the story of us

birthday fun

Tuesday was like torture. I trudged along to each class, the only thing on my mind being her. That night, after texting her for a bit, I fell asleep as excited as ever. The next morning I got ready, almost shaking with nervousness. How would the day go? Would she mind spending her birthday would me? Would she like my present?

The previous day she informed me she was going to the DMV that morning to renew her license and would show up to the event late. That also made me nervous, because she was basically the only friend I had in student council. I left her present at my house, hoping she'd give me a ride home and I could give it to her there. I arrived at the pavilion and people were just hanging around, which allowed me to sit by myself for a while or talk to my only other friend that was there until they needed everyone to get with their groups. I, however, was stuck, because she still wasn't there. I felt so awkward talking to the officers and the teachers. I just really missed her. Eventually, all I could do was wait while everyone got things set up. It was absolute torture. I stuck around my one friend, looking up at the parking lot literally every minute or so. I was extremely anxious.

It was over an hour until she finally arrived, and I couldn't have been happier. She walked over and people immediately called her name to say hi or wish her a happy birthday. I kept my cool, trying not to seem like I was completely empty without her. She walked up to the group I was in and we all started talking for a few minutes until we had to get going. We set up some last minute things. We got our bandanas, which signified that we were a team, and watched as school busses arrived one by one. They were greeted with signs with their school name on them, we went around and talked to some, and just waited for al the schools to arrive. When they did, the student council presidents welcomed everyone and explained the plan for the day. We'd split up into teams, the kids would have stations and every 10 minutes they would rotate to another station to play a new game. Lunch would be at noon. At 1:30 the day was over.

They got split into teams based on their birthday month, therefore all the kids from different schools would be mixed up as a way for them to meet new people. Our team had all the March birthdays, obviously because it was her birthday. So when all the teams were made we found a patch of grass to introduce ourselves and the kids introduced each other. We answered some questions about the day and then we stood around awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Eventually we moved our station to the actual beach, because at that point we were just at a park area near the beach,  and began to play our game. I didn't understand how to play ships and sailors at first, but after the first couple of rotations I eventually got the hang of it.

It was probably the best thing ever. I got to hang out with her for a good 3 and a half hours. We talked and joked around and we were both having fun just being with each other. If the kids got tired of the game before the 10 minutes was up we'd just all sit in a circle and get to know each other or play a different game. We got to meet a lot of different people and it was great. By the time lunch came around I was almost feeling euphoric. I loved being able to just be around her.

We ate lunch together, just her and I, along with a lonely middle schooler from another school. We talked about anything and everything and it was so nice. Being with her was nice. When lunch ended we just hung out until all the school left. It had been a good day. It was only 1:30, so everyone went to the volleyball net in the park area to play volleyball, including her. Sports are not my thing whatsoever, so my other friend and I walked down to the beach and hung out, talking about random tidbits of our lives and making jokes. It was really relaxing. We walked  back to the pavilion and to the volleyball net and watched everyone playing. I was sitting in the sun, soaking it up, having the time of my life. Eventually they stopped playing the game so we could sing happy birthday to her, and we all ate cupcakes. She looked so embarrassed at the attention but also really happy, and it made my heart swell. They went back to playing their match, and I hung out with some people for about another half hour until it was time to go.

We all piled into her car, and I say all of us because she had to take me and 3 other friends home. I usually like being alone in her car with her, but for the first time I didn't mind the extra company. It felt nice to just hang out with her and other people and all of us made jokes and I was just so happy. We all went to Dairy Queen since they had free ice cream, but then nobody wanted any, so we went to another restaurant to get mangonadas but only one person wanted one. After that we dropped off 2 people so it was just me, her, and our friend Josh. She said she wanted a snowcone, since the seasonal shop had just opened back up, so we drove across town to the snowcone stand. It's probably the most popular place in town, with the line going down the street, but she said she was willing to wait. I didn't mind, of course, because that only meant getting to spend more time with her. We made conversation and talked about life for about half an hour when finally it was our turn to order and when she got her wallet out to pay I told her not to worry about it and gave her the money instead. She seemed hesitant but accepted it, and I felt so proud. We drove off with her picadilly (ew) and dropped Josh off at his house. Then it was finally just the two of us. Josh and I's houses are on complete opposite sides of town so the drive was longer than usual and that made me happy. It felt so comfortable to be with her, just the two us it. It felt so right.

We finally got to my house and I unbuckled my seat belt, "Stay here!" I commanded as I got out of the car and ran up my porch steps to retrieve her present. I was so nervous. What if she didn't like it? What if she doesn't care for it?

I walked out of my house and to her car window, presenting her a glittery gift bag with tissue paper.

"Happy birthday."

The smile on her face made butterflies in my stomach.

"Awww," she said my name, and I melted even more. I gave her the bag and she set it on her lap. "Do you want me to open it now?" I nodded. She took out the blue tissue paper to reveal a stuffed elephant and 4 packages of her favorite kinds of candy.

"Look in the gift card place," I told her. She opened it and took out a Walmart gift card.

"Since you're always giving me rides everywhere, and I know you only go to Walmart for gas, so...yeah."

I felt sort of defeated, like maybe the whole thing was stupid, like I wasn't good enough. But she put all the gifts back in the bag, and I scooted back when she started to open her door. She got out of the car and gave me a hug, squeezing me tight.

"Thank you so much!" she gushed.

"You're welcome, I love you."

"I love you too."

I said happy birthday one last time, we said our goodbyes, and I walked in my house on cloud 9.

Sorry for taking like 3 weeks to actually upload this. Ive been struggling really badly with my depression and I've had 0 motivation. I'm gonna try really hard to write more chapters because boy I have some good stuff to write about. Also sorry if this chapter is confusing or hard to read. I'm writing it all in one go and i'm not gonna edit it so...sorry.