Bite Your Tongue

Happy Birthday

8:04 A.M.
Brian;;


“So…what am I supposed to get Korinne for her birthday?” Zacky asked. “You know I have no idea what to buy for my friends that are girls.”

“True.” I still hadn’t forgotten the time he’d given Stevie a tie and a pair of socks for her birthday.

“What did you get her?”

“Something she’ll like.”

Zacky raised his eyebrows and smirked. “Oh, really?

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a few books out of my locker.

“I got her a necklace, Zacky. Nothing dirty.”

He shook his head in mock disappointment—or maybe it was real disappointment, I couldn’t tell.

“So what should I get her?” he continued.

“I don’t know. What’s Delia getting her?”

He shrugged. “She didn’t tell me.”

“Well, just ask her if she’ll put your name on the card or something.”

Zacky looked relieved. “Why didn’t I think of that before?!”

He took off down the hallway at a run. I turned around to close my locker, only to see Korinne approaching hers a few feet away. I wasn’t surprised by the rush of adrenaline I felt at the sight of her—I was kind of used to it by now. I watched, amused, as she attempted to open her locker and failed. I walked over and leaned casually against the lockers next to hers.

“Need some help?”

“God, yes,” she replied. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get this open by myself.”

I spun the dial on her locker to the combination I remembered and opened it easily.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get the hang of it.”

“Right, and the world’s going to implode in five seconds.”

“Well, you won’t get the hang of it if you don’t stop being so negative,” I said, laughing.

Korinne laughed as well and I found myself loving the sound.

“Do you have any idea why everyone’s been avoiding me this past week?” she asked suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

“Every time I see someone, they either run in the opposite direction or make up some excuse to leave right away,” Korinne said.

Shit. I did know why—it was because no one felt they could keep her surprise party a secret. Stevie and I were the only ones who seemed to be able to lie about it easily if it was necessary; everyone else was sure that they’d spill the beans. And I felt kind of bad about that, since Korinne looked sad and I hated to see her like that. But I knew it’d be worth it after tomorrow, when she saw the huge effort we had all put into setting up this party.

All of us guys, plus Delia, would head to Stevie’s house after school to start decorating. Stevie would show up at Korinne’s around six o’clock and somehow convince her that the two of them would be going out for a special birthday dinner. Then Stevie would claim to have left something at her house, and both of them would end up there.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” I said.

Korinne sighed.

“Yeah, probably. It’s just…I hate the week before my birthday.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know…my birthdays usually end up being incredibly disappointing. Like, when I was turning six years old, I told my mom that all I wanted was this Barbie dream house,” she said.

I bit my lip to prevent myself from laughing, but she saw.

“Shut up!” Korinne laughed. “Anyway, the house wasn’t even that expensive. It was only like a hundred dollars or something.”

“Only?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. She glared at me. “Right. Sorry.”

“I didn’t think it was a big deal, since that was the only thing I wanted. I didn’t want anything else, so I figured that I would get that one thing instead of a bunch of little presents. But when I opened up my gifts on the morning of my birthday, the only things I got were a small stuffed dog and a pack of scented markers. I stopped asking for things I really wanted after that—I didn’t see the point.”

“This year will be different,” I said.

“How?’

“You’re turning sixteen. That’s one of the biggest birthdays you could ever possibly have.”

“True. But dammit, I better get some awesome presents this year!”

I smiled and thought of the small wrapped box that sat atop my dresser at home. I had spent an entire Saturday walking around the mall, searching for the perfect gift, and had ended up with nothing. The next day I had taken Stevie with me—she had found something, and again, I had found nothing. But then I had happened to stumble across a pamphlet full of Harry Potter merchandise that must have fallen out of one of the DVD cases in the living room, and after looking carefully at everything, I had finally discovered what I thought would be perfect. I just hoped that Korinne thought so, too.

The bell rang then, and I walked with Korinne until we reached the stairs that would take her upstairs to her class. I said goodbye and headed to my class, happily anticipating tomorrow’s events.

+++

11:43 P.M.

“Fuck,” I mumbled into my pillow. I raised my head slightly and glanced at the clock. Ugh.

I couldn’t sleep. I had even gone to bed early in the hopes of freeing myself from the zillions of thoughts running through my mind, but it hadn’t worked. I couldn’t stop thinking about the party tomorrow, and how things would work out. Zacky kept telling me that I should stop being such a girl and just tell Korinne how I feel, but I still wasn’t sure if she felt the same way, and I didn’t want to risk it.

I sighed and rolled over onto my back. I started worrying about the gift I was planning on getting her. What if she didn’t like it? That would be terrible. I mean, she could probably send it back and get something else, but I wanted it to be perfect. And I wasn’t sure if it was. Her birthday had to be absolutely amazing—I couldn’t bear to think about how much it must have sucked to grow up having awful birthdays. This one had to be better than all the rest.

But what can I do? I sat up and ran my hands through my hair. There was no way I was getting to sleep now; not until I figured this out. On impulse, I grabbed my phone off of the floor and called Zacky.

“What?”

“Is that any way to answer your phone?”

Zacky snorted. “It’s almost midnight, Brian.”

“So? It’s not like you go to bed anytime before two,” I countered.

I heard laughter coming from the other end of the phone.

“Okay, you got me. So what’s up?” Zacky asked.

“I can’t sleep.”

“Aww, you poor thing. Want me to make you some hot chocolate?” he mocked.

“Zacky. Seriously.”

“I’m being completely serious.”

I sighed impatiently as Zacky laughed some more.

“Wow, I crack myself up.…Okay, okay. Why can’t you sleep?”

“I don’t think the gift I got Korinne is good enough,” I said.

I could practically hear him rolling his eyes through the phone. “Well, there isn’t really anything you can do about that now. Nothing’s open this late. And I thought you were so sure that your present was awesome.”

“I was, but now….”

“Look, I don’t know what you’re so worried about. She’ll like whatever you get her, because it’s from you,” Zacky said.

“How do you know?”

“I know it’s late, but it’s not that late. Come on, Brian. She likes you!”

I shook my head and looked outside at Korinne’s bedroom window. The blinds were drawn, and no light came from inside.

“But what if she doesn’t?”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Zacky sighed impatiently. “If you’re so worried, why don’t you just go ask her?”

“What?”

“Go ask her! Give her the present and make sure she likes it, and then ask her if she likes you. It’s not that hard.”

“Zacky, it’s the middle of the night.”

“Exactly! It gives you the element of surprise!”

I talked with Zacky for a few more minutes and eventually hung up, still confused. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I did something to remedy the situation, but I had no clue what to do. I couldn’t just ask Korinne how she felt about me—and especially not right now. I didn’t want to seem like some weirdo stalker.

I glanced at Korinne’s present. I wanted to know what she would react to it. But I couldn’t wait until tomorrow—I had to do this now. And maybe, since I couldn’t tell her how I felt, I could show her, somehow…

I smiled and leapt out of bed as an idea flew into my head. It was risky, and, of course, completely impulsive, but I figured it was worth a shot. I found some shoes and remembered to grab the present before slipping quietly downstairs and out the door.

+++

Korinne;;

I woke up suddenly and laid there for a few minutes, trying to figure out why. I hadn’t been having a nightmare. The house wasn’t on fire. Aliens weren’t dripping out of the mirror and trying to communicate with me. I closed my eyes and attempted to go back to sleep—an attempt that was completely useless, for several seconds later, a light tapping noise at the window roused me from my sleepiness.

What the hell?

I rolled over and stared at the window. I could see the outline of someone out there, which immediately terrified me. I got out of bed and crossed the room to where my school stuff was sprawled all over the floor. Then, wielding my Geometry textbook like a weapon, I slowly walked towards the window. I stared at the figure for a second, my hand poised on the string that lifted the blinds, as I tried not to think about all of those serial killers and murderers that remained on the loose. I yanked on the string and stumbled back in surprise as the blinds went up and I was able to see Brian sitting in the tree not too far from the window.

My mouth fell open as I reached for the lock and opened the window. “B-Brian?”

He smiled. “Hey.”

I pinched myself on the arm to make sure I wasn’t dreaming and was thrilled and frightened at the same time when I realized that this was reality. Brian really was sitting and smiling gorgeously at me from a tree outside of my bedroom window. I willed my heart to keep to its normal rhythm.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’ll tell you if you let me come in.”

I stood back as he easily climbed through the window and landed with a soft thump on the floor. He was wearing gray boxers and a white t-shirt, and his hair made me crazy like it always did.

“I wanted to be the first one to give you your birthday present,” he said.

“But it won’t technically be my birthday for another—” I glanced at the clock “—Eight minutes.”

“Exactly.”

I felt a smile similar to Brian’s find its way onto my face. “All right,” I said.

I walked over to the bed and sat down, tossing my textbook onto the floor. Brian sat next to me and held out a small neon green box. I looked up at him as I took it and was stunned by how close we were. His face wasn’t far from mine, and his arm was so near that I could practically feel the heat radiating from it.

I took a couple of deep breaths to calm my nerves, which weren’t helped by the fact that we were sitting on my bed, and that there were all sorts of dirty connotations to go along with that. I focused instead on the box in my hands. It was wrapped expertly in bright wrapping paper, and adorned with a silver bow.

“Wow,” I said. “Did you wrap this?”

Brian chuckled. “No, actually, my mom did. I’m a disaster at wrapping presents…my aunt asked me wrap something for her once, and I somehow ended up nearly strangling myself with the wrapping paper.”

“I’ll keep that in mind come Christmas,” I said, laughing. I looked down at the box again and used my thumbnail to cut through the paper on one side. Then I ripped the rest of it off and stuck the bow on Brian’s cheek.

“Thanks, Korinne,” he said sarcastically, while I giggled helplessly.

I finally settled down enough to open the box. Inside sat a heap of gold on top of fluffy cotton. I picked up the shining, golden necklace and held it in front of me. It took me a few seconds to realize what it was, and once I did, I gasped and couldn’t help but squeal slightly.

“Holy shit!”

It was an exact replica of the time-turner from my favorite Harry Potter movie. It had a small working hourglass contained within the inside circle, as well as several outer circles that spun with a twist of the small dials on the side. I loved it.

“Brian! How—” I broke off, unable to find words to express my joy.

“There’s this awesome website that sells all sorts of Harry Potter stuff,” he said, grinning. “And you always wear that Order of the Phoenix t-shirt, so I figured you’d like this…”

“Like it? I love it!” I said, throwing my arms around him and knocking the bow to the floor in the process. I felt him laugh as he hugged me back.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“This is the best gift I’ve ever received,” I said truthfully.

I looked up to see Brian smiling at me, which made my insides turn to warm honey. He had the most amazing brown eyes, and being in his embrace made me feel safer than I imagined I would have felt if surrounded by an entire army.

“You’ve really never gotten another present you liked this much?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“Well, then, I’m glad I brightened your day.”

I could feel his breath ghosting over my face as he talked, and it was then that I noticed how close we were. I saw Brian’s eyes flicker down to my lips for a second, and my heart practically stopped. And then, before I knew it, I was leaning forward, and he was too—closer, and closer, until there was hardly any space between our lips—and then, we were kissing.

I felt a massive rush go over my head as his lips met mine and all of my breath was stolen from my lungs. An electric shock seemed to travel through my entire body while his arms tightened around me, drawing me closer to that wonderful body of his. His lips were so soft, and I melted against him as the kiss progressed. His tongue slipped into my mouth, and though I didn’t really know what to do—the only boys I had ever kissed were through dares at humiliating parties in sixth and seventh grade—I found myself not wanting it to end. It did, though, all too soon.

Brian pulled away slowly and held me close to him as his eyes searched mine for something—I didn’t know what, but I suddenly couldn’t stop smiling, and that seemed to please him, because he smiled as well. We sat there for a bit, grinning helplessly at each other. I tried to find words, but nothing would come. I was still kind of in shock from the whole thing—I wasn’t aware of anything else except for Brian’s breathing and the taste of his kiss. I couldn’t hear the gentle hum of the air conditioning, or the crashing of the waves outside. Just Brian. And I was fine with that.

“I should probably get going,” he said a minute later. “My mom will be up for her midnight snack soon.”

“Okay,” I managed to say.

I walked him to the window and had to use every available ounce of brain power to keep from collapsing in an elated heap on the floor. He turned to face me and brushed some of the hair out of my face before gently placing his hand on my cheek, bending down, and kissing me. My skin tingled where he touched it, and I had to grab onto his arm to keep from falling over.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said. He looked over at the clock and smiled. “Birthday girl.”

I followed his gaze and saw that it was 12:02. I was now officially sixteen years old.

I turned back to Brian as he was swinging himself back into the tree and had to bite my lip to keep from smiling like an idiot again. He glanced back at me one more time before there was a rustling of leaves, and he dropped out of sight. I watched him climb down the tree with relative ease and didn’t stop watching until he disappeared into the side door of his house. Then, and only then, did I close the window and get back into bed.

Once I was all settled, I buried my face in my pillow and squealed until I was lightheaded, with the comforter acting as a sound barrier. After that, I got up and turned on my computer—because there was no way I could possibly sleep at the moment.