And Then What?. D. Graham R.

glass and mirrored surface in my mom’s high-rise condo was sparkling by the time I finished rushing around with a spray bottle. My boyfriend’s best friend, Murphy, was seated on the leather couch flicking between a football and a hockey game on TV. The party was about to start and I hadn’t even changed yet, so I handed him the broom. “Murph, a little help? Please and thank you.”

      Despite the fact that his focus didn’t leave the television, he heaved his giant frame off the couch and half-heartedly pushed the broom over the hardwood floors as I quickly fluffed the throw pillows and stashed one of my textbooks under the couch. The original plan was to celebrate Trevor’s twenty-first birthday party up in Britannia Beach on the actual date, but then I got the bright idea to push it two weeks earlier and host it in Vancouver so he would be surprised. Too bad I didn’t factor into account that I’d have two papers due, a group project, and an exam while I was trying to plan everything. Sleep is overrated anyway, right?

      “The place is already spotless, Deri.” Murphy said. “It’s not like Trevor cares what it looks like.”

      “The thirty other people who are about to show up will.” The doorbell rang right on cue.

      Trevor’s sister Kailyn, who was blowing up balloons at the dining table, sprung up and answered the door for me. It was her dad, so she gave him a hug around his waist.

      “Hi everyone.” Jim Maverty waved, removed his jacket and shoes, then crossed the room and sat down on the couch to watch the game Murphy had left on. He wasn’t an overly chatty guy and social gatherings weren’t really his thing. He only came down to Vancouver from Britannia Beach for special occasions.

      “Mom!” I hollered down the hall towards her bedroom as I turned the stereo system on for background music. “Jim’s here.”

      “Okay, I’ll be right out.”

      My best friend, Sophie, was helping my granddad prepare the hors d’oeuvres in the kitchen. She had moved back home from New York at the end of December after the off-Broadway play she’d been singing in ended its run. Her boyfriend, Doug asked her to move in with him in Los Angeles, but she hadn’t yet because he was on a world tour with his band and wouldn’t be back for another three months. In the meantime she was living at her parents’ house in Squamish and working as a waitress in Whistler, which she wasn’t crazy about. I tugged the loose braid she’d woven her long black hair into. “Mmm, that bruschetta smells amazing.” I popped a spinach, tomato, and feta-covered piece of bread into my mouth. “It tastes amazing too. Thanks for helping with the food. You’re a life-saver.”

      “I’ve been doing more eating than helping. Your grandpa did most of the work.” She dumped half a bottle of barbecue sauce over a dish of chicken wings.

      It had been over a month since I’d seen Granddad because I had been swamped with school work. Originally, when I had decided to stay in Vancouver and attend the same school as Trevor, I had hoped to go up to Britannia Beach on weekends to visit Granddad, Sophie, and Kailyn, but finding the time turned out to be harder than I thought it would be. Going from seeing him every day for my entire life to less than once a month made me sad. I hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Granddad. I’ve missed you.”

      “I’ve missed you, too.” He opened the oven door and slid in a baking sheet of about fifty mini quiches. “But stop hovering. You can go get ready. We have everything under control in here.”

      “Okay, thanks.” I had been hovering and micro-managing too much. I wanted everything to be perfect, but I hadn’t scheduled enough time for perfection. All Trevor would care about was having his friends and family around to celebrate. It was me who wanted it to feel like a proper, sophisticated grown-up party. I leaned my palms on the granite countertop of the kitchen island, poked my head out towards the living room. “Can I get anyone a drink or a meatball or something?”

      The doorbell rang again and Kailyn got up to answer it.

      “We’re fine, Deri. Just go get ready,” Murphy said.

      I did need to get changed, so I left everything in their capable hands. On the way to my room, my mom passed me in the hall, putting her earring in and pressing her lips together to blend her lipstick. She looked nice.

      “Is Ron coming?” I asked her.

      “No, sweetheart. I know you don’t feel comfortable when he’s here.”

      True. He’d been her boyfriend for almost a year, but it still didn’t sit right with me. Feeling guilty for being childish about their relationship, I tucked my hair behind my ears and attempted to come across as more mature than I actually was. “You could have invited him to the party. I just feel weird when he’s hanging around here without you as if he lives here.”

      “Maybe with more time you’ll get used to him.”

      “Yeah, time,” I said under my breath. Although I really had no choice but to accept that she and Ron were a thing, I couldn’t imagine ever being comfortable with him lounging around on the couch and helping himself to food and trying to have parental-type talks with me. I wasn’t ready for that. Hard to host a grown-up party if I couldn’t even be adult enough to accept the fact that my mom had a boyfriend, though. “Call him and tell him he’s welcome.”

      “I think he made plans with his son, but I’ll let him know.” Mom touched my arm lightly, then carried on down the hall to join everyone in the living room. Ron’s son was seventeen and already cool with my mom, which she reminded me of frequently. His situation was different, though. His parents divorced when he was five years old. My parents adored each other and would have still been together if my dad hadn’t died in a car crash when I was fifteen. Change really wasn’t my thing. Admittedly, I needed to work on letting things go.

      Later.

      Voices filled the living room as more people arrived, so I ducked into my room. The black, fitted dress I’d borrowed from Sophie was hung on the back of my closet door. I really wanted the party to be a success because, despite going to the same school, Trevor and I had barely seen each other in weeks. I missed him. I brushed my hair, applied a little makeup, stepped into the dress I’d borrowed from Sophie, and slipped my feet into black pumps—all in record time. Ugh, I shouldn’t have looked in the mirror. Three nights in one week of pulling all-nighters to finish my assignments were not kind to me.

      The doorbell rang again as I crossed my room to get Trevor’s birthday gift out of the drawer of my bedside table. It had slid next to the box where I kept the necklace Mason gave me. Mason and I had dated right after I graduated from high school, and although it hadn’t lasted long and I hadn’t seen him since, I never forgot about him. I stared for a second at the two boxes sitting next to each other, then picked up the box that had Trevor’s gift in it. He was supposed to arrive in five minutes, so I hurried back out into the living room.

      Murphy whistled when he saw me. “You clean up good.”

      I rolled my eyes in a self-deprecating gesture as my cheeks heated. “Thanks. Can I get anyone a drink?” I asked to avoid being the centre of attention. Nobody took me up on my offer, so I stacked the gift on the kitchen island with the others and fidgeted with my dress to make it hang right. The condo was maybe not designed to be crammed with so many bodies. It was sweltering. It might have been just me. I waved my hands in front of my face to cool myself off.

      Sophie sat on a stool next to the island. “Derian, relax. Everything’s ready, the place looks great, and you look hot.”

      “Right, relax. I’m getting too worked up, aren’t I?”

      “Yes,” Sophie and my mom both said in unison.

      “This probably wasn’t the best week to plan a surprise party,” I admitted. “Exam worth fifty percent of my mark, three assignments, and I haven’t even thought about packing for our trip to Tofino yet. I may have been a little too ambitious when I decided to invite everyone we know over on such short notice.”

      “The hard part’s done. All you need to do now is enjoy yourself,” my