As The Numbers Fall

ten

The amount of days until the ceremony.
The amount of cash I had in my pocket.
The amount of friends I was with.
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Forrest! You made it!" Spoke my friend, Aiden.
I nodded, trying to avoid speaking as much as possible. I wasn't antisocial, I was just shy. Which sometimes meant antisocial...
My best friend, Dylan, turned hearing my name. He approached me right after.
He swung his arm over my shoulder, "Sup Gump. I didn't think you were gonna come." He confesses while I roll my eyes at the nickname. He came up with a new one every time he saw me, each getting stupider as it went.
"To be honest, I wasn't so sure myself. I thought about skipping it." I replied, shrugging. I was a little depressed about the whole ceremony thing. I was every year. Sure I was excited too, but everything had gone way too fast.
"Cheer up." Dylan encouraged. "The ceremony isn't for ten days. We still have time!"
"Thanks Dyl. I know I should be happy. I will be. Let's not ruin the mood. Pizza!" I said, feigning excitement, Dylan could tell I wasn't happy but he let it drop.
We were at a "party" that one of our friends was having. Why? In our friend group, there never was a reason to have a party other than to have a party. The current "party" was just us eleven chilling out, watching movies, and playing video games.
This time we're located in Haileigh's basement with several boxes of pizza, cans of soda, and various snacks scattered on the offcentered coffee table. I could see all my friends.
The triplets, Noah, Natalie, and Nicole were squeezed together on a loveseat throwing popcorn into each others mouths. They're laughing and making jokes. I had always been jealous of them, they'd been born with built-in best friends.
Haileigh, Lynn, Sophia, and Jason were sat in the middle of the floor. It appeared that Sophia and Jason were arguing over which movie to watch first. I knew that we would end up watching whatever movie it was that Jason picked. Sophia was a bit of a pushover.
In the corner, sitting on a gigantimum bean bag, resided Aidan and Jeremiah.
I stood on the stairs for a moment, mentally preparing myself for the dead end conversations and fake smiles. Dylan nudged my shoulder and walked forward. I followed him, knowing that's what he wanted me to do.
Dylan walked over and jumped on the bean bag which sent Aidan flying into the air. Aidan was the smallest and youngest of us all, he was the only freshman that hang out with us. Jeremiah just fell backwards and began laughing at Aidan, as did almost everyone else.
I took a seat next to Lynn on the floor.
"Hey Forrest." Lynn said. I met most of these idiots junior high, we've been having these 'parties' ever since then. Habit, I guess.
"Hey, Lynne. What movie are we watching?" I asked, trying to keep a conversation going.
"Whichever one Jason picked." She laughed, and motioned to Jason doing a happy dance and mocking Sophia. Sophia smiled and rolled her eyes. To anyone else, it might seem she has a crush on him but Sophia liked girls and Jason liked boys. Sorry, "men".
So there is that. The whole bunch of us. The popular. The loud. The quiet. The fangirl. The fanboy. The gay. The undecided. The all around okay. The music lovers. The sports fanatics. The shy. The outgoing. The prankster. We are us. And we're happy.
Well, almost.
We all acted happy and calm, trying to enjoying our last few days where we're truly together. Deep inside, we were all scared. Sad. Anxious. We awaited the ceremony in spite of its gloomy ending to our happiness.
I looked around at all of my friends. Wishing that this day would never end.