Dilemmas

14

The car pulled over on a space not far from Caleb's house.

Mom turned to face Shaun, who decided to dress in a sea green shirt that had a doodle of a shark with the words: Bite me. He found some dark blue denim in his closet and decided to wear it today.

"Do you have the present?" Mom asked.

Shaun placed his hand on a box wrapped in red with a yellow ribbon. "Yes, Mom," he replied, annoyed. "Can you get me down now?"

"Okay, sweetie," she answered as Shaun opened the door. "You have the phone. If you want me to pick you up, just make a call."

Shaun was stepping out of the car with the gift. "Yeah. Thanks." Then he was about to close the door.

But then Mom interrupted, "Shaun. You won't leave me like that without a kiss."

He groaned in annoyance. "Fine." Then he leaned on the car and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"See? Happy now?"

"Don't be so grumpy!" she chided. "You're going to your best friend's party. Anyways, gotta go. See you!"

Shaun closed the door without saying another word. But he waved goodbye when she sped off. Good riddance, he thought to himself. He held the gift with both his hands as he carried it to the front of the door.

But at least she was right about one thing. He was attending his best friend's birthday party, after all.

Shaun stood in front of the massive gate looming above him. It casted a shadow beneath his feet. Apparently because he estimated it to be around ten feet tall. Pretty huge for a gate, he thought. It's my first time here anyway.

"Hello?" he called out. At the corner of his eye, he saw a CCTV camera looking straight at him. He turned to face it. "Caleb? If you could hear me, could you open the gate?"

Shaun turned a thumbs up sideways, so the thumb was pointing at the gate. He did this for a few seconds, but nothing happened.

He sighed. Now all he had to do wait.

He sat down and placed the gift beside him. He just looked at the road when he heard the gate open. Shaun turned and saw Caleb standing there and grinning. He wore a gray hoodie and black jogging pants. The Nike shoes glistened in the morning sun.

Shaun stood up. "Was I late?"

"No," Caleb replied. "You're early. You should come in."

-

"I can't handle how big your house is, bro," Shaun muttered under his breath, taken away by the glass chandeliers and the windows. It looked like one of those hotels he'd go to during vacation.

Caleb waved his hand away dismissively. "Heh. It's nothing."

"Nothing?" he exclaimed, his voice echoing around the room. Every time they walked, the marble floors made the familiar sound of shoes bumping the floor. "Bro, this is huge!"

"It's not our house," Caleb said quickly. "It's my aunt's."

"But still—it's so big!"

Caleb laughed as he placed the blue headphones wrapped around his neck on the table close to the stairs. "You should sit at those couches there." He patted at one of them. "Make yourself at home."

Shaun dropped to the couch. "Thanks man."

"I gotta call the others," Caleb said as the steps echoed around the room. Shaun looked up and saw him climbing the stairs that curved above him.