Flora asked me to run some errands with her on the weekend, and we sat in her car going over some last details. Linda's birthday was next Friday but we were only having a small family celebration, and the party would take place on Saturday. Flora planned to take Linda shopping in the afternoon while I took charge of everything at home, and she had decided to run it by me one last time.

"We will start with some popular songs for the first hour, then the ceiling lights will dim and we light up the string lights and lanterns, and music will get louder. At roughly ten you can give a small speech, you know, thank everyone for coming, talk about how amazing I have been,---"

"Apologize to people for your bossiness," I interrupted.

"Yes, then we bring out the cake. This cake will blow your mind because this is the only thing I have custom made." She went on to describe every frivolous detail about the flavor, coloring and ornaments and I found myself spacing out. I pulled my attention back from her full lips and back to her words as she started going over the time schedule.

"At midnight, the power will be cut off and send the whole house in darkness for about two minutes, then when the lights come back on we will have Janet and her band on stage, and they will play one more hour until the party ends. How's that sound?"

"It sounds awesome, but I'm thinking maybe we can bring out the cake at eight and cut the power at ten? Then maybe we can send everyone home at eleven and finish cleaning up at midnight," I suggested.

"But that's so early!" Flora whined.

"We have lots of freshmen as you know. They might have a curfew."

"Fine." She pouted. "Although the whole point of blacking out is for it to occur at midnight, so that we have a Cinderella feel. You know, party ends at midnight. Except it doesn't. You know what I mean."

"Yes, and that's a really good idea too. But listen to me on this one?" Don't get mad.

"All right," she gave in with a defeated sigh.

"I have arranged transportation and parking spaces for everyone so Linda won't see so many cars parked out front when you guys come back. You can park your car in our driveway," I said.

"I can't believe I forgot about that! Thank god this party doesn't fall flat two seconds before the grand entrance," she gushed. "You are a lifesaver!"

"Didn't log on the internet last night?" I asked with a smile. "I posted on your fabulous little webpage. I'm not being sarcastic, by the way. It's very convenient to send out information."

"I know, right?" She smiled contently and leaned her head back, letting out a whoosh of breath. "Just one more week to go. I think everything's under control but I'm still very antsy about it. Everything has to be perfect. A party is not like your meticulous physics answer sheet; many things can go wrong," she warned. "If Linda's tears don't fall in three seconds, I'm going to kill you."

I laughed at how serious her expression was, like we were talking about brain surgery. She was always so cute like that. "Flora, it's just a party. We will have a good time nevertheless."

"It's not just a party, it's the party," she corrected sternly. "People will refer to it simply as The Party even after we graduate."

"Ok, ok. I'll make sure Linda cries. If she doesn't I'll pinch her."

***

Flora started the engine and drove towards my street. She said we had to visit all the neighbors and inform them of this event, and possibly invite them.

"My neighbors won't want to go to a high school party, I can guarantee you," I told her.

"I know, I don't want them there either. We are just acting polite and socially acceptable," she explained patiently. "Do you have a good reputation in the neighborhood? I don't want people slamming their doors in our faces."

"Well, I haven't been torturing pets or setting mailboxes on fire, if that's what you mean."

"Good!" she said brightly. "We have to do everything right, that's all. I don't want your neighbors to hate you after this."

We went about the houses and Flora was all smiles, apologizing about noise level in advance. We assured them that the party would end before midnight and people were very understanding. No one could be unpleasant to Flora when she was on her best behavior, with her perfect manners and chirpy attitude.

When the mission was completed, Flora said there was one last stop. She wanted to say hello to my parents and remind them of the party.

"My parents already know and they are fine with it," I said, but Flora insisted she wanted to talk to them in person. When we were seated in the living room, I finally knew what she was up to.

"Mr. and Mrs. Foster, I'm wondering if you can do me a favor," Flora said shyly. "My parents got free tickets to see this great jazz band at the bar downtown where they will be playing live. I heard they serve amazing prime ribs too. Anyway, it's next Saturday but we are going to throw Linda her party so I can't go."

I couldn't believe Flora had this planned and she didn't even tell me. She was going to ask my parents to leave the house, but she was trying to do it in a tactful way.

"I remember you said you love jazz," she went on. "If you can go for me I'd be really grateful because I don't want these tickets to go to waste."

My parents exchanged a look and laughed.

"Flora, that's generous of you," my mom said.

My dad nodded in agreement. "You went to such great length to get us out of the house, we'd feel rude if we turn you down. But we are not sure leaving this party unattended is the best idea."

Flora made a face. "Busted," she said. "But I wasn't lying about the music and the prime ribs. You have been really kind to me and I want to do something in return, and I thought it'd be nice if you can have a good night out while we occupy your house and cause all the inconveniences. You know, just the two of you. To remind yourselves of how you were when you met in Brussels?"

"It certainly beats sitting in another room covering your ears waiting for the party to be over," I helped to persuade them, thinking it would be better if they thought I was in on this, even though I wasn't sure leaving this party unattended was the best idea either. "We will clean up everything before midnight."

"Sean is really responsible so you can trust him. When you come back you won't even know there has been a party," Flora said. "And of course we will lock all the doors and only leave the living room open to guests." She went on to elaborate on everything she had read about survival tips on throwing a safe party, including notifying the police department in advance, just to show my parents we knew what we were talking about.

I hadn't been totally honest with them about the scale of the party. When I vaguely said we would invite just some of our friends, clearly they didn't know how many of Flora's friends we were talking about. I doubted they would be so understanding if the truth was revealed.

"Well, if you promise to supervise the party and make sure nothing gets out of hand, then I guess we won't be there to interfere," my mom said to me. "A night out by ourselves does sound lovely."

***

"That was a bold move," I said when we were back in her car. "You could have checked with me first."

"I wanted to, but you would've talked me out of buying those tickets. I get the feeling your folks won't be offended," Flora explained. "I think they are cool and I like them, but I just can't let any parental figure ruin this party for us. Parents and cool party don't appear in the same sentence."

"Only you have the balls to directly confront the parents and drive them out of their own house."

She glanced at me with apprehension. "You are not upset, are you?"

"No, I'm just a little surprised. I didn't know you have such a scheming side to you."

She looked worried. "Would that make you think less of me?"

It didn't, actually. I told her this and she smiled in relief.

"But I have to admit now that my parents won't be there, I'm a little worried."

"Worried about what? People will have a good time?"

"If anything gets out of hand I'd really be causing my parents a lot of trouble." I thought of all those horror stories on the news, teen-party getting out of control with 2000 people showing up and burning down a house, and how some parents faced charges when the underage party-goers died committing DUI, that sort of things. "And I don't know half of the people you are inviting. If I remember correctly you even invited your nail artist."

"Oh, you mean Bree. She knows more about me than my brothers do!"

I smiled weakly.

"Sean, you are worried about safety while I worry about fun. We really are quite a pair." She gave my hand a very quick squeeze. "But if you have your concerns why did you help me persuade them?"

I wanted to ask myself the same question. "I don't know. I think you can talk me into almost anything."

Flora smiled. "I have personally begged each and every one of our guests to behave. You just have to trust humanity."

"Flora, I trust humanity, that's why I'm so worried. Have you read Lord of the Flies? That's what happens when a group of teenagers take charge."

Flora laughed and reached over suddenly to ruffle my hair. Her eyes were warm, as was the touch of her fingers. "Sean, you are such an adorable nerd. We will survive this together."

"Yeah, it's only four hours. I don't think people will start killing each other yet."

We smiled at each other, then she gunned the engine.

As we drove through the streets in top speed because she had zero patience, I found myself thinking about history. What I learned from history is we don't learn from history at all. We are destined to repeat the same mistakes, fight the same arch-nemesis, lose the same battles, and fall for the wrong girl. I liked her when she was daring and direct, when she giggled innocently and flirted with me, when she got competitive, when she acted cranky but burst into laughter a second later, and I liked her even when she was scheming. It felt good that we were in this together.

"If it's any consolation, it really is a very good jazz band," Flora said.

"I'll pay you back for the tickets."

She actually looked a little offended. "Can you not talk about money all the time? I just want to do something nice for you."

"I know, and I'm touched. But I don't want to take advantage of you financially."

"How about you just buy me coffee?" she suggested. "You know some really cool places. Let's get take outs."

While she drove, she was getting lots of phone calls, and Flora talked into her mouthpiece like a real executive as if she was giving orders about stock exchange.

"Greg, if you can't tell what flourishing branches and twigs look like, then I'm seriously going to doubt your artistic ability. It has to be big! I want it sprayed white, and then we can add those white string lights on it. Yes, the lights have to be white LEDs. I don't want any of those colorful ones during Christmas," she said briskly.

A second later there was another call.

"Henry, don't worry about not being able to help out in specific areas. I've decided to appoint you head of the cleaning squad." I smiled in amusement at how businesslike she was. "It's your job to find your own crew members and you are responsible for making it look like we never had a party when Sean's parents come back. OK?"

I left the car to get us coffee, and when I came back she was still in the middle of a phone conversation. "I'm going to need cookies in the shape of snowmen, snowflakes and Christmas trees. Yes, about fifty each, with white sugar coating on it. Oh Marie. You are going to bake me cupcakes too? I think I'm going to cry."

"You sound really professional," I said. "Like you have been giving out parties for years."

"This is actually my first party so I'm a wreck, really," she said modestly. "Look, do you think we can stop at the park for a while? I need to find some good-looking branches because Greg doesn't know what to look for. I'm going to set up a small white shiny forest of branches," she explained.

We strolled through the park aimlessly, coffee in hand, talking along the way. We had been here before, and with a silent understanding, we stopped at the skating rink. This was where we had held hands last winter when she learned to skate for the first time. I remembered how she had fallen into my arms deliberately and kissed me.

We leaned with our arms against the railing, sipping our coffee as we watched the skaters.

"I'm actually getting a kick out of this. I'm not artistic, I can't cook, I can't DJ, and I'm really bad with computers, but I manage to find people who can do it." Her eyes sparkled with passion, and there was so much life in them I was mesmerized. "And they all report back to me. It's kind of a talent, don't you think? I'm not just a brainless cheerleader after all."

"You were never just a brainless cheerleader. Organizing people and arranging events are harder than it looks, but you make it seem so effortless."

"Oh, I do what I can." She tossed her hair in my face and laughed over her shoulders. "You know I'll do anything for you, my dear Sean."

It was in the middle of autumn when the snow had not started to fall, the air was just getting chilly but the sunlight fell on her hair and reflected off her eyes. She had the most radiant smile that made me forget all the bad memories, the cheating, the fights and the breaking up. At that moment everything was perfect.

I put my arms around her slender frame from behind, hugging her loosely and breathing in the flowery scent of her long dark hair. "Flora, thank you. Thank you."

She turned around, smiling up from my embrace. She didn't pull away. "You have already thanked me a million times for the party. If I can collect a dollar each time you thank me, we'd have money to serve caviar."

"It's not just for the party. It's for...you being you, and that you are here with me right now."

She smiled and laid her head back on my chest. "Well, in that case...thank you too."

She let me hold her for a long time. I rested my chin on top of her head and closed my eyes.

There were a few incredible moments in my life that I'd remind myself to remember every little detail of. This was definitely one of them.

***