Him & Her

Ch.21

Ch21

At 7:00 that night, Elizabeth's parents left the house and Henry came. They began decorating the living room, pushing tables towards the walls, making a large open space in the middle of the room. Then Henry started to pour chips and popcorn into a bowl and got the drinks ready, while Elizabeth decorated the living room with banners and balloons. When they were done the place looked amazing. There was a table in the living room that was full of chips, cookies, popcorn, plastic plates and cups, coke, and the big cake that Elizabeth had gotten. The cake was decorated with colourful icing drawn as fireworks against a chocolate background that must've been the night sky and in the middle, written with vanilla was a 'Happy New Years', in pretty handwriting. Balloons floated to the ceiling and some lay on the couches and tables around the sides of the room. Colourful banners hung on the walls, giving the place a cheerful spirit.

Henry stood back and examined their work. He nodded, "I like it even better than last year."

"Ya, we did a pretty good job." Elizabeth agreed, resting her arm on his shoulder.

"So, when's everybody else gonna come?"

"Just Brandon. I told him to come at 9:00."

"No Cole?"

"No." Elizabeth sighed, "It's ok, really. It'll be fun not to be around him for a while."

"You suck at lying." Henry said, ruffling her hair.

"I don't really wanna talk about it." Elizabeth said, kicking a balloon.

"Ok then." Henry paused, "What're we gonna do for half an hour?"

"Wait."

"Are you kidding me? We should pick what to do first: watch a movie or dance?" Henry asked.

"I think we should watch a movie first and then dance until it becomes twelve. How long is the movie?" Elizabeth said.

Henry grabbed the DVD off the table and looked at the back. His eyes searched until he found it. He said, "It's about an hour and a half long."

"Cool. So we'll have about an hour and a half to dance."

"Ya, you're right." Henry smiled, "Now what?"

"Ugh! I don't know. Just wait." Elizabeth replied.

So they sat on one of the couches, brushing off the balloons, and waited.

•••

Half an hour later, the doorbell rang and both Elizabeth and Henry jumped up to get it. Henry reached the door first and yanked it open. Brandon stood, wearing a blue shirt and jeans, smiling, "So, where's the party?"

Elizabeth smiled, "Inside, come on."

They led him to the living room and he whistled, "You guys really went all in with this thing. I wish I had helped, why didn't you guys tell me that you were gonna decorate the whole place?"

"There was no need to." Henry replied, "So let's get started, grab some popcorn and a drink, we're watching Nightmare on Elm Street."

Elizabeth looked at him, "What?"

Henry and Brandon laughed. Henry said, "Don't worry, this has nothing to do with your nickname."

So they all took what they wanted, put the DVD in, and sat down. Henry sat on the couch facing the tv, while Elizabeth and Brandon sat on the floor in front of him, a blanket below them. They turned off the lights and Elizabeth pressed play.

Brandon whispered to her, "This was not my idea of a party, but it's nice."

"Henry and I do this every year, it's kind of like a tradition." Elizabeth replied.