Nothing Revealed In A Common Crisis

From The Ritz To The Rubble (28.3)

Make sure you read 28.2 first x

~*~*~*~ 25th June 2019 ~*~*~*~

It's your 33rd birthday today.

You've had a lovely day. You've come back up North for the occasion as Y/B/F and Charlie said you could happily stay with them again in your old flat.

This morning you were greeted by a visit from your Aunt, Uncle, and your Mum. It was a little emotional but it was okay. Your Aunt had found another picture of you and your Dad which you had been showing everyone for the rest of the day.

You sent it to your group chat which had The 1975 boys in it (because you couldn't show them in person as they had all flown to America for their US tour) and all of them, even Matty, had reacted to it with a love heart and they sent you a happy birthday message each. Despite sending one to Matty when it was his birthday, you didn't expect to receive anything from him today.

But you got the text through about 5 minutes after you sent the picture to them:

Picture is lovely Sweetheart, Happy Birthday xx

Whilst that was a nice addition to your day, you just said thank you and nothing more had been said between the two of you. You'd been mulling over what Ross had talked to you about but you'd yet to do anything.

Today though, you were so beyond excited to show Alex this picture. You'd been restraining yourself all day from sending it over to him knowing you'd be seeing him tonight at your birthday meal.

You'd invited the Monkeys out along with Y/B/F and Charlie. Despite loving Katie and Kelly to pieces, you thought it would be best for wifes and girlfriends to stay at home purely because you didn't want to make Breana awkward if she was to come. You know her and Matt are doing a good job at co-parenting but you don't want to push them too much.

But last week, you got a message from Alex asking if he could bring Pauline to your meal. And because you and Y/B/F had never told Alex about what happened in France, hoping he'd realise she's a cow on his own, he is still with her and you accepted his request for her to join you.

You didn't plan on sitting near her or talking to her apart from greeting her and saying goodbye. But you'd just bite your tongue like you did in Paris and if she said shit today you'd fully call her out on it. You don't think she'd be that stupid as to do anything like that again though.

But turns out, you didn't even need to be worried about it. Because you invited the lads out to meet for the meal at 7 and within the space of 15 minutes, Jamie, Nick, Matt, and Miles all showed up.

But Alex is nowhere to be seen.

You all waited as long as you could, phoning and texting Alex from your seats in the restaurant, just to get nothing back. The longer it went on and the more times the waitresses and waiters came over to see if you were still waiting made your heart sink more and more.

It just reminded you of when he stood you up on your date. And that's not something you ever hoped to relive.

So when the waitress comes over again, over an hour after you should have been sitting down to eat, asking, "Are you still waiting or can we take your orders?"

You say, "Yeah, we're ready to order. The others aren't coming clearly."

Everyone has a glum or annoyed expression on their face as your orders are taken. And when the waitress leaves, everyone looks around to you and you can see the sympathy in their eyes because clearly you're hurt that your best friend isn't here to celebrate with you.

"It's okay," You shake your head, trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel. "He's probably just forgotten we were out of the meal."

"Has he even wished you happy birthday?" Jamie asks you and that is when your heart sinks.