Aiden’s father picked Aiden up from Maddie's at five and drove both of them to the birthday party, telling them that Maddie’s Mother would be the one to pick them up at ten, since he had to work a late shift at the hospital.
"You'll be fine, Mads," Aiden turned to her. "We'll be fine."
Maddie smiled, noticing that her best friend was just as nervous as she was, and that instantly made her feel so much better.
"Nervous?" Aiden asked Maddie, and she nodded. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, the adrenaline in full swing. She hated that feeling.
"Thanks Aiden."
"Anytime," he smiled back and threw his arm over her shoulder. "Now, I think that there is a piece of birthday cake with my name written all over it," he pointed toward the front door.
Once inside, the sounds of loud screams and excited squeals were thick in the air. Maddie immediately relaxed as she spotted that everyone was just hanging around in either the living room or the kitchen around the table of desserts. No one was making out like she thought they would be.
There was almost every kind of dessert imaginable including the four C's: candy, chips, cookies, and cake, and what a cake it was. Both Aiden and Maddie stopped right in front of it, the bright green frosting tantalizing their young eyes and making their mouths water.
"It looks so good," Aiden commented and Maddie nodded her head and agreed. The two had a bit of a penchant for dessert; if there was chocolate or sugar around, Aiden and Maddie would always be around as well.
"Yeah, I think it's chocolate. It smells really good," she replied as she bent down to take a whiff of the delicious looking concoction. Aiden bent down and mimicked her action, his eyes rolling into his head as the chocolate goodness infiltrated his senses.
"I can't wait to eat it."
"Me either," Frankie Ben answered from behind Maddie
"Happy birthday Frankie," both she and Aiden greeted him handing over the gifts they had bought him. Maddie had bought him a Mario Kart shirt and Aiden had bought Frankie a new skateboard.
"Thanks, and thanks for coming. I would say you could have some cake, but my mum says no one can have it yet, but it looks super awesome." Maddie and Aiden nodded, dazedly. The two loved their desserts.
"Well, walk around a bit. There are tons of people here, and tons of other food you can have. I think there might by ice cream somewhere in here if you need something sweet to snack on," he informed them, and both of their eyes widened as they looked at each other. As soon as Frankie walked away, they began their quest for the ice cream.
"Where is it?" Aiden asked exasperated and Maddie shook her head.
"I don't know, but it is calling my name," she chuckled as the two walked down the long table in the kitchen and finally found the large tub of ice cream at the end of the spread.
"Ice cream!" Aiden rejoiced as he walked up to the large container, reading the label to see what kind it was.
"What does Swiss dark chocolate ice cream taste like?" he turned to ask Maddie and she shrugged her shoulders.
"I have no idea, but scoop me some and I'll let you know."
"Oh heck no, Maddie. Me first," he bumped her aside as he plopped a scoop of the treat onto a sugar cone. He took a languid lick of it and smiled brightly at Maddie, a line of chocolate coating the top of his upper lip.
"Is it good?" Maddie asked and Aiden nodded.
"It's incredible. Best flavor EVER!" he enthusiastically replied and handed his cone over to Maddie to taste. She took a quick lick of it and immediately it felt like her taste buds had awakened from a never-ending sleep.
"Whoa, it's so good," she gushed as she took another lick of it before Aiden pulled his cone out of her hand.
"Well get some for yourself," he taunted as he started to walk away, but he turned around and handed her the cone and scooped some more ice cream for the top of her cone and one for himself.
Three hours.
That's how long it had taken before Frankie got to eat his cake, have everyone sing to him, and have his parent's head upstairs to leave them all be.
Three hours.
That's how long it took before Maddie felt like throwing up as everyone started moving the furniture around to open up a large space in the middle of the living room. As soon as the coffee table was pushed to the wall next to where the couch was now sprawled, kids started to sit down in a circle and Maddie knew what was coming.
"Oh god," she groaned, quietly and immediately Aiden's hand found purchase on her shoulder.
"You'll be fine," he reassured her. He squeezed her shoulder lightly and took a seat next to Nicole. She made to sit down next to Aiden, but Kerry ran across the room and quickly placed herself next to him.
"Hi, Aiden," she greeted flicking her hair and blinking stupid, Maddie had to stifle a laugh as Aiden grimaced. He had been successfully avoiding her all night. She made to help Aiden out but was called away by Joe.
"Maddie, come sit down next to me," he suggested, and Maddie nodded, thanking the dim lighting for hiding the blush creeping along her face. She turned to Aiden who was trying to pry Kerry's hands off his arm. He smiled knowingly at her as she took a seat beside her crush.
Everyone was seated in the circle waiting for Frankie to return with a soda bottle to begin the game. Moments later, the tiny boy walked in, a two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola in his hand. He stepped right into the center of the circle.
"The rules are simple. I'm pretty sure everyone knows how to play 'Spin the bottle'. You spin the bottle, and whoever it lands on you have to kiss. If you land on that person more than once, you head over to the closet for seven minutes with that person. Whoever the bottle lands on will be the next person to spin. Since it's my party I'll go first," he announced and everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
Maddie sat with legs crossed, seemingly looking calm, but she was chewing away the little nubs she had the nerve to call nails. It was nerve-racking to watch the bottle spin. The letters would spin away and all she could see was the red of the label twirling about.
The first victim of the night was Angela and she had to kiss Frankie. Maddie thought it was going to be a simple tap on the lips, but apparently the rules were that it had to be an actual kiss, five seconds or longer in length and tongue was always a plus.
For forty minutes Maddie watched as her classmates had to kiss each other. They hadn't really gotten through too many people because they kept laughing at the odd pairings. There had been a few funny moments, like when Joe had to kiss Tyler. They chickened out and shook hands instead, but the distraction had served as a bit of a relief until Maddie watched Aiden have to kiss some girl Maddie later learned was Frankie's cousin. It had been awkward to watch, especially since it looked like the girl was trying to eat Aiden's lips off his face.
Maddie chuckled to herself as she watched Aiden wipe away the girl's sticky, cherry coloured lipstick off his lips. He looked disgusted by the whole thing. He sent Maddie a look of revulsion as he reached for the bottle to spin it.
Maddie watched the bottle spin again, noting that many of the girls around her, started to lick their lips and straighten their postures. Maddie knew how many girls, all of them, had a crush on her best friend. She couldn't even begin to count how many girls had come up to her at the beginning of the school year to ask if she and Aiden were dating. She told them all that they weren't and never would and they all left her after that, skipping gleefully at the knowledge.
Maddie watched amused at all the girl's antics. That was until she noticed the cap of the bottle pointing directly at her.
