Bite Your Tongue
Surprise
8:11 A.M.
Korinne;;
I yawned as I approached my locker--I had only gotten a few hours of sleep after finally settling down last night, and I was exhausted. However, when I reached out to attempt to turn the lock, I discovered it was already open.
Frowning, I opened the door and my jaw dropped. My entire locker was stuffed with an astonishing amount of purple and orange roses.
“Oh…my…god…” I muttered, brushing my hand over the flowers. They smelled lovely.
I must have been standing there for a bit, because the next thing I knew, someone was squealing loud enough to shatter an eardrum or two from behind me. I turned around to see Stevie standing there, looking like she had just received a new puppy.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” she screamed, throwing her arms around me.
“Can’t—breathe--” I choked out.
“Oh, sorry.” She let me go. Her eyes flickered to my flower-filled locker. “Who are those from?!”
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Stevie pushed past me and seized a small white card that had been concealed among the roses; a card that I, apparently, had failed to notice. She flipped it open and scanned what was written inside before emitting another loud shriek.
“Jesus,” I said, covering my ears. “Is that really necessary?”
“Read the card,” she said hastily, shoving it towards me. I glanced down at the crisp piece of paper and got butterflies in my stomach.
I know I already said this, but…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
-B
I looked up at Stevie, who was smirking. “Is there anything you’d like to share with me, Korinne?” she asked.
“Uh…” I felt myself blushing. Images from the night before kept racing through my mind—Brian’s arms around me; his lips on mine…
“KORINNE!”
I looked past Stevie to see that Delia was rushing towards me as well. Zacky wasn’t far behind her, but he seemed to be having a bit of trouble with several balloons he was carrying. Balloons that all said something birthday-related.
“Happy Birthday!” Delia exclaimed. “We got you some balloons!”
Zacky finally managed to disentangle himself from the balloon strings and handed them to me, wishing me a happy birthday. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. I couldn’t believe they were going to all this trouble just for me.
“Of course that’s not all we got you, you’ll get part two of your present at the—”
“Delia! Look at the flowers Korinne got! Aren’t they nice?” Stevie said suddenly.
Did I miss something? I looked to Zacky, who also seemed to get very interested in the flowers all of a sudden.
“Awesome. Purple and orange? What’s that mean?” he asked.
Since when does Zacky care about flowers?!
Stevie whipped out her phone and pressed a few buttons, quickly accessing the internet. “I don’t know. Let’s ask Google!”
“Don’t ever say that again. You sound like such a nerd,” Delia said.
“I do n--” Stevie was cut off by the sound of the bell ringing. She rolled her eyes.
“I guess it’ll have to wait until later. See you all at lunch!” she said, taking off in the direction of her class.
I said goodbye to Zacky and Delia and closed my locker door—I’d have to come back later for the flowers—before heading to my own class. And as I walked up the stairs, I still couldn’t get over the fact that Brian had sent me flowers. Or that he had kissed me. But I had a feeling I’d find out why soon.
+++
12:20 P.M.
Brian;;
“Stevie, you’re ridiculous,” Matt said, shaking his head.
Stevie glared at him. “What? It’s her birthday! I thought birthday cake ice cream would be a nice surprise!”
“That’s way too predictable. You should have gotten her something random, like a blue raspberry slushie,” Jimmy suggested.
Stevie scoffed. “Please. You only want the slushie for yourself.”
“That would be correct,” Jimmy said, laughing.
“So, Brian, did you hear about the flowers Korinne got this morning? The flowers from a mysterious someone?” Zacky said loudly.
“Yeah, I did,” I replied casually, shoving a few fries into my mouth.
“Any idea who they’re from?”
I shrugged and fought to keep the grin off of my face. “Nah.”
Zacky rolled his eyes. “Lying bastard,” he muttered.
I hadn’t told anyone that I was planning to get her flowers, but of course they all knew they were from me. I planned on making this the best birthday Korinne would ever experience.
“What the hell is that?” Johnny asked upon his arrival at the table. He looked disgustedly at the heap of glistening blue-brown ice cream in the middle of the table.
“Internal organs,” Zacky joked.
Stevie rolled her eyes. “It’s birthday cake ice cream,” she said.
I had just inhaled another handful of fries when an elbow connected with my ribcage. I turned to Zacky, glaring angrily.
“What the fuck?”
He grinned and inclined his head to the right. I followed his gaze and saw Korinne heading towards the table. I was pleased to see that see was wearing the necklace I’d given her, and that she had a purple rose tucked into her ponytail right above her ear.
“I forgot to ask you,” Zacky said quietly. “How did last night go? Did you ask her?”
“Not exactly,” I replied, unable to take my eyes off of Korinne as she got closer.
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
I ignored him.
“KORINNE!” Stevie screeched. Korinne stopped a few feet from the table and raised an eyebrow.
“Yes?”
“Hurry up and get over here!”
Korinne approached the table cautiously and frowned when she saw the ice cream.
“What is that?”
“It’s fucking birthday cake ice cream, goddammit!” Stevie exclaimed, throwing down her fork in frustration. “And if you don’t eat it, I’ll shove it down your throat!”
“That’s what she said,” Jimmy quipped. Everyone on his side of the table dissolved into silent giggles, except for Delia, who blushed madly and became very interested in her cucumber sandwich.
Stevie placed both hands over her face and breathed deeply before removing them and looking at Korinne.
“Sit down before I take my anger out on you,” she said.
Korinne looked around the table, quickly searching for an empty seat.
“Here, you can have my seat,” Zacky said suddenly. I had to concentrate to prevent myself from choking on a French fry, because Zacky was offering Korinne the seat next to me.
“Are you sure? I can just pull up another chair,” Korinne said.
“It’s fine. I’ll go share a seat with Delia.”
“What? No you won’t!” Delia said. Zacky ignored her, getting up and taking his lunch over to Delia’s seat. Delia blushed some more but didn’t protest as Zacky easily picked her up and set her down on his lap.
Korinne slid into the seat next to me and I fought against the urge to grab her and kiss her until my lungs exploded.
“That’s an interesting necklace, Korinne. Where’d you get it?” Zacky asked suddenly.
I stayed focused on my fries but I felt Korinne’s eyes on me for a second and looked up just in time to see Zacky smirking.
“I…uh…got it for my birthday,” she said finally.
“Really? From who?”
“Jesus, Zacky, what is this? The Spanish Inquisition? Let the girl eat,” I said.
Korinne smiled warmly at me and began to pick apart her grilled cheese sandwich. I could see Zacky glaring at me out of the corner of my eye but I ignored him and returned to my lunch.
“So, Korinne, do you have any special birthday plans?” Stevie asked.
Korinne shook her head. “Nope. My mom will probably just bring me a cookie she picked up on the way home from work.”
“That sucks. You know what’d be fun? A party,” Jimmy said.
All of us shot him warning looks that clearly said Say anything else about the subject and you will die.
“That would be fun, but I doubt it’s going to happen. I don’t think my mom’s ever thrown a party in her life,” Korinne said.
Everyone lapsed into silence after that and I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew Stevie wouldn’t ruin the surprise, but I wasn’t so sure about the rest of the table. And nothing could mess up this party, because it had to be perfect.
+++
5:55 P.M.
Korinne;;
I was wallowing in the unfairness of having homework on my birthday and plotting a way to get my Biology teacher fired when I heard the doorbell ring faintly from downstairs. I gladly pushed my textbook onto the floor and got up, taking the steps two at a time to go answer the door. I passed by Elias, who merely glanced up at me from his spot on the couch in the living room.
I opened the door and was surprised to see Stevie standing there, impatiently tapping her foot, which made the bag she had slung over her shoulder move as well. She had on a sparkly blue halter top and a black jean miniskirt, along with a pair of those heels with ridiculous ribbons that somehow wound their way up her legs. Her hair was straightened to perfection.
“Stevie! What are you doing here?”
“I’m taking you out to dinner for your birthday! Well, Delia and I are, actually. We’re supposed to meet her there at 6:45, so hurry up!” Stevie said in one breath. She shoved past me and shut the door before grabbing my arm and dragging me upstairs.
“What—”
“Shut up and get in the shower. And make it the fastest shower of your life, because we still have to do your hair and makeup.”
“But—”
“Get in the damn shower!” Stevie said forcefully, pushing me into the bathroom.
Minutes later I sat in front of the mirror, trying not to visibly wince as Stevie curled and pinned my hair up into some sort of half-ponytail thing that I never could have managed to do even if I’d had full training as a hairstylist. I stared at my reflection in awe, still having trouble processing that the person looking back was really me.
Stevie had made me change into some black skinny jeans, a green tank top I hadn’t been able to wear in a while, and a pair of glittery silver ballet flats that somehow managed to fit me perfectly even though they weren’t mine—she was letting me borrow them. She had done my makeup as well, pulling off techniques it would have taken me years to master. I had that whole smoky eye thing going on, plus I was wearing this peppermint-scented, dark pinkish lip gloss that I had to keep reminding myself not to lick off—I usually just wore Chapstick.
“Okay, I’m done,” Stevie said. She unplugged the curling iron and wrapped it back up in its towel before shoving it into her bag.
“Stevie…you’re a miracle worker,” I said.
“I know,” she replied, smirking. Her face lit up suddenly, as if she had just remembered something.
“Oh! You should totally wear that necklace you were wearing today. It’d go great with your outfit.”
I got up and retrieved the necklace from where it lay on my dresser. I fastened the clasp around my neck and couldn’t help but smile—this necklace reminded me of one thing and one thing only. And that thing just so happened to be named Brian.
“So who gave that to you? You said you got it for your birthday, but you didn’t say from who,” Stevie asked suddenly.
“Uh…” Shit. I wanted to tell Stevie, but I didn’t know if she would be upset that I hadn’t told her sooner. Plus, I knew she would freak out, and I was already freaking out more than I thought possible.
“I’m just going to take a wild guess here. Brian?”
“Maybe,” I said, trying unsuccessfully to stop smiling. I covered my ears right in time for Stevie to squeal loudly.
“Are you serious!? But when the hell did this happen? I was the first one who saw you this morning!”
“That’s because he, uh, kind of gave it to me last night.”
“Last night?” Stevie asked with a smirk.
“I didn’t mean for it to sound dirty!”
“Sure you didn’t.”
“It wasn’t dirty, he just gave me the necklace and--” I paused, knowing that a kiss would probably count as something dirty.
“And? And what?” Stevie demanded.
“He…He kissed me,” I said finally.
Stevie let out a noise that sounded like a cross between a shriek and the wail of a dying hyena; a noise that was so loud it probably shattered the sound barrier and also managed to leave my ears ringing for a few seconds afterwards.
“HE KISSED YOU! OH MY FUCKING GOD!”
“Don’t we have to be somewhere soon?” I asked, glancing at the clock. “It’s 6:35, Stevie.”
“Shit. You’re right.” She seized my arm and pulled me along with her on our way out to the car.
“But don’t think we’re done talking about this kissing thing. Because we’re definitely not,” she warned.
I just smiled and reached for my seatbelt.
+++
6:47 P.M.
“Weren’t we supposed to be at the restaurant two minutes ago?” I wondered aloud as Stevie stopped the car in front of her house.
“Shh!” Stevie hissed. “I just forgot my wallet, which we kind of need to pay for dinner. It’ll only take a minute.”
I shrugged and sat back in my seat. “Okay.”
She looked at me like I was insane.
“What are you doing? You’re coming with me,” Stevie said.
“But you said it would only take a minute,” I protested.
“I’m not leaving you outside to get abducted by a passing van full of kidnappers.”
“It’s still light outside, Stevie,” I said, laughing. “I think I’m fine.”
“Just get your ass out of the car!”
I rolled my eyes but obeyed her wishes, mostly because the look on her face told me she might rip my arm off if I didn’t. I didn’t see why she needed me to accompany her into her own house for two seconds, but whatever. I was starving, and the sooner we got to the restaurant, the better.
Stevie dug around in her purse for her house keys.
“Oh, damn! Where are my keys?” she said loudly. She finally located them a minute later and unlocked the door.
“I’ll just run upstairs and grab it. But I think I left one of your presents downstairs in the basement, could you go get it for me?”
“You want me to go retrieve my own birthday present? What makes you so sure I won’t peek?”
“Because I’ll kill you if you do. Just go downstairs!” Stevie shouted, before madly dashing up the spiral stairs that led to the second floor.
Something is very wrong with that girl, I thought. I sighed and headed for the basement door. I turned the knob and opened it, squinting to see the steps since it was completely dark, which was just fabulous since there wasn’t a light switch at the top of the stairs—only the bottom.
I kept a hand on the railing as I slowly walked down the stairs, all the while expecting to trip and fall to my death. Finally, though, I felt my foot reach normal ground and I reached for the light switch with a relieved sigh. But the second the light flicked on, I thought I was going to go into cardiac arrest.
“SURPRISE!”
My jaw dropped as I stared blankly back at Delia, Zacky, Matt, Brian, Johnny, and Jimmy, all of whom were standing amidst a dizzying array of party decorations.
“Holy shit,” I said.
“I BET YOU WEREN’T EXPECTING THAT, HUH? WE THREW YOU A SURPRISE PARTY! DO YOU LIKE IT, KORINNE?!” screamed Zacky.
“Uh…”
“You’ll have to excuse him,” Brian said. “He got a little excited and drank about six Red Bulls and four cans of Coke.”
“RED BULL GIVES YOU WINGS!”
“Zacky, please, calm down,” Delia said softly.
I couldn’t help but laugh, and at the same time, I wanted to hug each and every person in the room until their eyeballs popped out of their skull from the pressure.
“I love you guys,” I said. “Get over here so I can hug you!”
Korinne;;
I yawned as I approached my locker--I had only gotten a few hours of sleep after finally settling down last night, and I was exhausted. However, when I reached out to attempt to turn the lock, I discovered it was already open.
Frowning, I opened the door and my jaw dropped. My entire locker was stuffed with an astonishing amount of purple and orange roses.
“Oh…my…god…” I muttered, brushing my hand over the flowers. They smelled lovely.
I must have been standing there for a bit, because the next thing I knew, someone was squealing loud enough to shatter an eardrum or two from behind me. I turned around to see Stevie standing there, looking like she had just received a new puppy.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” she screamed, throwing her arms around me.
“Can’t—breathe--” I choked out.
“Oh, sorry.” She let me go. Her eyes flickered to my flower-filled locker. “Who are those from?!”
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Stevie pushed past me and seized a small white card that had been concealed among the roses; a card that I, apparently, had failed to notice. She flipped it open and scanned what was written inside before emitting another loud shriek.
“Jesus,” I said, covering my ears. “Is that really necessary?”
“Read the card,” she said hastily, shoving it towards me. I glanced down at the crisp piece of paper and got butterflies in my stomach.
I know I already said this, but…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
-B
I looked up at Stevie, who was smirking. “Is there anything you’d like to share with me, Korinne?” she asked.
“Uh…” I felt myself blushing. Images from the night before kept racing through my mind—Brian’s arms around me; his lips on mine…
“KORINNE!”
I looked past Stevie to see that Delia was rushing towards me as well. Zacky wasn’t far behind her, but he seemed to be having a bit of trouble with several balloons he was carrying. Balloons that all said something birthday-related.
“Happy Birthday!” Delia exclaimed. “We got you some balloons!”
Zacky finally managed to disentangle himself from the balloon strings and handed them to me, wishing me a happy birthday. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. I couldn’t believe they were going to all this trouble just for me.
“Of course that’s not all we got you, you’ll get part two of your present at the—”
“Delia! Look at the flowers Korinne got! Aren’t they nice?” Stevie said suddenly.
Did I miss something? I looked to Zacky, who also seemed to get very interested in the flowers all of a sudden.
“Awesome. Purple and orange? What’s that mean?” he asked.
Since when does Zacky care about flowers?!
Stevie whipped out her phone and pressed a few buttons, quickly accessing the internet. “I don’t know. Let’s ask Google!”
“Don’t ever say that again. You sound like such a nerd,” Delia said.
“I do n--” Stevie was cut off by the sound of the bell ringing. She rolled her eyes.
“I guess it’ll have to wait until later. See you all at lunch!” she said, taking off in the direction of her class.
I said goodbye to Zacky and Delia and closed my locker door—I’d have to come back later for the flowers—before heading to my own class. And as I walked up the stairs, I still couldn’t get over the fact that Brian had sent me flowers. Or that he had kissed me. But I had a feeling I’d find out why soon.
+++
12:20 P.M.
Brian;;
“Stevie, you’re ridiculous,” Matt said, shaking his head.
Stevie glared at him. “What? It’s her birthday! I thought birthday cake ice cream would be a nice surprise!”
“That’s way too predictable. You should have gotten her something random, like a blue raspberry slushie,” Jimmy suggested.
Stevie scoffed. “Please. You only want the slushie for yourself.”
“That would be correct,” Jimmy said, laughing.
“So, Brian, did you hear about the flowers Korinne got this morning? The flowers from a mysterious someone?” Zacky said loudly.
“Yeah, I did,” I replied casually, shoving a few fries into my mouth.
“Any idea who they’re from?”
I shrugged and fought to keep the grin off of my face. “Nah.”
Zacky rolled his eyes. “Lying bastard,” he muttered.
I hadn’t told anyone that I was planning to get her flowers, but of course they all knew they were from me. I planned on making this the best birthday Korinne would ever experience.
“What the hell is that?” Johnny asked upon his arrival at the table. He looked disgustedly at the heap of glistening blue-brown ice cream in the middle of the table.
“Internal organs,” Zacky joked.
Stevie rolled her eyes. “It’s birthday cake ice cream,” she said.
I had just inhaled another handful of fries when an elbow connected with my ribcage. I turned to Zacky, glaring angrily.
“What the fuck?”
He grinned and inclined his head to the right. I followed his gaze and saw Korinne heading towards the table. I was pleased to see that see was wearing the necklace I’d given her, and that she had a purple rose tucked into her ponytail right above her ear.
“I forgot to ask you,” Zacky said quietly. “How did last night go? Did you ask her?”
“Not exactly,” I replied, unable to take my eyes off of Korinne as she got closer.
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
I ignored him.
“KORINNE!” Stevie screeched. Korinne stopped a few feet from the table and raised an eyebrow.
“Yes?”
“Hurry up and get over here!”
Korinne approached the table cautiously and frowned when she saw the ice cream.
“What is that?”
“It’s fucking birthday cake ice cream, goddammit!” Stevie exclaimed, throwing down her fork in frustration. “And if you don’t eat it, I’ll shove it down your throat!”
“That’s what she said,” Jimmy quipped. Everyone on his side of the table dissolved into silent giggles, except for Delia, who blushed madly and became very interested in her cucumber sandwich.
Stevie placed both hands over her face and breathed deeply before removing them and looking at Korinne.
“Sit down before I take my anger out on you,” she said.
Korinne looked around the table, quickly searching for an empty seat.
“Here, you can have my seat,” Zacky said suddenly. I had to concentrate to prevent myself from choking on a French fry, because Zacky was offering Korinne the seat next to me.
“Are you sure? I can just pull up another chair,” Korinne said.
“It’s fine. I’ll go share a seat with Delia.”
“What? No you won’t!” Delia said. Zacky ignored her, getting up and taking his lunch over to Delia’s seat. Delia blushed some more but didn’t protest as Zacky easily picked her up and set her down on his lap.
Korinne slid into the seat next to me and I fought against the urge to grab her and kiss her until my lungs exploded.
“That’s an interesting necklace, Korinne. Where’d you get it?” Zacky asked suddenly.
I stayed focused on my fries but I felt Korinne’s eyes on me for a second and looked up just in time to see Zacky smirking.
“I…uh…got it for my birthday,” she said finally.
“Really? From who?”
“Jesus, Zacky, what is this? The Spanish Inquisition? Let the girl eat,” I said.
Korinne smiled warmly at me and began to pick apart her grilled cheese sandwich. I could see Zacky glaring at me out of the corner of my eye but I ignored him and returned to my lunch.
“So, Korinne, do you have any special birthday plans?” Stevie asked.
Korinne shook her head. “Nope. My mom will probably just bring me a cookie she picked up on the way home from work.”
“That sucks. You know what’d be fun? A party,” Jimmy said.
All of us shot him warning looks that clearly said Say anything else about the subject and you will die.
“That would be fun, but I doubt it’s going to happen. I don’t think my mom’s ever thrown a party in her life,” Korinne said.
Everyone lapsed into silence after that and I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew Stevie wouldn’t ruin the surprise, but I wasn’t so sure about the rest of the table. And nothing could mess up this party, because it had to be perfect.
+++
5:55 P.M.
Korinne;;
I was wallowing in the unfairness of having homework on my birthday and plotting a way to get my Biology teacher fired when I heard the doorbell ring faintly from downstairs. I gladly pushed my textbook onto the floor and got up, taking the steps two at a time to go answer the door. I passed by Elias, who merely glanced up at me from his spot on the couch in the living room.
I opened the door and was surprised to see Stevie standing there, impatiently tapping her foot, which made the bag she had slung over her shoulder move as well. She had on a sparkly blue halter top and a black jean miniskirt, along with a pair of those heels with ridiculous ribbons that somehow wound their way up her legs. Her hair was straightened to perfection.
“Stevie! What are you doing here?”
“I’m taking you out to dinner for your birthday! Well, Delia and I are, actually. We’re supposed to meet her there at 6:45, so hurry up!” Stevie said in one breath. She shoved past me and shut the door before grabbing my arm and dragging me upstairs.
“What—”
“Shut up and get in the shower. And make it the fastest shower of your life, because we still have to do your hair and makeup.”
“But—”
“Get in the damn shower!” Stevie said forcefully, pushing me into the bathroom.
Minutes later I sat in front of the mirror, trying not to visibly wince as Stevie curled and pinned my hair up into some sort of half-ponytail thing that I never could have managed to do even if I’d had full training as a hairstylist. I stared at my reflection in awe, still having trouble processing that the person looking back was really me.
Stevie had made me change into some black skinny jeans, a green tank top I hadn’t been able to wear in a while, and a pair of glittery silver ballet flats that somehow managed to fit me perfectly even though they weren’t mine—she was letting me borrow them. She had done my makeup as well, pulling off techniques it would have taken me years to master. I had that whole smoky eye thing going on, plus I was wearing this peppermint-scented, dark pinkish lip gloss that I had to keep reminding myself not to lick off—I usually just wore Chapstick.
“Okay, I’m done,” Stevie said. She unplugged the curling iron and wrapped it back up in its towel before shoving it into her bag.
“Stevie…you’re a miracle worker,” I said.
“I know,” she replied, smirking. Her face lit up suddenly, as if she had just remembered something.
“Oh! You should totally wear that necklace you were wearing today. It’d go great with your outfit.”
I got up and retrieved the necklace from where it lay on my dresser. I fastened the clasp around my neck and couldn’t help but smile—this necklace reminded me of one thing and one thing only. And that thing just so happened to be named Brian.
“So who gave that to you? You said you got it for your birthday, but you didn’t say from who,” Stevie asked suddenly.
“Uh…” Shit. I wanted to tell Stevie, but I didn’t know if she would be upset that I hadn’t told her sooner. Plus, I knew she would freak out, and I was already freaking out more than I thought possible.
“I’m just going to take a wild guess here. Brian?”
“Maybe,” I said, trying unsuccessfully to stop smiling. I covered my ears right in time for Stevie to squeal loudly.
“Are you serious!? But when the hell did this happen? I was the first one who saw you this morning!”
“That’s because he, uh, kind of gave it to me last night.”
“Last night?” Stevie asked with a smirk.
“I didn’t mean for it to sound dirty!”
“Sure you didn’t.”
“It wasn’t dirty, he just gave me the necklace and--” I paused, knowing that a kiss would probably count as something dirty.
“And? And what?” Stevie demanded.
“He…He kissed me,” I said finally.
Stevie let out a noise that sounded like a cross between a shriek and the wail of a dying hyena; a noise that was so loud it probably shattered the sound barrier and also managed to leave my ears ringing for a few seconds afterwards.
“HE KISSED YOU! OH MY FUCKING GOD!”
“Don’t we have to be somewhere soon?” I asked, glancing at the clock. “It’s 6:35, Stevie.”
“Shit. You’re right.” She seized my arm and pulled me along with her on our way out to the car.
“But don’t think we’re done talking about this kissing thing. Because we’re definitely not,” she warned.
I just smiled and reached for my seatbelt.
+++
6:47 P.M.
“Weren’t we supposed to be at the restaurant two minutes ago?” I wondered aloud as Stevie stopped the car in front of her house.
“Shh!” Stevie hissed. “I just forgot my wallet, which we kind of need to pay for dinner. It’ll only take a minute.”
I shrugged and sat back in my seat. “Okay.”
She looked at me like I was insane.
“What are you doing? You’re coming with me,” Stevie said.
“But you said it would only take a minute,” I protested.
“I’m not leaving you outside to get abducted by a passing van full of kidnappers.”
“It’s still light outside, Stevie,” I said, laughing. “I think I’m fine.”
“Just get your ass out of the car!”
I rolled my eyes but obeyed her wishes, mostly because the look on her face told me she might rip my arm off if I didn’t. I didn’t see why she needed me to accompany her into her own house for two seconds, but whatever. I was starving, and the sooner we got to the restaurant, the better.
Stevie dug around in her purse for her house keys.
“Oh, damn! Where are my keys?” she said loudly. She finally located them a minute later and unlocked the door.
“I’ll just run upstairs and grab it. But I think I left one of your presents downstairs in the basement, could you go get it for me?”
“You want me to go retrieve my own birthday present? What makes you so sure I won’t peek?”
“Because I’ll kill you if you do. Just go downstairs!” Stevie shouted, before madly dashing up the spiral stairs that led to the second floor.
Something is very wrong with that girl, I thought. I sighed and headed for the basement door. I turned the knob and opened it, squinting to see the steps since it was completely dark, which was just fabulous since there wasn’t a light switch at the top of the stairs—only the bottom.
I kept a hand on the railing as I slowly walked down the stairs, all the while expecting to trip and fall to my death. Finally, though, I felt my foot reach normal ground and I reached for the light switch with a relieved sigh. But the second the light flicked on, I thought I was going to go into cardiac arrest.
“SURPRISE!”
My jaw dropped as I stared blankly back at Delia, Zacky, Matt, Brian, Johnny, and Jimmy, all of whom were standing amidst a dizzying array of party decorations.
“Holy shit,” I said.
“I BET YOU WEREN’T EXPECTING THAT, HUH? WE THREW YOU A SURPRISE PARTY! DO YOU LIKE IT, KORINNE?!” screamed Zacky.
“Uh…”
“You’ll have to excuse him,” Brian said. “He got a little excited and drank about six Red Bulls and four cans of Coke.”
“RED BULL GIVES YOU WINGS!”
“Zacky, please, calm down,” Delia said softly.
I couldn’t help but laugh, and at the same time, I wanted to hug each and every person in the room until their eyeballs popped out of their skull from the pressure.
“I love you guys,” I said. “Get over here so I can hug you!”