Adore [H.S.]

48

Home - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes

ISABELLA

The spring months went by quickly leading us into summer much faster than what we had expected. The month of July was always my favourite time of the year. It had claimed this spot for many reasons: warm weather, beautiful flowers and my birthday.

I wasn't one for personal celebration when it came to birthdays. However, I was turning twenty-three. To many people, that wasn't exciting. It was not an age that was celebrated with over the top excitement. It was just another age. It was not on the same page as sixteen, twenty-one and thirty. It was boring old twenty-three.

But, since I was a kid, I always was excited to turn twenty-three. It sounds silly, I know. I don't even remember my reasoning behind it, it's been so long. I just remember always asking my mother about her time being twenty-three and being completely fascinated with the age. (Perhaps it was because that was the age my mother married my dad. That might be it...) Regardless, this was the month (and year) that I can finally say 'I'm twenty-three'. Only one week away.

The London sun wasn't as hot as New York. It was merely sixteen degrees celsius today. Not super hot, but I wasn't going to complain. It was a big change from the rainy days of winter and spring.

"I love this drink," Jaz squealed from her seat. She takes another long sip from the pink fizzy drink in her hand.

I laughed along with her, taking a sip from my own glass. We were sitting outside on the patio of a cute cafe she had discovered in central London. We were sipping away on glasses of pastel coloured drinks while eating from rather large bowls of salad.

"Have you decided yet what you wanted to do for your birthday? It's next week you know." Jaz says to me after taking a bite from her salad.

"I haven't thought too much about it yet." I answered her truthfully. I had been so caught up with business meetings with stuffy old men, working at the bookstore and Harry that I hadn't put too much thought on the actually birthday party.

"This is your twenty-third birthday! You've been excited for this day since you were what... seven? It's finally here and you haven't even planned anything yet?" She gives me a look of astonishment.

Was it really that unusual that I hadn't planned anything yet?

"I've been pretty busy," I half-heartedly defended myself. It was true though, I had been busy.

"You're lucky that I'm your best friend. I have it all planned out for you." Jaz gives me a knowing smirk. I shake my head in disbelief. I should have known that she would plan something. Jaz lived for parties. It's what she did best. I still didn't understand how she was a hairdresser. She was born to be an event planner, that was for certain.

I sigh, "What do you have planned so far?" I hesitantly ask her.

Jaz's eyes perk up. A wide grin plastered over her lips. "Oh! I have so much already," she reaches for her bag, pulling out a notebook. She flips it open to an ink-filled page. "I was thinking we could keep it simple. Nothing too crazy. Keep it at the flat. It'll most likely be warm out so we can have it up at the roof like usual." She flips over to another page that seems to be full of magazine cut outs.

"This looks like Pinterest puked all over your notebook," I joke.

Jaz rolls her eyes playfully. She pushes the opened book towards me so that I can have a better look at what she has planned out. There were pictures of mason jars full of candles lining an outside ledge. Another picture was of a canopy of stringed fairy lights. My eyes travelled around the pages, loving everything that she had picked out.