[3rd POV]
Preparing for the birthday party had been a lot easier than Billie had been expecting. It was being done at Jay's place, at the insistence of Gloria. And thanks to the combined talent and might of Gloria, Claire and Cam (the three best at decoration), the birthday party had been all but completed before Billie had even got there.
The trio knew exactly what the girl had liked, and said girl had dropped a LOT of hints about what she wanted for the day. Which was mostly just her favorite foods, a nice little family get together, and for the gifts to be involved in either fashion design or music in some form.
Billie had found that they had done well in both parts. With them even getting quite a few new records that she knew for a fact that Haley did not own, and actually wanted. Said records were mostly Michael Jackson, Prince, Queen, and even a Marilyn Monroe record. The last of which had been picked out by Jay.
Turns out the man had a thing for the woman back in the day when she was still around.
Billie personally had bought her a new top of the line phone, and that was it. She had already spent a lot of money on the trip, which would have tons of other gifts littered throughout it, so she was certain it would be more than worth it.
She hadn't told anyone about the trip other than Claire, and even Claire did not know the full extent of it. All she knew was that Billie had booked a trip to Paris that was going to last around a week, maybe a tiny bit longer mattering on Haley's personal preference and decision.
Billie imagined that she did this mostly to avoid the complaints or jealousy of the other members of the family. As Billie knew personally that Alex at the very least was going to be jealous. Not because they were going to Paris, but because they were going to Europe.
And Alex had been very open about how much she wanted to go to Europe, which had a lot of very impressive scientific programs, some of which were superior to what could be found in the US. She still wanted to go to College in the US though, simply because it was closer, and the higher Colleges/Universities were superior in the US compared to most other countries in the world.
Besides Alex being jealous, Billie knew that the main problem wouldn't really be her, but would be Manny.
He was younger, more immature, and much more prone to throw a fit over the fact that Haley would be going before him.
He wanted to go simply because it was in France, one of the major places in the world for art. It housed many major art pieces that he has openly talked about always wanting to see. And it was not something he really hid either.
Billie personally was not looking forward to hearing him complain about it, as she was certain he would. She didn't hate Manny or anything, but the kid could get really annoying at times, and well...kind of creepy. He stared at Haley a bit too much sometimes.
She'd probably tell him off sooner or later, as the way he looked at Haley was definitely not okay. At least it certainly looked like it was not okay. It was hard to tell with Manny and his personality.
He could be looking at her for some other reason, but Billie would rather he not stare at her either way.
At the moment Billie was sitting in the kitchen of Jay's home. Phil was currently out, distracting the girl alongside Mitchell. Billie had no idea what they were doing to distract her, but she imagined it was going to be a very amusing tale to hear.
While Claire, Gloria and Cam were still zooming around the house, making sure all the balloons looked just right, alongside any other decorations that they had been setting up for what seemed to be hours at this point.
Jay was sitting next to her, absentmindedly drinking as he watched them.
"...I wonder when they're going to realize that they've moved that balloon 4 different times" Billie commented, watching them as she sipped on her own drink, which was juice.
She wasn't 21 yet. Even if it was a little tempting to drink.
"I doubt they will, kid. I imagine they'll only notice once Haley gets here" Jay responded with a chuckle as he drank. The man had seen the three of them do this several times before, and that was only during the times of Billie being a part of their family.
If he had counted all the times before they had even met Billie, Jay was pretty sure it had happened hundreds of times at the least, if not more. And it was going to happen hundreds of times more in the future.
"Yeah that probably is the case. I'm surprised they don't know by now that Haley doesn't really care about balloons and decorations that much. She's pretty chill about appearances when it comes to stuff like that. You'd think they'd know that since they all know her a lot longer than I do" Billie replied to the man.
"Oh they know. They just don't care. I think they've got OCD or something. Or maybe they just like having everything perfect. Either way, it's a waste of time" Jay said, knowing at the very least that Claire was certainly OCD to some level.
The woman hated when things were too out of place. She was not on the same level of her brother, not even close, but they were similar in that regard. Jay couldn't help but draw parallels between them and their mother when it came to that part.
Their mother was very similar when it came to OCD and having to make sure things looked good, even if nobody was really looking at said things. Not only that, but they did it even when they probably shouldn't, and when nobody cared.
He couldn't help but remember all of the times when his ex wife had completely remodeled the house just to make it look perfect in her eyes. But he had quickly found that perfection when it comes to decor was impossible to her, and it would be a never ending repetition of the same thing.
He still felt horrible for her.
"Ah, so it's just something they enjoy. That or it's something that just bugs the living hell out of them" Billie said with a nod, understanding the man's words.
The two returned to silence as they watched the group continue to argue, before eventually Alex ran into the room, probably because of how loud her family was being. She didn't even hesitate before mentioning the parts that were off, and began to move it to make it look perfect.
She also quite literally growled when her mother attempted to change it, as it had been perfect to her, and her definition of perfect was definitely superior to theirs.
"She's either going to love all of this, or hate all of it. There is no in between" Billie said after a few minutes of staying silent, knowing that Haley should be on the way home soon. Hopefully at least.
"Mmmm, that's Haley in general though, ain't it?"
"Oh it is. But if she hates this, then she'll be much more vocal about it. Probably because of the shitty and impossible laws to work around" Billie explained.
The two continued to sit there for a few more minutes in silence, before Billie had gotten a text, notifying her that they would be there within the hour. Something that she had promptly told everyone, as they began to run around getting ready.
At the same time, Billie had only one thought on her mind.
'This'll definitely be interesting'
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That's the end of the chapter!
Nothing to say for the AN.
Have a good day!