Eternal Blossom

Aiyana walked into the living room with a tray of shots, heading for the group of guys standing in front of the fireplace to check out the painting she’d made for Brian. She stopped behind them, smiling when she realized that they all had their eyes trained on Jimmy, wistful smiles on their faces.

“I brought shots so that I could sweet talk one of you into manning the grill. Do I have any volunteers,” Aiyana asked, holding the tray out for them with one hand, her free hand on her hip.

“Matt and I got it, Yanna,” Zack spoke up, his attention pulled from the painting to the outstretched tray. “You did a great job on that by the way.”

“Yeah, Aiya, we’ll cook. Where’s the meat,” Matt rushed, not wanting to get caught up in sentimentality all evening when they were supposed to be having a good time.

“Right here,” Johnny chuckled in response to Matt before Aiyana got a chance.

“Nobody needs to eat gnome meat,” Brian told him with a smack along the back of his head.

With a laugh, Aiyana allowed the guys to take their shots before wandering back into the kitchen to grab the already marinated meat for the grill. Matt and Zack were hot on her trail, anxious to get everything started. The house was rapidly filling up, and people would soon be getting intoxicated and hungry.

Once the guys left with the food, Aiyana leaned against the wall, staring at the floor for a moment as she ran through her mental checklist of everything that needed to be put out or maintained. Satisfied that she’d gotten everything in it’s place, she took a deep breath, wondering if anyone would notice her run away instead of schmoozing with all of the attendees.

Rayne walked into the kitchen with the empty meat tray. Once it was in the dishwasher and she’d grabbed two new ones for the meat, she made herself known verbally.

“You can think about hiding all you want, but Brian will be upset if you ditch his party. Anxiety or pain,” her cousin asked smoothly, all but reading her mind.

“Both. There are too many people, and I feel like the walls are closing in. I want to make his birthday special because god knows he deserves it, but I think I’m dying, Ray. He’s so patient and understanding with me. I don’t deserve him, and I’m just wondering when he’s going to get tired of taking care of me, or putting up with my disorder,” Aiyana breathed, sliding down the wall to sit with her knees drawn up to her chest.

Rayne sighed and shook her head. She knew that her cousin was wallowing, and she knew it would be up to her to pull her out of it; or slap her hard enough to make her come to her senses.

“Look, Aiya. He loves you. That man adores the ground your broken joints walk on. You’ve accepted your issues and accomplished great things despite them. Get up, get out there, and show your man an amazing night because you’re right. He does deserve it.”

Aiyana looked up from her knees to see her cousin towering over her with her hands on her hips. A short chortle of a laugh came from her when she realized what she was doing. Sometimes self-deprecation was not your friend, she decided. Holding a hand out, she allowed Rayne to help her to her feet.

Rayne straightened her dress, fluffed her hair a little, and then held her by her shoulders as she looked into her eyes, “Lets go smoke a bowl to get you calm again and help with the pain. Then, you’re going to come back out here and act like a grown woman with an amazing boyfriend. I’m going to come back out here and act like a grown woman with a boyfriend who tripped over her motorcycle.”

Aiyana laughed, nodding, “He hasn’t taken you to Silverado since it got fixed, has he?”

“Hell no he hasn’t. He’s still in trouble,” Rayne groaned, grabbing the tin from on top of the fridge.

“Who’s in trouble,” Brian asked as he walked into the kitchen in search of his gorgeous girlfriend.

“Zack. He still hasn’t taken her to Silverado,” Aiyana offered as she packed the bowl.

“We can’t all be smart and good looking, Ray,” Brian chuckled before his eyes landed on what was keeping Aiyana’s hands busy. “You hurting, babe?”

“Yeah, but I’ll be fine in a moment. You go enjoy your party. I’ll be out there in a minute,” she told him with a smile meant to reassure him.

“Don’t worry, Haner. I’m rolling a few joints to bring out with us. We’re going to come sit on the patio once she smokes her bowl,” Rayne told him when he started to reach for the tin, whisking it out of his reach. “Plus your joint rolling skills suck.”

Brian held his hands up in defeat with a chuckle. He walked over and kissed Aiyana before slipping out of the kitchen with a bottle of whiskey clasped tightly in each hand. Aiyana took a drag from the bowl once he was out of the room, allowing the smoke to swirl through her lungs in a calming eddy.

“His skills don’t suck. They just aren’t as good as yours,” Aiyana told her cousin as she finally exhaled.

“I bet his motorcycle maiming skills aren’t as good as Zack’s either,” Rayne muttered while she stashed a perfectly rolled joint behind each of her ears.

“You need to let it go, Rayne. I know you got it back a week ago and still haven’t gone, but have faith he will take you. Take a hit of this and chill the fuck out,” Aiyana informed her cousin in an authoritative voice.

Rayne took a hit of the bowl and slid a joint behind her cousin’s ear before waiting calmly for Aiyana to finish her bowl. Once done, they put the tin back and made their way outside, more relaxed and content than they had been moments before.


With the party well under way, most people had eaten and were either swimming or dancing when Zack began to make his way over to Rayne where she was sitting beside Brian with Aiyana in his lap. When Rayne saw him coming over, she started to make a snide remark about how he should watch where he’s going before he trips when Aiyana kicked her in the shin to shut her up.

Zack made it to them and pulled her up from her seat to take her to the dance space where they started moving to the rhythm. His hands slid over her hips to her lower back where he could pull her to his chest, holding her close as they moved together.

“How about I take you on that ride I promised this week,” he murmured in her ear.

“I think if you value me not losing my shit, you’re getting the right idea,” she laughed in response, her fingers sliding into the hair at the base of his neck.

“A little bird reminded me about five times today any time I walked anywhere near an object, so I figured it’s time for us to go,” he chuckled, kissing her deeply to shut up any rebuttal or smart ass comment she would make.

Aiyana watched her cousin on the dance floor, and smirked knowingly as she felt Brian’s warm arms wrap around her waist. Curling into him she returned her attention back to the vapid blonde talking to them from Matt’s side.

“And I was like, oh my god, that’s gonna be so much fun,” her high voice squeaked as she relayed the tail of how Matt invited her to the party.

Aiyana cast a look at Matt and the girl who she hadn’t bothered to remember the name of. When Matt made eye contact with her, she rolled her eyes and curled into Brian further. Matt looked at her apologetically, his eyes begging her not to say anything mean to the poor girl. This was their third date, and he wasn’t sure if he liked her or was just putting up with her to fill the space Darcy had left.

“So, look at the time,” Matt murmured quickly, standing to his feet.

“It’s eleven, Matthew. Sit down and spend some more time with your enchanting date here,” Aiyana smirked up at him. “Unless you’re getting too old to hang with the cool kids.”

Matt looked at her, narrowing his eyes at her briefly before allowing his date to pull him back down beside her. Brian chuckled and rubbed her hip, knowing full well that Aiyana was sick of Matt’s date, but enjoying his turmoil. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t enjoying it as well.

“Aiya, come join us,” a voice called from the pool.

Aiyana sat up and turned enough to see who was calling her, sighing in relief when her back popped multiple times audibly. Johnny was waving her over along with Lacey and Arin looking at her expectantly. Brian rubbed her back as gently as the wind responsible for the movement of a few meager leaves, wincing at the sound she’d made in her twist.

“Alright, but I’ve got to change first. I’m not wearing a bathing suit under this dress,” Aiyana called back.

Aiyana felt Brian’s fingers running up her back to pull her dress out so he could check for himself if she was wearing anything at all under her dress. Once he’d satisfied his curiosity, she stood with a laugh and took off inside to change. Brian chuckled as he watched her retreating form. He’d worn his swim trunks knowing full well they would most likely end up in the water before the party was over.

“Syn, pst,” the blonde beside Matt whisper yelled to him until his eyes moved from the vacant doorway to her deep brown eyes.

“Is she okay? I heard that all the way over here. Did she break something? Do you need to go check on her? I bet you should go check on her,” the girl continued to ramble, her hands waving around in an attempt to get her scattered thought process across to him better than her words were currently.

“She’s fine, Karen. It happens all the time,” Matt told her in as calm of a voice as he could muster while watching Brian’s face move from confused to mildly entertained onto mischievous.

“Oh my god, Matt, are you saying she breaks stuff all the time? Syn, you should really get her some calcium. You know, that’s what bones are, like, made of and it will help,” Karen began at a high pitch only dogs could understand.

“Woah. Easy, Killer. She’s good,” Brian told her while pulling his shirt off over his head. He wasn’t going to be able to sit there and listen to a vapid moron inform him how to take care of his woman and still maintain the manners his parents had engrained in him.

As Aiyana walked out clad in her favorite teal bikini, she saw Brian dive into the pool just over Johnny’s head. With a grin, she leaned in the doorway and surveyed the party through the eyes of a curious observer rather than an overly fastidious hostess.

A few groups scattered, a lot of people chit chatting with drinks in their hands, Rayne and Zack slow dancing to a fast R&B song while looking into one another’s eyes with proverbial hearts flying around their heads, and Matt rubbing one of his temples while his date prattled on and on about something that Aiyana couldn’t hear. Satisfied that it had been a good party, Aiyana ran and jumped into the pool, contentment rushing over her as the water met her sun kissed skin.

The moment she surfaced, Brian’s laughter met her ears. Looking over in the direction of the laughter that made her blood sing with joy, she saw Johnny standing with his head barely above water, Lacey on his shoulders. Looking past the humorous view he saw Brian helping a thin brunette onto Arin’s shoulders.

Aiyana tread water, her eyes focused on the couples that were quickly moving together to engage in a chicken fight. The moment Arin’s partner and Lacey locked arms, the Johnny and Arin stared each other down in a hilarious battle of wills. Knowing that Lacey was about to pull ahead the moment she locked her feet around Johnny and shoved, Aiyana looked over at Brian, their eyes meeting just as Arin and his partner were knocked over.

“You’ll have to tell me one day if it’s the foot trick or if it’s because you have such a grounded base,” Aiyana called to Lacey as Brian made his way over to her.

“Don’t tell her, or she’ll want to try it,” Brian chuckled.

“It’s a mixture of the two,” Lacey giggled, patting the top of Johnny’s head.

Turning so Brian was in front of her, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rested her chin on top of his shoulder so she could whisper in his ear, “I hope you’ve had a great birthday, handsome.”

“It’s been amazing. Thank you,” he smiled back at her. “You know, Matt’s is next. I don’t know if we should get him a ticket to go see your cousin, or a trip for him and Karen to a romantic destination.”

Aiyana laughed loudly, enjoying the idea of tormenting their friend with a trip for the two of them. A moment passed as she mulled the thought over.

“I’m going to go call Darcy. What if we give him a ticket somewhere awesome and send Darcy the other with instructions to meet him there without telling him she’s showing up? Her brother owes me a favor anyways,” Aiyana told him, swimming quickly to the edge as soon as she finished their hushed conversation.

Brian reached out and grabbed her leg, pulling her back to him just before her fingertips grazed the edge of the pool. The moment she surfaced, she wiggled his eyebrows at her. “I like the way you think, but we can plot later. Right now, enjoy the time with me.”

Aiyana started to get upset at the sudden surprise drowning until she realized Brian didn’t want her to leave his side. That he wanted her to stay with him and was actually asking her to do so had her quickly capitulating. Brian wrapped his arms around her and watched the surrender take place in her blue grey depths with a smirk on his face.

Notes

Song credit - Aerosmith

Thank you guys for still reading! Let me know what you think so far!