"... happy birthday dear Patrick, happy birthday to you!" The group sang as the mentioned boy smiled and then blew out his candles.

"I'll go cut cake," Dallon offered, picking the dessert up. Josh quietly thanked him as he began to walk off. "You guys can start on presents."

Patrick squealed with delight as he grabbed the first present from the stack and plucked the card from the top, reading it aloud.

"'Dear Patrick, happy birthday. I'm so grateful to be your friend. Madison,'" the birthday boy smiled at the end and began ripping open the gift. "Oh my gosh, thank you!" He held up the three coloring books and a pack of 64 crayons. "This even has a sharpener!" He beamed.

Josh laughed and held his hands out. "Next present," told him, taking the art supplies and beginning to put them off to the side.

"Wait!" Patrick froze as Tyler shouted and pulled out his phone. "Grab the presents," Patrick did as he was told. "And smile," the birthday boy's face went from nervous and confused to joy as soon as he realized Tyler was taking a picture of him. He watched him press the screen a couple times and then he looked away. "Okay, go on."

Patrick set everything back down and picked up the one from Pete. "'To my best friend. Love, Pete'." Quickly, he unwrapped it and scrunched his nose up in confusion when he saw it was just a white box.

"Hey I thought I was your best friend!" Madison called out.

"I can have two best friends!" He stuck his to tongue out at her. "Open it!" Pete giggled.

"Okay, okay!" Patrick laughed back, carefully lifting the lid off. Sitting there was a black fedora and next to it was a smaller white box. "What's with the hat?"

"I dunno, I saw it in the mall and grabbed it. I looked weird in it," Pete examined his friend. "But you, have a good hat head."

"A hat head?" Josh asked as his little brother put his gift on, smiling brightly as he realized it sat perfectly.

"A head that looks good in hats," Pete toothily grinned. "Now open the smaller box!"

Patrick obeyed and grabbed the smaller box, and opened the lid like he did with the first one. He gasped when he saw what was in it. Josh saw a glimpse of silver and then saw Patrick delicately take it out. It was then that Josh finally saw what it was– a thick wired bracelet with a little music note on it. "Oh, Petey! It's beautiful!"

Pete blushed. "I know how much you love music class..."

"Thank you!" Patrick ran over to his best friend, engulfing him into a hug. Tyler raised the phone and snapped a picture of it.

"What's with the pictures?" Josh asked. "You don't seem like the sentimental type."

Tyler shrugged. "I dunno, Patrick looks happy and I figure he'd like pictures to look back on."

Josh was about to continue but Dallon poked his head through. "Hey the cake and ice cream are all scooped out on plates."

"Thanks, Dal. We just have your present left. Come watch," Josh patted spot next to him on the couch.

As soon as the taller boy was sitting, Patrick grabbed the last gift and unwrapped it. "Harry Potter! Holy smokes, thank you Dallon!" Stacked nicely on top of one another were the first three books in the series.

"No problem, bud," Dallon smiled. "I didn't think you'd want all of them at once. Let me know when you've finished those, alright?"

"Patrick," Tyler whispered. The birthday boy looked over and realized he wanted another picture. He quickly held up the books and smiled widely.

"Who's ready for cake?" Dallon asked, resulting in the three children cheering.

"Wait!" Josh stopped. The voices ceased and they all looked over at him. "Trick's got one more present."

Patrick cocked his head to the side as Josh disappeared and walked into the garage. He grabbed it from where it was resting against the wall by the stairs and returned to the living room, holding the gift behind his back.

"Okay, close your eyes," Josh ordered. His little brother complied and let his eyelids drift over, covering his blue eyes. Josh brought it out in front of him and there were a couple gasps. "Open."

Patrick excitedly opened his eyes and they widened as he realized Josh was holding a guitar out to him. "Is this for me?" he squeaked.

"All yours, buddy."

Patrick slowly reached for it and held it properly, running his fingers across the six strings. His eyes lit up as the sound emitted and strummed a few more times, giggling. "How'd you get this?"

"I've been saving up," Josh said without giving too much away. What his parents and Patrick didn't know was that he's been taking ten dollars from every deal for the past ones and he got it cheap at a thrift store.

Patrick looked up at his older brother with tears in his eyes. He gently set it down on the table and walked over to Josh, hugging him tightly. "Thank you," he said breathlessly. "Thank you for everything."

Josh returned the embrace and whispered in his ear. "I love you more than anyone, you know that, right?"

"I hope so. Because I love you more than anyone," Patrick repeated.

When they pulled apart, Josh had teary eyes as well. "Okay. How about cake and ice cream, now?" He shakily laughed, wiping his eyes.

---

After eating, Josh went about cleaning up the kitchen while Dallon cleaned the living room. Tyler walked through the door, making Josh look up. "Hey, can we talk when you're done?"

"Um, yeah," Josh nodded, throwing the last sticky plate into the trash. "I can talk now if you want."

"Okay," Tyler began, walking over to the counter and putting the ice cream back in the freezer. "Nice house you have."

"Oh," Josh paused. "Thank you."

"Mhm. Lotta pictures of you and Dallon."

"Yeah..." Josh went over to Tyler and handed him a roll of tin foil for the cake pan while he began soaking the batter dishes, turning the water onto hot. "We've been best friends since preschool."

"The cutest one is of Dallon and his grandma. Kinda weird you have a picture of them, but then again every family is different."

"Crap," Josh mumbled under his breath, hoping the rushing water covered his words up. "I thought I hid those."

"Hm?" Tyler asked, even though he heard exactly what the other boy said.

"Uh... we're at Dallon's house."

"Why?"

"Well my house is too small and-"

"No, I don't care that your brother's party was at your friend's house. Why did you lie to me and tell me this was your house when it's obviously not? I've dropped you off here twice and this is the address you gave me."

Josh sighed. "It's a long story."

"I'm sure your buddy Dallon can watch over the kids while you tell me."

"Look, Tyler-"

"Ty!" Madison ran into the kitchen. "Your phone is ringing!" The little girl handed the device to her older brother before bouncing back into the living room with her two friends.

Josh watched Tyler side his finger over the screen and put it up to his ear. "Hello?" It was silent for a second as the other person talked. "Yeah, I still have some," silence again. "Okay, I'm leaving in a second. I have to drop Madison off at home and then I'll be there. Relax, you'll be fine, I'm hurrying. Alright, bye," Tyler removed his phone and ended the call. "Scratch that, I've gotta run, but you're telling me on Monday."

Josh followed Tyler out of the kitchen as Madison was hugging Patrick. "Bye, Patrick. Happy birthday!" Tyler called, slipping his shoes on– not even bothering to tie them.

"Bye! Thank you for coming! I had a lot of fun!"

"I'm glad," Tyler waved as he opened the door and began walking out, not even waiting for his sister.

"See you Monday, Trick! Bye, Pete," Madison added, running after Tyler and making sure to shut the door behind her.

And that left Dallon, Pete, Patrick, and Josh– who had to try and come up with a cover story for Tyler by Monday. There was no way he was telling him the truth, not yet.