Me With Him

chapter thirteen

I woke up at seven a.m. on Saturday. I had a lot to do before the party. So I texted the guys and told them to be at my house in an hour. I got in the shower got clean and stuff got out and blow dried my hair. I curled it just a little bit. I put on black shorts and a white frilly tee shirt. My friends showed up right on time. Colbilyne was using the old streamers to make color wheel table cloths for the outdoor tables to help. They were bright and beautiful. Carter and Cason were setting out the food on the long table. It smelled amazing.  Harrold hooked up an entire speaker system outside. I was blown away. Justin blew up colorful balloons and taped them to everything everywhere. It was beautiful.  I finished putting out the plates and cups and thanked my friends Harrold started the music since everyone would start arriving soon. We got in position to start greeting people. Nick showed up first. He was supposed to help set up, but he said he woke u p late. He put his arm around Colbilyne and Carter put his arm around me. Justin said he didn't invite Courtney because they were in a fight. I felt bad but stayed quiet so I didn't accidentally offend him.
My cousin Miranda arrived next, she brought her foster mom.
''Hello Miranda, and this must be your foster mom.'' I greeted them.
''Yeah hey the party looks awesome, are these your new friends?'' Miranda asked.
''Yeah these are the guys. Guys this is my cousin Miranda.'' They all said hey and Justin walked her to the food. Next to arrive was my grandparents from mom's side. They never liked my brothers, this would be fun.
''Hey gran, hey papap.'' I greeted them.
''Who is the one with his arm around my granddaughter?'' Papap asked.
''Papap this is Carter and these are the guys.''
''Oh, he better watch it. Don't forget your mom's mistakes.''
''Oh Papap my brothers aren't mistakes.'' I laughed a little. Gran took his arm and pulled him away shaking her head. Then Kiethon showed up. I hugged him and Carter introduced himself and shook his hand without taking his arm away from me. Then Aron and Arnold came, they both got a hug and Carter greeted them the same way.  When Kyle showed up I shook his hand without a smile.
''Hello Kyle.'' I greeted him.
''Hey brat. Happy birthday.'' He responded. He put me in a headlock and I flipped him over, landing on top of him and grinning widely. He fist bumped Carter and joined the party.
When Brody's car pulled up I yanked away from Carter and ran toward it. When he got out I crashed into him. I hugged him tight as tears streamed down my face.
''Come on birthday girl, don't cry.'' He said to me. Lifting my chin and wiping the tears.
''I missed you and your big ears'' I smiled. His wife and two kids jumped out of the car.
''Hey sista.'' I said to his wife Clara
''Hey C.J.'' she responded. She scolded my nieces for pulling out the grass before going to join the party. My nieces hugged me and we all went to join the party.
''Brody this is Carter. He's my boyfriend.'' I introduced them. Carter shook his hand and said it was a pleasure before Justin pulled him away.
''He seems nice. How did you meet?'' He asked me.
''It's actually a funny story. He punched me in the face. But then Cason and Harrold saw the bruise and yelled at me. Then I went to the football field in the rain, in a tank top and Carter found me and scolded me about getting sick because of the rain. Which I did. But back to the story. He gave me his jacket and took me home and apologized profusely. Like alot.'' My brother looked amused by the story. his wife called him away and I began to mingle. Carter and Brody seemed to get along great, and I loved that. Finally it was time for my big announcement.
''Can I have your attention please, everyone, it's time for a big family tradition, done by our relatives for years past and years to come, so everyone that is able bodied I reserved a 100 by 50 yard square in the yard for FOOTBALL'' I announced. We gathered and me and Brody were captains. He let me pick first.
''Cason.'' I called. He joined me and I ruffled his hair
''Well I feel the love.'' Carter faked annoyance.
''Sorry but you know the rule, bro's before... whatever you are.'' I said sarcastically. Brody picked Harrold and I chose Carter. He chose kyle and I chose Kiethon, then I got Aron and he got Arnold. The game began. We ran the first play with gran as referee. Cason was qb and Carter was his blocker, Aron was another blocker and Kiethon and I were runners. Cason got the ball and ran for it,  Carter blocked Arnold but Aron failed to block Kyle. When Cason realized he was going down he threw the ball to me. I caught it and ran for the end zone when I made it Cason high-fived me and we went back to playing. It was halftime when an uninvited guest showed up with a pink and green present box. Cason ran to greet him, my first thought about the stranger was...
He stole my eyes!
Then it hit me, all of my brothers were giving him dirty looks of pure hatred and so were my grandparents. Brody picked me up and I struggled as he carried me into the house. I ran back outside after a few minutes of fighting Brody, but the strange man was gone. All that was left of him was the shiny pink box with green ribbons. The only proof my dad was real was in that box. When it was present time, since no-one wanted to finish the game, that box was what I was determined to get. I got a scarf from gran and Papap, a camouflage sweater from Kyle, a silver bracelet from Carter, a make up kit from Aron and Arnold, and a leather jacket from Brody. Finally Cason gave me his gift, I looked forward to his gift every year, it was a silver and red tee shirt that was really old looking this year.
''It was mom's.'' He said simply.
I hugged him tight and whispered a thank you. They reluctantly gave me dad's gift. I unwrapped it carefully. It was mom's memory book, the only thing he took when he left, it had pictures of me and my brothers, they had lots of pictures but since mom passed when I was so little the only one of me was in the very back, I was a toddler on my dad's shoulders blowing bubbles. It was oddly heavy, I thanked everyone for coming and ran to my room. I shook the memory book and a pink flip phone fell out, it only had one programmed number, dad.