by Jen Andrews
I knew Adam was the one to throw confetti all over the place. He was such a shit sometimes. There was also a giant pink box from Burrell’s on my desk, which made Adam’s mess tolerable. I swiped the confetti off my chair with my hands and sat down. I picked up my keyboard, turned it upside down, and smacked it with my hand a few times, trying to dislodge the confetti from under the keys.
My brothers came barging into the office a minute later and sang…no, yelled happy birthday at me. They raided the pastry box and then went to work.
I turned back to my desk, laughing, and began digging around inside the box for my chocolate chip scone. I wondered where Andy was, because he was late to work. I didn’t need to wonder for long.
“Happy Birthday, Zoey,” he said softly from the doorway behind me. My heart sped up at the sound of the deep, accented voice I had missed hearing for days.
Mentally preparing myself to talk to him for the first time in a week, I took in a deep, calming breath and spun my chair around to face him. “Thank you, Andy.” He stepped into the office and held out a large coffee from Dutch Bros.
I thanked him again as I took the coffee from him, and when I did, I noticed he’d written “Happy Birthday!” on the lid. It made me smile.
“How have you been?” I asked, attempting to break the iceberg between us.
“I’ve been alright, I guess. You?”
I had missed him like crazy. “Same,” I replied. He was acting like he had something on his mind, but wasn’t sure if he should say anything.
“I’ll see you later,” he said abruptly and turned and walked out the door.
A split second later, he was back.
“Zoey, do you have plans for your birthday?”
I shook my head. My family wanted to take me to dinner, but I wasn’t feeling up to it, and I denied all invites from my friends too.
“Can I take you to dinner?” he asked hesitantly. I must have frowned because he quickly added, “Just as friends, of course. I didn’t know it was your birthday until I came downstairs and saw the balloons and sign on the door, so I didn’t get you a gift. I hope the coffee is good. It has an extra shot of coconut, just the way you like it.”
My heart felt like it would rip out of my chest, and my throat felt like it was closing up. I wanted to go with him. I missed being around him. I missed our easy-going banter back and forth. I missed…him.
“Come on, Zoey…” A mischievous grin lit his face, and I swear, he sang the words “just say yes” and started laughing.
The man did know his Snow Patrol, and “Just Say Yes” was one of my favorite songs by them.
Before I knew it, I was saying yes. He smiled, relieved. “Perfect, I’ll pick you up at seven.”
He turned and left before I changed my mind. I chuckled, because I had a feeling he was going to use those same tactics to his advantage again someday when I told him no. I had a feeling I would let him too.
Throughout the workday, I received several deliveries from my friends and family for my birthday. The staff at The Speed Shop had a giant bouquet of balloons delivered to me. Sasha and Jess had sent an enormous gift basket of chocolate, wine, and all kinds of edible goodies. Most of it was extremely fattening and full of calories. I knew my friends were telling me I was too thin again.
Bitches. I loved them for it, regardless.
My mom and dad hand delivered a gorgeous basket made out of dried grapevine, which was overflowing with a grapevine ivy plant. Three of my brothers brought me iTunes gift cards, but Jeremy thought it necessary to buy me a bottle of silver Patron tequila and margarita mix. Great, I was going to be craving margaritas all day.
I went home for lunch and took as many gifts with me as I could carry. I fixed a salad, and then added my gift cards to my iTunes account so I could shop for new music over the weekend. I planned on working at the store the rest of the day, so I headed downstairs after lunch.
Entering the store through the front doors, out of habit, I walked up and down the aisles to see if anything needed restocked on the shelves. The front of the store looked great, so I went to find everyone to thank them for my balloons.
They were all helping customers, so I went to my office to start on some paperwork that I’d been putting off. As soon as I walked through the door, I saw a giant vase filled with at least two dozen red roses sitting on my desk.
I knew instantly who had sent them. During our years together, Rob never got it through his thick skull that I didn’t care for cut flowers. To me, they were a waste of money, because as soon as they were cut from the plant, they were dead.
Even though I knew I should’ve thrown it away without reading it, I read the card.
Seriously? All of my friends and family sent me the most beautiful gifts, and I was not going to let his gift ruin my day. He had ruined too many of my days already.
Picking up the flowers, I jogged through the warehouse and out the back door with them. The water from inside the vase sloshed over the rim as I marched across the parking area to where our large dumpster was located. I hurled the entire vase full of roses over the side and heard them crash to the bottom, shattering glass all over the floor of the dumpster.
Guess they just emptied it. Oops.
I turned around, wiped the water off my hands, and began walking toward the store. As I was walking past the back of the shop, I heard someone clapping. I stopped to look around and found Andy standing outside of his apartment door at the top of the stairs. He was clapping at my rose chucking performance. He must have been coming back from his lunch break and saw the entire show.
“Very nice, Zoey,” he joked. He had a proud grin on his face. “I give that an eight-point-five.”
He was seriously rating my chucking skills. Too funny. I decided to go with it and bowed gracefully to him.
“Thank you,” I joked back. “I’ll be here all day. My next performance will begin shortly.” I shook my head and went back to the store.
A while later, my mom called from the shop to tell me I received another delivery. “I’ll come get it later, Mom,” I said. I was still in the middle of paperwork and didn’t want to stop until it was finished.
“Sorry, Mija,” she said laughing, “but this delivery has an expiration date on it, so you need to come and get it now.”
What in the heck did that mean? Whatever she meant, it definitely had me intrigued. I walked over to the shop and went straight to the office. Everyone was standing at the door, waiting for me with very peculiar expressions on their faces.
They led me down the hallway toward the shop where there was room for all of us. Something big was happening, but I knew it wasn’t something bad with the way everyone was grinning. As soon as I walked around the corner and into the shop, the singing began.
Yes, standing in a row directly in front of me was a Barbershop Quartet. Not only was it a Barbershop Quartet, it was a gay Barbershop Quartet. I knew the group, because they were friends of Will and Justin’s, and I’d seen them perform. They sang a very rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” to me before handing me a card.
I was in hysterics, with tears running down my face as my family and Andy stood around, clapping at the performance and laughing with me. I opened the card and read it.
Without a doubt, I had the best friends in the entire world! I cried happy tears as I hugged and profusely thanked the quartet. Hands down, this was the best birthday ever.
Rob’s flowers forgotten, I enjoyed the rest of my day at work. I found myself smiling each time I remembered all the sweet things everyone had done for me.
I stayed late, finishing the paperwork at the store, and before I knew it, it was six. I ran upstairs to take a shower and get ready for my birthday dinner.
Andy gave no indication of where we were going for dinner, so I decided to pick something a little dressy to wear, just to be on the safe side. I chose a silvery colored, knee-length chiffon tank dress and matching jacket. It was simple, but just a little bit fli
rty. I set my clothes aside, put on my makeup, and fixed my hair.
Right at seven, Andy knocked on my door. “Hi, come on in. I still need to change.” I decided to see what he was wearing first, so I would know if my dress was too much for our dinner.
I was not prepared for what walked through the door a second later. He wore a black, long sleeved, Affliction brand, button-up shirt with a gray design on the chest and back, perfectly fitted faded blue jeans, and nice black dress shoes.
I was sure at that point, I started drooling. He’d even trimmed his stubble and styled his short hair. I was definitely wearing the dress after seeing him. Andy took a seat on the couch, while I went and changed into my dress and jacket. I slipped on my favorite black heels and headed back to the living room.
“Ready?” I asked, picking up my purse.
He stood and turned toward me. After a few seconds of him looking me over, he said, “Wow, you look gorgeous.”
I smiled and appreciated his compliment. Hey, I was trying. I didn’t do so well the last time he complimented me. “Thank you. You’re pretty gorgeous yourself.” This seriously felt like a date.
He stepped over to me and held his elbow out toward me. “Let’s go eat.” I slipped my hand in the crook of his arm, and we headed out the door for dinner.
“Where are we going?” I asked as he pulled his truck out of the parking lot.
He sighed, seeming slightly uncomfortable. “Since I don’t really know of any restaurants around here, I was hoping you’d tell me where to go. Besides, it’s your birthday, and I want to take you someplace you like.”
I’d been craving a margarita all day, thanks to Jeremy giving me the tequila, so we went to my favorite Mexican restaurant. They had a full tequila bar and the best margaritas. We were seated in an extremely tiny booth near the back of the restaurant.
I slid in on one side of the U-shaped booth, and Andy slipped in next to me. The waitress asked what we would like to drink. Andy ordered a beer, while I decided what flavor of margarita I wanted.
After I ordered, the waitress asked me for my ID. For some reason, she was somewhat snotty when she asked, but I didn’t let it bother me. When she was finished, she set it on the table, instead of handing the ID back to me. Umm, interesting…
Andy picked it up and looked it over. Fortunately, my picture was decent.
“You’re twenty four today, eh?” he asked as he handed my ID back to me.
“Yep.”
“I didn’t realize you were so much younger than me.”
I tried to remember, but I couldn’t think of what his birth date was from his papers at work. “How old are you?”
“I turned twenty-eight in August,” he said. He was the same age as Jeremy, who had just turned twenty-eight in November. That might explain the whole ‘protect Zoey’ thing they both did.
The waitress delivered our drinks and took our dinner orders. I noticed her paying extra attention and being flirty to Andy while she took his order. Of course, he didn’t notice. What was it about women that made them so… Ugh. I wasn’t going to think about it. We were only friends, and I had no business getting jealous about anything.
After she left, Andy picked up his beer and held it up for a toast. “Happy birthday, Zoey.”
“Thank you,” I replied as we clinked our drinks together. I took a long drink of my strawberry margarita after licking a bit of salt from the rim of the glass. It was very strong, but it was good silver tequila, so I didn’t care. I hadn’t eaten a big lunch, so my stomach was empty, and I knew I should drink it slowly.
We shared a basket of chips and salsa while we talked about our day. The restaurant was loud, being a Friday night, so we were forced to scoot closer together so we could hear each other. It really felt like we were on a date, but I was having a good time, so I relaxed and tried to enjoy my birthday dinner.
My margarita glass was empty when our food arrived, so I ordered another one. Andy stuck with drinking water after his beer was gone, since he was driving.
After we finished dinner, we sat and talked as I drank my second margarita. I was feeling a little tipsy. It had been a great day and was only getting better, since I was spending the last of it with Andy. Our easy-going closeness was back, and we talked about everything other than what was going on, or not going on, between us.
The waitress brought our check, Andy slipped his credit card into the black booklet, and she left with it. While we waited for her to return, several people wearing sombreros stopped at the end of our booth. I glanced at Andy, praying they were not going to do what I thought they were.
Yep, they were at the table to sing “Happy Birthday.” Someone dropped a giant, glittery, hot pink sombrero on my head, and they sang to me. I was mortified, but too buzzed to care much.
The ringleader of the singers pulled out an old Polaroid camera and asked Andy and I to pose together for a picture. After the picture came out of the camera, Andy and I watched as it developed. Even after two margaritas, I couldn’t help but notice how happy the smiling people in the photo looked. Just as I started to get a little emotional, a waiter dropped off a dish of flan with a candle in it.
The photo quickly forgotten, I playfully smacked Andy on the arm. “You didn’t ask them to do this, did you? I’m so embarrassed!”
He shook his head as he chuckled. “No. It wasn’t me, I swear. You know I’ve been here the whole time, and I haven’t talked to anyone but you.”
It must have been the server’s idea when she checked my ID. That surprised me with as snotty as she’d been.
Andy pushed my dessert dish in front of me. “Make a wish, Zoey,” he said, tipping his head toward my dessert that still had a burning candle in it.
I knew exactly what to wish. I closed my eyes and wished for the strength to overcome my daily struggles and learn to trust people again.
We split the flan for dessert, or should I say, he fed it to me, because I kept dropping my spoon. I guess I was a bit more buzzed than I thought. Andy was obviously amused, because he would not stop laughing and tormenting me.
Every time he would put the spoon near my mouth, and I would go to take the bite, he would pull it away and put it in his own mouth. He went so far as to tell me how delicious it was, and how I should order my own dessert and stop trying to eat his, because he “doesn’t like sharing.”
After laughing my ass off, I finally jabbed him in his rock hard abs with my finger. He accused me of playing dirty, but then fed me the rest of the flan. I loved the way he stared at me while he fed me my dessert. It was almost as if he enjoyed doing it, and I couldn’t help but notice the way his eyes slightly changed color the longer he watched me. I definitely wondered what he was thinking about…
Once we stood to leave the restaurant, the tequila hit me and I swayed a bit before righting myself. As soon as we were at his truck, I was full on drunk. I was a happy drunk, not a sloppy drunk, so it was all good.
I climbed into the truck, not so gracefully, I might add. As I put on my seatbelt, I accidentally dumped the entire contents of my purse down between the seat and the door. Fuck me!
Andy jumped in on the driver’s side and found me giggling hysterically. “What’s so funny, Beautiful?” he asked.
I stopped laughing when he said the word beautiful, but only because it surprised me to hear him call me that again.
“Sorry,” he said quietly, a hint of sadness in his blue eyes.
“I don’t mind. I like it when you call me that. I feel beautiful when I’m with you,” I drunkenly confessed. He grinned, and then started the truck.
He drove us back home and parked in his space. After he stepped out of the truck, he came around to open my door. As soon as he pulled the handle, I remembered why I was giggling when he got in the truck at the restaurant.
I tried to grab the door so he couldn’t open it, but it was too late. It was already swinging open. The contents from my overturned purse fell out of the truck, landing on his fee
t and the ground around him.
A surprised expression washed over his face as he glanced down at the balled up receipts, tampons, loose change, and who knows what else. It only made me laugh harder.
“I guess this is what you were laughing at earlier?” he asked as he pointed down at his feet. I nodded and continued laughing.
Shaking his head, Andy grinned as he stepped back and kneeled down to pick up my junk for me.
I hopped out of the truck to help him, and ended up almost falling on him because of my heels. I pulled them off and dropped them inside my purse too. “Fuck me,” I muttered. “I need a smaller purse.”
“I’ll never understand why women need to carry so much shit around,” he teased as we continued picking up the shit that had fallen out, dumping it back into the black hole I called my purse.
After everything was back in it, we walked toward my place. I stepped on a tiny rock with my bare foot. “Ouch!” I stopped to brush it off, almost falling over in the process, because I was standing on one foot and trying to keep my balance after two very potent margaritas.
“Hop on, drunk girl,” Andy joked as he squatted down in front of me. I hopped onto his back and lightly wrapped my arms around his shoulders. With his big hands on the backs of my bare thighs, he effortlessly piggybacked me toward my building.
As he walked, I rested my chin on his shoulder. “Thank you,” I whispered in his ear. “This has been the best birthday ever.”
Boosting myself up his back a little bit to reach his cheek, I kissed the side of his face. His stubble tickled my nose, causing me to let out a quiet giggle.
He chuckled. “All I did was buy you coffee and dinner.”
“It was the best part.” I rested my chin back on his shoulder. It felt amazing to be with him after so many days of not seeing him, so I squeezed him a bit tighter.
He stopped at the lobby door and carefully set me down, so I could dig my keys out of my purse. Of course, I couldn’t find them since it had been overturned. Andy laughed as he pulled his keys back out of his pocket and unlocked the door.