Transience
It was a birthday party for a friend you used to know in elementary school.
You know, the one you would wave to in the halls, maybe sit with until your other friends arrived, maybe even hang out with once or twice if they invited you, but that's about it.
If you knew them now, "friend" would be generous. "Acquaintance", maybe.
But you don't know them now.
As elementary school moved on, so did your memory of them- they weren't at your new middle school, and you never bothered to ask your other friends in other schools if they were at any of theirs.
Why would you, anyway?
Eventually even most of those friends moved on, and you stopped talking to them. Or rather, they stopped talking to you. Middle school was new and different and exciting, cliques formed fast. Elementary school was a distant memory of an entirely different person, and you were a reminder of the immaturity, something they couldn't wait to forget. Maybe the feeling was mutual?
Sorry, we've lost the plot a bit. Even in a story about them, we've shut off the spotlight. That's my fault.
Back to the birthday party. They were turning 10. You were a little jealous of them, being both older than you and born during the school year (so they got to be line leader.) This was their last year being birthday line leader and your last year in elementary, so they invited you to a big party in their backyard after school. For the most part, it was standard birthday party fare- a snack table stacked with pizza and chips, boombox blasting kidz bop, all standard except for the centerpiece- a bounce house near the back of the enclosure that was still being inflated.
Arriving about ten minutes after the time marked on the invitation they handed you a few days before, you set the gift you brought down in the pile of boxes. You have no idea what they like, so you got them something kind of generic- you tuck it in the back, hoping they won't have time to get to it during the party. Rising back to your feet, you looked around and surveyed the yard. You could barely recognize anyone, maybe one or two other kids in your grade that you didn't talk to. The adults sat in folding chairs chatting amongst themselves or grazing on the refreshments, not really paying much attention to the rest of the scene. You wandered in a bit further cautiously, eyeing the bounce house- it was one of the big ones. The adventure course ones with the obstacles you had to get through. You were weighing whether to get a drink first or find the guest of honor when they tapped you on the shoulder from behind.
Wheeling around to greet them, you notice they have a ribbon pinned to their shirt. A bright green medallion adorned with a sparkling label 10.
"Hello! Glad you could make it!" they declare.
You awkwardly responded "Yeah, Happy birthday... And thanks for inviting me. Looks like a cool party!"
They grin and nod, adding "Of course! The obstacle course is my favorite part.. I went through it a bunch of times at another friend's party and was so excited when my mom rented it for mine!"
Waving you over, they sprint around you and towards the bounce house, shouting "C'mon, I think it's almost blown up!"
You walked at a brisk pace after them, still feeling out of place. They were already taking off their blue and green sketchers when you caught up with them, sitting in the dew tipped grass by the inflatable fortress. Just as they were about to dive in, their mom walked over to greet you both.
"Hello, you two! Have fun, but don't spend too long in there- We're going to start opening presents soon!"
You nodded to her, stiffly saying "Yes, Ma'am." They responded with a more relaxed, assured "'Course, Mom!" as she walked off.
Then you followed them into the bounce house.
You bounced for a bit on the sheetlike rubber to find your footing. They leap into action, squeezing through some bright puffy obstacle tubes that looked like something at a car wash. As you followed them, they call after you-
"My favorite part is the slide just before the end!"
You jump on some round platforms and through a series of raised pillar walls before making it to the penultimate challenge: an inflatable rock climbing wall. It looks insurmountably high from your small stature, impossible to be reckoned with. From over the ledge, they peer over and call down to you-
"Come on! I'll wait for you up here at the top so we can go down together!"
"I'd better get climbing, then." you responded, setting your foot on the first "stone". Only tumbling back onto your butt once or twice, you made it to the top with minimal difficulty- sitting with them on the bright red-yellow-blue polyvinyl. They look at you with another eager grin, flopping onto their stomach.
"You go faster if you go headfirst. It's also, like, way more fun."
Halfheartedly, you responded "Go ahead.. Maybe I will after."
They jokingly roll their eyes and respond "Suit yourself!", quickly rushing down the slide with a fshhhh before ramming headfirst into the wall of the final obstacle tube with a thud. You slid down next, panicked but careful not to hit them- shaking them gently as they lay limp on the floor.
"Crap! Crap! Are you alright??" You ask them desperately. No response. You hear a muffled banging on the other side of the rubber, nobody able to see in past the sheets of inflatable wall.
"Is everything okay?" their mom asked from the other side of the tube. You panicked again, trying to think of a way to explain what just happened- before she continued, "Try to finish up in the bounce house soon, Logan is about to open presents, then we'll cut the cake."
You paused, looking back at them. Their name wasn't Logan. They weren't breathing. Who's birthday is this, you thought?
You promised them you'd be back for them before you climbed through the tube to investigate. You promised. But when you got outside to find a boy wearing an identical green sparkly 10 ribbon and holding the gift you got them, beaming excitedly and exclaiming "I've always wanted one of these! Thank you!" You wondered if this was how it was meant to go. You circled back to the start of the bounce house, moving the blue-and-green sketchers aside to slip into your own sneakers.
The rest of the party was fun. A few of your friends made it to the party a bit late, but they joined in musical chairs and things felt right. Everybody sang Happy Birthday to Logan, and you never went into the bounce house again.
But on the ride home later that night, you did end up looking at the invitation to the party, tucked away in your pocket. It wasn't from Logan, it was from them. Your dad in the driver's seat called back to you and asked "So, how was your friend's birthday party? Logan, right?" You smiled a weary smile, responding "It was fun."
And that was that.