Life As We Know It

Chapter 17

RILEY'S POV

An hour, a whole hour since I put the responsibility of Del's birthday party in Mikey's and the other guy's hands. Del and I had went out to the park to keep her distracted while they set up for the party.

She had asked quite the amount of questions but somehow I had gotten her thoughts directed towards a different direction.

Suddenly my phone buzzes:

Mikey: Hey baby, you guys can come back now.

Although he was my best friend, the fact he called me baby it made me feel tingly. But being with Mikey was something I had never imagined or never truly felt right in my heart. He's my friend, nothing more nothing less.

Me: Okay, we're leaving now

Mikey: okay ;)

I didn't know how to respond him, without making a fool of myself so I didn't respond.

"Del honey, it's time to go" I said gently.

"Okay mommy. But what's a blue waffle? The big lady kept telling that small boy about a blue waffle." She replied while looking up at me.

"Delilah don't ever say that again. Don't mind it okay." I said quickly, trying to avoid this conversation.

I grabbed her hand and we shuffled towards my car. I buckled her into her seat, and drove off. After 10 minutes of driving and cursing out a guy who had the audacity to park in the middle lane, we finally arrived at Ashton's house.

I turned and faced towards Del on the front porch. I gently and quickly put a blindfold on her. I tugged on her hands to have her walk forward.

I opened the door to find the guys giggling and everyone dressed in green. I see Annie and Aliya hiding behind the couch.

Then there's a sight that almost makes me sob right on the spot. I see my two brothers and two sisters. They're all giggling and are covering their mouths.

Mikey gives me a nod as saying, take off the blindfold. I slowly and carefully remove the blindfold from her face.

Her facial expression was priceless. She hid behind my leg, a sign of being shy. I wonder who she got that from....

Ryder and Addison are the first to approach Del and I. They wish her a happy birthday and then engulf me into a bone crushing hug.

"Where's her father?" Addison whispers into my ear.

"That's a story for another time." I whisper back. She replies with a sympathetic smile and nods her head understandingly.

Kristen and Peter are the next to approach us with Del still hiding behind my leg. Both Kristen and Peter are the youngest of our family and they were always known for being quite short.

Kristen hugs me quickly, still upset about what had happened, about 3 years ago. Yes, the birth of Delilah. She always thought I was the shame of the family, yet she's only lived for 15 years. She's a moody teenager, what does she know.

However, Peter's the complete opposite of her. He has a warm heart and is quick to forgive anyone. Sometimes a bit too quickly.

Ryder is "punk rock" but we were always the closest as kids. Then when he got older he took the advantage of being older than me and shut me out.

Addison was exactly like Peter but the girl version. She was like my little toy when we were little. Ryder and I always did our experiments on her. Like the time when we wanted to see if pee tasted good. Now, let me remind you we were 4&5 we had no sense.

Peter gives me a warm hug and it takes him a while to let go. I hadn't even realized that some of my friends from my yoga class had showed up. Even the girls from Del's ballet class.

After socializing with my friends, the party was in full swing. Del was having the time of her life, putting makeup on her uncle Ryder. Mikey, Luke, Ashton, and Calum were having a blast in the pool with the silly string.

There was nothing that could have went wrong. But you know me, always having to jinx shit.

Yep, the doorbell had rung and the worst people that could have shown up did.

Luke, Veronica, and their Delilah.