"SURPRISEEE!"
The sudden lights, sounds and everything nearly made me jump out of my skin.
Everyone on the swim team was here, including a couple of my friends from the hall. The blue streamers hanging from wall to wall with balloon fishes dangling underneath them, had me sinking into confusion.
"Guys..." I stepped further into the room. "What's going on?"
"This..."
Immediately he spoke, my head turned.
"...is my 'ocean-themed apology party' for you." Wearing a simple black shirt, Ethan stood with the widest grin I'd ever seen on his face, "It's the least I could do to earn your forgiveness. I know how much you love the ocean, so I decided to do something special with it for you." He paused. "We grew up like brothers, sharing so much in common... and that's why I'm ashamed that we fought tonight. I lost my touch for a whole twenty minutes, and threw away my longest friendship. The truth is, the bond I share with you means a lot to me and I value all the little memories we made as kids. That's why I stand before you tonight, to say I am sorry."
I could hear the honesty in his voice.
"I'm sorry I went berserk on you like that. It was a stupid, immature move, and I hope you'll find it in your kind heart to forgive me. To anyone else that I hurt or attempted to hurt, I'm also sorry," Ethan's head turned back to the audience, and that was when I spotted Seth at the back, arms folded and leaning against the wall.
"Emotions aren't easy to control. But I'll try my very best to keep them in check. Thank you all for giving me a listening ear, tonight. I appreciate it."
With a humble bow, a mass of applause followed and I joined in. A public apology was the last thing I expected from him as a surprise. If I'd known that this was what he had planned, I wouldn't have bothered Akunna or Deon to come with me.
My childhood friend faced me, and because I was still surprised by the fact that he'd thrown a party to apologise to me, I captured him in a tight hug. This was the friend grew up with, not the rage filled monster who trashed out my locker.
"I'll take this hug as an 'I am forgiven' hug," he pulled back, still grinning like a Cheshire cat, and I laughed.
"Yeah, you are."
"Ok, then let's get this party staaarted!" He shouted, pulling an avalanche of cheers from the invited guests.
Kuami Eugene's Open Gate set the dance floor open for people to move to the beat. An assortment of finger foods were on display, along with a variety of drinks and a three tier cake.
"You managed to get a cake?"
"Yeah, and it's your favourite too, chocolate hazelnut."
My eyebrows flew up in astonishment. "How in the world did you get all this done in such a short amount of time? It takes a lot of planning and phone calls to set up something like this."
"Well, there was going to be the regular Friday night party here," Ethan started. "But I decided to change it because, I don't think I would've enjoyed the party if I knew you were still mad at me."
Nodding, I said, "Thanks for making the effort to fix our friendship, Ethan."
"Don't mention, man." He gave my shoulder a pat. "Like I said, our friendship means a lot to me. Now, let's go get you a drink."
In the midst of dancing bodies, Ethan steered me over to the stocked bar. Nana Kwame stood behind the counter, pouring some liquids in a shaker. At his side stood Princess, wearing an all leather jumpsuit with full on make-up and a pair of cat-eye shaped sunglasses, perched up in the curly wig on her head.
She had gone all out again, and as much I thought it was over-excessive, my subconscious didn't fail to remind me that this whole ensemble was probably her way of getting into Ethan's pants for money.
"Hey guys," Ethan announced our presence.
"Oh hiiii sweetie." Princess leaned over to throw her arms around him. Ethan, however, was not on the same page because he moved to a different seat.
Nana Kwame chuckled, and I tried stifling a laugh.
"Anyway," Princess masked away the pain of rejection. "To celebrate this joyous occasion, I made one of my super favourite mocktails." She pulled out four glasses of sea blue ice cubes, topped with one cherry and some baby leaves. "Frozen blue rose mint julep mocktail!"
"Wow, it looks great," I complimented.
"Aww, glad you like it," her lips crawled up. "I wanted to make a nice drink for you, like the one I made at the Regionals afterparty."
My eyebrows dipped in suspicion. Why was she being so nice? The last time we spoke to each other was during our big fight. Since then, I had only seen her in passing, and majority of those times, she'd send me a disapproving glare.
"I propose a toast." Ethan lifted his mocktail glass, and I quickly did same. Nana Kwame and Princess joined in with their respective glasses.
"Wishing every one of us success in our races tomorrow. We'll give it our all, and come out more victorious than we ever have."
"Hear, hear!" Princess squealed.
We clinked glasses before bring them to our lips.
"Oh wait." I stared down at my drink. "This isn't alcoholic, right?"
"Mh God no," Princess shook her head, right after swallow down the drink. "We heard there's going to be a drug test tomorrow, so we're keeping the alcohol on a low, low tonight."
"Oh ok, cool." Satisfied with the answer, I took a sip of the cold beverage. The sweetness travelled all the way down to my tastebuds, taking them on a roller coaster ride.
"Good, right?" Princess looked eager for a positive response.
"Yeah, it's really good. I wouldn't mind drinking this all night." I went in for another sip, only to have someone bump into me.
"Ah!" Leaving my drink on the counter, I quickly brushed away the chunk of ice cubes that had fallen on my shirt.
"S-sorry, bro." Akunna had his mouth open, fanning the inside as if his tongue was on fire. "I just need something to-" Noticing my sweaty glass, he grabbed it without hesitation, pouring the mocktail down his system.
"Hey!" Princess snatched the glass from him. "Are you out of your mind? That drink was meant for Akwasi!"
"Yo relax." I turned to her. "He obviously needed it more than I did, so chill."
Her eyebrows descended into a small frown as she gazed at Akunna, who was now battling a brain freeze.
"Hey, you ok?" I helped my roommate onto the nearest bar stool.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he sniffled, still holding his head. "This is the price I pay for going overboard on the spicy gizzard."
"Can you please get him some water?" I directed the request to Princess, but she just kept on staring at Akunna, like she was waiting for something to happen to him.
"Get him the water, Princess!" Ethan ordered, and that seemed to have snapped her out of the trance, because she stammered a 'sure' then headed over to the fridge.
"I swear, sometimes she acts like a robot," Ethan mumbled and I chuckled.
"Anyway Akwasi, it was a real pleasure sharing this drink with you," he slid off the bar stool.
"You're leaving?"
"Oh na, just heading over to the back. We had a poker game arranged with some of the guys from the football team, and their really eager to get it started. Been blowing up my phone non-stop with text messages."
"Oh then, goodluck." I slapped my hand in his. "You're gonna knock their socks off."
"Amen brother," he laughed. "I'll see you around."
Signalling Nana Kwame, the two of them took their leave, blending in with the crowd.
"Sorry I ruined your time with homeboy," Akunna shot me an apologetic look.
"Na, don't worry about."
Princess returned with a mini bottle of water. The moment she set it in front of Akunna, concern touched her features when she noticed the vacant stool on my right. "Where's Ethan?"
"Gone." Akunna screwed the bottle cap open.
"He said he had a poker game with the guys from the football team," I added.
In the next minute, Princess disappeared from our side, taking wide steps in those pointy-edged heels of hers.
"Wow, talk about dick-whipped," Akunna chortled out.
"Well in her case, it's not just dick-whipped, it's money and dick-whipped. Thanks to these two, she's completely glued to the Mayor's son."
"Do you think Ethan's dad knows about his playboy lifestyle?"
"Yes, I mean he allows his son to throw extravagant parties in his lodge every Friday night so, yeah. He definitely knows."
"Whatever happened to good parenting," Akunna took a sip of his water, and suddenly descended into a coughing fit.
"Hey, hey, hey, you ok? Here, have some more water."
"Naa, I'm good." He waved off my concern. "It's just a phlegm stuck in my throat. I'll go get it out in the bathroom." He slid off the stool and walked away, trying to hold in another wave of violent coughs.