The Safety Pin Affair

t h i r t y-s e v e n - i told you i listen

i was wrong i admit,
numb from your kiss
while you were slipping
through my f i n g e r t i p s . . .

▪️▫️▪️

"I mean, can you believe him?" Blair scoffed angrily from where she's seated across from me in her own booth. I continued to stare at her with an amused look on my face while she ranted about her perfect boyfriend. Although right now, she doesn't quite realize how perfect he is. "I told him time and time again that I wanted a surprise party for my eighteenth birthday. The day is here, and what do I get? Not a surprise party."

I chuckled, taking a long sip from my lemonade before answering her. "Have you ever thought that the whole point of a surprise party is that everyone tells you you're not getting one?" I brought up.

"Vic, he was serious," she declared with narrowed eyes.

"I'm sure he was," I muttered under my breath, shaking my head at my oblivious best friend.

"He straight up told me no. He's assured me that there will be no party tonight, even though I've been begging him for the past month to have one," she crossed her arms and leaned back.

If only she knew what Matt and I have planned for her.

She took an angry sip of her iced tea as our waiter came over with our food, placing down the various apps we ordered. As the plates filled the table, we thanked him and he swiftly disappeared, which ensured more time for Blair to rant about how she supposedly wasn't getting a surprise birthday party tonight.

Today is June 1st, marking the day that my beautiful best friend Blair was born eighteen years ago. My beautiful, clueless and totally gullible best friend.

Like she said, for the past month, Matt and I haven't heard the end of it. All she wanted for her birthday was a big surprise party – and that's exactly what we've got planned.

On this lovely Saturday, I've been keeping her busy since this morning. She spent some time with her family, we opened presents, hung out at her house, and now I'm treating her to dinner at Fry It Up. It's about 8 o'clock, so I'm supposed to wait for another hour or so until we can head over to Matt's house for the party.

"Happy birthday to me, I guess," she mumbled, dragging a bone from a stripped chicken wing around her plate with her fork.

"Can you pretend to be happy for this dinner that I'm treating you to?" I cocked an eyebrow.

She sighed and scooped up a tortilla chip, dipping it into the artichoke dip and smiling at me. "I'm sorry I've been complaining all day. But you would think after three years, he would know me by now," she shrugged sadly. I almost felt bad until I realized how her mood would quickly change in just a matter of an hour. "I love surprises and parties. I guess he doesn't pay attention like I think he does."

I grumbled incoherent things to myself, trying my hardest not to spoil the surprise. I shoved a mozzarella stick into my mouth to keep me from ruining tonight.

My phone vibrated on the table and my eyes darted right to it, seeing Matt's name come up on the screen. I shot my gaze up to see if Blair noticed, but she was too busy watching the TV above my head, so I grabbed my phone and answered his text.

As my fingers padded across the keyboard and I chewed on a stick of fried cheese, Blair suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, so..." she trailed off, obviously asking for my attention. I picked my head up and put my phone back on the table, raising my eyebrows as a signal for her to continue. "What are you gonna do about Prom?"