end, best friends."

"Forever," We say in unison.