Music Heals All Wounds

Chapter 17

Essence

Hours later, me and the girls found ourselves back at Morgan's place. We were getting ready to go out for the night and they still hadn't told me where we were going. The fact that they were acting like it was some big secret only made me even more eager to know. I didn't really like surprises, so my plan was to vex their nerves so bad to the point where they'd just go ahead and tell me what I wanted to know.

"Y'all don't have to tell me the exact location, just give me a hint." I negotiated as I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, putting the final touches on my hair and makeup. Morgan was still in the process of flat ironing her hair and Maya was sitting on the bed surfing through tv channels since she had finished getting ready before us. Neither of them seemed moved by me, they just continued doing what they were doing as if I wasn't speaking. "Okay, fine. Y'all don't have to give me any hints, just tell me if we're going to a club or not because y'all know clubs are not really my type of scene."

Once again, I was met with silence. My plan was seemingly a fail, but I wasn't going to give up just yet. The pestering continued as we finished getting ready, it continued as we made our way to the car, and I was prepared to keep it going until we made it to our destination. "You act like a bad ass kid." Maya laughed. "We are not about to tell you anything. Just sit back and go with the flow."

Realizing that things weren't gonna go my way, I did what she suggested and sat back. A small pout accompanied my face as I went with the flow. Music filled the car as we drove and about fifteen minutes into the ride, Maya pulled out a blindfold.

"We're about to pull up and you don't need to see anything until it's time for you to see."

"This feels like a set up. Why do I need a blindfold? I don't like surprises." I said as I put on the blindfold anyways. As much as I wanted to protest, more or me wanted to see what the hell they had up their sleeves, so I complied. A few minutes later, I felt the car come to a stop. The girls guided me out of the car and into a building before finally removing the blindfold.

"Surprise!" I heard everyone yell out as soon as I was able to see. A smile eased onto my face seeing the familiar faces of my family. Even the ones I didn't get to see very often had flown in for my birthday. My mom, dad, and Eli stepped forward to embrace me in a hug. After they released me, I took a second to let my eyes wander around the beautifully decorated room that had a royal blue and silver theme. Everything looked so elegant and pretty, from the gorgeous birthday banner and balloon wall, to the royal blue roses that were placed on top of the silver table cloths. There was a table full of food, another full of themed colored snacks with a triple layered birthday cake placed in the center, and another table was dedicated to gifts.

My stomach let out a low rumble at the sight of all the food. I may have not liked surprises, but I had nothing against a good dinner party. While I was admiring the room, my eyes fell onto another familiar face that I was surprised to see. "What?! Amon is here and there ain't a studio in sight."

"You know I don't really pop out like that. I made an exception for you." He said as he pulled me into a hug. "Happy Birthday."

"Thank you." I replied. I held onto him a few seconds longer before letting go and turning to face everyone else. "All of y'all are sneaky as hell. Whose idea was it to do this?"

"This was all mama's idea, but I did most of the work." Eli said, making our parents side eye him.

"If you call setting up the tables most of the work." Our dad chimed in.

"Essence I'm telling you, I did a little bit of everything. Even helped mama cook the food." Eli countered and at this point, I knew he couldn't be telling the truth because I knew my brother. He'll eat you out of house and home, but he's not about to help you cook. "Nah, I'm just playing about the cooking part, but I did everything else."