Sparkler Snapshots

XXIII | Jason Deru-No

"Raise a glass to freedom, something they can never take away." – Laurens, Hamilton: An American Musical

Date: July 4th, 2017

Occasion:
Fourth of July
Independence Day

Country: United States

Summary:
Fletcher is married to Emily
Declan is Emily and Fletcher's son
Faith is married to Tristan
Abby is Faith and Tristan's daughter
Erin is married to Alex
Andrew is Erin and Alex's son

■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □

XXIII | Jason Deru-No

"Out of the way, peasants! Cakes coming through!" Erin shouted as everyone in the kitchen scattered like confetti from a party popper.

Alex, supporting three small cakes because he protested that he was more than able to carry just one, weaved expertly through the throng of friends and set it down on the table carefully. He let out a sigh of relief that the cakes had managed to remain intact for the past few minutes, because with the kids running around, including Fletcher and Erin, the candles were likely to have shot straight off the icing and set someone's hair on fire.

"They look amazing!" Emily exclaimed, admiring the thick icing, glittering red, white and blue rock candy, and gorgeous silver sprinkles. Alex and Erin high-fived each other and shared a peck on the lips as everyone else in the vicinity either 'aww'ed or groaned.

"Question," Fletcher interjected as he walked up to them and slung an arm around Emily, who jabbed him in the ribs. He flinched and flipped her off before continuing. "How are these cakes not burnt or on fire? And do we know you guys didn't poison them?"

"First question," Alex answered, "just because my wife can't bake, doesn't mean I can't." Erin punched her husband in the shoulder as he recoiled under her deathly glare. "What? I'm just speaking the truth! And for the second question, how do you know I didn't?" He swiped his finger across the blue icing and popped it in his mouth with a wink.

"Because you just ate your supposedly poisoned icing, stupid," Erin retorted, still affronted by Alex's insult. She turned to their children, who were lounging on the sofas, each on their phone. "Oi, pipsquirts! Stop texting and come chat with your elders."

Abby raised her head from where she'd been texting Quinn, one of her new best friends and Andrew's girlfriend. "You should come chat with us! After all, you're the kids here," she called. Declan snickered while Andrew blocked out the world around him, fingers flying furiously over the keys to reach Quinn.

The cute duo had met at a ski lodge around Christmas. That was why Andrew and his sister, who was in Minnesota and couldn't make it to the Fourth of July gathering, were stuck in a snowstorm during the days leading up to December last year, though the former was happy to be gooey with his new sweetheart. Abby, on the other hand, became friends with Quinn once she was introduced to the family. Fletcher insisted on buying her a sushi combo from his favourite Japanese food store, along with peanut butter ice cream from a local ice cream shop.

"Stop being rude to your elders," Tristan reprimanded Abby as he and Faith entered the room, disoriented at the explosion of red, white and blue in all its American glory.