Surprisingly Unexpected

December 25, 2007
I asked him if he wanted to spend Christmas with his family and he said he wants to spend it with me, my Mom, and Ema. So how come he’s not even trying to enjoy? We all enjoyed, but he didn‘t. He didn’t even smile or look happy when he opened his gifts! I tried to ask him and figure out what’s happening with him or what he wants and tried to make him happy… Nothing worked.

__________________________________________________________________________

.
"Ashleeeeyyyyy... Wakey-wakey...!" whispered a familiar voice in my ear. I opened my eyes and see Carla in the bed. Whoa, hold up, bed? Ugh! Fucking headache! I'm hung over! Shit!

"Wh-what time is it?"

"It's time for brunch. C'mon, everyone's up!" replied Carla as I got up and realized I'm in the guestroom upstairs.

"Wait, how did I get here?"

"Ask Derek," said Carla. Then winked at me. "He's the one who told me you're here."

"Oh," I laid on the bed again. I want more sleep! "You go on ahead."

"ASHLEEEEYYY..." Her voice, too loud! She started hitting me with the pillow. She's not gonna let me go back to sleep, I know!

"Ugh! Okay, okay," I said as I got up. "I'm up, I'm up.

Carla spanked my ass as I went to the guest bathroom to fix myself up.

"Bitch!"

"Right back at ya!" Then she winked at me.

__________________________________________________________________________

.
"No! You fucking give that back!" shouted a familiar voice. Then a pancake flew in the air and I ducked instinctively. I was a like a normal everyday thing already. "That's fucking mine!"

"Sam and Ed fighting over food again, huh?" I asked knowing the answer already.

"What's new?" replied Derek. At the sound of his voice, I felt my heart started racing. Even with all the commotion and chaos in the kitchen, I knew where he was. I didn't even have to look for him. He's wearing a lose crimson red shirt and boxers and he looks like he just got up as well. His hair'a still messy like out-of-bed messy. Then our eyes met.

"So, pancakes and sausages, huh?" trying to break his gaze cause I know my face is red already.

"Here you go sweets." said Marv pulling a chair out for me then smiled.

"Thanks," I sat down and ate. What happened yesterday? Oh yeah, I fell asleep on the roof? Wait! Who carried me all the way from the roof to the room? I looked at Derek. He winked at me. I blushed. I looked away - looked at Sam and Ed. They're still throwing fod at each other. I laughed to disguise my blushing face.

"What time is it?" asked Ems.

"1:30 pm, why?" said Allen looking at hs iPhone.

"Somone needs to get home," said Ems then looked at me. "Mom has a surprise for her."

RING... RING... RING...

Justin's phone was ringing. He answered it then gave the phone to me.

"Hello?" I was curious.

"Ashbunny! Happy 19th birthday!" shouted my Mom.

"What the eff, MOM?!" I shouted back. "I still have a headache."

"What time are you coming over?" she asked, disregarding my comment. "Josh is here already!"

"What's he doing there?" I asked.

"Just get here soon, sweetheart," said my Mom in a awkwardly teasing way. "I have a surprise for you!"

"Sure thing," I said. "Ems and I will be there in 20."

I gave the phone back to Justin and went back to eating. All of a sudden, cream flew to my hair. I looked at everyone and saw it was from Justin. He was laughing hard.

"Oh no you didnt!" I took the syrup bottle, aimed it at Justin, and presed the syrup out to him. "Ha ha!"

"Oh, ths is war!" said Derek who was also sprayed with syrup. Then the big food fight started. I jumped and hid beside the chair. I threw a banana peel to Ems, which I didnt know where I got, by the way. Cec had the cream and spryed it to everyone near her. I took my pancakes and threw it to the first one I saw - Derek! It hit him in the face! The next thing I knew, I had squeezed strawberry in my face. After that, I wasn't able to keep trac of who threw what to whom.

After the food fight, everyone was convered in syrup, pancakes, peelings, and squeezed fruits. And don't get me started to how the dining room looked like. I was sticky and smelled like fruit.

"Hold up," said Denver. "Where are the sausages?"

Everyone looked at Jans and saw him by the door, still eating, and all clean. We all looked at each other and I smirked.

"GET HIM!" We all ran towards him. Denver was clueless. We all jumped into him and ended up on the floor. He ws now covered in pancakes and fruits just like everyone else. We were laughing.

"Okay, I gotta get home," I said. "And Ems, too."

"Oh, I'll ride with Allen's bike." said Ems.

"Okay, you can go ahead after you finish taking a shower." I said and looked at Carla. "Carla, can you take me home?"

"I didn't bring my car." said Carla.

"I'll take you." said Derek. "I brought my car."

"Oh, okay." I said trying not to look at him too long. "I'll just take a bath."

__________________________________________________________________________

.
I said goodbye to everyone and went outside. Derek was already by the patio waiting in his car. We always see Derek's car when we all go out but this is the first time I was going to sit in front. I usually sit in front of Carla's car, but always in the back of others' car.

Only four of us has a ride. Carla's is an orange Third Gen. Toyota Prius. Jans has a dark green Nissan Armada. Derek has two - a dark blue Mercedes Benz C350 Sedan and a new black Honda Ridgeline. And Cec has a custom-painted Honda CR-V.

When we have roadtrips, I sit in front of Carla's car. Denver is the only one who get to sit in front of Jans' car - that is if Jans' boyfriend is not coming with us. Ed is always in the passenger seat of Derek's car. And Marv is always in front of Cec' car.

"Daydreaming again, Ash?" My thoughts were interrupted by Derek.

"Oh, I was just thinking."

"About what?" Derek asked. He opened the door for me and smiled.

"I never knew you were a gentleman?" I said, teasing. I smiled and sat in front.

"Oh, there are a lot of things you don't know about me." And now we're back to normal. No more awkwardness. He started the car and turned on the AC.

"Happy?" he asked.

"Huh?" I was confused.

"Are you happy on your birthday?" He made himself clear.

"Oh, hell yeah! This is one of the happiest birthday ever." I assured him. They all went to trouble preparig for my day. "I just have to get home cause my Mom has a surprise for me."

"Oh, great!" he said and focused on driving. My Mom's house was just 15 minutes drive from Justin's.

Derek stopped the car and pulled of to the side of the road.