The Club

CHAPTER 7

19thBirthday

April 20, 2008

I was wrong before. I know, right?  Nineteen is the most pointless birthday. I'm still an adult, I'm a year older, but what the hell is the point of turning nineteen? I can do all of the same shit that I could do when I turned eighteen but nothing more. It's like we have a reward system in place when you get older to celebrate making it this long. When you turn sixteen you can finally drive. When you hit eighteen you get lots of rewards to entice you a little. But the biggie, at least in the United States, doesn't happen until you hit twenty-one. I'm not sure why we put so much importance in the fact that you can finally purchase alcohol legally and get wasted. But that's what twenty-one is. It's a rite of passage and I'm just not there yet.

For now, I'll celebrate...well, being another year older, I guess. Plus, how can I top lasts year's birthday? Any plans that Kyle may or may not have can't compare to it in the slightest. Although if she produces a golden ticket for me to hook up with said guitarists again, then I just might have to change my mind. I haven't heard from her all day so to pass the time I grab a pizza so I at least have some food in my stomach before whatever shenanigans we'll be up to later.

I have to say, it's always weird walking into an old work place and not knowing a single person that works there. I put two years into this place and the employees have completely changed. When you work at pizza place that is mostly high school students, I get it that's to be expected, but still it's weird. I put in my order of an extra-large pepperoni and green olive pizza with extra ranch dressing. So good.

I should have called the order in. It's a Saturday night and I'll for sure be sitting here for at least an hour. Oh well. It's not like I have anything better going on right now. Speaking of, why the hell haven't I heard from Kyle? I shoot her off a text to find out where she's at.

Me: Hey! What are you doing, lady? I haven't heard a word from you all day.

She's probably up to no good planning something crazy for the evening. I hope she's at least baking me a fanfuckingtastic cake. If there's one thing she can blow anyone out of the water with, it's her baking. I'm lucky she doesn't bake all the time at home because I would weigh at least four hundred pounds by now. My mouth starts salivating thinking about a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Oh, ohor a Boston crème pie. Shit, I really need to eat something substantial before I go across the parking lot to the grocery store and buy some cheap ass cake which I will no doubt devour and regret doing later.

I glance down at my phone and the black screen. What the hell? She never takes this long to text me back. It's always instantaneous. I hope everything is okay. The girl at the counter who took my order pulls me out of my head as she answers the phone from yet another order coming in. Oh boy, Mrs. Johnson. I remember having so much fun dealing with her as a customer. Not. I internally laugh at entangling myself from working here and moving up in the world, slightly.

After the quick drive home, I enter my empty apartment expecting to see at least Kyle, but still nothing. This is starting to get weird. She didn't forget it's my birthday, did she? We've been best friends forever and I don't know why she would not remember the date after all this time. I crash on the couch with my pizza and start going to town.

My phone rings pulling me from my pity party of one. I glance down at the screen and see Kyle's name flash across the screen. Weird. She never calls me. We both hate the phone and resort to texting as much as possible. "Why are you calling me? You never call me."

"Erika?" A choked voice says from the other end.

I straighten up in my seat and my entire body goes on high alert. "Mrs. Campbell, is that you?"

"Yes. I don't want to worry you, but I'm at the hospital right now. Kyle's appendix burst while she was at the grocery store a few hours ago—"

I don't listen to the rest of what she's saying as I grab my purse and head back out the door. How is this happening right now? My best friend has been lying in a hospital bed for God knows how many hours and I was fucking getting pizza. That shit is pretty fucked up. My hands shake as I attempt to lock our apartment door and I hold back the tears that threaten to fall.

I don't know how I get from point A to point B without falling apart, but one minute I'm crawling into my car and the next thing I know, I'm pulling into the hospital parking lot. The sliding doors whoosh open and I'm surrounded by chaos. Not that I expected anything less being in the emergency room after all. Only now that I'm here do I realize the error in my ways. I didn't let Kyle's mom finish talking to me before I hung up the phone and came down here like a woman on a mission. I don't even know where they're at.

Me: Sorry about earlier and hanging up the phone. Just a little freaked. I'm at the hospital now.

Kyle: We're up on the fourth floor in the waiting room. Kyle is in surgery right now. I can explain everything to you when you get up here.

I throw my phone in my bag and haul ass to the bank of elevators on my left. My nerves are on high alert as the elevator takes its precious time traveling the four floors with a stop on every floor of course. I'm getting ready to punch someone, anyone, but the doors slide open with a ding and I frantically scramble out looking for a sign or someone who can tell me where the hell the waiting room is. I start running down the hallway and finally spot Mrs. Campbell pacing. Her eyes go wide as I pick up speed and I'm out of breath by the time I reach her.

"Whereisshe? Issheokay? Whatsgoingon?"

She holds her hand up and I pause in my ranting to take a deep breath. "Slow down, Erika. I have no idea what you just said."

Grabbing my hand, she pulls me over to a set of chairs and we sit down. How can we be sitting when Kyle is God knows where?

"I'm sorry I freaked you out on the phone. That wasn't my intention. I wanted to let you know that Kyle was here and she wouldn't be staying at your apartment for a little bit while she recovers from her surgery." I open my mouth to say something but she holds her hand up again. "She was shopping in the grocery store earlier and collapsed in the middle of the store. An ambulance rushed her here and the doctors realized her appendix was getting ready to burst. They rushed her into surgery to remove it. She's going to be just fine, but like I said, she's coming home with me to recover."

I drop my head into my hands and cry out in relief. I had no idea what I was walking into but so many of the worst possible things ran through my mind. What if she got in a car accident? Or she was mugged and shot. Any extreme scenario crossed my train of thought as I raced to get here.

Mrs. Campbell rubs my back as she tells me over and over that Kyle is going to be just fine. As selfish as it is for me to think right now, the next thought that runs through my mind is my streak of shitty birthday's has come back with a fucking vengeance.