As A Friend

26: A Birthday Celebration

"Where is he?" I look at my phone. 6:11 PM.

"I don't know. He said he was going to be back by 6," Jack responds in a hushed tone. I stare at the cake on his desk and the three bags sitting behind it.

"Text him," West insists from Jack's side of the room. He's spinning in the chair so fast that I'm starting to get dizzy just watching. I hear the sound of keys outside and Jack quickly jumps to turn off the lights. West struggles to stop himself and rather loudly and painfully slams his wrist on Jack's desk. The whimper that follows is quiet, though. The door is slowly pushed open and Dominic's figure appears. He drops his bag and flicks on the light, which is when we all jump out.

"Surprise!" He takes in each of our faces with an excited grin. His eyes fall on the chocolate cake on the table and he sighs. I can tell he's thinking about how all his exercise at the gym will go to waste. He can't deny cake even if he tried.

I grab Jack's lighter and hold it above each candle. The '19' is lit and ready to be blown out. West clears his throat in preparation for the scale that follows. He grabs two pencils and begins waving them around as he conducts the birthday song. Dominic leans against the wall and stares at me while West harmonizes dramatically in his ear. I hold the cake up for Dominic to blow out the candles. He quickly extinguishes the flames and I watch Jack grab a small glob of frosting and smears it across Dominic's face. The birthday boy lets it happen while slowly nodding with a small grimace on his face. I quickly take a picture and hurriedly tuck my phone away, knowing he'd wrestle the device from me and delete it out of my gallery.

"Cut the cake" West bounces urgently as he eyes the birthday. Dominic comes around, leans over beside me, and prepares to slice the cake. I reach up and swipe some of the frosting from his jawline and lick it from my finger.

"Tastes good." Dominic stares at me with an unreadable expression on his face and I can only bring myself to smirk in response.

"Can you guys not?" Jack stares at us in slight disgust. "Just cut the cake please."

Dominic cuts the small cake into four pieces and divvies it up. I quickly break off a piece with my fork and groan in delight when I taste the chocolaty goodness. "Who picked out the cake?" Dominic asks and I peek up at him with a sheepish glance.

"I can tell; it's only five different forms of chocolate." He laughs and takes a bite regardless. I count it just to prove him wrong: chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, chocolate drizzle, chocolate mousse, and chocolate crumble. Wow, he's right.

"It's good!" I take another large bite of cake and receive an approving nod from West, who's settled in the corner with a glob of chocolate on his face.

Dominic takes a seat on my lap and I allow him to. It's his birthday. Normally, on days that aren't all about him, I would punch him in the back and fight him off of me. When he finishes his cake, he looks at the gifts and grins. "Sooo...what'd you guys get me?" I feel the vibrations of his voice through his back.

"You're going to love my gift." Jack quickly motions to his bag and Dominic's gaze follows his hand curiously.

"I think he's going to like Nova's gift more," West pipes from his seat. Dominic looks at me over his shoulder with raised eyebrows.

"Which one is yours?" He examines the three bags on the desk and rules out the red one, which we've already determined is Jack's.

"Oh, not the one that's here. The one she's going to give you tonight," West finishes his joke. Immediately upon processing his words, I release a guttural groan and rest my head on Dominic's back. The guys laugh rambunctiously at my expense while I sit in shame.