{92}✔️

Dahlia's POV

************

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! This is their house! This is their house! This is their house—"

"Dahlia, please. Calm down." Caden chuckled as he patted my head. I wasn't even bothered by the usually annoying action as I stared out of the car window, my eyes wide as the house got closer and closer. Today is Saturday. Kai's housewarming party. I'm super excited, and I don't even know why.

I guess it's just cause I like how things are going right now. Everyone's growing up and doing, like, adult shit and shit, and I'm happy for everyone getting their lives together and shit.

Plus, I can't wait to see Jessica again and tell her about all the Kpop music I've been listening to recently, and I can't wait to meet Ori because apparently, he's a science nerd and has all kinds of fancy science kits and shit which I can't wait to see.

"Okay guys, let's have a little chit chat before we go into this house," Cadence said as she unbuckled her seatbelt. Caden stopped the car after we pulled into their packed driveway and turned to look at her. "We're gonna be on our best behavior today, okay? We don't wanna freak Kai's new roommates out with our craziness. Dahlia, don't obsess over their silverware, and Caden don't eat all their damn food. Behave."

"Yes, mother." Caden rolled his eyes before opening his car door. "Let's hurry up and go in, I'm hungry!"

Cadence was about to say something to him but he was out of the car before she could. She just sighed and shook her head as she got out as well.

We all got the gifts we brought out of the trunk and then headed up to the front door. The house is honestly really nice, judging by the outside. It looks big and the yard is nice and clean looking. The grass is so green and it's cut nicely, there's a cute little bench swing on their porch, even their mailbox is adorable!

Okay, maybe I am being a bit crazy. Dial it down, Dahlia.

We waited for a few moments after knocking, and then Jessica opened the door and smiled widely at us, welcoming us in.

"You guys can put your gifts over in that corner," she pointed toward a far corner. "And thank you so much for bringing them! It really means a lot!"

"It's no problem," I grinned as I handed my baskets to Caden and let him and Cadence carry all the stuff over as I hung back to talk to Jessica. "I'm really excited for this party and it's not even mine." I chuckled. "Are you guys enjoying living here so far?"

"Yeah, it's really fun. This house is honestly a lot nicer than my parents' house. Not that it was bad or anything! Our house was a cute little cozy home, but I always wanted something bigger and this house definitely is. Four bedrooms." She grinned excitedly. "Four! I feel rich!"

We laughed as we walked into the somewhat crowded kitchen, greeting the people in there before we got back to our conversation. "Getting to live with my friends is really fun too. Kai and I haven't been friends for all that long, but she seems really cool. We've been spending a lot of time together and she's awesome..." She blushed a little and looked down and I took note of that. "Orb and I have been friends since we were younger and it's always been our dream to move in together. I'm happy we got to, too. I was really scared that since he's a senior we'd lose touch or something as soon as he graduates this year, but now we live together so I don't have to worry about that."

"Really? Wow, that's so cool!" I exclaimed. "I've been dying to meet him since Kai told me about him. She said he's really into science?"

"That he is," She rolled her eyes and let out a small laugh. "He's a total nerd, but he's super lovable so—"

"I'm not a nerd, you whore. Hi, I'm Orbison, but that's a tragic name so I just go by Orb or Ori or Orbi or literally anything else."

I turned around to look at the boy behind me and smiled as he pulled me in for a hug. He looks about as tall as Denny and my dad, probably 6'4 or somewhere off in there, and he honestly looks like he could be our long lost brother. Just like my siblings, dad and I, he has pale skin, blue eyes, a few freckles here and there, and I swear we even have the same nose. His hair length is the same as Cora, Denny and dad's—A little past his shoulders, and it's curly just like all of ours too.

"Dude, why are we twins?" I questioned. He laughed loudly and shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea, but I'm glad I do look like you. You're really cute."

"Give it up, loser, she's gay. Sorry about him, he flirts with everything that moves." Jessica rolled her eyes. He shrugged once again. "Gotta shoot my shot. You got any siblings that are single?"

"My brother Denny, but he's got a baby on the way." I smirked.

"I happen to love kids! Seriously, that's actually so cool! I feel like I haven't been around any kids in forever." He chuckled. "So, your brother is the father of Julia's baby, huh?"

"Yep, that's him."

"Well, tell him I said congrats even though he doesn't know me." He smiled.

"I will! You know, we're having a garage sale to raise some money for him and Julia soon. He won't be there, but you're totally welcome to come if you promise to spend money." I joked.

"I'll be there. We need furniture and house shit. Plus, I've been looking for some one of a kind decor—"

"He's shit at decorating. He gets the ugliest shit to put in this house, Dahlia. That's the only downside to living with him. He has a clown statue in his room." Jessica sighed.

"Yikes." I cringed. "I wanna see!"

"Follow me." He laughed.

***

I spent four whole hours hanging out with Jessica and Ori, and I was right to be excited about this party. It's been really fun and they're, like, the best! Ori showed me a lot of his science shit and some of his music—which I was shocked to find out that he was good at writing. I heard some of his songs and they were so good! He said he only makes them for fun, though, and doesn't have any intentions of actually sharing his music with the whole world. He promised to send me some of the songs I liked, though.

His room was really cool. Yeah, it's full of a whole bunch of ugly crap, but...In a cool way? If that makes sense? He's got a lot of clowns and skull decor. It's kinda his theme and it's really cool.

He seems to love stripes and checkers. He was wearing striped pants and a checkered shirt and shoes, his phone case was checkered, and his room floor was checkered too. His walls were—you guessed it—striped.

You would think those two things wouldn't go so well together, but he's honestly making it work somehow.

Jessica showed me her room too, and it's so cute. It's super grunge, all black walls, and carpet, lots of 90s posters with different musicians or movies on the wall, along with a few records here and there. She even showed me her closet, which is a big, walk-in closet filled with tons of denim. One side is colorful clothing, then the rest of it is filled with black clothing, and her style is so badass.

After talking in their rooms for a few hours, we made our way back out to the party. After making plans to hang out later, they excused themselves because they needed to go actually help host. I felt a little bad after realizing that Kai was on her own this whole time, but I found her a few minutes later and she didn't seem to mind it.

"Hey, Dahlia!" She grinned, springing up from the couch she'd been sitting on to hug me.

"Hi! Sorry, I'm just now seeing you, I was talking to Jessica and Orb this whole time."

"That's okay! I get it, their pretty awesome. Did Orb flirt with you like it was his job?" She snickered. I laughed and shook my head. "Only for two seconds and then Jessica told him I was gay."

"I'm glad he didn't scare you off then. Wanna go to the kitchen and grab something to eat? We have buffalo chicken dip, cheese dip, meatballs—"

"Oh my god, there's still food left? I can't believe Caden hasn't gone through it all yet! Hell yes, I want some!" I practically yanked her into the kitchen.

I began fixing myself a nice plate, my mouth practically watering as I stared at all the nice food they had on the beautiful kitchen table. Dark wood. Wow, that's nice.

"Dahlia..." Kai sighed, grabbing my attention. I raised my brows at her. "Yes?"

"I just wanted to thank you for coming. I mean, seriously, you don't know how much any of this means to me. I never thought that I'd get here. You know? I never thought I'd get to live in my very own house with two of my friends. Especially not one as nice as this one, and I can't believe that after everything that happened between us you're here still supporting me and being my friend. It means a lot."

I smiled as I leaned over to give her another hug. "It's no problem, Kai. The past is the past and we were both being assholes. It's all good now."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. And since you invited me to your housewarming party, I was wondering, do you wanna come to Denny and Julia's baby shower? We're having it March 31st and he said we could invite whoever we wanted as long as they bring gifts." I laughed.

"I'd love to! I'll find something really good to bring."

"Dope! I—"

"Oh my god, what? There's more cheese dip left? You told me you guys ran out!" Caden's voice interrupted and I stepped away from the table full of food as quickly as I could, knowing that he would've shoved me out of the way if I hadn't.

Kai shook her head. "We were trying to keep him out of the kitchen, but he—"

"What?! There are more hot wings too?! Oh my god!"

***

"Your gift is better than mine." I pouted as I stared at the huge set of marble plates, bowls, and cups that Billie had gotten for them. "And where the hell did you get those? I'm gonna buy some."

"Amazon," She shrugged. "And I told you I was gonna one-up you."

"You're a bitch."

"Thanks."

We were silent for a while after that, just sitting on the couch, full from the amazing food we'd eaten. Everyone was just chilling at this point, watching as Orb, Jessica and Kai went through their gifts and thanked everyone for them.

"This is her." Bea tapped my shoulder and I lazily turned to look at her phone screen. I gasped as she showed me a picture of the girl she said she was taking to prom. They'd apparently been friends for a while, but Bea thinks it's gonna turn into something more really soon, and I hope it does. She deserves to have a nice girl to talk to, especially after what happened with Luna.

"Dude, what the fuck?! She's gorgeous!" I whisper yelled, grabbing the phone. Billie snatched it from me and let out a low whistle. "Damn, Bea. She looks like a whole model."

"Right?! Y'all, I'm about to be boo'd up with a bad bitch. Can you fucking believe it? It's what I deserve."

I cackled and shook my head at her. "Okay, okay, what color are you wearing to prom? I can't decide to save my soul." I sighed.

"Red cause I'm a blood." She smirked. I sent her a look and she held her hands up in defense. "I'm kidding! We cripping over this way, fuck you mean?"

"Bea!"

"I'm kidding!" She laughed loudly. "We really are wearing red, though. Compliments my skin."

"Everything compliments your skin."

"I'm working on my self-confidence, so I'm just gonna say, no arguments here." She nodded.

"The only color I can really think of that I actually, really wanna wear is red, but I know a lot of people are gonna be wearing that." I grumbled.

"So? Wear what you want! I don't think too many people are gonna be wearing red, though. Gold, silver, rose gold, and beige. Those are the colors that people are gonna be wearing a lot, mark my words."

I hummed. "You're probably right. Cadence said she doesn't wanna wear hot pink anymore herself. She's gonna go with something gold...Would you be mad if we wore red too?"

"Obviously not! It'll be like all four of us are matching! We'll have to get a group pic."

"Billie, you wanna wear red?"

"Whatever you wanna wear, babe." She mumbled sleepily. She was already nodding off and I smirked as I watched her jump every now and then before drifting off again.

"I guess we better get ready to head out. Sleeping beauty here is gonna make me carry her into her house, I bet." Bea sighed as she stood up and kicked Billie's leg. She just muttered a few incoherent words and then let out a small snore. "I'm gonna go say my goodbyes to everyone and then we'll be gone." Bea said before bending down to give me a hug and then walking off.

***

About an hour later, the twins and I were ready to go and most people had already left. We didn't wanna overstay our welcome, so I told them I'd meet them at the car after saying goodbye to Ori, Kai, and Jessica. I'm pretty sure they'd all gone to their rooms a few minutes ago to start putting some of the picture frames and shit they'd gotten up.

I decided to stop by Jessica's room first. I pushed the cracked door open a little wider and saw her and Kai making out on her bed.

I dipped right after.

I went to Ori's room and knocked on his door, making sure I didn't catch him doing anything. He yelled for me to come in and I did.

"Hey, D." He smiled tiredly.

"Hi! I'm about to head out. Just wanted to say I had a great time and everything."

"Thanks for coming!" He grinned. "I'll be at that garage sale too, just let me know when it is. Baby shower too."

"Alright, cool. Text me tomorrow so we can start our Star Trek discussion." I laughed.

"Will do." He smirked. I closed the door after stepping out of the room again.

When I got to the car, Caden and Cadence were already bickering.

"The cheese dip was so much better than the buffalo dip." Caden huffed. "I'm, like, a professional food dude. Don't argue with me."

"You're a professional idiot, that's what you are."