Together

Good Ol' Melvin

Tim walks into Melvin's house to find Melvin and Jazmyn arguing in the kitchen. He finds Jazmyn yelling.
      "No you're the dumbass. You barely passed freshman year."
      "Hey, I passed with C's." Melvin replies.
      "Really Melvin?"
      "Okay maybe a few D's, but that doesn't make you better than me. At least my looks aren't deceiving like yours. I'm still the man. I've always been the man. Speaking of man. You need to tell your boring, lame, punk, pussy-whipped man to-." Tim clears his throat. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the late birthday boy. That's coming from your paycheck sir. You're 40 minutes late. Now if you don't want me to throw the party then say so."
      "I don't want you to throw the party." Tim says vaguely. Melvin looks dumb and Jazmyn walks up to Tim.
      "Yes he does. He's just being an ass. Happy Birthday babe." Jazmyn says. She punches Tim and kisses him. Melvin gags at them.
      "Okay look. We have a few hours. We need to get started. I have to get my bitches, condoms, and I can't forget the alcohol." Tim interrupts Melvin.
      "But i don't even-."
      "Shhhh. Is that all you speak is bad news? Damn. Anyways, you remember Gary from the basketball team?"
      "The gay one?" Tim asks.
      "Noooo. The one that graduated when we were sophomores."
      "Ohh Gary Sandars. Yeah what about him?"
      "Well, he works at the corner store a few blocks from here and I told him about this wild-... I mean, simple get together that we're having and he's going to hook us up. Yes I said us."  Melvin grabs the keys and walks backwards out the door. "So I'm going to get the merchandise. You two lovebirds get started on the decorations. Peace out." Melvin walks out. Tim looks at Jazmyn and shakes his head.
     "Out of all friends, you choose him?" She asks Tim.
     "Ugh not today."
     "What's wrong? Cheer up. It's your birthday."  Tim thinks about the dream he had last night. He tries to lie to Jazmyn.
     "Nothing. Let's get started on the decorations."  Tim walks to the backyard from the kitchen. When he sits down blowing up balloons, Jazmyn stands in front of him with her hands on her hips.
      "So you're sad on your birthday and you're a liar? Wow, that's a bad way to start off a birthday." She looks at him angrily awaiting for him to answer. She asks again. "Now tell me what's wrong!" He pauses.
      "I just been thinking about what you said last night."
      "Babe, we're going to be fine." She sits on his lap. "Can you not think about us just for tonight and enjoy your birthday. I mean damn Tim cheer the hell up."  Tim smiles and picks Jazmyn up like a baby.
      "Now you know how i feel when you talk like that to me." Once they kiss, she jumps out of his arms.
      "I sure do. Let's get started on this stuff. You blow the balloons and I'll set up the banners."
      20 minutes pass by and Melvin comes home with cases of beer and vodka. He walks to the backyard and looks very disappointed.
      "Well, you two are helpless. You're not even using the right decorations. Those are for my costume parties." Melvin says. He walks to a box. "These... are for my 'Timothy Hector 18th bash of all bashes' decorations." Tim and Jazmyn walks up to Melvin embarrassed. Tim picks up a sign and reads:
      "Naked bitches only?"
      Melvin refuses to look at Jazmyn knowing she is mugging him. He sees Tim giving him a stale face.
      "Hey, everyone isn't taken like you. There are some true player ballers, such as myself, that like to see multiple boobies. Not the same reoccurring titties." Melvin explains while pointing at Jazmyn. She gets angry.
      "Fuck you Melvin." Jazmyn says.
      "Whatever."
      The party is near and problem after problem seems to come up. Melvin is frustrated and has never had to go through a big struggle to host a party before. He doesn't care though, because it's all for his best friend. Tim is trying his best to stay happy but he has a hard time. He still thinks about what Jazmyn said last night. Melvin, Tim, and Jazmyn are just finishing up the party decorations. The backyard grass is colored with neon at the tips. The fences are covered with black backdrop. The DJ system is in the back of the backyard facing the house. Banners are set up all around the backyard. Melvin gathers everyone.
      "Okay guys. The party starts in an hour and the DJ still isn't fucking here. Now i have to call this guy."  Melvin frustrations continues and he calls the DJ. "Hey hey Lance, where the hell are you? The party starts at 6 and I told you to be here at 4:30. Look at the time." Lance smokes marijuana with his buddies and laughs.
      "Woah dude. This phone talks." The potheads laugh and Melvin gets angry.
      "What the f-. Are you high? Look man I need you to get here ASAP."
      "ASAP. ASAP. ASAP. What the FUCK does that even mean bro? Since when did you start using big shit words Melvin? Aren't you like dumb or some shit?" Lance starts laughing uncontrollably with his friends and Melvin and hangs up angrily.
     "Fuck." Melvin says out loud.
     "What's wrong dude?" Tim asks.
     "The fucking DJ bailed. Nevermind that, I'll figure it out." He looks at Jazmyn. "What's left on the list?" Jazmyn walks up with the list.
      "Nothing left. We're all done." She replies.
      "Okay i guess-" Melvin's sentence is cut off as he hears a car honk in the front yard. Tim, Melvin, and Jazmyn look at each other and walks to the front. Jazmyn two friends, Cici and Taylor are in the driveway. Jazmyn runs up to their car screaming.
      "Oh my gosh! I'm so happy you can make it." Taylor and Cici gets out the car and hugs Jazmyn. They walk up to the front door towards Melvin and Tim.
      "Happy Birthday Tim!" Said simultaneously by Cici and Taylor.
      "Aww thank you so much. It means a lot to me."
      "Well well well, if it isn't the short sweet one and the thick mean one. How are you fine Ladies doing today?" Melvin asks.
      "Seriously Melvin you need to find better ways to speak to a lady," says Cici.
      "Yeah with your nasty facial hair. You should really fix that before you host this party. You make me want to throw up," Taylor adds.
      Cici, Jazmyn, and Taylor walks past Melvin and gives him the hand. Melvin rubs his facial hair and sees nothing wrong with it. Tim laughs at Melvin.
      "That's a lot of game you've got there bro." Tim says. He laughs and walks inside. Melvin sits there thinking as another car pulls up. He gets excited as he notices his friend Jake gets out of the car.
      "Jake The Snake! What it do?" Jake walks up and shakes Melvin's hand. "So Jake, I need you to do me the greatest favor ever. Remember how back in the day you used to make those beats and people would rap to them?"
      "Where is this going man?" Jake asks.
      "Listen. My DJ punked out on me." Melvin moves in closer to Jake's ear and whispers. "And there's supposed to be over 400 people here tonight. So I need you to make those over 400 people happy and bless them with your musical magic." Jake contemplates for a few seconds.
     "I don't know man. I'm still mad about the last party man. I'm pretty sure Taylor did that shit to me. That was foul yo." Melvin tries to control his laughter.
     "Listen, that won't happen again my guy. Just come check this out." Melvin gestures Jake to the backyard. He shows Jake the DJ equipment. "All for you baby."
     "Nice quip you got here." Melvin steps up on the DJ booth with Jake.
     "Give me a taste of what you can do and I'll pay you $100 cash," Melvin says. Jake starts to play party music and grabs the microphone.
      "Lemme give a special shoutout to the birthday boy Tim Hect. Happy Birthday bro." Jake points to Tim and laughs. The beat drops and Cici, Jazmyn, and Taylor starts dancing and screaming. Melvin gets impressed with Jake's musical selection.
      "You know what? Here's 100 dollars in advance." Melvin digs in his pocket to give Jake the money. The music stops and Melvin grabs everyone's attention.
      "Listen people. It's 5:30. People will start arriving here in no time. I'm going to lock up the house. Tim, Happy Birthday Fucker." Melvin walks inside.
      As Melvin is walking outside the front door to lock up, he notices a familiar looking car. The car is driving down his street in a zig-zag motion until it hits a pole. Melvin's eyes widen in disbelief of who gets out of the car. He starts to gather their attention.
      "YO LANCE, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Melvin walks closer to the car. The three potheads stumble out the car laughing.
      "This is where the galaxy ends, Correct? Dude, this has been a wild day bro. Holy fucking shit." Lance continues to walk towards Melvin's direction in a sluggish matter. "First we meet this big ass gorilla, and he's all friendly or whatever until he starts to growl and shit. I'm like bro, you need to chill with that shit man. He must've tooken some like roids or some shit. But look, somehow bro... I did some like... some like... fuckery... and I punched his ass. Killed him. Pow! Right on spot. Then we go into this fucking Galaxy dude. And I'm talking milky way type shit broham, like I'm flying and shit. All of a sudden, I'm flying out of a space shuttle to over here. Where the fuck are we at bro? Shit I'm hungry. I need space pussy." Melvin shakes his head as he watches the other two pot heads try to smoke tree leaves. He is speechless for a while.
      "Lance, go home dude." Melvin finally says.
      "But dude-."
      "I don't care how you get there, just get there. Catch my drift?"
      "Woah dude. Drift." Lance stops and thinks. He turns back to his friends. "Alright dudes, let's drift out of here." He turns back to Melvin. "Thanks man. If you ever need some like space shit, you know where to come my dude." Melvin stands there in shock of how over the influence the three potheads were. As they start to drive off, Melvin doesn't care where they go, even though he knows they can severely hurt themselves. He notices the music being played in the backyard and realized people have been arriving.
      Tim starts to walk up to Melvin and sees that Melvin is greeting people as they walk to the backyard.
      "Hey Melv, I just wanted to say thank you for all this. I think I'm going to actually come out of my comfort zone tonight." Melvin looks at Tim like he doesn't know who he is anymore.
      "What's gotten into you?" Melvin asks. Tim gives off a vibe that he is hiding something.
      "Oh, nothing bro. I just realized I should be happy for my birthday."
      "I call your bullshit. Once upon a time, you didn't want me to throw this party, Now all of sudden you want to come out your comfort zone? Who does that shit?" Melvin looks at Tim as if he knows what happened, but Tim reacts.
      "Nah bro, it's not that. I promise. Jazmyn just talked to me that's all." Melvin stale faces Tim and disregards what he just said. He digs into his cooler and hands Tim a beer.
      "Enjoy enjoy." Tim looks at the beer and opens it. He takes a sip with a nervous look on his face.
      "Hmm. Not bad." Tim walks to the backyard and sees a little over 40 people. People scream Happy Birthday to him. Tim laughs.
      "Thank you guys," he says. Melvin walks up to Jake.
      "Start 'em off with some slight work," Melvin says. Jake winks at Melvin and Melvin starts to walk over to Tim leaning on the wall. "Okay so let me give you the run down. Party. In order for a party to be a party. You need drunken girls, horny guys, party monsters, music, open space, and more importantly, the most important thing out of all. Without this, the party would be lame. You always need.... The mood setter. They start the wildness and make the party fun. Now you see those girls over there?" He gestures towards a group of girls with revealing clothing on. He continues. "They are the prep, nasty girls. When I start my act in a few, they'll be the ones dancing right along with me. I call them the Mood-Set Sidekicks. You see those guys over there?" He points to four guys and continues. "They are the wolves." Melvin howls and Tim backs up. "They are hunting for any girl over a 6, maybe even 5, to do get it in with. I kinda fall in that group too." Tim stale faces Melvin.
      "You don't say."
      "Anyways, everybody else will just fall into place. The puzzle fitters. There's about 80 people here at the moment and everyone's in chill mood right. That will turn into party mood. After that, it gets better and better. The complete turn up. Now watch my magic." Melvin walks away from Tim and heads to the back of the backyard. "DJ Jakey Jake let's go."
Jake is sitting down on the DJ booth talking to a girl. He seems to be preoccupied and doesn't hear what Melvin says until Melvin gathers Jake's attention. Jake tells the girl to wait and he walks over to Melvin below the DJ booth.
      "Yo, Melv I'm working on a little some some right now. Can this hold off for a minute?" Jake asks.
      "No man, this needs to pop off now kid. We are already a little late on the turn up." Jake looks disappointed and walks back up the DJ Booth. He explains to the girl that he has to start the party and gets her number.
      "I'll see you later okay?" Jake says to the girl as she walks away. He stares at her butt as she walks down the DJ booth. Jake sets up the music as a deep base party song comes on. Right when the base drops, Melvin screams and starts dancing on the dance floor. Strobe lights light up the back yard. Within a matter of time, the prep girls gathers around him and starts to dance. Melvin looks over at Tim and smirks. Tim shakes his head as he finally finishes his beer and tosses it.
      A few hours later, Tim walks over to Taylor as she is fixing herself a few drinks.
      "Hey Tay," Tim says.
      "Hey Birthday boy. How is your birthday so far."
      "Oh it's great, but uhh, your friend Cici?" Taylor gives Tim a concerned look as she sips.
      "Yeah? What about her?" She asks.
      "Is she talking to anyone?"
      "Nah, her and her ex just broke up. Why?" Tim gets a relieving look on his face as he explains.
      "What does she have against Melv?" Taylor gives Tim a vacant look as if Tim already knows. She starts to speak.
      "It's Melvin. Since when did Melvin date? He's probably with a girl right now." Taylor looks determined to find Melvin. As she finds him, she points him out to Tim. "See, and Cici doesn't need that in her life. Her last boyfriend was a jerk." She turns around and starts to fix more drinks as Tim speaks.
      "Look, if anyone knows Melvin it's me. He'd act right if there was just that one girl that can take care of his heart. He's wild, but serious when it is time to get serious. We all know he has had a crush on Cici since middle school. She's a great person. I know she could do it. I'm just trying to help. If you decide not to help, its cool. At least think about it though. I mean she could at least give him one chance right?"
      Taylor has a peering expression as she thinks of the positives of the situation. She turns back around to start fixing drinks again and hands Tim one. She looks at Tim as if he did something impressive. She gives Tim an expression of acceptance and walks away laughing. Tim catches Melvin catching a break leaning on the house. He walks over to him.
      "Melvin how many people are here? This is crazy." Tim says,
      "400. Maybe even 500." Tim looks sour but inside he is blissful.
      "So much for 40," Tim says as if he is dissatisfied.
      "Yup, you and I both know that wasn't gone happen." Melvin spots Jazmyn across the yard. "Hey Jazmyn! Get over here!" She walks over to Melvin and Tim.
      "What's up?"
      "We are going to take shots together. Normally we'd take the number the birthday boy age is, But for now we'll start off with some light. The person who is last drinking has to take three more." They all walk over to the beverage table. Melvin fixes twelve shots. He make sure everyone is ready.
      "Ready. Set. Go." Melvin, Jazmyn, and Tim starts drinking. Melvin drains all four shots in one swallow. "Come on, you gotta do better than that guys," Melvin says bragging. Jazmyn starts laughing as her and Tim are on their last shot together. Jazmyn grabs Tim shot out of his hand and drinks both at the same time. She burps in his face.
      "I beat you," She says.
      "Yeah, and you're disgusting. I think that's enough for you tonight." Tim is wide-eyed as he walks off with Jazmyn. Melvin is glowering as he hold his hands up in a 'where are you going' motion.
      "Hey bitch, you have to take three shots now!" Melvin screams. Tim looks back at Melvin with a smirk and continues walking. "Welp more for me." Melvin takes three more shots and goes to the dance floor as his song comes on. Tim walks with Jazmyn and walks by Cici and Taylor. Taylor grabs Jazmyn from Tim.
      "Get off her. Let her have some fun damn," Taylor says. Tim laughs. Cici, Taylor, and Jazmyn starts dancing on the dancefloor. Tim laughs at them. He starts to feel a little buzzed and spots Melvin across the yard dancing with two girls.
      "Aye Tim, come get in on this," Melvin says while gesturing to Tim. Tim walks up to Melvin because he couldn't hear what he said. As he approaches, one of the girls grab him and starts to dance on him. Tim doesn't want to be mean and tell the girl to move. He just stands there as the girl dances.
      "I have to dance with the birthday boy," The girl says. The drunken girl starts grinding on Tim. Tim starts to move a little, as if he is dancing with her but really, he is just trying to figure out a way out of the sticky situation. From Melvin's perspective, it looks like Tim is dancing with her.
      "That's my boy Timothy motherfucking Hector," Melvin says. Tim starts to go along with it and comes out of his comfort zone. "My boy Timothy is a party animal. I knew I could turn you out bro."
      "Fuck you Melvin. I'm more of a party animal than you now," Tim replies.
      "Nah, let's not go too far now. Watch this."
Melvin runs across the yard to the front of the backyard and climbs his house. He raises his hands and gathers everyone's attention. The music stops and everyone is silent. Melvin pauses and gives Jake a wink. Everyone is awaiting a cue.
      "On the count of three guys! One... two....three..." Fireworks explode in the air. The party starts singing happy birthday to Tim as Jazmyn comes up from behind him and holds him. The last happy birthday is being said as Tim gives off a smile so big, you can see it from behind. Everyone claps as Jazmyn kisses Tim. The crowd gives a huge 'aww'. Melvin points at Jake and does a backflip off the roof and as he lands the music starts back. The crowd screams. Melvin looks at Tim.
      "Turn up mode." Melvin says.