Forever 21

"Dragons," he says laughing. "Dragons, I can't believe you are doing this."

"Doing what?" I ask as I turn my attention back to the road.

"You're just trying to avoid telling what's wrong with your family by using some dumb thing."

"Wayne, I'm not kidding."

"Why would you pick dragons? Couldn't you pick assassins or something?"

"Because it's the truth. Dragons are actually the least of my problems."

"Oh? Go on, I want to hear the craziness that you come up with." He says with a sour look on his face. I pull up to Melissa's house and sigh.

"Let's just have a good time," I say as I lean over and kiss his cheek. "You owe me that much for not giving me a present." He stares into my eyes, those hazel-green eyes telling me he still feels like I'm hiding something. I offer him a smile, a small one and get out of my car to walk up to Melissa's door. Wayne is tailing behind me, his head down. I look back at him and before Melissa can open the door, I pull him close and peck his cheek once more. "You look good in red," I say as I let go of his arm and turned to the door. Melissa popped the door open as she placed a delicate purple earring in her ear.

"Don't you two look handsome. Wayne, you're about as red as a red envelope on New Years," she says as she opens the threshold for us. I step in and Wayne follows after, afraid of the house, it seemed.

"Where we heading?" I ask as Emily walks out with a black skirt that reaches her knees. The skirt has a pink under pelt, making the dress look better than I thought it would. "Em, you look great by the way." She tucks her brown hair behind her ear and shrugs.

"It's not that great."

"It looks amazing," I say as I kiss her head gently. "Don't sell yourself short, Em." She smiles and glances at Wayne, who is staring at the ground. "Wayne, you know Emily." Emily walks over to Wayne and smile brightly.

"Hey Wayne!" she says as she hugs him. He is caught off guard but hugs her back.

"Hey, Emily."

"Alright," she say as she lets go of Wayne. "So Damian, we're taking the Tran II so get him revved up." I nod and salute to my commander and walk out of the house. As I start up my car, Emily, Wayne and Melissa come out as well. "Scoooooot!" says Emily as she hits my arm to get me out of the car.

"You and Wayne are sitting in the back while Emily and I bring you to the one place that encompasses our love for you. Damian Cayos, sexist boy--other than Wayne--alive."

"I can take off my shirt if you'd like," I say to Melissa as I sit in the back. She grins at me from over the seat.

"Just show me them abs," she says. I lift my shirt and she squeals. "I think I just--"

"Melissa!" Emily shouts. "As much as I love Damian's bod, I don’t want to ruin Reginald." The two girls begin to laugh and I glance at Wayne. He's chuckling away and for a moment, I forget all the bad things that my family will bring with them when I see them and just enjoy the good feeling of having friends around.

Emily and Melissa have been driving for a half hour before we stopped driving. The sun has gone down and the place where we stopped is empty.

"What gives?" I ask as I look out my window.

"Follow us!" Melissa says as she gets out of the car, Wayne, Emily and myself following in suit. Emily and Melissa stomped down the street, their legs kept locked straight. Wayne and I follow, at least a few lengths behind. His hands are tucked into his sweater and I can see he is nervous.

"For a date, you're not very talkative." I say as I nudge his arm a little. He glances at me and offers me a smile.

"They really love you," he says as he looks at Emily and Melissa, who are talking about something random.

"I love 'em back. They've been more of a family to me than the giant mess that lives around town. Wayne smiles and looks up at the sky.

"You know, I wish I had friends like them."

"Why?"

"Well, who doesn't want girls begging them to pull up their shirt?" he asks with a chuckle.

"Well," I say. "Personally, if I had a choice, I'd definitely pick a flavor with more…style." I throw him a grin and he tries to hide his smile behind his long red hair. I nudge his arm again and he begins to smile more.

"You are a big flirt, you know that?"

"Oh but you love it." I say as I push him over a little. He smiles and pushes me back. I grab him around the neck and start grinding my knuckles into his head when Emily and Melissa clear their throats. We look up and see bright lights illuminated a mini-golf course. "You two," I say as I look around.

"There's a little amusement park just around the corner. We're playing a free game, getting pizza and ice cream then hitting the games and rides."

"How'd you do all this?" Wayne asks.

"Magic," Emily says as she high-fives Melissa. Melissa grins and leads us away.

"Come, birthday boy and esteemed guest! Time for the par-tay to begin!" I glance at Wayne and see him hold out his arm for me to take. I smile and put my arm around his and he leads me forward. Melissa and Emily do the same and follow us. We all get putters and glow in the dark golf balls.

"Ladies first," I say as I hold out my arm for Emily and Melissa.

"Nope," says Emily. "It's already decided that we are going to get the last ones and you and Wayne are going first. We think the birthday boy and his date should be first." I raise an eyebrow.

"Who says he's my date?"

"He fact that you two totally flirted it up," Melissa whispers.

"Melissa," says Wayne. "We weren't flirting."

"Giggling and light shoving is flirting," Melissa says matter-of-factly. Wayne hides his face and I roll my eyes.

"Don't embarrass the poor boy," I snap.

"We're not," says Emily. "Go hit your ball." I sigh and put the ball down and take a small hit. It rolls around corners and through a log.

"Good hit!" Melissa cheers. We all take our turn and by the end of the 18 holes, it's already 8:30. Wayne and Melissa and Emily are laughing like crazy. I roll my eyes at them and continue to put.

"HOLE IN ONE!" shouts Melissa. "Hole in ooooooone! I got a hole in oooooone!"

"Melissa," says Emily from where she, Wayne and I are standing. "You are nine over par…"

"What's that mean?" she asks.

"You got a hole in one," Wayne says as he rolls his eyes. She nods and crosses her arms.

"That's right." I sigh and she joins us triumphantly. Wayne and Emily are shaking their heads, and I smile at her.

"Who won?" asks Wayne.

"I think Emily won," I say as I put my arm around her shoulders. She laughs and shrugs with a modest smile.

"I have been practicing my putt." I look at Wayne, who is tallying up the scores.

"First is Emily, then me, then Damian and then Melissa."

"Emily, you suck! How could you come in last?" demands Melissa as she puts away her putter. We all follow in suit and she leads us to an amusement park just a few feet away from the golf course. The lights are pale and numerous, their light flickering like fireflies in the darkness.

"Time for some miniature fun!" Emily says as she pulls Melissa towards the teacups. I look at Wayne, who is heading towards the teacups as well. I smile a little and take his hand in mine and pull him to the left.

"I wanna go on the teacups," he says with a pout.

"Nope," I say as I bring him to a booth. "You're going to win me that teddy bear." I say, pointing to the purple teddy bear that looks so alone. He glances around the booth.

"Damian, there's no one here."

"So?" I ask, leaning on the counter. He sighs, picks up a baseball and glances at the five milk bottles that are stacked high maybe ten yards away. I smile at him, making him do a double-take.

"What?" he asks. I shrug and let him continue. He sighs and winds up, pitching half speed. The bottles shake but don't move. I smirk and glance at him again with a look that says, 'You got shot down but milk bottles'. He huffs, the look on his face more adorable than I thought it could have been. He moves his red hair from his face and scrunches up his nose. Melissa and Emily come over, watching him curiously.

"What's he doing?"

"Trying to win this teddy bear for me."

"Awe!" they say as they stand next to me, watching him.

"Thanks," he mutters. "Like the pressure wasn't heavy enough."

"Tons of people watch you during the baseball season."

"Yeah but I don't care what they think," he says as he stares at me. I raise an eyebrow and feel my stomach kick. He tosses the ball in his hand gently before reaching back and throwing the ball as hard as he could. He grins as the bottles fall to the ground. "Take your dumb teddy bear," he says as he looks back at me. I take the bear down from the wall and hand it to Emily.

"Congrats on winning, Em." I say as I kiss her cheek. She smiles and blushes, hugging the teddy bear.

"Wha…" Wayne says.

"You mean you didn't want to give it to Emily?" I ask. He blushes brightly and shrugs.

"Congrats, Emily." She smiles and hugs him tightly.

"Thanks, Wayne!" I smile at Wayne, who is glaring at me a little.

"I want a prize." Melissa says.

"I'll get you some rice," I say as I walk over to her. Her mouth drops and her eyebrows rise as if to say, 'Wow, racist much?'. I start to chuckle and she crosses her arms over her chest.

"Not funny at all, Damian."

"It was a little," I say as I start towards another game booth. We spend hours going on all the rides, playing all the games, winning tons of prizes, and so forth. The final thing Melissa and Emily wanted to do was something I couldn't stand.

"Come on!" Melissa whines as I get into the back seat.

"No."

"But it's only 11! We can still make it!"

"No. Wayne needs to be back--"

"I wouldn't mind," he says. I glare at him and Melissa and Emily cheer.

"Three against one, we win." I frowned and leaned back in my seat. "Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen! We're heading to the most rockin' place in town."

I roll my eyes as the car comes to a stop. I look up at the giant neon sign that reads "Buckin' Bronco's Palace" and shake my head. It is a country-styled bar and whenever someone has a birthday, they bring out a large cake and sing a country-styled birthday song. I trailed behind, hoping the girls would forget about me and enjoy the madness on their own.

"Oh no," says Wayne as his arm goes around my waist. "I'm not letting you get away from this one. "You gave away my teddy bear." I grin and take his hand from around my waist.

"You don't want to take out your anger on me another way?" He blushes but stands strong.

"No. I'm going to make you suffer."

"Now this is what I call foreplay." I say with a dangerous grin as I pull open the door and let him in. He is blushing again and I laugh. I suddenly stop when I see pairs of green eyes turned in my direction. I lick my incisor and shake my head.

"Damian," says Emily.

"Yeah, I see 'em." I mutter.

"Why are there so many?" asks Melissa.

"It's complicated."

"Seems like a lot of things are with your family," says Wayne. I glance at him and pull them out of the restaurant.

"Look," I say softly. "There's something I need to tell you guys. You know the party for Elaine? It's kind of a big deal. When our family turns 21--"

"You get a gift and it's really important, yeah, we know." Melissa says.

"That's the thing; you don't. The gift we get….it's…dangerous. And…a lot of people get hurt. Next Friday…" I trail off. "Remember on my birthday last year those kids died?"

"Yeah, a bus blew up." Wayne says.

"Well, not really."

"What?" Emily asks.

"Just to clear it up, I had nothing to do with it. I really didn't. I didn't even touch what they gave me. I ate the hamburgers. And they were made from cows. I bought them from the General Store myself."

"I don't follow," says Wayne.

"Do you remember when we were little and you guys watched that dumb movie with the blond chick and the spindle?"

"Yeah."

"And remember the dragon?"

"Yeah."

"Remember that movie about the Vikings training those dragons?"

"Yeah."

"And the movie with the dragon rider?"

"We get it, movies with dragons, what of it?" Emily asks.

"Well, my family….is….very similar to those movies."

"You're cartoons?" asks Melissa to lighten the mood.

"We're dragons." I say as I rub the back of my neck. They all stare at me without a single emotion on their face. I shrug and smile a little. "Surprise."