Sudden Bite

Chapter 6: Birthday wishes

Every year whenever Sam and mine’s birthday landed on a weekend we agreed to get up at exactly ten thirty so we could always be the first person to say happy birthday to the other. This morning was no different.Our bedroom doors practically swung open simultaneously; Sam lazily scratched his head as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and we said our happy birthdays.Sam picked me up in a big hug making me grin and stumble slightly when he put me back down on my feet; I seriously envied this boy for his height even if he wasn’t a full six feet tall.

We both lazily dragged our feet across the floor as we headed downstairs, Sam rambling on about all the things he was going to do now that he’d a legal adult; I knew he bluffing about the majority of those things.Dad scoped the both of us up into a bone crushing hug as he wished up a happy birthday, and although we both loved dad and he’s hugs our attention was on the two stacks of chocolate chip pancakes that were topped with whipped cream – our favorite.

Dad chuckled at us as we hurried to the table and began to stuff our faces. He brought over the pot of coffee and two mugs along with the sugar and cream, mostly for me. Even though dad had already eaten he sat at the table with Sam and I so the three of us could converse. Once the pancakes were gone and Sam and I were both full the table was cleared and cleaned up of any traces of whipped cream or chocolate so that gifts would be exchange. I was super excited to see how Sam reacted when he opened his gift from me so I forced him to go first even if he had said something about ‘ladies first’.

I happily bounced in my seat as I watched him unwrap the gift to reveal a watch that also displayed the planets in their current orbit.His lit up as soon as he lifted the lid off the small box and he carefully pulled it out with awe written across his face.

“This is so…”

“Cool?” I fill in hopefully.

“Oh definitely, this is so awesome, where did you find this?” Sam excitedly questioned already slipping the watch on and pulling out the instructions from inside to figure out how this watch worked.

“Somewhere on the internet,” I shrug in response. Sam scurries up onto his feet and is lifting me off the ground in a hug for the second time today, even spinning me in the process.

“This fulfills so many of my nerd dreams,” he comments as he slides back into his seat.

“I had a feeling it would,” I reply as I try to not feel so dizzy.

“Mine definitely won’t be as great as this but I hope you like it,” Sam says as he pushes his gift for me across the table. I pull the colorful paper out of the top of the bag and pull out a set of fancy looking bamboo brushes and a new notepad of water colors and a new water color set. “I noticed you haven’t been drawing or painting much lately,” Sam explains sheepishly, “I was hoping some new supplies with give you some new inspo.”

“I love it, thank you, Sam,” I reply sincerely, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand in appreciation before pulling back. Dad slid two boxes across the table, one towards Sam and one towards me, eagerly telling us to open them. You’d think he was the one getting a gift, I thought in amusement as my brother and I began to unwrap the gifts. Sam shredded through the paper while I carefully removed the tape and pulled it apart gently.

It was a small box but inside was a huge gift. A silver ring with little round alternating aquamarine (our birthstone) and diamonds set in it sat in the small black box, blinking up at me as it caught the light that hung over head. My mouth automatically opened and I couldn’t believe the sight before me. Glancing over at Sam with wide eyes I noticed a ring similar to mine but with a thicker band was held between his pointer finger and thumb, as imilar expression of shock written across his face.

These must have coasted so much.

“I want you two to remember that family’s important, you two should never abandon each other even when things get hard, and you should always support each other” dad says as he notices our expressions.

“Dad,” I whisper, his words making my eyes glossy and heart swell.

“When did you become so emotional,” Sam teased even though he was obviously feeling the same way I was. Dad put a lot of thought and meaning into these rings, not just money, and that made them incredibly important. Sam and I both slipped our rings on and they fit perfectly. We thanked dad over and over again but he said the only way we needed to return our gratitude was doing exactly as he said, don’t let anything come between us and always support each other. It didn’t sound very hard at the moment and I hoped our relationship would always be like that.

I tried to help dad with the dishes but he told me that I shouldn’t be doing any chores on my birthday so instead I just hung out in the kitchen and kept him company while Sam went upstairs to get cleaned up for the day.

“What do you wanna do today?” Dad asks as he places dirty plates in the dishwasher while running water to wash the pan he’d used to make our breakfast.

“Watch some movies? I’m going out tonight around six,” I reply, kicking my feet back and forth slightly from where I sat up on the kitchen counter.

“Oh? By yourself?”

“No with Alexander,” I clarify. I was much too awkward of a person to do go somewhere public by myself without either getting lost or overwhelmed by all the people.

“Like a date?” Dad questions, trying so hard to sound casual and failing even harder.

“What? No, no just as friends,” I stutter as my face drastically heats up and embarrassment seeps into me. Wanting to change the topic I quickly jump off the counter, “I’m uh gonna go um, do stuff.” I hear dad chuckling behind me as I hurry out of the kitchen and upstairs to my room where I instantly plop back onto my comfortable bed and grab my laptop.

I spent the entire binge watching my top Studio Ghibli movies, starting with Howl’s moving castle, only ever stopping to have a late lunch with my dad. It was then that I realized that I didn’t know whether Alexander and I were going out to get food or if I should eat dinner before so I sent him a quick message asking him what we were doing tonight. He told me I could eat if I wanted to but not to eat a lot because he did have a surprise for me. So I did just that.

When it grew closer to six o’clock I figured that I should probably change out of my fluffy pyjama pants and sweatshirt and make myself more presentable for leaving the house. Since it was the end of March and the nightly hours could still cool down quite a bit I dressed in blue jeans and a white t shirt, throwing a long pink cardigan over it. After quickly running a brush through my hair I decided that I looked presentable and grabbed a pair of socks and my white converse before heading downstairs. Dad was watching the news in the living room so I sat down on the chair across from him and pulled on my socks and shoes, my new ring blinking under the lighting that was in the living room.

Dad suddenly let out a low whistle that caught my attention.

“That is one nice car.” I follow his line of sight right out front of the living room windows to realize that Alexander had pulled up out front, his black impala in clear view. I grin and laughed at my dad’s reaction as I got up, getting to the door just as Alexander knocked.

“Hey,” I greeted, unconsciously pulling on the sleeves of my baby pink cardigan.

“Good evening birthday girl,” Alec greeted with one of those rare, breathtaking smiles. Our little moment was suddenly interrupted when I felt a presence behind me. Looking up and over my shoulder I realized that it was, of course, my father who had come to greet Alexander as well. I cringe internally worried about what my father would say; after all he was pretty protective of me. Alexander however, didn’t look the least bit fazed.

“Hello Mr. O’Neil, I’m Alexander Knight, a friend ofCatalina’s, please call me Alec,” Alexander introduced and shook my father’s hand who seemed pleased by Alexander’s manners. That was one thing I liked about Alec, he might come off as cold, but he treated those who deserved it with respect, which meant all the teachers and my dad. I remember that during one of our conversation he told me that he would respect everyone until they lost the right to that respect, until then he would treat them politely.

“Pleasure Alec, I trust you’ll have her home by midnight,”

“Dad,” I whine in embarrassment, I didn’t even have a curfew why was he suddenly giving me one.

“Of course,” Alexander replied just as politely as before while I wasn’t having it.

“No, you don’t have to bring me back by then,” I suddenly declare, seemingly surprising the two of them, “I’ve never had a curfew before and that’s because you trust me, why did I suddenly lose that trust? Is it because I’m going out Alexander?” Dad seemed to realize that he had done,obviously not having noticed when he was just trying to care for me.

“Alright, you’re right; just don’t stay out too late, okay?Stay safe.” I nodded happily at that. I didn’t even plan on being out super late, it just kind of bothered me that I suddenly had a curfew, it made me feel like he didn’t trust me as much as he would any other time. Just because I was a legal adult now didn’t mean I was any different than I was twenty four hours ago, in fact that should give him all the more reason to trust me.

I gave dad a quick hug before heading out with Alexander,curious to know what he had planned.

“Didn’t I tell you it was a surprise?” He mused while keeping his eyes focused on the road. The roads definitely weren’t as busy as they would have been an hour ago during rush hour but they still weren’t completely empty and I was always happy whenever Alexander drove with care, it made me feel safe especially since I had a huge fear of getting into a car accident.

“Well yes but,” I drift off before realizing that Alexander was stubborn which meant there was no way I could convince him to reveal what he had in mind.

Twenty minutes later Alexander parked near a little shopping center although I had no idea which shop was our destination. I kept trying to guess every time I spotted the name of a different store but Alexander only grinned and continued to lead me until he suddenly stopped.

“Destination one,” he explained and I followed his gaze to see that we had stopped right in front of a pet store. My eyes grew in size and lit up as I practically squealed and ran into the store, leaving Alexander to catch up with me. My nose was nearly pressed up against the side of the glass casing a few hamsters were in. The top of the casing was open so you could technically reach in and pet them but I had restored to crouching down next to it so I would be at eye level with the tiny balls of fluff. Alexander was grinning when I stood back up.

Excited to see the other animals I didn’t think about it before grabbing Alec’s hand so I could pull him along to the next animal… which just so happened to be the puppies. Where was metal racks creating a cage on the ground so that puppies weren’t in their little casing but out and playing with each other. I climbed inside the little fence and plopped down in a crisscross formation so I could play with the puppies – something I only did since there was a sign that said you could play with the puppies inside their little play area.

“Aren’t you just adorable?” I grin, picking up a black and brown puppy that had come over to me when I sat down. I brought him up in my arms and kissed his forehead before I set him down and began to play with him with one of the toys that were on the ground. Many of the puppies came over for me to play with them too and soon I was happily drowning in puppies.

Next were the kittens. I had spent so much time – and I mean like thirty minutes at least – with the puppies alone, that the little balls of energy had kind of tired me out. However, the kittens were calm and absolutely adorable so it was perfect. One would rub against my leg while I pet another one making me practically explode from how cute it was.

I sighed happily before suddenly realizing that an hour must have passed by now and that I had completely forgotten about Alexander. Guilt began to eat at me but when I looked up Alexander was standing right there,leaning against the nearest wall and watching me with amusement.

“Come pet the kitties, I bet they’ll love you,” I say,beckoning him over. “Oh c’mon, no one’s here to see the big bad boy play with some kittens, you’re secret will be safe with me.” Alexander rolled his eyes at my comment but came and joined me none the less; the kitten’s instantly being drawn to him the second he steps inside. In fact, even one of the two kittens that had been paying attention to me even left for Alexander.

“Awn, don’t look too jealous babe,” Alexander teases, not seeming to realize what nickname he’d used for me or the fact that I looked like a firetruck right now because of it.

Ignoring it, I cleared my throat and tried not to sound awkward as I replied,” I told you they would like you.”

We ended up spending so much time in the pet store that they asked us to leave if we weren’t going to buy anything. Our next stop was a little cupcake boutique where Alexander let me pick out a cupcake before paying for it. We sat at one of the small tables that were just out front the little shop and he pulled a single candle and a lighter.

“Make a wish,” he whispered as he pushed the cupcake across the table towards me, candle burning and waiting for me to blow it out. I smile shyly and close my eyes, thinking of what I could possibly want in this moment.My family was perfect, my relationship with my family was great, my grades were pretty solid, and I very recently made my first friend in a long, long time. It might not seem like much but I was very content with it all.

A second later when I open my eyes and blow out the candle Alexander asks, “What did you wish for?”

“I can’t tell you, it won’t come true if I do.” I insist.

“Alright, fine, eat your cupcake birthday girl.” The cupcake was perfect, it was that simple, it was vanilla as was the pink icing, not too sweet but still sweet enough to make my taste buds happy. We just kind of sat there and talked for a while, getting into a minor icing fight when Alexander leaned across the table and stuck his finger in the icing atop my cupcake only to swear it across my cheek.

“Thank you for tonight,” I say to Alexander as we make our way back to his car. The sun was setting casting several colors across the sky.

“Oh, we’re not done just yet,” Alexander replies, piquing my interest.

“Is that so?” I mused.

“Mhm and I’m sure this will be your favorite part.” I was definitely intrigued when he said that so I eagerly climbed back into the passenger seat of his car. My curiosity turned to confusion when Alexander later parks in front of the school in the student parking lot. I wanted to ask him what we were doing here but I decided to just follow him; I had a suspicion that he wouldn’t tell me even if I asked.

“How did you get that?” I exclaim in shock when Alexander pulls out a key and opens the school’s door.

“With a little persuasion,” he winked in response, locking the door behind us before he lead me up many flights of stairs with the help of the flashlight on his phone. After we got to the third floor and kept going I knew we were going up to the roof.

Up on the roof wasn’t as dark as inside the school because of the city lights and stars overhead. They were breathtaking and perfectly visible now that the sun had completely set. I was completely awestruck by the clear view, being so high up made me feel like I could touch the stars.Normally in the summer I’d lay in my backyard and stare up at the night sky,the stars away felt so far away but this was completely different.

“Happy birthday, Kit,” Alexander says coming over to my side with a flower in his hand, a flower he so obviously plucked from the school garden, making me giggle.

“Thank you,” I laugh quietly. Alexander lifts the flower up and tucks it in my hair behind my ear.

“It suits you,” he comments with a smile making me turn slightly pink.

We ended up sitting atop a picnic table, simply staring up at the sky. Every so often I would point out certain constellations to Alexander, throwing in random facts about them while I was at it. I can’t remember the last time I really did something to celebrate my birthday, with no one to spend it with it just became another day. I was happy that I got to spend it with Alexander.