party time

There was a store bought speciality cake for Eric's birthday. As long as he could remember, he and his Mom baked his own cake together for his birthday. It was never really marked as that big of a celebration.

Since his birthday was so close to Halloween, usually, they'd come up with things like the grave yard cake, Kitty-litter cake (which was so gross and real looking, but actually tasted great with the tootsie rolls that looked so much like cat poo) and even a ghost cake with "boo" on it.

His mom had invited Kyle and Cory who of course brought Dylan.

"Here, open it." Dylan had gone all out for the party. Thankfully, he hadn't cross dressed, but had to ask Eric's Dad how often he saw men in kilts where he lived.

"Thanks,"of course, Eric wanted to ask Cory if Dylan was drunk. It was so hard to tell sometimes. Maybe he was just high. There was something musk- like about Kyle and Dylan. Had they been getting high together?

Of course, they each had three pieces of cake. Eric was pretty sure some sort of party was going on and they just had to break it up to stick around long enough for the birthday boy.

When Eric opened Dylan's package it was packed full of cheery twizzlers and a black T-shirt with the phrase soixante neuf on it.

Eric put the box away immediately. What the hell was he supposed to do? Leave it to Dylan to embarass him.

"What is it?" Ellie asked.

"Oh, you don't want to know," he whispered then said aloud. "Twizzlers, thanks for the Twizzlers guys." He was ready to hide Dylan's present.

"Its from all of us." Dylan smiled.

Eric gritted a smile back.

Ellie had crocheted him a gray fedora. Of course, it might look better on anyone else, but Eric wore it. She'd made him a few other little things from her creative endeavors, like a denim laundry bag full of cologne, soaps, socks, shirts and whatever else he might need to get through winter. Of course, deep down, he just wanted to spend time with her. Not this mad party.

His mother got out the champagne as soon as he blew out the candles. It wasn't until the party was in full mode before his sister showed up.

Eric was sure things would soon fizzle once Dora got there. He could just see her getting in a shouting match with his Dad, who had been so low-key (possibly from jet lag). But she had on her smile and it looked so genuine. Eric just hoped it was true.