Free Happy Birthday to Me Again (Birthday Trilogy, Book 2) by Brian Rowe Page A

chapter of your life, Cameron.
Think positive.
    “Hey,” my sister
said in a downbeat tone, brushing past me toward her bedroom.
    “Is everything
all right?”
    “Fine,” she
said, stepping into her room and slamming the door behind her.
    I wasn’t sure if
the brotherly thing to do at that moment was to knock on her door and press the
matter further, or just leave her alone. When I heard the pleasant, soothing
sounds of her violin start echoing down the hall, I decided on the latter.
    I stepped into
the bathroom and analyzed my face. I needed a shave.
    Tonight, I’m going out.
    ---
    The party was
hopping way more than I thought it would be, so much so that I had to park two
blocks down from where the giant mansion was located. It truly was a mob scene,
with college students ranging from the ages of eighteen to twenty-two. Every
ethnicity was accounted for, as was every clique.
    “ID!” a young
man shouted at me as I entered the small doorway. I froze in my tracks and
stared at him, not sure what to do. When
I went to that strip club, they didn’t need an ID. Where’s an accelerated aging
curse when you need one?
    “I’m sorry?”
    He grabbed
me—no, more like tackled me—before laughing and handing me a beer.
“Just joking with you man. Have fun!”
    I accepted the
beer and stepped inside, seeing groups of people dancing in a neon-lit room on
the left and playing beer pong in a small room on the right.
    I thought about
ascending the long staircase before me, when I caught sight of a clearly
inebriated Hannah down the hall. She was dressed in a skimpy white top that was
nearly see-through, and black shorts that showcased most of her luscious,
tanned legs.
    “Cameron! You
made it!” She rushed up to me and kissed me on the cheek. She backed away, an
embarrassed look on her face. “Oh, I’m sorry. Is your girlfriend here?”
    “Uhh… no, she’s
not.”
    “Her loss!” she shouted,
grabbing my hands and bringing me toward the spacious backyard.
    Everything in my
being was telling me to get out of there, that nothing good could result from
my actions tonight, but I didn’t listen to any of the warnings. I just followed
Hannah outside, all the way up to a porch that looked out over a pool and a hot
tub. Despite it being fairly cold outside, the pool was almost as crowded as
the hot tub.
    “Did you find
the place all right?” Hannah shouted, taking a swig of a beer.
    I drank some of mine,
too. “Yeah, I did. I’ve never actually been over to this part of town before!”
    “Really? I think
it’s kind of nice over here!”
    I could barely
hear her. Loud alternative music was blasting through the nearby speakers.
“What?”
    She leaned in
closer to me. “I said it’s nice over here!”
    “Yeah, I’m
enjoying my beer! Thanks!”
    She just shook
her head and laughed, downing the rest of her drink and tossing it in the
bushes below the porch.
    “You wanna find
a more quiet spot?” Hannah shouted.
    That sentence I could hear. “Sure!”
    She pulled me
back inside the house, leading me through the beer pong room, kitchen, and
living room area. I soon found myself in a long hallway that led to a closed
door. The voices behind me started fading, and I wondered where this girl was
taking me.
    “Where
are—”
    “Just trust me,”
she interrupted.
    She opened the
door to reveal a dark, spiral staircase, one that could lead to a basement, a
torture chamber, or the hole in the center of the Earth, for all I knew. Again,
Hannah took my hand and guided me down the surprisingly cramped stairwell, one
barely big enough for the two of us to fit inside.
    As we descended
the staircase, I shrugged off my fears, finally hearing voices coming from the
room below. Stepping into the large basement room, with its own bar, three
couches, and a large sixty inch screen television, I realized that I had found
true paradise. Twenty, maybe twenty-five people were in the room, all talking
at a thankfully medium decibel level.