||BRAD||

The next day...

Driving myself heading to Noah's place, I peeked from the corner of my eye and glimpsed at his gift wrapped neatly with the help of my mother. A slight bit of hope from James's intuition, I really do wish that Noah would like my present for him. It may not be much, but it was something I promised him before.

-

I made it into his driveway. Looks like a few of the others had beaten me to it as there were numerous other vehicles parked around the area. Positioning myself on an open space, I got out of my truck with the wrapped item in hand. Ringing the bell, I waited for a few seconds before it opens, showing Noah's house caretaker. He looks at me for a moment and notices my arm holding my gift "Hi, please come in," he says, opening the door for me to enter. Walking in, I could hear laughter and other voices as I neared the living or lounge room with everyone else having fun. "Yo! He's here!" Taylor said, noticing my appearance. Everyone welcomed me as I made my way to the group. I was struck when I noticed the many rainbowed banners and inflated balloons floating around. I couldn't help but smile to see how amazing the place looked. Noah's parents were sat together in their sofa while conversing with Taylor, Zack and Ethan who were enjoying themselves on the massive flat-screen playing video games. Felix, James, and Kate were just lounging in seats and on the floor talking to each other. Mowery, who I surprisingly remembered his name, came in with a few extra treats and grubs. Then I realized: where the heck is Noah? Turning to the trio who were busy having a chat, I interrupted them, "do you guys know where Noah is?"

"He's up in his room with Annabel," Kate replied.

I fraction of me got taken back as I wondered why the hell would they be up there alone together. Jealousy filled me but I kept myself collected. "Why?" I blurted curiously.

Felix shrugged his shoulders, "dunno exactly," he says unconcerned.

My eyebrows furrowed as I let out an annoyed grumble. Seeing as there was a stack of what looks to be the others' gift for Noah on the corner of the room, I walked over to the pile and gently placed mine along with it. I tried to ease off by distracting myself with Zack and Ethan's ongoing game. Sitting on the floor beside Zack, I observed as he was pretty much winning against Ethan on this racing game. "Are Jackson and Liam gonna show up?" I said.

"They said they will," Zack replied but kept his view on the screen. He yelped out in celebration as he received first place, Ethan coming in last.

"I don't know how to play," Ethan complained.

-

A few minutes have passed when I thought I heard a couple of voices from the upper floor. Staring at the higher level in anticipation, my eyes brightened when as I saw a beautifully dressed Annabel making her way down with a dashingly handsome Noah, groomed and styled casually trailing behind her. My heart leaped as they both appeared so good looking. Two of them looked eye-gawking that I tried my hardest to snap out of it. Noah, who was staring at me with a huge smile, came up to me, "welcome!" He said happily.

"You know, you make me want to pass out whenever you always turn out looking like a snack," I grinned.

He laughs and pats my chest. Coincidentally, the doorbell rings, signifying more guests. All of us turned to see who it was. Waiting, we watched as Danny checked and eventually showing three people: Liam, Jackson, and Ari? To my surprise, I didn't expect Ari to visit, let alone associate with us. The three of them came in, Jackson and Liam were empty-handed, while Ari, on the other hand, had a few bags along with her. "Sup," Liam waved as the others greeted them the same they did to me.

"Hi, Noah, glad to be back here," Ari swayed as she let down her bags to give him an unsuspected embrace. Looking at them confounded with slight envy, I waited patiently as they began to pull apart. Ari takes a look at her surroundings and gasps, "how colorful," she grins.

Noah awkwardly giggles, "Yeah, it sure is."

"Where should I put these?" Ari asks, gesturing towards her baggage laying on the floor. I observed the different logos from where I stood: it had many other brands that were not in my knowledge, but I did see the same trademark in one of them, similar to Noah's hoodie. I glanced back up see Noah pointing at the direction of where the other items were left at. Ari strutted to it, sitting them at the very top with each individual bag showing off the names. I noticed how Noah's friends were staring at her, especially Annabel who looked a tad bit bugged by her.

-

Currently, everyone else took a turn to play games on the television. There were screaming and laughter, we all were having fun. "Hey Noah, let's take a picture together," James said, holding one of the rainbow flags in hand. Noah, who was sat by my side slightly cuddled on me, agreed and stood by him. Before James could take a picture with his other hand, he made eye contact with me, "you should come over here too Brad," James invited. I tilted my head but went along with it. Position me in between, James tapped on his phone and produced a good photo of us together smiling. "Sadly, Noah doesn't have blue, purple, and pink stuff, but this will do," James giggled as he walked away to join the others, leaving the flag to Noah.

Turning to the cute boy with a vicariously buoyant look, I said, "your parents are so cool. They must really love you to be able to put up a party with all of this," I said, pointing at the fabric in his hands.

"Yep, I sure am happy," he said, staring the vibrant cloth.