Everlong

| Sixteen: Charlie |

Ellie and I were sitting on the floor of Ralph's den, blowing up balloons with helium. A soft hum came from Miles as he selected songs on his laptop, compiling them all onto a playlist. Jack turned nineteen tomorrow, and we were throwing him a surprise party tonight. Ralph, being one of those dads who cracked a cold one with their kids by at least eighteen, agreed to give us the house for the night. As long as we didn't get into any trouble, and cleaned up by the time he got back, he'd have no issues.

Ralph wasn't exactly allowed around too much alcohol these days anyway, and being that having a sober nineteenth wasn't exactly in the spirit of Jack, he figured it was best if he spent the night at his mate's house.

Jack would be at the garage until half past seven, which meant we only had four hours to turn this place from a cute cottage that was noticeably decorated by a dad that had no idea what he was doing, to a comfortable place to have a rager.

"I know it's Jack's birthday," Miles groaned from his spot on the couch. Ellie was leaning against his legs amongst a pile of balloons. "But Rick Astley is already on here like four times."

"Make sure you're adding some middle-ground songs that everyone likes," Ellie reminded him. "Like, I love Jack, but only hip eighties dads appreciate his music."

"It's okay," I argued, earning two pointed looks. "For pop music, I mean. There should definitely be some classics in there. And maybe some super mainstream stuff for the kids."

Miles and Ellie looked at each other, grinning slightly. I rolled my eyes. "Excuse me, but I absolutely refused to be a third wheel. So, stop looking at each other like that and get into an argument about corn chips again."

"Literally everyone likes spicy Doritos," Miles started.

"I don't!"

We got to work, hanging up streamers and balloons and fairly lights. We took down Ralph's movie posters and replaced them with cheesy signs. Miles helped me set up the sound system while Ellie sorted out the drinks and snacks.

"I feel like we got too much stuff," Ellie criticised our stash. And to be fair, the three of us had collectively spent three hundred dollars, and wifirth Ralph's large donation to the party fund, there was a lot there.

"I don't know, I think we really needed the fourteen bottles of coke," Miles laughed, straightening them so they lined up nicer.

"I mean, what else are we gonna mix the four bottles of Fireball whiskey with?" I laughed, examining our stash of alcohol. "There is enough here to kill the whole hockey team. Damn, we should've invited them."

"No, but seriously," Ellie said. "We should have an ambulance on stand-by."

"It'll be fine," Miles said with a wave of his hand. "Though, I'm just gonna hide these ones." He scooped up an armful of bottles and put them in the cupboard.

We knew we were all being ridiculous about this party, but it's the first one Jack's had since he was fourteen. He couldn't really have an eighteenth because he was still on probation, and as fun as getting a grocery store mud cake and pretending like our glasses of cordial were cocktails was, it just didn't feel right.

Plus, Miles and Jack really liked getting up to no good. Ellie told me a story about the two of them breaking into the local swimming pool, doing a bomb, and then getting banned for life. They didn't press charges because Miles' dad is a big shot lawyer, and pretty much everyone was scared shitless of that guy. He could empty any bank account and get out of any lawsuit. That's why he was so helpful in Jack's case.

I glanced up at the clock. "People will be getting here soon, and we have to get ready."

Miles scratched the back of his neck. "Right. I think I'm going to go and get changed, too."