Wonderwall

Garrett and I walked through the house, Pat already with all the others.
Faint music could be heard- coming from what seemed to be outside.
Right before we stepped outside Garrett whispered in my ear, “Don’t be nervous. They’ll love you.”
My outgoing persona immediately awoke, after smiling at Garrett, “Thank you.”
We stepped outside.

“Finally,” Pat dragged out, “Introduction time!”
I saw six boys and a girl sitting around a pool. Garrett grabbed my hand as he pulled us over towards the group.
“Kayden- meet Jared, Jess, Kennedy, Stephen, Eric, John and baby John,” Garrett stated pointing to individuals as he said their name, “Everyone, meet Kayden.”
After everyone said their ‘hellos’ and ‘whats ups’, we all settled back around the pool talking.
Baby John spoke up, “What’s a fun game to play guys?”
There were a few suggestions thrown around until he spoke up once again, “Nothing? Chicken it is. I choose…” He looks around the small circle that was formed, “Stephen.”
“No surprise there,” Jared muttered.
Partners were almost all called out- John and Stephen, Jess and Kennedy, Jared and Halvo, Pat and Garrett.
I looked around at the groups thinking that I would have to sit out, not noticing another person with the same dilemma as me.
“Hey, Kayden right?”
I turned towards the voice and recognized John, remembering him as the ‘giraffe’ Garrett had described him as.
“Mmmm?”
“You have no partner correct?”
“Correct,” I smiled subtly. I saw a slight red tinge begin on his cheeks.
“Would you want to, maybe, be my partner?” He looked towards his feet. I wondered why, were they interesting?
“Sure, but you better not drop me!” I tried to make the conversation less awkward than I felt it was already.
“Who says you’re going on my shoulders? I’m going on yours.” His face held a smirk on it as he crossed his arms.
“There is no way I could balance you on my shoulders, you lanky motherfucker.” I smirked back, silently telling him that I was joking.
He gave in, “Fine, but you better put up a fight. I never lose.”
We walked over to the pool and got in. I, and everybody else, felt comfortable around each other and therefore being in only underwear was no deal. It’s exactly like swimwear anyway, right?

Once everybody was in the pool, partners began climbing onto the others’ shoulders.
“I’m finally tall! I feel like a giraffe. How tall are you?” I was both excited to be on his shoulders and nervous of the fall I could make.
“6”4’ or something. How tall are you? Oh wait…” I could tell that he was grinning by the tone in his voice.
“If you must know I am 5”5’. Just wait until I chop some of your leg off and attach it to mine. Who will be the tall one now?”
“Did you get that idea from Gattaca? That won’t happen anyway.”
“I’m surprised you know the movie. Oh, it will. You watch or better yet don’t, you might pass out.”
He laughed, “I dare you,” he spoke each word more determined than the last.

Soon after, the game had started and the height John and I had together made it extremely easy to tower over opponents and push them into the deep water that surfaced us.
No doubt, we had won by one point, beating Jess and Kennedy.

The rest of the night was fun. It was by far different from anything I’d ever experienced at my old place of residence. The friends there were just friends and despite my trying, they made it blatantly obvious that they didn’t care about me- by not keeping in contact. But the group surrounding me made my whole night, days, weeks and possibly years to come much better. These were the kind of people I’d want in my life forever. The ability to just being able to trust them without knowing them for long was enough to make my heart stay content in living in this sunny state. My life finally had meaning.