Page 37 of Awestruck at Dusk
Oh.
Amena and David followed close behind while Aaron stopped to talk to Big Mike. One of the guys posted at the entrance opened the door for us, and we walked right in. The place was pitch-dark and creepy as hell.
“Where is everybody?” I asked, looking up at the dimly lit, triple-height, vaulted ceilings. But the faint glow showering the architectural masterpiece above us didn’t do much to light our way moving forward. I was afraid I would stumble.
And before Nathan could reply, the whole place came to life at once, and what felt like a thousand people screamed, “Surprise!” I covered my mouth with shock. I didn’t even know that many people.
I turned to Nathan and whispered, “You said it was going to be super boring.”
“No. I said you had no idea.”
Damn, I was an easy target.
Another Surprise Party
NATHAN WRAPPED HIS ARMSaround me and said, “Come on, love. Everyone’s waiting for you.” He took my hand and pulled me toward the party. I took a deep breath because I didn’t know how I felt about this. A part of me was upset because I clearly said Ididn’twant to celebrate. And I had a specific reason for that.
Caleb.
It didn’t sit right with me to celebrate, and on such a grand scale, when he was gone because of me. His family was still mourning back in Israel.Iwas still dealing with the pain.
Yet another part of me understood all Nathan tried to do was cheer me up, that there wasn’t any ill intention of planning the party. And I knew that, but it didn’t make it any less uncomfortable for me to deal with the polarized feelings inside me.
It was all too much to take in.
The place was beautifully decorated. Modern lounge furniture with golden throw pillows on each side of the space created a wide corridor in the middle where golden cocktail tables and stools with black leather seats were arranged in a diamond-shaped pattern.
At the far end, a low, wide, black wooden dais was filled with every instrument you could think of. They all rested on their respective stands. There were a couple of microphones too.
To the left of the stage, a DJ played house music from his illuminated booth.
A massive bar with more than a handful of servers coming and going was set up against the wall to the right. And a few rectangular tables with black tablecloths were placed against the left wall. Nathan told me that’s where the food would be served.
I was about to ask about the food, but Nathan said I’d have to wait and see.
God.This could’ve easily been a wedding if a bride and groom were to walk in.
Almost everyone I knew was here. Familiar faces popped up everywhere. I spotted the entire Sjöberg family scattered around the place, including their parents, Sivert and Nathalie, who were on opposite sides of each other.
I couldn’t find William, though. He had to be around because Zara was here too, chatting with Sivert and Tobias. But I hadn’t seen him yet.
At least I was glad to know thatthiswas the place William had brought Zara to “tire her out.” However, I wasn’t too sure if I wanted to witness how that happened.
Nolan, Emily, Ben, Heather, and other friends from Parsons chatted over drinks in the lounge area. Even Bryce was here. She was going to flip with the Sjöbergs, or maybe she’d already flipped. Her eyes looked big and round, so yeah, she’d probably seen them.
CJ, Nina, and Ren sat together at one of the cocktail tables and waved hello when I spotted them. On the table next to them, Alice and Luna sat with their drinks while they chatted.
Everyone looked so elegant, and there were many people I didn’t recognize too, probably invited to fill out the place because it washuge. But before I was done scanning the guests, my father approached me.
“Kiddo!” He held me tight around his arms. “I know you didn’t want to celebrate, but it’s your twenty-first birthday. Wehadto do something about it.”
We? I wasn’t sure yet about who’d been in charge of planning the surprise party.
“It’s okay, Dad. Thank you for all of this,” I said, hugging him back. “But next year, I won’t be surprised anymore if you do this again. You’ve lost the surprise factor.” We both laughed.
Our relationship had been bumpy in the past few months, but I was glad to see him.
“I know. I promise we’ll do whatever you want on your birthday next year, yes?”
