Birthday Surprises

“Zacky, wake up!” She shook me lightly.

I grumbled at my girlfriend. It was my birthday, and she should at least let me sleep in today. I slightly opened one eye at the clock. Jesus fucking Christ, it’s 9 in the morning! I let out a groan in protest as she kept nagging me.

“Seriously, it’s not that early. I’ve already been up for two hours!” She proclaimed proudly. I rolled my eyes at her. I picked up my blue pillow and threw it over my head, although I knew this alone wouldn’t stop her from getting me up. She grabbed me by my shoulders and started shaking me.

“Ahhh! What the hell are you doing?!” I practically screamed. I shook her off of me and woke up. I sat up on the edge of our bed as I looked up at her with sleepy eyes. She was wearing her favorite “The Misfits” t-shirt. It was all cut up while she wore a white tank top underneath. She wore some dark blue skinny jeans with a white belt with silver studs. Her makeup was already done. She bent over and gave me a light kiss.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart,” She said to me, leaving the room. She had something in store for me today, even though I clearly told her that I just wanted to chill with her, the guys, and their girls today. I crawled out of bed and headed for the living room. Nothing changed. I was safe for now. I know turning 21 is usually a big deal, but it’s not like drinking is a new thing for me. It was the same way for her, and she wasn’t even 21 yet.

Pancakes were in the kitchen as she sat at the table of our little apartment. Since I was on tour most of the time, she decided that she didn’t want to keep a huge house so it would be easier on her to clean when she wasn’t on tour with us. “Oh, so you decide to stay up, instead of falling back to sleep?” She asked in a very sarcastic tone. I rolled my eyes at her as I went and wrapped my arms around her. I kissed the side of her head to show her some affection for how much I appreciate her. “I love you, too.”

Kayla has been my girlfriend since about the end of high school. We hung out in the same group of friends all of high school and ended up dating after a few drunken hook-ups. We moved in together about a year ago, when we decided that it was getting serious. Kayla was always a really pretty girl. She used to ridicule herself to no end ‘til someone she loved finally found her remotely attractive and then eventually loved her. She had black short hair. It was choppy and sometimes streaked with red in the back if she was feeling very flamboyant during the week she had to dye her hair to keep it the way it was. Her height was around 5 feet, 3 inches, and she was often teased by the guys because of it.

“What’s on the agenda today? Because we both know you’re up to something,” I whispered into her ear. She giggled slightly and shrugged her shoulders.

“You’ll just have to wait and find out.” I immediately felt stressed out. I sat down into the chair next to her as she continued to read her book and finish up her bagel. I quickly jumped up and picked up some pancakes. I ate them swiftly and gulped down a nice cup of milk.

The couch looked inviting, so I decided to take it up on its offer. I flipped the TV over to a good episode of South Park and laid there in silence, focusing on the show. After she was finished with her breakfast, she joined me. “When do you want your present? Now or later?” I shrugged my shoulders, signaling to her that it didn’t matter. She pulled a card-shaped object out of the drawer in the coffee table next to the couch. She handed it to me. “I decided that it would be best to give it to you now, before I forgot about it.”

I opened the card as she sat there, watching in silence. In the envelope, there was a card and a picture of us. In the picture, she was sitting next to me on a bench in the park in her prom gown. I was wearing my suit, and we both looked utterly ridiculous and uncomfortable. The home-made card had her signature and a little bit of writing that I skimmed through. I kissed her temple. “Thanks, sweetheart. I love you, too.”

She smiled at me and fidgeted around with the ends of her shirt. By the time we were finished watching TV, it was noon. Knock, knock. Someone was at the door. I walked over and opened it. “Hey man. Happy Birthday!?” Jimmy yelled as he and the rest of the guys and their girls piled in. Brian, Michelle, Val, and Matt ended up sitting on the couch while Kayla and I used the love seat. Jimmy sat on the chair as Leana was sitting on top of him.

Matt broke the silence, “So what’s the plan for tonight?” All eyes were on me. I felt pressured, but I think that was because I only really wanted to spend time with Kayla and maybe the guys and their girls tonight. I shifted my mouth slightly and sighed. Kayla could sense my tension.

“He’s not sure yet. I don’t know if he’s thought about it yet,” Kayla answered for me. I relaxed a bit. The guys liked Kayla. We’ve all known her for years, and eventually she and I came to terms that we both liked each other. The rest of the guys were ecstatic when they found out we started dating.

Matt lifted his neck up a little bit and said, “Oh.” Matt wanted to go out and have a big party. I was pretty sure by the disappointment in his voice. I shifted a little on the seat, disturbing the way Kayla was sitting.

“Sorry, baby.” I kissed her temple lightly as the rest of the group was contently watching whatever was on TV. I picked myself up and went to our room for a few seconds. I lay on the bed, deep in thought. Soon after, Kayla opened the door.

“Is something wrong?” She asked me, feeling my forehead then brushing back my hair. I shrugged my shoulders.

“No. Nothing’s wrong. I just don’t really feel like going out tonight. I mean, I love partying, but I don’t feel like it tonight. I just kinda want to stay in tonight and maybe go out tomorrow.” She rolled her eyes. She thought I was lying. I could tell. I shifted up into a seated position. “I’m not lying to you. I just kinda wanna chill out tonight.” She still rolled her eyes.

“Whatever you say, deary.” She left the room to join our friends once more. I felt a little bit aggravated that she didn’t believe me, but I didn’t let it phase me. I continued to lay there for a moment, thinking of all the things they could be discussing out there. A surprise party, alcohol, the next tour… anything was up for grabs in my head on what they were talking about. I should be going out there now, I decided. I walked out to the living room of my apartment to see the guys have left. “Where’d they go?” I asked her, exactly where she was before I left the room.

“They said they had to go do something. I can’t remember what,” she said, leafing through a magazine. She probably knew, just came up with a lame excuse to cover for them. I sat down with her. She finished up flipping through her magazine and left the room. I lay on the couch and passed out from exhaustion.

I awoke two hours later to see Kayla standing in front of me all dolled up. She was wearing one of my old Misfits shirts, which was cut up and sewn to make it seem much more feminine, with a pair of dark blue skinny jeans. She wore a necklace I gave her a while back and a few gummy bracelets that matched her outfit. Her shoes were black ballet flats. “Go get ready,” she said as she was fixing her make up really quick. I hopped up from my lying position.

I knew we were going out for my birthday, but maybe it’s just for dinner. At least I hoped that’s the only thing we’re doing. I threw on something casual; a nice white button down shirt and a pair of white pants. I walked out to see Kayla sitting on the arm of the couch waiting for me. I kissed her on the cheek as she gave me a slight hug. “Let’s go. You’re driving.” She tossed me the keys, grabbed my hand, and pulled me out the door.

The drive to the restaurant was quiet… quieter than it would usually be. We arrived and walked into the restaurant to see the rest of the gang, dressed up, waiting for us. “You couldn’t get out of your friends wanting to celebrate,” said Kayla. I rolled my eyes.

“Thanks you, guys, even though I don’t feel up to it today.”

Michelle tilted her head to the side and up and asked, “Why?”

I gritted my teeth for a second. “Well…” I dragged off. How was I supposed to tell them that… well, Kayla… she’s… eh… pregnant? She told me maybe last week or so. She said that I should still have fun for my birthday even though she wasn’t going to be able to drink ‘til after the pregnancy. I had been just down in the dumps ever since, thinking about how this could be good to my life and bad to my life.

“What was that again? I couldn’t make it out,” said Matt, being pushy as always.

I fidgeted for a moment, then said, “Kayla’s… pregnant. She found out maybe only last week. I don’t know what it’s gonna do to our band.” I hated knowing I got her pregnant. I mean, yeah, it was bound to happen, but I was hoping it was going to happen when we actually had money.

“Zack, it’s not going to do anything to the band, you’ll still tour, and you’ll just have a child at home to look after when we get back. Sure, you’ll have to ask for help, but it doesn’t mean that you’ll have to quit the band.” Val said. She always had everything together. I smiled and decided to get a table, so everything didn’t seem so uncomfortable.

“Table for ten, please.” I said to the host. She tilted her head to the side and shrugged her shoulders.

“It’ll be a few minutes, but we’ll have it ready.” I smiled and then flashed that smile right at my family of friends, knowing everything was going to be okay.