Mended

16 (pt.1)

Izzy's POV

Much to his dismay, we spent the entire afternoon setting up for Ethan's party. His friends had left to go buy the alcohol for tonight, so only Caleb and Rose were back at their apartment with me. Ethan had gone to the gym, claiming he needed some alone time before he was forced to spend the entire night with people.

"Any song requests?" Rose asked. I looked up from where I was stacking cups, and shook my head.

"I'm good with whatever," I mumbled, distracted. A few seconds later, music started blasting through the speakers she'd connected her phone to.

"I'll get Caleb to help me with the banner," she commented, running out of the room to drag my brother back here. I grinned as I listened to Caleb's distant protests that Rose completely ignored.

A moment later, she appeared again, her hand fisting the front of his hoodie as she dragged him into the room.

"Can you put this on that wall?" Rose asked—no, more like demanded—as she gazed up at Caleb. I bit my lip to hide my smile as he glowered at her.

"Ethan's not a little kid, he doesn't need decorations," he said flatly, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, but Izzy and I want them, so can you please put it up?" She repeated, shoving the banner into his hands. Caleb huffed as he grabbed it, his eyes flickering across the writing.

"This says twenty-one," he deadpanned.

My head whipped up. Rose quickly snatched it back from him, her forest green gaze scanning the words written on it to confirm if what Caleb was saying was true. Her eyes flashed over to me as she winced.

"No," I groaned. "Don't tell me."

She turned it around so I could see for myself. "Chase had one fucking job," I muttered.

Caleb snickered. "Your first mistake was trusting that he'd do anything right," he drawled, his charcoal grey eyes simmering with amusement. "So? Can I go now?"

He started to back up, but Rose grabbed his arm. "Wait!" She exclaimed. "Just put it up. Everyone's gonna be too drunk to notice anyways."

Caleb sent her a look full of disbelief. "Are you kidding me?"

Rose didn't answer as she gestured for him to get to work, her lips twitching as she held back a grin of her own. Caleb threw her one last annoyed look before he walked over to start hanging it up, muttering curse words under his breath.

"Unbelievable," he huffed, roughly snatching some thumbtacks from the table.

Rose and I exchanged an amused look, before we reverted back to our tasks. We were almost finished with everything when Kaiden and Sophia arrived. They wouldn't be attending tonight because they said they didn't want to be at a college party, but they'd stick around before it started.

Sophia held a few wrapped gifts in her hand as she stepped in after Kaiden. "Where's our little brat?" She asked immediately.

Caleb laughed. "Call him that to his face, I dare you," he smirked at Sophia, raising his eyebrows in challenge.

"Ethan's scared of me," Sophia remarked flatly, setting the gifts down on the table. "I can call him whatever the hell I want and he won't do shit about it."

Kaiden chuckled as he walked over to me, pressing a kiss to my temple before he leaned against the counter beside me. Sophia studied the apartment, placing her hands on her hips.

"Aren't you wasting your time cleaning when you know it's gonna get trashed all over again tonight?" She commented, her brows lifting.

"That's what I said," Caleb muttered. "But nobody cares what I think, right?"