Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Jude
Chaos.
That was the only word for it.
Not organized chaos. Not controlled chaos. Just straight-up, full-blown, no-one-in-charge-even-though-Alice-was-definitely-in-charge chaos.
The clubhouse looked like a party store had exploded inside it.
And somehow, I had been assigned balloons.
“Seriously,” Pipe said, staring at the pile in front of us like it had personally offended him, “how many balloons does she want?”
He sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by a sea of blue, green, and purple, like he had lost a bet and this was his punishment.
I reached into the bag Alice had dumped on us, still way too full, and pulled out another deflated balloon. “She said, ‘Don’t stop until this bag is empty.’”
Pipe closed his eyes and tipped his head back, counting under his breath like he was trying not to lose his shit.
“I know this is easier than blowing them up by mouth,” Dad said from where he leaned against the helium tank, fingers working another knot, “but my hands are killing me from tying these damn things.”
“Agreed,” Boink and Pipe said at the same time.
I snorted and stretched my fingers for a second before grabbing another balloon. “At least this is the last graduation,” I said.
“Yeah,” Dad replied, not even looking up, “but weddings and eighteen years of birthday parties for the grandkids are just around the corner.”
Pipe froze mid-knot. “Jesus,” he muttered.
“Lock in and get those balloons done!” Alice called from across the room.
I glanced up.
She was at the big table by the couch, cutting strips of colored paper and gluing them together like she was building something that could either be decorations or a weapon. Hard to tell with her sometimes.
“Maybe we can just have all the kids’ birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese,” Pipe said.
I laughed. “Yeah, that’d be great if we actually had one within two hours.”
Dad’s head snapped up, eyes narrowing at me. “I don’t want to know how you know that information.”
I shrugged, grabbing another balloon. “Just something I know.”
He didn’t need to know that Oliver and I had driven two hours last year just because we wanted that weird, greasy pizza that tasted like childhood and regret.
Worth it.
Still.
Carnie had taken over the kitchen like a general running a war zone.
Calla, Mayra, and Bell were packed in there with her, moving around each other in a space that should not have fit that many people but somehow did.
Pots clanked, cabinets opened and slammed, and every now and then Carnie’s voice cut through the noise with instructions that got followed immediately.
The smell alone told me whatever they were making was going to be worth all of this.
Across the room, Alice was still at her table, completely in her element, gluing paper chains together like she was on a mission.
Wrecker, Fox, Kingston, and Clash were gone on a beer run. Apparently, the normal stock wasn’t going to cut it with the number of people Alice had invited, which was a number no one actually knew.
And outside… yeah, I was glad I was inside.
Freak, Brinks, Slayer, Cole, Ender, Clove, and Basil had drawn the short straw and were dealing with three bounce houses, a massive pool, and a stage for some singer Eden liked.
I tied off another balloon and tossed it onto the growing pile.
“How many is that?” Boink asked.
“Too many,” I said.
“Not enough,” Alice called without looking up.
I rolled my eyes and reached for another one.
We kept at it.
Balloon after balloon.
Knot after knot.
My fingers started to feel like they didn’t belong to me anymore, like they were just tools I was using without really having control over them.
By the time we got through the last of the bag, I flexed my hands and winced.
“Pretty sure my fingers are about to fall off,” I muttered.
“No shit,” Pipe said, shaking his hands out like he might lose circulation permanently.
The door banged open, and Ender stumbled in like he had just survived something traumatic.
He made it halfway across the room before collapsing onto the pool table face-first.
“This is cruel and unusual punishment,” he groaned.
I pushed myself up off the floor and stretched my back, muscles protesting after being hunched over for too long.
“Yeah,” I said, “just think, we’ve got one more day of this before the party.”
“Don’t say that,” Ender mumbled into the felt.
Clove came in behind him, brushing her hair back and looking just as done.
She walked over and climbed onto the table next to him without hesitation. Ender shifted enough to pull her into his arms, pressing a kiss to the side of her head like he needed it as much as she did.
“How about we run away for the weekend and don’t come back until Monday?” he asked.
She laughed softly and sighed, settling against him. “I would say yes, but since we’re putting in all this work, I think we should stick around for the payoff.”
“Fine,” Ender said. “But I’m complaining the whole time.”
“Wouldn’t expect anything less.”
I watched them for a second, then reached into my pocket and pulled out my keys.
“Where are you going?” Clove asked, glancing over at me.
I shrugged, already heading toward the door. “Anywhere but here before Alice ropes me into something else.”
She laughed. “Smart man.”
I scanned the room briefly, looking for Oliver.
Bad idea.
He was already trapped near the couch, standing too close to Alice while she waved a strip of paper in his face like she was explaining something important.
There was no way in hell I was getting within ten feet of that situation. Not happening.
I slipped out the door before anyone could call me back.
I walked across the lot toward my bike, the noise from inside fading behind me with each step.
It was just past nine-thirty.
I swung my leg over the bike and sat there for a second, hands resting on the grips, looking out toward the road.
My mind didn’t go to the party.
Didn’t go to the balloons or the chaos or the fact that tomorrow was going to be more of the same.
No.
It went somewhere else.
Someone else.
Ever.
It had been two days since she’d been in my garage.
Two days since I’d watched her drive away and realized I wasn’t done with that.
Two days of knowing something I hadn’t known before.
That she had liked me. For years.
I still didn’t know how I’d missed that. Didn’t know how something that obvious to everyone else had gone completely under my radar.
But now that I knew?
Yeah.
That changed things.
A lot.
I adjusted my grip on the handlebars, staring straight ahead.
She didn’t have a boyfriend. Not really. She’d said it herself, and that mattered.
I kicked the bike to life, the engine roaring under me as it settled into that familiar rhythm.
The vibration ran up through my hands and through my body.
I knew exactly where I was going.
I pulled out of the lot and hit the road, the wind picking up as I picked up speed.
There was only one thing on my mind. One thing that had been sitting there since I walked out of that garage.
A thick chocolate milkshake.
Not just any milkshake.
One made by her.
I smirked to myself as I rode.
Fifty free milkshakes.
Best deal I’d ever made and I planned on collecting.