A wedding

An eleven-year-old Ethan tugs at the stupid bowtie around his neck. He'd never been to a wedding before, but so far he wasn't impressed. For one, there were flowers everywhere, and for two, the chairs sucked. He was sitting in a corner of a very large banquet hall just a few miles outside of Green Valley. It was out of season for him to be this close to his grandparents, mid fall already, but he couldn't enjoy it.

He wished his parents would have just left him home. He didn't even know the people getting married! The groom was, apparently, his dad's cousin, which made him Ethan's first cousin once removed. All Ethan could think about was wanting to be removed from the damn building like his actual cousin who got to stay home.

He sat in a corner, miserable, staring at all the adults just... talking. His dad was talking. His grandma was talking. His grandpa was talking. His mom was drinking, which was worse than talking. And his Aunt Emily was...

He actually can't see her anymore. Ethan thinks she might have dipped already. "Must be nice..." Ethan mumbles, wishing to leave already.

At least having company would make things more tolerable. Looking around, he doesn't see many other kids, let alone any his age. The closest seems to be a little blonde girl walking around holding a plate. Ethan thinks she must be lost, and seems to be aimlessly walking towards...

"Hello!" the girl speaks, Ethan jumping slightly realizing she was actually walking up to him. "Ethan? Right?"

"H-Hi..." Ethan gives her a wary look, "Do I know you?"

"No," the girl shakes her head, "I'm Samantha. I'm friends with Ashley."

"Oh..." Ethan gives the little girl a look over, not sure why Ashley would be friends with a little kid. Looking her over, the girl is short and cute as a button, in no small part due to the baby blue dress she's wearing. She almost looks like a princess, with her long blonde hair done up quite nicely.

Moving closer, Samantha takes a seat on the chair next to Ethan's, "Charlie talks about you a lot." She starts picking at the food on her plate, a mix of shrimp and mini cakes.

Ethan eyes her suspiciously. "You're friends with Charlie too?" He pauses, "Wait, what does she say about me?"

Samantha shrugs. "I don't know. I don't really listen. Charlie talks a lot about a lot of things. I just kinda tune her out..."

"Yeah..." Ethan had done the same before, "But you guys hang out?"

"Kinda."

Ethan frowns, wondering what Charlie's doing hanging around with such a girly younger girl. "How old are you?"

Samantha smiles. "I'll be eleven in three weeks."

"What?" Ethan can't believe the girl sitting next to him is only a few months younger than him. Looking at her closer, Ethan can start to tell that she is, indeed, older than he originally thought, but she's so damn short!

"Wanna come to my birthday party?" Samantha asks, popping a mini cake in her mouth, "Charlie will be there."

"Uh," Ethan shakes his head out, "I can't. I'm going back home in two days."

"Oh. Okay..." Samantha chews the mini cake, looking out towards the crowd of adults as if considering them.