Topic 237: It's your birthday! What's the perfect way to celebrate?
Interestingly enough, today actually is my birthday. 
And it was supposed to be awesome. I had huge plans with a bunch of friends. We were going to get some dinner and then catch the Devon Malone unplugged show at UCSD. Afterwards, I figured me and Cassie could shake the others off and have a little private celebration, just her and me and a bottle of tequila. There's this great place I found out by the beach, where you can hear the water and see about a million stars, and yet it's still private enough that I could have fucked her over the hood of the car if I wanted.
Hell, it's not everyday a guy turns 22.
But then she had to go and get food poisoning, and Trevor totaled his car -- again -- and Boner and his girlfriend got arrested for selling cocaine. Man. What a lousy bunch of friends, ruining my birthday that way.
I was sitting in the kitchen, eating a bowl of cereal and staring at the Devon Malone tickets fanned out on the table in front of me, when Josh wandered in.
"Hey," he said, opening the refrigerator and poking his head inside. "Happy birthday."
I grunted in response and shoveled a spoonful of Fruity-Os into my mouth.
"That doesn't sound so happy." He reached into the cabinet for a glass and filled it to the brim with ice and lime-aid.
I chewed my mouthful without responding.
"Okay," he said, drawing out the word so it seemed to have way more than two syllables. "I'm guessing something's wrong?" He sat down next to me and took a long sip of his drink, eyeing me over the top of his glass.
"Yeah," I said bitterly. "My plans for tonight got cancelled."
We both swallowed at the same time. "Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that," Josh said. "That sucks."
"Yeah," I said again. I dipped my spoon into the bowl and tried to drown an unnaturally bright red Fruity-O in the milk; as soon as I lifted the spoon, it popped back to the surface. Damn things are probably made of styrofoam. I peeked out at Josh from under my bangs. "You, uh... you got any plans tonight?"
He poked at an ice cube without looking up. "Yeah," he said finally. "Mindy and I are --"
"Oh," I said, cutting him off. I didn't really want to hear about anything he might be doing with the creature. My stomach suddenly felt hollow, and the sweet taste of the cereal turned bitter in my mouth. I pushed the bowl away and sat back in my chair.
"You could come with us," he said quickly. "You shouldn't be alone on --"
"I'll pass. Thanks." I picked up the tickets and tapped the edges against the table top. Tap. Tap. Tap. Dammit, I'd been looking forward to this for weeks and now everything was ruined. Tap. Tap. And Josh thought an evening with Mindy would be a consolation prize? Tap. Tap. Tap. Was he fucking crazy? Why not suggest spending the weekend locked in the house with Grammy, Aunt Katherine, and Helen's grandmother? That'd be --
"Drake," Josh said softly, cupping his hand over my wrist to still my restless hand. I went rigid in my seat and looked up at him in surprise. He looked back at me without blinking, his expression as open and earnest as I'd ever seen it. "Do you want me to cancel my plans? We can do something together tonight."
Something in his tone made my chest feel funny. Like someone was tickling my ribs with a feather from the inside. "Really? You mean it?"
"Really," he said, and for a moment I swore I could feel the pad of his thumb stroking lightly across my wrist bone. But it must have been my imagination, because just then he jerked his hand away. "Mindy'll understand."
"No, she won't."
"Well, no," he replied with a smile. "She probably won't. But don't you worry about that. I don't want you to be alone on your birthday. Okay?"
I knew I should probably refuse. Mindy would hate the fact that he'd blown her off to spend time with me. She'd make his life a merry hell for weeks, maybe months, and every time they fought about something from now until forever she would throw it in his face. I rubbed absently at my wrist, which was still pleasantly prickly where Josh had touched me. We'd touched each other before, a thousand different times, but this was different somehow. It felt like a promise. Or at least a possibility. Of what, I didn't know.
Fuck Mindy.
"Yeah, okay," I said, and warmth blossomed in my belly as I returned his grin. "That'd be just perfect."
And it was supposed to be awesome. I had huge plans with a bunch of friends. We were going to get some dinner and then catch the Devon Malone unplugged show at UCSD. Afterwards, I figured me and Cassie could shake the others off and have a little private celebration, just her and me and a bottle of tequila. There's this great place I found out by the beach, where you can hear the water and see about a million stars, and yet it's still private enough that I could have fucked her over the hood of the car if I wanted.
Hell, it's not everyday a guy turns 22.
But then she had to go and get food poisoning, and Trevor totaled his car -- again -- and Boner and his girlfriend got arrested for selling cocaine. Man. What a lousy bunch of friends, ruining my birthday that way.
I was sitting in the kitchen, eating a bowl of cereal and staring at the Devon Malone tickets fanned out on the table in front of me, when Josh wandered in.
"Hey," he said, opening the refrigerator and poking his head inside. "Happy birthday."
I grunted in response and shoveled a spoonful of Fruity-Os into my mouth.
"That doesn't sound so happy." He reached into the cabinet for a glass and filled it to the brim with ice and lime-aid.
I chewed my mouthful without responding.
"Okay," he said, drawing out the word so it seemed to have way more than two syllables. "I'm guessing something's wrong?" He sat down next to me and took a long sip of his drink, eyeing me over the top of his glass.
"Yeah," I said bitterly. "My plans for tonight got cancelled."
We both swallowed at the same time. "Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that," Josh said. "That sucks."
"Yeah," I said again. I dipped my spoon into the bowl and tried to drown an unnaturally bright red Fruity-O in the milk; as soon as I lifted the spoon, it popped back to the surface. Damn things are probably made of styrofoam. I peeked out at Josh from under my bangs. "You, uh... you got any plans tonight?"
He poked at an ice cube without looking up. "Yeah," he said finally. "Mindy and I are --"
"Oh," I said, cutting him off. I didn't really want to hear about anything he might be doing with the creature. My stomach suddenly felt hollow, and the sweet taste of the cereal turned bitter in my mouth. I pushed the bowl away and sat back in my chair.
"You could come with us," he said quickly. "You shouldn't be alone on --"
"I'll pass. Thanks." I picked up the tickets and tapped the edges against the table top. Tap. Tap. Tap. Dammit, I'd been looking forward to this for weeks and now everything was ruined. Tap. Tap. And Josh thought an evening with Mindy would be a consolation prize? Tap. Tap. Tap. Was he fucking crazy? Why not suggest spending the weekend locked in the house with Grammy, Aunt Katherine, and Helen's grandmother? That'd be --
"Drake," Josh said softly, cupping his hand over my wrist to still my restless hand. I went rigid in my seat and looked up at him in surprise. He looked back at me without blinking, his expression as open and earnest as I'd ever seen it. "Do you want me to cancel my plans? We can do something together tonight."
Something in his tone made my chest feel funny. Like someone was tickling my ribs with a feather from the inside. "Really? You mean it?"
"Really," he said, and for a moment I swore I could feel the pad of his thumb stroking lightly across my wrist bone. But it must have been my imagination, because just then he jerked his hand away. "Mindy'll understand."
"No, she won't."
"Well, no," he replied with a smile. "She probably won't. But don't you worry about that. I don't want you to be alone on your birthday. Okay?"
I knew I should probably refuse. Mindy would hate the fact that he'd blown her off to spend time with me. She'd make his life a merry hell for weeks, maybe months, and every time they fought about something from now until forever she would throw it in his face. I rubbed absently at my wrist, which was still pleasantly prickly where Josh had touched me. We'd touched each other before, a thousand different times, but this was different somehow. It felt like a promise. Or at least a possibility. Of what, I didn't know.
Fuck Mindy.
"Yeah, okay," I said, and warmth blossomed in my belly as I returned his grin. "That'd be just perfect."