Page 104 of Under the Waves
Cheers and screams erupted around the room, bursting my eardrums along with the little bubble I’d manage to find myself in as the rest of the room came into focus. Claps and whistles followed, who I’m pretty sure were all coming from Jakson, who had his arm slung around Lia.
They were dressed up asAnakin SkywalkerandPadme Amidalafrom the Star Wars movies, and for some reason, them dressed up as those characters just clicked perfectly in my mind. I didn’t think they would’ve suited anything else. It was like they were born to play those roles.
As if proving my point, Jakson whispered something, probably dirty by the look on Lia’s face, and smirked as a blush as red as a balloon covered her cheeks. She returned the favor by elbowing him in the ribs, to which he keeled over melodramatically, grasping his stomach like she put a lightsaber straight through him. Just watching them together made me smile. I was glad they had each other in the way that they did.
“They’re something, aren’t they,” a deep voice huffed from behind me. I spun around to see Lachlan taking a swing of his half empty beer bottle.
Unlike everyone else at the party, who were dressed up in some kind of Halloween-like costume despite being in the middle of summer break, Lachlan stood before me wearing a black compression shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants. A goldenchain with a small guitar charm hung low around his neck, as traces of ink popped out from the corners of his shirt. I couldn’t quite make out any of the designs, apart from one little constellation that trailed down the side of his neck and disappeared beneath his shirt.
Out of everyone here, Lachlan seemed to stand out the most. From the small time I’d spent around him, I genuinely could not figure him out. With his teammates, he lookedhappy, thriving even. But without them, on his own…Lachlan glanced around like he was angry, almostenviousof how everybody else was able to let loose, throwing their caution into the wind. Even though I’d seen him be carefree and cheerful at the surf heats multiple times.
Maybe…maybehe’d been hurting all this time, and no one had taken a second to notice.
Broken people recognized broken people, after all.
“They’re always in their own world, those two,” he motioned over to where Jakson and Lia were tangled in each other’s company, completely oblivious to the world around them. Lia’s midnight blue eyes were looking up at Jakson, gazing at him like he hung the moon. And Jakson? Forget moons and stars, he looked at Lia like she was his entire fuckinguniverse.
“Have they always been like that?” I found myself asking like I was in a daze, captivated by the movie-like scene before me. “So…”
“Jakson and Lia?”
I nodded to which Lachlan grumbled something I’d presumed was a yes.
“The world could be burning down and he still wouldn’t tear his eyes from her,” Lachlan noted, gulping down the rest of his beer. I hummed in response, watching the two of them as they danced, completely and utterly captivated by one another.
Lia’s laugh was so soft and delicate and wholly infectious as everyone paused what they were doing to watch Jakson use his red plastic cup as a microphone whenYou belong with meby Taylor Swift traveled through the speakers. His singing was definitelynotgolden buzzer worthy but his performance certainly was—he serenaded Lia with every word, and even though nearly everyone else’s eyes were on him, he only seemed to notice her.
In a crowd of thousands, she was the only thing his eyesfocused on.
Lachlan’s hand clamped on my shoulder stiffly.
“Happy birthday, Poppy. Take care of our boy, yeah? He’s not as unbreakable as everyone thinks he is.”
I managed to nod, my throat squeezing tightly as I tried to swallow what felt like a ton of bricks. With an acknowledging nod, Lachlan grumbled something I couldn’t quite catch and disappeared into the crowd. It was almost scary how he could blend into the background so effortlessly, almost like he’d been doing so his whole life.
My eyes found Jasper’s through the crowd as the sea of people between us parted wholly from his presence. Gone was his outfit from before, replaced with a remake of Andrew Garfield’sSpidermancostume.
Jasper grinned andmy goddid butterflies erupt inside of me. It took him no more than a few seconds to stride over to where I stood and gather me in his arms, spinning us both around as everything and everyone blurred. It was just me and him. No one else. Justus.
As he lowered me gently to the ground, he rasped, breathlessly, “Happy birthday, Wellsy.”
“You remembered?” I gasped, already beginning to feel my eyes start to brim with tears around the edges. “It wasyou. You did all of this!”
“Wellsy, how could I forget? You aren’t something that is forgettable,” he whispered in my ear, hot breath fanning my skin. “Not to me.”
I glanced around in disbelief, letting his words soak in. “You did this all…for me?”
I genuinely couldn’t believe it. No one had ever put this much effort into a birthday party, let alone one forme. Instead of being haunted by the sound of smashing glass, I was surrounded by people whocaredabout me, a notion that was completely foreign to me. I couldn’t process the fact that they were all willingly here to celebrate my birthday, of all things. The one day I had grown up despising, taught that it was a day only memorable of beingerased.
“Of course we did,” Jakson mused, that golden boy grin plastered across his lips as he clapped Jasper on the shoulder, Lia tugged into his side like a little lost bunny.
“Happy birthday, Poppy,” Lia smiled softly at me. As soon as she spoke, Jakson’s eyes were already gazing down at her. A motion that Lia was completely oblivious too.
How could shenotknow that Jakson Calloway looked at her likethat?
If it were anyone else, they’d probably faint if he even looked their way. Not Lia, though. The girl with the little blue eyes lived in her own world—a world Jakson clearly barged into one day and refused to leave.
Xander appeared silently to Jasper’s right, Kai in tow. Both of them were dressed up as Batman and Robin and looked equally as unenthusiastic about their costume choices. It made me wonder if it was actually Jakson who had assigned everyone with costumes.