Chet Watakeekul

The doorbell rang. "It's my date!" Kannika called from the bathroom.

"We're not ready," my mom also called from the bathroom. "Chet, answer the door and stall."

"It's not your date," I called back as I walked to the door. "It's my ride."

I opened the door and Gareth was on the other side. "Ready?" he asked me.

Before I could say yes, my dad entered the room and used his phone to take a picture of me and Gareth.

"Really, dad?"

"Sorry," he said. "I thought it was Kannika's date. Hi, Gareth. Come on inside."

Gareth started to step in, but I said, "We're leaving to go to my birthday party."

"It's still early," my dad said. He stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Gareth's shoulders. "You've got to see Kannika's dress. I'll never understand why people spend so much money on clothes they will only wear once."

Gareth looked over his shoulder back at me as my dad pulled him inside. "What's going on?" he asked.

"School dance," I said.

"Oh," Gareth nodded.

"Dad, we're supposed to go help Mateo and Alex setup," I said.

"They can take care of it," my dad said nonchalantly. "It's your birthday party, why are they making you work?"

"Yeah," Gareth added. "It's fine." But I knew he was just saying that to get out of working.

Kannika and my mom walked into the living room. When she saw Gareth, her eyes didn't show any disappointment. In fact, they lit up brightly and the barest hint of a smile came to her lips. I thought she had gotten over her crush on my best friend, but apparently not.

"Gareth," she said brightly, "what are you doing here?"

"Just picking up this guy," he said with a vague wave in my direction.

"Oh right, the birthday party. What do you think of my dress?" She twirled lightly in her gold dress. The beads and sequins on it sparkled under the light. My mom had just spent an hour curling her hair so when she turned the dark curls bounced.

"It's nice," Gareth said.

Kannika's face fell. "Nice? Just nice? Not beautiful? Not pretty? Not breathtaking?"

"What can I say, Kanni, you look like a baby in a pretty dress."

My mom and dad took a step away from Gareth not wanting to be caught up in the moment when my little sister exploded.

"A baby?!" Kannika's voice got louder. "I'm only 2 years younger than you. I'm a junior. A baby?!"

"Sorry, Kannika, but you'll always look like a baby to me. That's just the way it is."

"Ugh!" she stepped towards him in her gold high heels, but I stepped between them before she could do him any harm.

"You look beautiful, Kannika," I said to placate her, but I knew it wasn't my approval she wanted. "We've really got to go now."

The doorbell rang again.

Kannika gasped. "My date," and she rushed out of the room. She was weird sometimes. A lot of the times. I went to the door and opened it. A young man stood in front of me, brown hair and eyes, lots of freckles. He was taller than me, but he looked a little frightened and intimidated when I opened the door.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Mason." I was confused by the two different bouquets of flowers he held.

"Come in," my dad said from behind me. His phone flashed as he took a picture of Kannika's scared date.

I didn't move, but he slid passed me at my dad's invitation. There was a limo parked outside our house behind Gareth's old car. Serafina and Rachel stood outside the limo with three boys. Serafina and Rachel waved at me when they saw me. Serafina wore a shimmering purple dress. Rachel wore a blue dress that had pearls on the sides of the skirt.

"Looks like a group of them are going together," Gareth said over my shoulder. "Remember when I had to beg you and Mateo to go to the dances with me and promised it wouldn't be individual dates, but just a group of boys going with a group of girls as friends. You two were such a pain in my dating butt."

"Sorry," I muttered to him, but I really wasn't.

"It's okay," he said. "I understand now. Mateo is gay and you are demisexual."

I turned around to face him. I glanced quickly at my parents, but they were too busy asking Mason questions and hadn't heard. I wasn't afraid they would reject me or anything. I knew they wouldn't, but I should be the first to tell them. Gareth didn't miss my look.

"You don't want me to say anything?" he asked.

"Not until I do," I replied.

He nodded and then he turned to Mason as he said, "Kannika is like my little sister,"

"I'm not your sister," Kannika's voice called out from her bedroom.

"So don't do anything to hurt her," Gareth said as if he hadn't heard Kannika. "I have a black belt in taekwondo and I will kick your ass if I hear you aren't respectful."

My parents smiled in approval. Kannika called out from the other room again, "But you're not my brother."

"I am though," I said to Mason, "and I approve of him beating you up if you hurt my sister."

Mason swallowed nervously and nodded vigorously. "These are for you," he said handing one of the bouquets to my mother. Gareth rolled his eyes. Kannika came gliding into the room.

"Oh, hello, Mason," she said sophisticatedly, "I didn't realize you were here."

Such an obvious lie.

"These are for you," Mason handed her the other bouquet.

"Thank you," she said. "They are lovely." She immediately handed them off to my mom.

"She's allergic to flowers," Gareth said as if Mason was stupid.

"Stop it," Kannika whispered harshly to Gareth.

"I'm not lying though," Gareth said.

"You're starting to sound like you're jealous," my sister said smugly.

"I'm not jealous," Gareth said. "I already told you that you look like a baby."

Kannika's face changed to pure rage.

"Time to go," Gareth said to me. I waved to my family and Mason before I followed Gareth out the door.

"And that goes for you too," Gareth addressed the boys outside.

"What?" one of them asked confused.

"If you hurt Serafina or," Gareth bent down to the other girl and whispered, "What's your name?"

"Rachel," she whispered back.

"Or Rachel," Gareth said, "I will kick your asses. I have a black belt in taekwondo and I've won many competitions. Wait. How come there are 3 of you and only 2 girls?"

"Because," Kannika said behind us, "we still need to go pick up Becca."

"Okay," Gareth said. "The same applies to Becca's date whichever one you are. If you hurt her..."

"We can kill them ourselves if they hurt any of us," Serafina interrupted.

"This is true," Kannika agreed.

"Okay," Gareth shrugged. "I wouldn't want to be you boys if you hurt them. They are more dangerous than I am."

"Picture time," my dad said as he came out with his phone flashing. My mom followed him.

"Let's go," I said to Gareth. I rushed to his car before we could be caught up in the picture taking for my sister's high school dance.

We got in his car and pulled away from the curb heading towards the university.

"Your sister still has a crush on me," Gareth said accusingly.

"It's not my fault," I said. "I thought she was over it."

"Well, I am quite handsome. Wait, I'm not your crush am I?"

"Ewww. No way."

"Okay, good. I didn't want to deal with that. So who is it?"

"Just someone."

"Mateo?"

"No."

"How come I got an ewww but he didn't?"

"Really, Gareth? You're both ewww."

"Good. Alex? You shouldn't have a crush on your best friend's boyfriend."

"No."

"The girl from your finance class? Melissa?"

"No. She's just a friend."

"Chet, do you know how frustrating you are? Just tell me already."

"No. I'm not ready."

"Why? Because it's special?"

Yes. "Yes," I said. I wanted to protect what I had with Vincent for as long as possible. I knew my friends wouldn't run off and tell his family, but it was special and I wanted to keep that all to myself. I had never felt like this before.

"Fine," Gareth said finally dropping the subject.

Gareth pulled into his spot at his apartment parking lot and we got out. I stopped when I saw a familiar silver car. It wasn't time for the party to start yet. Why was he there so early? I had to remind myself to act normal and not smile as soon as I saw him.

"What?" Gareth asked me when he noticed I had stopped walking.

"Vincent's car," I said. There was no point in lying. There had been plenty of opportunities for me to see his car.

"Mateo mentioned Alex invited Vincent over to help setup. Supposedly it would give Mateo and Vincent a chance to bond."

I nodded and followed Gareth into the apartment building.

"We're here," Gareth announced as we walked through the door.

I noticed Vincent immediately. Our eyes met and it took everything in me not to smile and crush him in a hug.

"Hello," he said to both me and Gareth.

"Hi," we said at the same time.

Gold balloons filled the apartment. Vincent and Alex were hanging up a banner that said 'Happy Birthday'.

"Are you sure I should be seeing all of this already?" I asked.

"What difference does it make?" Gareth asked as he went to the kitchen and started to setup the paper plates and cups. "You're going to see them sometime anyway."

"I'm glad you are here," Mateo waded his way to me through the balloons and put an arm around my shoulder. He turned me away from Alex and Vincent and whispered, "Be nice to Vincent. He's trying and I do believe him this time. He has been very helpful tonight."

I said, "But I've always been nice to him."

Mateo seemed a little taken aback by this, but then he nodded. "You did always stick up for him even when telling us what he was planning. Ok. I won't worry about it then. You're okay with him being here?"

I nodded instead of answering because I didn't trust my voice not to give me away.

"Great," Mateo said, "then could you tie off these balloons or something so they aren't all over the place?"

Mateo left to help Gareth in the kitchen. Vincent and I exchanged a knowing glance, but Vincent quickly looked away when Alex turned to him. I gathered the balloons and tied them off into bunches in each corner of the room.

It had been great to wake up that morning with my arms around Vincent and his around me. I had awoken before him again, but I didn't move until he had opened his eyes. He had seemed relieved and happy to see me. I wanted to wake up every morning like that.

Pizzas were delivered right before the party was supposed to start. People started meandering in and saying 'happy birthday' to me. A lot of them were from the team, but there were some from my classes and they brought guests with them so I didn't know everyone, but I was happy so many people showed up for my day. Tim brought his girlfriend. I had seen her a few times in the stands, but had never met her before. She seemed nice.

Music was going, people were eating pizza, there was a game going on where people tried to flip coins into paper cups. Someone brought beer. I wasn't sure who. I refused it when Jimmy brought me some. It wasn't just because I was under 21. I didn't want anything that would impair my judgement. I wasn't about to jeopardize my soccer career for one stupid moment while being inebriated. A lot of people were now drinking, but not everyone. Devon didn't drink even though he was drinking age. Alex, Mateo and Vincent didn't drink. Gareth did. I wasn't worried about him. He had always been able to hold his liquor.

Vincent and I exchanged glances when no one was looking. I wasn't sure if I could go up and talk to him casually without giving anything away to those around us.

Melissa came in around this time. I noticed her right away because she didn't know anyone there and looked lost standing alone in the crowds.

"Hi," I said to her. Vincent's golden eyes watched us from the corner of the room.

"Hi." she smiled brightly. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you," I said.

"This is for you," she handed me a birthday card. "I wasn't sure what to get you."

I glanced at Vincent. He still watched us. This was the most he had looked at me all night as if he couldn't look away. Alex watched Vincent until Mateo started talking to him. Gareth also watched Vincent. He was being too obvious about this.

Suddenly Devon was by my side and Jimmy quickly followed him. Devon nudged me.

"Melissa, this is Devon and Jimmy. Excuse me for a moment." I left them without looking back and went to the corner where my boyfriend was.

I faced him so no one would be able to see my lips. I didn't think anyone in the room could read lips, but I couldn't be too careful. "You're being too obvious," I said.

"What did she give you?" he asked.

I shrugged. "A card. I haven't opened it yet. You look like a jealous boyfriend though. Stop it."

"I am a jealous boyfriend," he said.

I paused as Timmy and his girlfriend came up to me to tell me they were leaving and wished me a happy birthday one last time. I waited until they left before I said, "You don't need to be jealous. I'm only interested in you."

He smiled.

"Stop it," I said even though I was happy. "You can't look at me like that."

He sighed and wiped the smile from his face. "I think I better go," he said. He handed me a birthday card. I put it on top of Melissa's. "What are you doing tomorrow?" he asked.

"Game and then nothing. Sunday is a birthday party with my family."

"Then you can come over tomorrow night and I'll make you dinner."

"Okay," I said. He smiled again and his hand started to reach for me, but he stopped himself.

"I really better go," he said. "Text me later."

"Bye," I said.

He went to Alex and Mateo and said goodbye before he walked out the door. Gareth's and Alex's eyes trailed after him and I wondered if they had figured it out.