Come & Get Your Love • Alex Turner

16: Camille's Seventeenth

Avery's POV:

It's my cousin Camille's 17th birthday today. It was Sunday, what I did in my house was to clean up the entire mess. Of course, Aunt Emily wouldn't miss this special opportunity to celebrate her youngest child and only daughter's celebration in life. I was tired, I took a small amount of rest by just laying on the couch and then taking a bath minutes later, changed my style in a plain white blouse and a pair of denim jeans, in which I applied a light amount of make-up on my face in order to look chic.

I was hurrying as I brought my bag with me, putting on my sneakers, and immediately locked the door. Before going to fetch a taxi ride, I first checked my mailbox to see if there was something inside, and there was. I quickly grabbed it as it if I had no more time left for the party and put the envelope inside my bag.

Maybe I'll read this later in the middle of the party. Or when I get home, perhaps.

I locked the entire home, when I got inside the taxi out, Lovefool by The Cardigans was playing on the radio as I sang to the lyrics and the driver complimented the way I sang as I thanked him in return.

When I arrived at Camille's house, I rang the doorbell and there I was greeted by Aunt Emily with a smile on her face. One thing that's despairing to hear about Camille's family, her dad left them when she was still 8. Aunt Emily had to be both the matriarch and patriarch of the family as her husband Peter had an affair with one of his colleagues and then started a new life in Florida. After this, he never intended to see the family who built him one last time. Camille and Noah were used to without having a father by their side, but for Aunt Emily's part, she was depressed and alone, her brother's my father Stephen, he's been her best friend since they were young. Dad has been giving my aunt advices ever since that incident.

"Come inside. Camille's been waiting for you for ages", she muttered as I removed my sneakers and got inside. The guests mostly consisted of Aunt's friends, especially Camille's best friend, Adriana.

"There she is!" Camille squealed as I hugged her tightly.

"Happy 17th", I greeted her with a smile as we pulled away.

"What took you so long?", Camille asked as I grabbed a platter with spoons & forks from the table and made my way to grab some foods.

"Been busy", was all I could say

"Missy, you can put your bag on the table - I'll do it for you", she replied as I handed her my bag, to put it on a separate table.

I was done picking up some finger foods, cupcakes and cookies, and there I saw Noah, Camille's brother, and her best friend, Adriana.

"Hey", I greeted them as I sat on the couch beside Adriana.

"Oi", Noah was still chewing his food. About Noah, he's a musician in which he writes lyrics and composes beats during his free times. He's been working with his classmate, Riley, they've been a duo which was still unnamed. They would also go to some pubs, restaurants, café in order to make a simple living out of their music.

"Avery, I can tell you, you're really stunning even without a make-up on", Adriana complimented as I was still chewing a bit of my food.

"Aw, thank you. What a compliment. By the way, how old are you?", it was a sudden question that I asked her, and then she told me she turned the same age as Camille last April.