Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Circus (Intro)

"There's only two types of people in the world
The ones that entertain, and the ones that observe
Well baby I'm a put-on-a-show kinda girl
Don't like the backseat, gotta be first
I'm like the ringleader
I call the shots 
I'm like a firecracker
I make it hot 
When I put on a show" Circus by Britney Spears

The pit stop was Trevor's apartment. When he ran in to grab another shirt, Bianca started in on me.

"Ok, you forgot to mention Trevor as a potential boyfriend." She said.

I sighed. "He's not. We're just friends."

"Bullshit. Something happened between you two."

"No. Never. The only thing that happened is we thought we had feelings for each other at different times. Nothing ever came of them because we're like brother and sister." I explained.

"That's disgusting, Flowers in the Attic type sibling love." Bianca commented.

I turned to glare at her. "Here comes Trevor. Shut up.”

When Trevor came back in another black shirt, we took off towards Fort Worth. The party was at a fraternity brother of Blake's house. On the drive over, I turned up the radio and we jammed out to Thriller. Or I tried to get them to jam out with me. Trevor smiled at me, but seemed lost in his thoughts. Bianca just shook her head and played on her phone. By the time we arrived, I was itching to get out the car.

I texted Blake we made it, and he came out to greet us. He looked cute in an all-white captain obvious costume. After I introduced Blake to Bianca and Trevor, he offered to take us on a tour of the house. It was massive!

The house itself was not decorated, besides the costume clad people coming in and out for the bathroom. Outside, there was a huge Halloween themed walk thru, beer pong tables, a DJ playing music and a photo booth.

Scattered tables and chairs were all throughout the yard. I was super excited and said a silent sorry to Amber. No way was her party topping this one!

"Lily!!!" I heard someone yell from the beer pong tables. I smiled as I saw Forrest waving me over. I grabbed Bianca, cutting Blake's tour short. I rushed over to Forrest.

"You’re late. What are you? A ninja?" He said, scooping me up for a hug.

"The ninja. Lady Kitana from Mortal Kombat." I corrected him, with a grin.

I looked him over in his open purple vest over a beige long sleeve shirt, tattered pants and red hat.

"I don't remember a street rat being able to afford an undershirt." I teased him about his Aladdin costume.

"The street rat couldn't afford food and beer. He could run around shirtless." Forrest smiled, patting his stomach.

I laughed at him. "We can make that part of the wedding planning. A 6 pack for the honeymoon?" I said, rubbing his stomach.

"Why even set Rachel up for that disappointment?" Forrest laughed too.

"Set me up for what?" Rachel appeared. She flashed me a smile before settling close to Forrest. She looked adorable in a long sleeved brown dress, with cute monkey ear headband and a tail attached to the back.

"You look so cute!" I gushed to her, giving her a hug. "I just assumed you would be Jasmine. Abu is such a cute idea." I informed her.

"Thank you." She smiled. "I like your costume too."

"You remember Trevor. This is my cousin Bianca."

"Cousin!!!" Forrest exclaimed hugging Bianca as she gave me a surprised look. I just smiled.

After Forrest greeted Trevor, Rachel asked us. "Did y'all get something to eat?"

"Not yet. I haven't finished the tour. Y'all ready for the rest?" Blake asked, joining us.

"No. Lily's ready to dominate beer pong with me." Forrest decided.

"No way. I invited her. She's my partner." Blake cut in. Forrest looked at me and I shrugged.

"Alright cousin. How's your beer pong skills?" Forrest asked her.

"I hate beer and ping pong." Bianca said.

Forrest smiled. "That's alright. Positive attitude..."

Forrest kept his positive attitude, probably because of all the beer he had to drink when Blake and I beat them.

Blake got called away by a girl to help with something and Bianca and Trevor followed Rachel to grab some food. I teamed up with Forrest to play another team. I drank for us since Forrest was already tipsy. I was soon on his level, but we were dominating the other team. By the time we won, Forrest and I had worked out a silly handshake. We were in the middle of it when Rachel came back with a friend dressed in some kind of carnival bikini costume.

"What are you?" Her friend rudely asked, eyeing me up and down.

"A ninja." I replied.

"The ninja. Mortal Kombat." Forrest clarified. I laughed at him.

"Forrest, take a picture with me." Rachel asked him.

"Sure." Forrest said. I watched as they posed together. My favorite was when Rachel latched on to his back and Forrest held her as they laughed at the camera. It was sickeningly sweet.

"That's forever love. No matter how many hoes try to break it up." Rachel's friend said softly as she took the picture, cutting her eyes at me. I ignored her and walked off. How could a chick in strategically placed feathers call anyone a hoe? I didn't even acknowledged that bullshit. I took a quick trip in the backyard to find Bianca and Trevor.

I went into the kitchen. I didn't see either one. I did find a guy and two girls huddled close together. The guy was dressed in a Freddy Krueger sweater and hat and the girls wore sexy goddess costumes.

The guy winked at me. "Room for one more."

"No thanks. Looks like you've got your hands full." I said, retreating from the kitchen.

"Whenever you wanna finish me with the kiss of death, I'll be waiting Princess Kitana." He replied, smiling at me.

I would have been impressed with his use of Mortal Kombat terminology and his smile to flirt with me, if I wasn't so turned off by the two girls hanging off of him.

I gave him a sweet smile. "Your exploding guts is the best idea I've heard all day." I responded. The guy looked shocked while one of the girls giggled before I headed back outside. I found Bianca and Trevor coming out of the walk thru.

"Y'all went without me?" I pouted.

"We can go again." Bianca smiled.

"Nope. She's way too scared. Unless you plan to spend the week with her, sleeping with the lights on." Trevor pointed out.

"Whatever!!!" I laughed.

We went to the photo booth instead to take pictures. We waited until it became unoccupied. I was taken aback when Blake emerged from the booth with Miss Carnival. If the smeared lipstick wasn't evidence enough of what went on in that booth, Blake's guilty expression said it all.

He really had nothing to feel guilty about. We weren't ever going to date like that. Been there, done that with man whores. With Jake, I felt intimidated because he had that reputation. Now I felt disgusted. A guy would never try to date a girl who had a reputation like that. I adopted that same attitude.

I still smirked at them. "Can we use the booth? Or do you need another minute?" I asked Blake.

"No. We're done." The girl answered for him, as she placed her arm through his. Blake shook her off and I just shook my head as we went into the booth.

"You sure know how to pick em." Trevor said to me, as we settled in.

I grinned. "I didn't pick him. Rachel did."

After we took the pictures, we left to find Rachel and Forrest. They were in the house, cuddled up on the couch with another couple. We said goodbye and I hugged them both.

"Did you say bye to Blake?" Rachel asked me with a smile.

"Um no. Last time I saw him, he was exploring Rio in the photo booth." I quipped.

Rachel looked confused but Forrest caught on and laughed.

"Blake and Serena." He told Rachel.

"Just fucking great." Rachel mumbled, sitting back down.

That was the second time I was thrown off tonight. I hardly heard Rachel cuss. I couldn't believe she was that upset about Blake. I gave Forrest a look and he just shrugged. We left after that.



"I get it." Bianca informed me, as I replayed the situation to her. We were at home after Trevor dropped us off. We stopped by Whataburger first, so Bianca and I were on my bed, pigging out on burgers and fries.

"What? Did you feel a great connection between Blake and me?" I laughed, munching on fries.

"No, but he was cute enough to distract you from Forrest."

I groaned dramatically. "Not you too Bianca. NOTHING IS GOING ON WITH FORREST." I groaned out, frustrated.

Bianca laughed. "I know there isn't. You have no idea how flirty you come off to guys. I understand that's just your desperation for healing hugs."

 I laughed at her Frozen allusion.

"But I can understand how Rachel, or any woman, might feel with you acting like that around their boyfriend or fiance." Bianca continued.

I blushed, embarrassed. "Is it really that bad?"

"You rubbed his stomach Lily."

"In a non-sexual way!"

"I've slapped bitches for less."

I giggled. "Fine. I'll work on it."

"Work on what?" Sammy asked us, as she joined us in the room and on the bed. She looked cute, but tired, in a black dress, and an elaborate eye mask resting on her slick back hair.

"Not being overly flirty with guys. Especially ones that are in relationships." I recited, offering her some of my fries.

She shook her head. "No, I better get to bed. I'm exhausted. I have another party tomorrow."

"Yeah. Amber's party." I said.

"No, I'm bartending." Sammy corrected.

"What? Why would you take another gig? You're supposed to bring Corey so he can meet Ethan." I reminded her.

"I should be off earlier. You take him. It's not a big deal. We're all friends." Sammy said, before standing up. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." We said back. Bianca turned to me.

"What does she do again?" Bianca asked.

"She's a bartender. Private parties." I responded.

"She can afford Donna Karan on a bartender's salary?"

I frowned. "They are private parties. They get a flat rate, plus tips. I admit, T&A is definitely part of the package, but I'm sure that's how Sammy makes her tips. That's right up her alley."

Bianca nodded, yawning.

I smiled at her. "Cali party girl tired? It's barely 2am in California right now."

She smiled back at me. "I know. I'm on some lame Texas behavior right now."

I hit her with a pillow before gathering up the trash. We both passed out in the bed shortly after.

---------------------------

We woke up the next day in the late afternoon. Still enough time to catch Los Lupes Weekend brunch special. It was a breakfast buffet with Mimosas, Bloody Marys and Micheladas. The buffet had a mixture of Mexican food like menudo, guiso, beans and homemade tortillas with American staples like biscuits, pancakes and scrambled eggs. It was hangover heaven.

I wanted to invite Trevor, Brandon and Corey, but Sammy wanted to make it a girl's brunch. Rocky, Gigi, Amber and her girls joined us.

"Robbie was sleeping so he stayed with Will. He is setting up the decorations with Ethan." Amber explained, after we settled with food.

Everyone recapped their Halloween night. Amber and her family stayed in and watched movies; Gigi had a date who took her to Fright Fest at 6 flags; Rocky's group met up with Jake's friends at IHOP after the bar.

I was too into my brochette shrimp to care about what Jake was up to. I was still going with the theory if I didn't acknowledge it, it didn't exist. Therefore, I was not concerned about Jake nor his feelings.

After breakfast, we went shopping at a Halloween store that already marked down costumes. Amber found ringleader costumes for her and Will. Gigi found a cute fortune teller costume and Rocky found matching harlequin clown costumes for herself and Brandon. We went to Wal-Mart after that. Amber found clown costumes for the girls and Robbie. She also picked up half off candy and a few other treats for the party. I did too, for the party (and myself!)

In the girl's costume section, I found a lion costume. I gave it to Bianca.

"You can be the lion, and I can be the lion tamer. I just have to go back to the other store and get that ringleader jacket and a whip!!!" I said, excitedly.

 Bianca grinned. "Ok."

We split up to go our separate ways after that. Bianca and I headed back to the Halloween store. I found a set of lion ears and tail that I bought for Bianca and a ringleader coat for myself. It was a male size large, but Bianca said she could tighten it with a belt to make it look fitted. I planned to throw some leggings on underneath it.

We had just checked out when my phone rang. I picked up when I saw it was Corey.

"Hey you! What's up?"

"Just calling to see if we can reschedule the whole meeting thing tonight."

"Why?!?!" I asked, disappointed.

"It's gonna be weird with Sammy-"

"No it's not. She specifically told me to take you!" I cut him off.

"She did?" He said.

"Yes. C'mon. It'll be fun!"

"I don't even have a costume." He said, weakly. I knew it was an excuse.

"I have one for you! Be at my apartment at 5. No excuses!!!" I said, hanging up the phone. That taken care of, I turned to Bianca.

"Do you have a nude dress?" I asked.

"No... why?" She asked.

"Cause I need a lion costume now." I replied. I figured between mine, Sammy's and Bianca's clothes, I could copy off Rachel and just wear a nude dress, the lion ears and the tail. I could even wear my hair like a mane.

When I got back to the apartment, I raided Sammy's clothes. She did have quite a bit more clothes than I remembered...

My thoughts were distracted by a beige jumpsuit. It was perfect. I grabbed it and went to my room. I washed my hair and blow dried it, leaving it thick and wavy. After putting on the jumpsuit, I shook my head around wildly, fluffing it up with my fingers. The end result looked big and wild.

I had Bianca draw whiskers on my face and I did the same for her. She paired her costume with a pair of my nude leggings. By the time there was a knock on the door, we were both ready. Corey stood at the door and gave us both a look over as he walked in.

"Wow." Was all he said.

We both laughed. "Aren't you glad you came? Now you get to tame us!" I grinned at him as Bianca handed him the ringleader coat. He put it over his white t-shirt and skinny jeans.

Corey nodded. "Best costume ever."

Bianca gave him a thin belt as well. "This is for appearance only."

"Sure...." Corey teased, as he whipped it.

I drove us to Amber's house. I volunteered to be designated driver, on the condition Corey did not drink until he spoke to Ethan.

"When have you seen me drink?" He asked me.

I thought about it. He was right. Never. Every time we went out he offered to be designated driver.

"Well, why didn't you drive?" I joked.

We arrived at Amber and Will's house. Ethan and Will did an awesome job. They had alternating red and white streamer hanging from the ceiling to resemble a big top tent. Stuffed animals were propped throughout the house in circus poses. The backyard was set up with carnival games.

"Guys, this looks amazing!" I complimented Will and Ethan as we looked around the house.

"Thanks." Will said to me. Ethan nodded as I headed his way. I introduced him to my cousin and Corey. I gave Corey an encouraging smile before I dragged Bianca to the kitchen to help with the food.

Amber and Gigi gushed over our costumes before I kicked Amber out the kitchen to get herself and the kids ready. I finished up the cooking while I put Bianca on sherbet punch for the kids duty and Gigi on the punch for the adults duty.

Rocky, Brandon, Jackie, her daughter Ressa and Malik showed up as we were finishing.

Jackie was dressed as an acrobat, with a sparkly red leotard, tights and a robe. Her daughter was wearing the same thing, just different colors. I wasn't sure how appropriate it was for a teenager wearing the same costume as her mom, but whatever. Malik was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Even Ethan was wearing a black and white sweater and called himself a mime. The lamest mime EVER, but at least he made an attempt.

"Did you miss the memo about costumes?" I asked, as I greeted him with a smile.

"I'm a guest at the circus. Just here for the show." Malik answered, handing over a party tray of sandwiches.

I smirked as I took the tray from him. We set out all the food before getting drinks and taking pictures together. Amber and the kids came down a moment later looking so adorable in their costumes.

Other guests arrived as we ate, drank and talked including Megan, Dave and EJ. They looked so cute in matching red band jackets with gold buttons. I introduced Megan to Corey and checked on Ethan. He seemed okay seeing the three of them dressed up alike. But sometimes with Ethan, I just couldn't tell as far as reading his emotions. He said he was ok, so I went with it.

Trevor showed up a little after them. He dressed up in magician jacket. The party was going great. It was so much fun. Everyone played games outside together. The party started to wind down around midnight. Jackie, Malik and Ressa left first.

Malik missed the show that Sammy put on when she finally showed up.







11 comments:

Nicole M. said...

Your cliffhangers kill me Janay!!

I've gotta say though that I'm not surprised by the whole Rachel thing. Bianca totally hit the nail on the head.

Anonymous said...

Rachel needs to get over her insecurites. Even if Lily IS a flirt, she should no that she's not interested in Forrest.

Can't wait for the Sammy Shit Show!! :)

Anonymous said...

Just out of curiosity why Should she know that lilys not interested in forrest, if her actions are flirty then that's what it looks like. I think she needs to talk to her though, so far though she hasn't gone mad or anything and Forrest still hangs out with lily so she must not be that insecure

Jacqie said...

Lily may not be interested in Forrest, but I can't say the same thing about Forrest. Lily definitely needs to respect Rachel and Forrest's relationship and not be all flirty with him. She would totally flip out if a b/f of hers had that same kind of relationship with another girl. But Forrest has been flirting with her since day one,calling her beautiful and whatnot. I wonder how long it would have taken him to mention being engaged if Darren hadn't mentioned it.

Anonymous said...

Why would Rachel want to be with someone like Forrest? Call it insecurity, but I think Rachel isn't comfortable with a line Forrest likes to play with. ...I don't blame her, it's a bit inconsiderate. As are Lily's actions. She loves the attention she gets from her guy friends...it's exhilarating to be quick-witted and flirty, catch their eye just long enough to give them (and yourself) butterflies before dancing on your way. And nothing ever materializes from it, so it must be innocent. Right? Not so much...Lily/Forrest are willing to treat Rachel poorly, disregard her unspoken, yet clearly discomforted, feelings all for fleeting high they get from their childish flirtations. They need to grow up. People need to start treating others how they'd like to be treated. Girls and guys can be friends, yes. But don't take advantage of what that truly means and certainly don't hurt others in your wake. Ultimately, I think Forrest should be ashamed of his behavior. He's a prick for treating Rachel with such little respect and there's no reason Rachel should put up with it. She should dump the motherfucker. I love this blog, the writing and storyline, but Lily's character is so self absorbed and immature at times...I'm exhausted by her constant need to feed her ego with her various "guy-friendly" relationships.

Anonymous said...

I think she should talk to Rachel. Apologize and tell her she wasn't aware she was doing anything wrong because she has absolutely no feeling for Forrest. I think from. The way it sounds she has no clue. She's that one friend almost everyone has. The one that needs the attention but is oblivious to the fact she's doing it. But at least she listened to Bianca. And I think she's going to start paying more attention. She hugs Rachel and includes Rachel when she's around so.. I think Rachel. Does realize lily doesn't do it on purpose but is annoyed by it. And I really think Rachel should open her mouth if she has an issue instead of the subtle setting her up and such. Use your words. Be adult.

K

Anonymous said...

I think even Forrest doesn't realize how upset rachel is because when rachel & Lily met rachel was telling him how much she liked Lily. Guys don't read minds most times you need to spell out your feelings to them because if you expect them to just know - it's not going to happen. But I agree Forrest & Lily should tone it down. But I also believe rachel has a part in the blame too. As far as we know she never set boundaries and expressed to Forrest that those boundaries are her comfort zone & not to push them in regards to other women/Lily so you can't expect them to respect boundaries they never knew were needed if she pretends she's ok with the 'friendship' as is. So yes she needs to have an adult talk. With Forrest, then Lily

Anonymous said...

Even if Lily "includes" rachel by hugging & talking to her when she's around it can come off as suspicious when you're that flirty with a man you know is taken (intentional or not) and "include" his woman which isn't really what Lily does...it's more like acknowledging Rachel's presence

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but since when does there need to be boundaries set for an engaged couple, don't flirt with others . I guess some people are different and need to be told that they are in a serious relationship?

Jacqie said...

Another clue that Lily didn't pick up on that she was being too flirty with Forrest is the vibe they have off to her friends when they would be out together with her friends. I know some people will start drama and spread rumors that a platonic relationship is more than it is, but when everyone you come across is thinking you guys are a couple, obviously you are giving off some vibe. I also feel though, that if Forrest respected Rachel, he wouldn't behave the way he does with Lily. I think Lily should reach out to Rachel and apologize, and tone down her interactions with Forrest.

Anonymous said...

If he has always been flirty & it never bothered her before she wouldn't have made any boundaries know but now with Lily it is then boundaries need to be set. Everyone's personal comfort level is different & if hers has changed she needs to voice that