GOLDEN DAYS - BRENDON URIE

thirteen

"happy birthday to you!" we all sang, cali smiling down at her pink cake.

"thank you very much" she giggled, blowing out her candles as her uncle Pete kissed her cheek.

all her kindergarten and first grade friends gave her presents, and the small backyard and patio had pink streamers and balloons everywhere.

cali thanked all her friends for coming, leaving eve, me, brendon, pete, joe, patrick, andy, ryan, dallon, and spencer.

cali smiled, placing plastic princess tiaras on all of our heads.

"thank you for my party! i had so much fun mommy" she said, hugging me from the side.

"we have a big surprise for you!" patrick smiled, sporting a tiara instead of a fedora.

"stay right there, okay?" joe said, her bouncing on her patio chair.

"pete, what did you do?" i asked, but my question was answered when a box with holes in it was placed on my daughters lap.

she opened it and out sprang a white puppy with a brown spot on its back and feet, it bouncing in the box and licking callie's face.

"oh my god" i mumbled, not excited to have to clean up after another living thing.

brendon on the other hand was psyched, placing a tiny tiara on the puppies head to make cali laugh.

after a long hour of playing with the new puppy, to which cali named 'boots', the puppy was asleep on cali's lap.

mostly everyone was exhausted, and it was dark outside. the patio lights were on, but the sky was black and star filled.

cali was still full of energy, playing with all her new gifts.

brendon was a nervous wreck, i could tell. he was all day, but he tried to hide it to make cali happy. currently he was tapping the patio table with his finger, his leg bopping up and down.

"brendon, please try to eat something" i said, my hand on his back as i played a piece of pizza in front of him.

"i need to know, lil" he said, looking up at me with his huge brown eyes. he was terrified.

"come on, we all wanna go home!" spencer exclaimed, making eve get off of dallon's lap.

"where are you going?" i said nervously.

"i'm getting the damn test" she said, cali looking at us all with a confused look on her features.

"test?" cali asked, looking up from her coloring book.

"cali, do you know who your daddy is?" pete asked, her shaking her head.

"mommy told me one day i will" she said quietly.

"that day is today kiddo" pete said. we were all sat around the patio table, brendon sitting in the middle of me and cali.

eve walked in, her pink hair and tiara shining under the patio lights. she put the test in the middle of the table, us all staring at it for a few seconds.

"who's gonna open it?" i broke the long silence.

"you're the mom" joe shrugged casually, taking a sip of his beer.

"true" ryan said, shoving a pink cupcake in his mouth.

"how can you fit that whole thing in there?" spencer asked.

"i've had some practice" ryan said, winking.

at an impulse move, i grabbed the box, ripping it open.

it was a small sheet of paper, along with all the swabs.

i read it aloud.

"Due to your interest in discovering the father of your child, we have completed your test.

after analyzing the DNA of the possible fathers, mother, and child, we have concluded who the father is

subject 115B is the father"

i read this aloud, everyone confused.

"who the fuck is subject 115B?!" eve asked.

"wait!" i exclaimed, rummaging through the swabs.

i found the one that said 115B, looking at it and covering the name with my hand.

"okay, his name is under my hand. i cant look, i'm so scared eve" i said to my best friend. she yanked it out of my hand, reading the name typed on the stick.

she dropped it, her hand over her mouth and her icy blue eyes wide.

"brendon! brendon's the father!" eve screamed, making every single person jump up and start cheering. brendon was in shock, but he grabbed cali and picked her up, hugging her tightly.

looking closely i could see that brendon was hysterically sobbing on our daughters shoulder, "brendon, why are you crying?" she asked casually.

"i'm your dad cali" he choked out, a large sob escaping his mouth.

"you can call me dad" he added, his hands shaking as he refused to let her go.

i was hugging eve, tears spilling out from my eyes.

brendon placed cali down and i pulled away from eve, and he hugged me like never before.

"she's your daughter, she's ours" i said to him, us both weeping as i hid my head on his shoulder.

brendon pulled away and hugged cali again, wiping the tears away from his eyes.

"i love you so much"