I Dare You

Chapter 25

Anne engulfed me in her arms when I walked through the door. "Addy! Gemma told me you were coming." I smiled at her politely and at the lady next to her. "Oh, this is Marcel's aunt. Christine. Christine this is Addy, Marcel's girlfriend." I cringed a little at that word. I haven't been introduced as his girlfriend before. Maybe they didn't notice. "Hello." She gave me a light handshake.

"I've heard a lot about you."

"I hope it was all good." I said, trying to be playful when I was actually thinking about Marcel telling his family about me. I wonder how many other people he told about me. "Of course!" She laughed with Anne. I didn't know what to do, so I laughed slightly. This was already way too awkward. Maybe it was a bad idea to come.

"There's Gemma." I heard Christine say.

"Finally. I thought you'd never get here."

"I didn't realize it was such a long drive from my house." She grabbed my ehand,"I'll introduce her to the others." Gemma pulled me away towards the dining room where there was a lot more people. "Want something to drink?" I nodded my head. "Be right back." She walked into another room and disappeared from my view. "You must be Addy?" I turned around to a shaggy haired boy.

"How did you know?"

"I heard a lot about you," he smirked.

"Has everyone heard about me?"

"Nah," he shrugged. "But most of us have."

"Uh, cool. You are.."

"Matt. Gemma and Marcel's cousin." He stuck his hand out for me to shake. I hesitantly shook it. "It's my party. I'm the birthday boy," he rambled. "Yeah, I know."

"Oh, you looked a little confused." I shook my head at his comment.

"Happy Birthday."

"Thanks," he beamed. Darting my eyes around to look for any sign of Marcel, he started talking again.

"I'm not sure where he is. Marcel. His band is out in the garden though."

"Oh," was all I could manage to say.

"They won't tell me what they're playing, but they're good. I promise. I didn't just have them play because my cousin was in the band." He laughed. "I have a reputation to keep. I would be the talk throughout this small little town if they sucked," he joked. I forced a laugh at what was supposed to be a joke. "Here you go." Gemma handed me a clear, plastic cup of an orange drink."Thanks," I mumbled.

"I see you met Matt, the chatty one."

"I am not chatty. Am I?" He looked at me.

"Uh, a little," I said shyly.

"Really? I don't think so. I guess you could say that I was opinionated but I would never consider myself-"

"okay Matt!" Gemma said. He laughed at the annoyance he caused her, I just sipped the fruity drink dodging my eyes from this awkward situation.

"Everyone! Everyone look over here please! The rest of the party will now be held outside!" A boy with black, long hair announced. People started walking towards the door with their drinks in their hands. "Hey! Someone needs to grab the food! We need that!" Some people laughed and stopped to grab food, but we just kept walking out to the garden. I stayed close to Gemma with Matt on my left side. I looked to where the band was set up when we finally got outside. There was a drum set, two guitars, and a mic stand.

Behind the mic stand was the boy that I had become so fond of. Without his glasses and his formal attire, I barely recognized him. Even though he fit in with the band, he still stood out. His erect posture created a big difference between his band mates' slouched one. He stared at me intensely with no expression on his face. His eyebrow twitched a little before he broke his gaze. It felt like I could finally breathe again. Gemma looked at me then at Marcel then looked away. He was mad at me, I knew it. I am finding more and more reasons why I shouldn't be here right now. I sighed deeply listening in on Matt and Gemma's conversation, but I couldn't focus. I could only focus on Marcel extending his fingers to fix his jumper. Waves of his brown hair shooting out from his beanie. His green eyes looked at me again. I think we were both trying to read each other's minds. I spent extra time trying to look right for him, but he probably didn't notice. But he knows that I'm surprised to see him like this, so casual. He looks so cool and collected. "Is everyone here?" The boy on the drums called out. I looked around at the crowd of people standing in the garden. Some were talking and eating, ignoring the band. Others, like myself, were waiting for the band to perform, creating a small audience in front of them. I chose to stay towards the back of the crowd. Marcel cleared his throat and held the microphone with both hands. "Happy Birthday Matty!" He shouted, a huge smile on his face, quickly breaking into a laugh. Matty whooped with a few other boys. "This song is a White Eskimo original, so you better like it." A few chuckles were heard from the crowd of people. "We worked damn hard on this!" The drummer called out. Many more laughs were heard.