Always (Sequel to 'Maybe', a Thomas Brodie-Sangster fanfiction)

Chapter 13

I open my eyes, and luckily, my surroundings aren't pitch black. Instead, it's the bedroom in which I fell asleep last night. I yawn and stretch out my muscles. I look over to my left. Thomas isn't there. He must've left for work already.

Through my hazy thoughts, I remember that it's my birthday today. I hope no one throws me a surprise party. I'll probably have a heart attack.

Yawning a final time, I lazily get up and begin the trek downstairs. I notice Rachel isn't in the living room. I shuffle over to the kitchen. She isn't there either. Suspicious, I walk back upstairs and see if she is in her bedroom.

The door is closed. I knock. When no one answers, I call out. "Rachel? Mike? Are you guys in there?"

Making sure to be on guard in case I get the birthday sneak attack, I carefully open the door, only to find the room empty. I close the door and go back downstairs. I slump on the couch. I scan the kitchen for any note Rachel might've left specifying where they could be. But the search turns up dry. If they were going to surprise me, they would've done it by now.

Beginning to get confused, I grab the home phone off of the coffee table and decide to call Rachel's cell. The traditional ringing starts up.

. . .

. . .

. . .

Sighing in defeat, I take the phone away from my ear and decide it was no use.

"Hello?" a voice says at the last second.

I quickly put the phone back up to my ear. "Hello? Rachel?" I ask.

"Oh, Brooke!" Rachel says, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, it's me. But where are you?" I ask.

Rachel pauses, then replies. "Sorry, I can't tell you that."

I sigh once more. "Well, can you at least tell me when you'll be back?"

There's another pause; a long enough one that makes me think she hung up, but her voice comes up reluctantly. "Brooke, look in the closet nearest to you," she says.

Confused, but hoping I'll get answers, I follow Rachel's orders. I place the phone down for a quick second and run to the living room closet. I look around, when the thought occurs to me. I have no idea what to look for.

I run to grab the phone again. "Rachel, you still there?"

"Yeah," she answers almost immediately.

"Okay," I say, "What is it you want me to look for in the closet?"

"Oh, right. I left that part out," she laughs. "But all I'm gonna say is that you wear this when it's cold."

I smirk at her attempt at trying to be secretive, then reply, "Gotcha."

I sit the phone back down and run to the closet to retrieve my coat, which is the only thing I have to put over my clothes when it's cold. I pull the coat out from its hanger, and a piece of paper flutters out and down to the ground. I pick it up and carefully unfold the paper. It reads:

Meet me in the park for a birthday picnic :-)

~Thomas

I smile in relief. No surprise party, just a relaxing day at the park with my husband. That's all I could ask for on my birthday. I grab the phone and tell Rachel that I found whatever she was hinting at, and hung up. I then grab my hand bag and rush out the front door.