Chapter 27: 27 Happy Birthday!

The party is in full gear as the doorbell rings again. Looking around, I don’t see my mum or sister. I guess I’ll be answering the door.

I have to raise my arms to get through the mass of people. Angela invited all her school friends and neighborhood kids. It’s not a problem for me because I’m just ‘Angela’s brother’, but I lost Toph ages ago to a flock of teenaged girls. Everyone here has pretty much confessed their love for him. But who can blame them? He is a pretty great guy.

My childhood home is pretty big, but there are so many people that they fill the first floor. Mum would have set up something in the back garden, but that’s not somewhere anyone wants to be in February. Navigating through everyone isn’t easy.

Finally making my way to the door, I open it and instantly get pounced on. It’s a good thing I’m still holding on the doorknob or I would fall over.

“DAY JAY! I heard you were in town! I can’t believe it!” One of my closet friends since primary school, Marcy, shouts at me. Now that I’ve steadied us, I look down to see her attached to me much like a koala attaches to a branch. “Why didn’t you call me?”

Patting her back, I chuckle, “I just got in last night and if you can’t see I’m a little preoccupied.”

She lifts her head from my neck and looks around, “Wow, quite a bash. Is this your fan club meeting?” Her tone is mocking as is her smile.

Marcy and I have known each other all our lives; she lives right across the street. We put up with each other as kids since our mums used to mingle, but we didn’t really become friends until I defended her on the school playground. Ever since, this little koala act and the teasing has pretty much been normal.

She was also the one that came to see me in America a few months ago.

“No, this is Angela’s sixteenth birthday party,” I raise a brow at her.

“Lala’s sixteen already?”

“It’s gone fast, yea?”

“I remember the days when she would spit her dummy at people,” she tilts her head to the side, reminiscent, but still holds onto me with all her limbs.

Knowing that she’s not climbing off anytime soon, I back into the house and shut the door. It is rather cold out.

“How come you don’t have a coat on?” I ask as I lean against a wall and rub her arms.

“Well, mum came in from shopping and said that she ran into Terrence Parker’s mum at the little grocer’s down the street. And Missus Parker said that Tommy, Terrence’s youngest brother, said that he was coming here for Angela’s birthday and that some famous person was going to be there. Then mum asked who it was and Missus Parker said that she wasn’t sure, but that she thought he was some friend of the ‘older Moore-Hill kid’ and that he was pretty decently famous. So I figured it was probably you, and Topher was here since you two were pretty much inseparable in New York.” Then she looks one way, then the other from where I’m standing, “Where is he?”

“Lost him ages ago,” I shrug as I shift her weight a little to hold underneath her legs where her thighs meet her knees. “So, you just ran right over?”

“Yep,” she nods and then kicks her legs from her knees, “didn’t even have time for shoes.”

“You’re going to get sick,” I scold her.

“Nah, it was a quick run,” she smiles at me before hugging me again.

“There you are,” I hear my husband’s voice and look over to see him walking toward us. He shakes his head as he stops next to us, “And I see you caught a Marcy.” He leans in to put his lips to mine in a short kiss before speaking again, “I’ve been fighting off teenagers for like an hour.”

“Wait a second,” Mars starts squirming, trying to get down. Once she’s on her own feet she puts her hands on her hips, “What was that?”

Looking from her to Chris, I arch an eyebrow, “What was what?”

“That,” she points her finger from me to him and back again, “the kiss.”

I chuckle for a second as I realize she has no idea what’s going on. And as any good friend would do, I continue to take the mick, “A greeting, usually.”

“No,” she furrows her eyebrows, “not usually. Why did you just kiss him?”

I give him a look telling him to play along and he smiles, “You don’t kiss your friends when you greet them?”

“No, she goes for the tackle,” I cut in.

Her look is mocking as she turns toward me, “You kiss all your friends, yea?”

“Sure,” I give her a confused look.

Her smile turns teasing, “Alright, lay it on me.”

Even though Marcy and I had sex, it was only once and we decided afterword that it was awkward and shouldn’t happen again. She is more like a sister to me than anything else. I think the only reason we had sex in the first place is that we had been drinking a little bit and hormones were flying.

“What?  Why? I already greeted you,” I protest and cross my arms over my chest.

She cocks a hip to the side, “You just said you kiss all your friends. Go on, then.”

I look over to Topher to see his eyes a bit bigger than usual. Her hitched eyebrow gives her away. She does this kind of thing all the time; it’s a game. Either I give in and she wins or I don’t and I win. She knows something is going on between the two of us and she wants me to prove it.

She looks over at Topher and scrunches her nose, “I bet he won’t do it.” She raises her eyebrow again as she looks at me.

She found out about my husband’s ‘betting’ problem when she spent the week with us in New York.

His jaw twitches as his eyes bore into mine.

“No need to torture him, Mars,” I chuckle as I wrap my arms around her and dip her whole body in an exaggerated dance move. I bring my face so close to hers that there’s only a breath between our detached lips. Nudging my nose gently against hers, I make sure my breath traces her lips. I see her gulp and her tongue trace her bottom lip before I whisper, “You want me to kiss you?”

Her breath comes out ragged, “I- I was just-”

“Because,” I interrupt her; softly brushing our noses again as I close my eyes. Opening my eyes slowly, I stare straight into her heavy lidded gaze. Licking my lips once, I move close enough to share her air, “I can’t. My husband would be very upset.”

I back up slightly as I smile at her and wait for her to catch on. She’s still in a little trance as her eyes are still closed, she whispers, “Your what?” I stifle a laugh still holding her a foot off the floor. When I don’t answer, she flutters her eyes open and stares up at me until she sees my obnoxious smile. Then without warning, she hits my chest and I let her up. She straightens her clothes before squaring her shoulder, “What did you say?”

“I said I don’t think my husband would appreciate it much,” my smile just won’t stop as she finally gets it.

Her jaw drops as she looks between the two of us, “You’re married?!”

“Guilty,” Topher’s arm snakes around my waist as he pulls me to stand in front of him. His chin rests on my shoulder as his arms circle my body. “And I must say, I don’t love the bet tactic.”

“You two are really married?” She gives me an accusing look as her fists find her hips again.

Nodding, I lace my fingers through his, “Sure are; for two weeks now. And,” I extenuate the ‘and’, “don’t ever call me a bad actor again. I had you for a second there.”

“Shut up,” she narrows her eyes at me. Then out of nowhere a huge smile takes over her whole face and she starts to pace, “I can’t believe it! You two actually got married? I knew there was something going on between you. It’s just the looks you would give each other. And you were touching all the time.” She stops in front of us again and points at me, “I asked you! I asked you if there was something between you and you told me no! That was only a couple months ago and now you’re telling me there is!”

“We weren’t together then,” I tell her with a shrug.

“Obviously,” she rolls her eyes, “or else we wouldn’t have-” she cuts herself off as her eyes look over to my husband. “Never mind.”

“He knows, Mars,” I chuckle. “Even if we weren’t together he was still my best friend.”

“You told him?!”

“I told him how awkward it was,” I admit as I hold back my laughter.

Her face turns bright red, but then she cracks up to the point where she has to hold her stomach. Once she can breathe normally again, she says, “At least we agree on that.”

“Tomorrow we’re having a few people over for a reception type thing,” I tell her once we’re all done laughing. “You’re welcome to come.”

“I would have been here anyway,” she admits with a shrug.

-----

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Angela! Happy birthday to you!” Everyone sings as most people cram into our kitchen to see my little sister blow out her candles.

She does it quickly and mum takes it over to the counter to cut. The she hops up on a chair, turns toward everyone, and says, “Thank you everyone for coming to my birthday party. Even if you did just come to see the famous people,” she looks over to me and Chris to stick her tongue out. I return the favor as she giggles, “It means a lot to me that everyone could be here today; especially my big brothers. It’s the first time I’ve met one of them, but I wish they could be here all the time. You two, both of you, mean the world to me and I love you.”

“We love you too,” Topher speaks for us as I nod.

Her smile brightens as she looks at him before she adds, “And if my brother ever treats you wrong, I’m still single.”

“Oi,” I interject. “How many times do I have to tell you? He’s spoken for.”

Everyone laughs for a second before she continues, “Anyway, thank you all for coming. There’s cake on the counter.”

Angela comes straight over to us when she hops of the chair. Wrapping one arm around each of us, she lets us smash her lightly between us.

“I’m really glad you made it,” she looks up and between us.  “You’re really the best big brothers I could ask for.”

“I haven’t done much,” Chris says looking down at her.

Pulling herself away, she puts her hands to her hips and I know that he’s about to get it, “You’re kidding?” He shakes his head, but doesn’t answer so she continues, “First off, you make my brother happy. I haven’t seen him smile like he has since he’s been here and I’m guess that’s your fault. Second, in making my brother happy, you’ve made my mum ecstatic. Thirdly, you care about us. I know you do because of the way you act toward me and mum. And… I’m not continuing counting, but there is more.” He goes to cut in, but she hold up a finger, “Like how you protect us. We know it was you who set the alarm system up. Your name was on the paperwork. And, how you called to say hello while Damian was on the other side of the country from you. And how you didn’t have to entertain all my friends, but you did because you knew it meant a lot. And how you convinced Day last night to have the party tomorrow. We know that was you too because he wouldn’t have agreed otherwise. You did that not only for him, but for our family. And lastly, Damian told us how you rearranged your plans so you could be here this weekend with us. That means more than I could tell you.”

Christopher’s blue eyes shine as he looks at me after hearing my sister’s rant.

Before he can say anything she adds, “If you ask me, that’s what being a sibling is all about. Someone to make you happy, someone who cares about you, someone who protects you, someone to check in just because, someone to sacrifice their stuff for yours, someone to side with you, and someone who will be there for you. Damian has had sixteen years to be all those things,” she smiles at me, but I don’t think I could pry my eyes away from my husband’s face. “You’ve had three weeks and you’ve already done it all. I couldn’t ask for a better brother, much less a brother-in-law. You’re more than that to us.”

Chris breath hitches in his throat, water on the edge of his eyelids. He bends down a little to place a kiss on the top of my sister’s head, stands up, nods, and walks away.

When he’s gone, she turns to me and hitches a brow, “Was it something I said?”

Laughing, I rub my hand on the top of her hair messing it up, “It was everything you said.”

She grumbles at me something about her hair at her party.

I catch her eye and bend down a little so I can look straight into them, “Thank you for that.”

She gives me a confused look, “You’re welcome?”

Nodding, I kiss the top of her head before heading off to find my husband. I don’t have to look long since he’s in my old bedroom. When I walk in, he’s sitting on my old bed and looking at his hands.

Walking over to him, I pick up said hands and use them to make him stand and hug me. As soon as his arms connect around me, he squeezes and I can feel his tears on my neck.

I place a kiss on the side of his head and leave my lips there to ask, “Do you believe me yet?”

He nods, but doesn’t say anything. He just lets me hold him as we stand in the middle of my childhood room.

“They’re your family now too, love,” I say as we pull apart.

He nods, looking at me with a big smile and red eyes, “I feel like such a girl.”

“You are,” I assure him with a smirk of my own.

“It’s just,” he sighs before running his hands through his hair, “other than my dad, I’ve never really had a family. It feels good to be loved and not just by fans. I mean my fans are great, but they don’t know me. They love me because of my looks and my acting skills. It’s nice to be really loved since my dad passed.” His eyes start to shimmer again.

I pull him to me again, “I’ll always love you.”

He swallows loudly, “I know.”

“And it has nothing to do with your looks or acting skills. But it may have a little to do with you kissing ability,” I raise an eyebrow at him.

“I should probably keep those coming then.”

His lips capture mine with loving movements. His hands glide over my back. Everything about the embrace is tender and real. I can feel the adoration around us like it’s tangible. There’s nothing about this that I don’t love.

We split apart and he rests his forehead against mine. We stand like that, breathing each other’s air and absorbing each other’s presence.

“We should probably go back to the party, love,” I give him one last kiss before backing away and taking his hand.

~A/N~

Sorry it's late in the day guys. I got kind of busy.

Happy Sunday!

Marcy on the side!