Loving Lakyn | ✓

[43] Daddy Lakyn

L O V I N G
L A K Y N

I WATCHED BLAIRE as she walked up her driveway, several shopping bags in hand as I watched her hips sway from side to side in her plaid skirt.

She turned around to wave at me just before her red door. I waved back, forcing a smile before continuing up the road and beginning the short drive from Ridgewood back to Dayton Lakes.

It sounds harsh, but if I were to choose the person on my relatively short list consisting of people that I interact with, to spend my birthday with, I would have chosen my mother, my best friends, or even Lakyn, not Blaire.

When I woke up this morning, I was eager to have breakfast with my mother and father then continue on to school where Blaire, Truman, Eden, Lakyn, and Hale would be, waiting out front per usual, well Eden and Blaire anyway, the boys are seemingly always fashionably late. Though, unfortunately, neither of those things happened.

Rather than waking up to my early alarm, I awoke to the sound of my mothers' voice, calling my name. According to her, my father is needed at the University of Notre Dame, where he will give a sixty-minute speech on how students can work towards possibly being signed with Mckinsey's Publishing and Co. I truly pity every pupil whom is required to listen to him, thinking that he may one day actually care about their work and talent, which is false.

When asking why it was necessary for her to go all the way to Indiana on my birthday, specifically, she claimed that my father simply did not trust her being left here alone and that we can celebrate my eighteenth birthday the following day when they return.

I had no say in the matter. My parents left before I did so for school and I felt the slightest bit upset, but I tried to ignore it solely because being lonesome on my birthday has never been a problem. But then I arrived at school and the next strike of pain occurred.

I recall putting on a hopeful smile as I made my way over to Eden, Hale, and Lakyn. Lakyn could not bear to look at me, in fact, he seemed to be looking anywhere but at me, which, admittedly, hurt. I was dying to see that toothy grin and those blue eyes, knowing that them—or him alone—would be enough to make all the forsaken birthdays worth it, but just as I had spotted them, Hale picked Eden up, turned around, and trotted down the hall with Lakyn following closely behind.

From then on, the day was painfully miserable. I felt completely isolated and alone. It sounds pathetic, the birthday girl did not get enough attention on her birthday. It was not about that, it was about my expectations of which were terribly high and I should not have set myself up for that type of hurt.

Last year Lakyn purposely went out of his way to attend to my every class just to make it apparent that it was my birthday, so that everyone would sing to me, which is everyone's worst nightmare. He was mean to me for the entire day, but at least he was acknowledging my existence.

This time around I feel like I have done something terribly wrong. No one will even look at me nor speak to me. I wish I could know what I had done wrong, so that I could fix it.

Then came lunch. We all sat at the usual table, all six of us. Blaire was the nicest alongside Truman. Truman stated that he had no idea it was my birthday, which was fine considering that we only met a few weeks ago, but nonetheless, he still wished me well and hugged me. Blaire managed to bring me flowers; lilies to be precise, and Hale also wished me the bluntest of a birthday.

That was the last dreadful event of the day, well almost, because after school came to a close on a Friday afternoon, Blaire insisted that we went shopping together. So, we went straight after school finished and I bought far more than I should have. I bought several dresses, Nike air force ones, so that I could return Eden's—though the ones that I bought had a pink tick, making them far more my style—and a lingerie set, not for Lakyn, but for myself. It was a vibrant pink set with lace detailing and a coordinating garter belt.