Somewhere in the Middle

I woke up the next morning to pounding footsteps running down the steps. “What the fuck is going on?!” My eyes shot open and I sat up, and noticed the predicament Hayley and I were in; Hayley was still asleep, curled up against Ace, and I just untangled myself from Aiden’s arms. Well fuck.

“Baby, calm down,” mom said, trying to calm dad down. Dad looked over at her, and then at me. I was the only one awake at the time. I heard more footsteps and Uncle Brian, Uncle Matt, Aunt Michelle, and Aunt Val walked down the steps. Uncle Brian and Uncle Matt were glaring over at Ace and Aiden, who were both still asleep, and Aunt Michelle and Aunt Val were talking about how cute we all looked together.

“Chelle, they do not look cute together. Their hands are all over them,” Uncle Brian said. I looked down and noticed for the first time that Aiden’s arm was still wrapped tightly around my waist. How could I not notice that before?

“Bri, its okay for them to have boyfriends at this age. They’re almost sixteen,” Aunt Michelle said and then a little light bulb, figuratively speaking, went off on top of her and Aunt Val’s heads.

“Oh my God!” Aunt Val yelled, grabbed Aunt Michelle’s hand and dragged her up the steps. The rest of us stared after them with confused expressions.

“Oh!” Mom said, and dashed up the steps, which left me alone. With three pissed off looking guys. Mommy.

“What the fuck is going on, Riley?” Dad asked.

“We fell asleep watching the movie,” I stated.

“How did you two end up in their arms?” Uncle Matt asked, his giant, tattooed covered arms crossed over his chest. I shrugged.

“Lack of body heat?” The three of them glared at me, clearly not amused. I opened my mouth to say something, but a startled yelp stopped me. I looked over to see Hayley fall off the couch she was on. She jumped back up.

“Mind telling me why I was just curled up to Ace?” She asked, and then looked closer at me. “And why Aiden’s practically dry humping you?” She asked, and my eyes widened. She tilted her head and then followed my terrified stare to the guys. Her eyes widened like mine. “Did I say dry humping? I meant hugging,” she said, trying to cover her mistake.

“Damn it, Hayls,” I muttered, mentally slapping her over and over again. She looked over at me and shrugged.

‘I tried,’ she mouthed. I smiled slightly.

‘I know,’ I mouthed back. I heard a groan next to me and saw Aiden start to wake up.

“We will talk about this later,” dad said and walked up the steps with Uncle Matt and Uncle Brian trailing behind. I looked down at Aiden just as he snuggled closer to me.

“Aiden, you gotta wake up,” I whispered as Hayley walked over to Ace and tried to wake him up.

“Don’t wanna,” Aiden whined. I chuckled.

“I don’t care if you don’t wanna, you still have to.” He opened one eye and then the other making me laugh slightly.

“Well, this is an awesome sight to wake up to,” he commented, making me blush.

“Yeah, I had an awesome sight to wake up to, also. My father,” I said. His eyes widened.

“Oh shit! Fuck, oh hell he’s gonna murder me and Ace,” he ranted. I just sat there on the couch, playing with his hair.

“Are you done?” I asked.

“Fuck! Yeah, I’m done.” I laughed, climbing off the couch, and holding out my hand for him to take. I helped him up. Aiden stretched and looked over at Ace. “You ready to leave?” He asked. Ace nodded, and gave Hayley a hug.

“See you at school, I guess,” I said, smiling up at Aiden. He smiled back and gave me a hug before walking up the steps. Hayley and I followed and led them out to their car.

“Bye,” Hayley and I said in unison. They waved and drove off. We walked back into the house to see everyone lounging in the kitchen. Morning,” we chimed. All the girls said ‘morning’ back while the guys glared.

“What the fuck was that down there?” Dad asked. I sighed.

“Like I said, we fell asleep. How were we supposed to know that we would wake up like….that,” I finished lamely. Dad sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

“I better never catch you two like that again,” he said, and we could hear the hidden threat in his voice. Not towards us, but to the guy we just so happened to be with.

“Yes sir,” Hayley and I said.

“Now that we have that shit taken care of, you two are coming with us tomorrow,” mom said.

“For what?” Hayley asked.

“We’re taking you two out for your birthdays, silly,” Aunt Gena said.

“Oh,” I said, and looked over at Hayley, who shrugged.

“Okay,” Hayley said. “What are we doing today?”

“What do you want to do?”

“Can we have a little BBQ? Just us?” I asked.

“Sounds like fun,” dad said. We spent all day in the backyard, sitting, talking, eating, swimming, and in mine and Hayley’s case, running away from people trying to throw us in the pool. We went to bed with smiles on our faces.

The next day, I was woken up from someone jumping on my bed. “I’m up, damn it!”

“Go take a shower and get dressed,” Aunt Gena said, smiling down at me. I grumbled a response and walked to my bathroom. After I was done, I wrapped a towel around my body and stepped back into my room to see Aunt Gena and Aunt Michelle rifling through my closet.

“Looking for something?” I asked, smirking.

“We’re picking out your outfit,” Aunt Michelle said. I sat down on my bed and waited. When they were done, I walked back into my bathroom and changed. I walked back out and grabbed the aviators and fedora hat they left on my bed for me and put them on. I walked out the door and ran into Hayley. Literally.

“Fuck!” We shouted at the same time, and fell down the ground with a loud thud. We looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“Nice,” she said and got up, offering me her hand. I took it and stood up.

“You look good,” I commented. She smiled.

“Thanks, you too, sis,” she said. We walked down the steps and into the living room where the girls were waiting.

“Ready?” Aunt Val asked. We nodded and kissed dad on the cheek.

“Bye,” Hayley and I called. We walked out the door and into Matt’s SUV that Aunt Val was ‘borrowing.’

On the way there, Hayley and I tried texting Aiden, Ace, Giana, and Barbie but none of them were texting back.

“Did we do something?” Hayley murmured quietly. I shrugged.

“Don’t know,” I muttered back. When we got to the mall, the girls took us into every store.

“Try this on!” Aunt Lacey said, tossing me a black strapless dress.

“And Hayley, try this on!” She said, throwing Hayley and white strapless dress. Hayley and I went into the changing rooms and changed into our dresses.

“Wow these are gorgeous,” I stated when Hayley and I stepped out.

“I know,” Hayley said, striking a pose.

“Were getting them,” mom said.

“What? Mom, these cost too much,” Hayley said.

“I have your father’s credit card, and it’s your sixteen birthday! If you want them, we’re getting them,” she said with a note of finality in her voice. Hayley and I sighed in defeat.

“Alright, alright,” I laughed and we walked back into the stalls to change back into our normal clothes. We paid for the items and then they took us into a shoe store. They’re up to something.

“Pick out shoes that will go with the outfits,” Aunt Gena said. I narrowed my eyes.

“What are you planning?” Hayley asked. I swear she’s a fucking mind reader.

“We aren’t planning anything,” Aunt Michelle said, looking at us for minute, and then turning back to look at some shoes. Oh yeah, they planned something. But, Hayley and I went along with it anyway ad got shoes that we thought went with the outfits we just got. After six long, exhausting hours of shopping, we finally headed home. When we got there, no one was home.

“Where’s everyone at?” Hayley asked.

“Probably at Johnny’s,” mom said.

“Uncle Johnny’s or the bar?” I asked.

“The bar,” Aunt Lacey said. Mom’s phone rang, and she answered it, walking away from the group. A couple minutes later she walked back in with a smile on her face.

“That was your father, and he wants to take you two out for your birthday, so get dressed in the outfits we just got,” she said. Hayley and nodded and ran up the steps. I quickly got changed into the dress and slipped on the shoes and accessories I thought would go with the outfit.

“You ready?” Hayley asked, knocking on my door.

“Yeah, you come in, I’m just putting in my earrings,” I said. She opened the door and I looked at her outfit. “You look good,” I said.

“You do too. Are you ready?” She asked again, and I nodded. We walked down the steps and Aunt Gena whistled.

“Looking sexy, girls,” Aunt Val said. Hayley and I laughed.

“Are you two ready to go?” Mom asked, and I just now noticed that they changed into dresses and looked fancier. We nodded and we drove to a….club?

“Why are we at a club?” I asked. Hayley tilted her head, silently asking the same question.

“Just come on,” mom laughed. Aunt Gena and Aunt Michelle grabbed my hands and pulled me into the club. Hayley was being dragged by mom and Aunt Val right behind us, with Aunt Lacey trailing behind them with a large smile on her face. The lights went out, and I quickly grabbed Hayley’s hand, who clutched mine back. We were led through the darkness when all of the sudden the lights came back on.

“SURPRISE!”