7 Chap 7: The Party

Mia

"Will this gift work Shelly?" I asked. As we stood in the soft toy department, I wondered if the gift was appropriate for a soon to be 3-year-old girl. I asked Shelly for help because she had a 6-year-old daughter.

"Yea!! Everyone loves Dory and the soft toy is damn cute. Just go for it" She said while she looked for a gift wrapper. It was true, everyone loved Dory, no matter what age they were. I loved the movie and I could watch it over and over again and at any time of the year.

"What are you planning to wear?" She asked while she evaluated between a purple and pink gift paper wrapper.

"Just normal Jeans Tshirt," I said and her eyes grew big, she kept the wrapper back in their place and looked at me like I spoke gibberish to her.

"Any problem?" I was offended,

"Mia, you are going to meet a lot of people, don't you know how a Birthday party works?" I had her full attention now,

"Really. Please enlighten me" I smiled, I couldn't believe that a small child's birthday party meant that I had to dress up to my best.

"Mia, you are going to meet Ryan's family, their friends," as she enunciated each word one by one. I was puzzled? How will that affect me?

"No jeans and shirt. You will look out of place"

"So what should I wear?"

"A dress," she said and gave me a look like I had to do exactly what she wanted from me.

"A dress?"

"Mia!! you are such a crazy child. That Ryan is so damn good looking, girls are after him and you!... I don't know what to say!" She said like I didn't deserve his attention.

"Hey! I am good looking too" I said in an offended tone. I was a good-looking girl,

"Yea but not compared to him," she replied and to be honest it was the truth."I saw the way he looks at you" she spoke like I was the luckiest person on this planet to even get his attention."He is very interested in you"

"He shouldn't be" I said, I didn't want Ryan to have any feelings for me. He is meant to be a friend and nothing more.

"He likes you and you can't do anything about it,"

"He can't. He knows about Noah" I said and looked into Shelly's eyes but she smiled.

"A guy who hardly calls you? When was the last time you spoke with him?" she used a scoff tone on me.

"I don't need to tell you this" I walked away from her, if our conversation continued it would soon turn into a spat. Noah had a different priority and work was very important to him. I respected that part of him when I accepted him as my boyfriend.

"Ryan is interested in you," She said out loud. Thankfully there was no one in the soft toy department to hear this. I turned to look at her and I saw her smile at me.

"I am not telling you to date him, Mia," she looked into my eye. "I want you to relax, look good for yourself," she took my hand in hers. "Ok?" I gave her a small smile in return and nodded with my head.

"When is he coming to pick you up" She took a step away from me and continued to evaluate between a purple and a pink gift paper wrapper.

"At 4:30 pm," I said.

"Then go home. It's 3:40 already!" she selected the purple gift wrapper. I looked at my watch and I realized I had very little time to dress up. I ran as fast as I could. Thankfully, Ariel and Emily, both were out of town for a weekend getaway. After I got home I hurriedly took bath and changed into a red color full-length dress. I teamed it up with black strap sandals and big white pearl studs. I kept my hair open and applied eyeliner and a crimson color lipstick. Just like Shelly mentioned, I dressed up for myself. I felt good looking at my reflection in the mirror, so I clicked a selfie and sent it to Noah. Within seconds, I got a message from Ryan to let me know that he was outside my hostel. When I went down, he stood at the entrance of our hostel with his back towards it and talked to someone on the phone. I walked towards him, he turned to look at me, and the moment our eyes met he looked stunned. He looked at me from top to bottom in pure admiration.

"Wow!! you look amazingly pretty." He said while his phone was still attached to his ear. He wore a royal blue color jacket with a black shirt, black jeans, and black leather shoes. His hair looked a little wavy. He looked extremely gorgeous, he was an eye-catcher and tonight he was about to get a lot of female attention.

"You look very handsome," I said while I looked into his eyes. We smiled at each other and walked towards his car.

"I will message the timing," he said and cut the phone. He opened the car door for me and after I sat, he went to his side, and we drove to his sister's place.

"Do you think Ariel must have gone out with John"? I asked him while I looked at him. "John is not with Ariel, I think something happened between them, he isn't talking about her like how he did before" he finished and looked at me with curious eyes.

"Oh, in the last few days I have rarely seen Ariel, do you think it has to do something with John? I mean she stays aloof these days"

"Johns quite too."

It seemed we both had no clue with what happened between them.

"So John has a date tonight," I asked ghastly surprised that he went on a date with a random girl.

"Yeah, he has," he smiled equally surprised. We spoke more about John and what all he did to make Ariel happy. We also spoke about Nina and her obsession with Optimus prime and animated films.

Ryan

The moment I laid my eyes on her, I went dumbfounded. How could someone look so breathtaking? I loved the way she kept her looks simple and yet elegant. Her eyes, lips, and that gorgeous smile made me weak on the knees. Gosh!. I somehow managed to stop myself from expressing my emotions to her. Thankfully, she got me distracted with Ariel. She always wanted the best for the people she was surrounded wit and that's what I liked most about her. We reached Chloe's house in 90 mins, she lived in the countryside surrounded by beach. After I parked my car outside, we walked towards the beautiful, lavish house. Mia couldn't help to keep her eyes off it. Chloe always wanted to live on a beach and have a big house. Her pure hard work and luck favored her to get what she wanted.

"Wow!! What a beautiful house"

"Chloe is more of a show-off. But yes the house is beautiful" I smiled at her and then looked at the house.

"So only three people in this huge mansion?" she was surprised and I couldn't help but laugh. I nodded and we made our way to the drawing hall and straight into the backyard. The moment Nina saw us she squealed my name and ran as fast as she could and jumped straight into my arms.

"Hey Pumpkin, Happy Birthday" I scooped her up and kissed her.

"Happy Birthday Nina"

"Thank you so much" Nina looked at her and then immediately clung on to her shoulder with her legs on my side and her upper body on Mia's side. She gave her two quick peck on both the cheeks and then came back to me. Mia handed her to open the gifts we got. She opened Mia's first cause the wrapper was in purple and Nina loved purple color. When she unwrapped the gift and saw Dory a soft toy she squealed

"I love Dory," Nina said with joy.

"You're welcome sweetheart," she smiled. Nina finally opened my gift and saw a custom made look-alike barbie doll of Nina

"Wow! She looks just like me!" Nina's eyes were huge and looked inquisitively at me

"My pumpkin it is you" She squealed in joy and gave me the tightest hug and the brightest smile.

"Thank you,"

"You're welcome" I kissed her and gave her fav chocolate. She took both the gifts in her hands and rushed immediately to show the gifts to her friends.

"Your gift was beautiful," Mia said to me.

"How did you do it?"

"I know a few people who do this" I said.

"Ryan!!" Chloe called out my name. I looked around and saw a cake in her hand while she came out of the kitchen. I ran towards Chloe "let me get that for you" I took the heavy cake from her hand.

"Thank god you are here," she said while she pecked my right cheek.

"I hope Nina loves her birthday cake, how does it look?" She looked worried and apprehensive.

"Did you make this?" I looked at the two-tier Optimus prime cake. There were two layers of the cake. The bottom round was in blue and the top round of the same size was in red color. On top stood a 5-inch Optimus prime figure.

"Yea, does it look good?" She said,

"Wow, Chloe when did you start baking cakes, it's really beautiful" I was surprised, Chloe never liked to bake cakes and today she made a beautiful big cake for Nina. I put the cake on the table with the rest of the eatery stuff.

"Nina came one day after school telling me that all her friend's mom baked cakes for them. So I decided to make one." She looked at me like nothing was impossible for her.

"Congrats, you are a baker now" she laughed

"Hope it's tasty" I put the cake on the table, which was near me.

"Oh, I am sure it will be, Where is Kevin?" I asked and looked around for my sister's husband.

"He must be... Oh, there he is with Chris and some girl" Chloe said and I noticed Kevin, Chris, and Mia together. Chris ogled at Mia openly and she smiled and talked with him. 'What the hell!' I didn't like the way Chris looked at Mia, not even a bit.

"That's Mia," I said and walked towards them

"Hey, Kevin," I called out, and he noticed me with a big smile. We hugged each other but I could only look at Chris.

"Chris, how are you?" I said to him with irritation and Chloe nudged me with her elbow.

"I am good, nice to see you after a long time" Chris replied unaware about what I was about to do to him

"hows your girlfriend?" I asked with a fake smile and his expression changed from happy to sad.

"Oh, uhh..we broke up just a couple of days back," he replied,

"That's bad! Which girlfriend number was she?" I asked curiously,

"Excuse me" Chris did not like what I said and his expression turned into a defensive one.

"It's just that you change girlfriends like you change your clothes, so you shouldn't be sucking up that much" Chris did not like what I just said and Chloe who stood next to Kevin was dumbstruck. What in the world just happened to me. I never cared for anyone's business, I didn't care who the hell Chris dated but something irked me. Mia wasn't mine, but I surely knew she was damn important to me. She deserved someone who was crazy about her and Chris was not an ideal person to be around with.

"I got to go," Chris said while he looked at me with anger.

"Bye Mia, it was nice meeting you" he smiled at her and went away.

"What the hell was that?" Kevin looked annoyed and I couldn't look at him so I just shrugged.

"Come on we need to cut the cake," Chloe said and she took Kevin away from me. I looked at Mia and saw her with a perturbed look

"I am sorry," I said to her. I didn't want her to see my irritation.

"I just don't like him," I said nonchalantly. She stared at me for a moment and looked away.

"It's fine, let's celebrate Nina's day" she walked away from me to stand among the crowd where Nina was about to cut the cake. After the cake was cut and the birthday song was sung, everyone began to eat.

"Are you upset with me?" We both sat at an empty 2 seat table which was far away from the crowd.

"No..I am not" she looked at the circus which was created by the children. They just ran and played while their parents tried to feed them.

"I will get something for us to eat," I said.

"That would be great" she smiled,

Mia

When Ryan left me to sit on a table to get food for us, not a min later he was surrounded by four girls. It had to be a shock if he couldn't get girls to buzz around him. He said something to them and motioned his hand in my direction. The girls looked at me and soon looked disappointed. 5 mins later he came with two plates filled with snacks and cake,

"Chloe made the cake," he said and took the seat next to me. We both took a bite of the cake and it tasted delicious.

"The cake is really good," I said while I hogged on the cake

"She will be happy to know" he smiled and we ate in silence. 40 mins into the party children were taken away by their nannies to their respective homes. All Chloe's and Kevin's friends danced on the same ground which was a birthday ground earlier. A lot of single females had their attention on Ryan, but he looked more occupied with his phone.

"Do you want to go to the beach?" he said and kept the phone in his pocket. I was surprised and did not expect that.

"Let's go," he said and got up from his seat, took my hand in his, and I followed. It was a 2 min walk to the beach from Chloe's house and I could feel the cold water beneath our feet. The sky was dark but was light up by a golden full moon. We could hear good peppy music from Chloe's house.

"Don't people complain about the noise?" I asked and he smiled in return

"You will find only 4 houses in this locality and all the three family are at present in Chloe's house. So no noise complaint" and we both laughed.

"It's so beautiful and peaceful here" I looked at the beach and the moonlight which fell on the sea.

"You come here often?" I asked and looked at him,

"Yes, when I am not out of station" he replied and looked at me

"You spend a lot of time with your sister" I could see a sudden change in his expression

"This is the only family I have Mia," he looked sad, and defeated and I didn't like it.

"What about your parents?" I was curious. No one ever mentioned his parents, not even Ariel. I doubt she knew anything about them. If she knew she would have told us. He sighed, looked down at his feet, and smiled. Our situation was quite opposite to the peppy song that was played in the background.

"Our Dad was an orphan and our Mom had lovable parents. Mom and Dad met in high school and soon they fell in love", he looked at the beach while talking, "One evening mom dad realized that they were pregnant with Chloe at the age of 18," he smiled and looked at me.

"Grandad wanted mom to abort but she refused which got grandad furious and he disowned Mom," he said and my eyes went huge

"They were hurt but it didn't stop them from giving birth to Chloe." he smiled yet he looked empty.

"Dad decided to work in the morning and study at night law school and Mom decided to be a housewife," he said and I continued to look at his expressions which either turned soft or sad within seconds.

"After 3 years, dad graduated from law school and opened his law firm. Much after a year, I was born and Dad's business boomed, he was appreciated a lot by his clients"

"Life was beautiful, soon Chloe turned 14 and I 10, mom was still beautiful as ever and everything was perfect" he smiled and looked at me

"One day out of the blue we got a phone call from the Hospital to inform us that Dad was no more because he met with a car accident" I gasped and his eyes turned red and he looked at the ground.

"Mom went into a shock and got paralysed. She fell into severe depression ," he said, "Through a news article, our grandparents heard the news and within days they moved in to take care of us. Grandad wasn't rich and had decent amount to survive his old age but he had to pay off dad's debt, mom's medical bills, and our school expenses," he sounded heartbroken and my mind was blank, I could not imagine what it felt like to witness sudden change in the family.

"Soon after 7 months of dad's death mom died, and after a year of her death, my grandmom died of a heart attack" he gave a soft laugh and looked at the moon.

"Thankfully my grand dad survived but only untill I turned 15 and half and Chloe was in college. He died in his sleep" He looked uncomfortable but remorseful to talk about it. Loosing the only important people and so early in life must have been so difficult to live.

"Chloe started to earn through her two part-time job and saved enough for us in case of emergency" He turned towards me and looked me in the eye,

"Since then she has only been sacrificing her needs for me. She had to give up her career, her dreams just to give me a respectable education and a decent lifestyle and for that, I am always thankful to her. I love her dearly and I do things only for her"

"So whenever I am free I always spend it with her,"

"I socialize only with those whom I want to. I don't keep myself free for everyone" he said. He looked at me tenderly and cupped my face in his palm. With his thumb, slowly he wiped away a tear from my eye.

"Mia," he said my name like I was his only hope to love life. He brought his face just an inch away from mine. The closeness between us made my heart beat fast and my mind blank.

"Will Noah always be there for you?" his voice was low but it had an intense depth to it. He looked at me as if this question was very important to him. I knew Ryan affected me but being this close had a way too stronger reaction. He wanted to know if Noah could be Chloe in my life.

"yes." I said a while later and looked away from his eyes. I didn't want to see his face because if I did I knew I would feel miserable. Silence surrounded us for a min and yet I didn't look at him. I knew he didn't like what I said because of the grip that had become stronger on me. All of a sudden I could feel his breath on my side cheek while he brushed his lips lightly to side of my ear

"Dance with me,"