A Step to Love

About two hours passed before Mrs. Gibson got here. She immediately started taking the things out of her thousands of bags she had on her arms. I think I stood about five minutes there like a complete moron looking at her pacing from side to side. Once she settled everything in the place she wanted, she turned to me. “Ready?”

I stared at the mini table next to a chair. The table had three bottles of hair dye, two types of paint brushes, a towel and a light blue bowl. “I—I guess.”

“Good.” She smiled and grabbed my hand to lead me towards the chair. “Okay, Lils. I found a color that—from what the employee told me—it will look completely amazing on you.” She paused to reach for the towel and wrap it around my neck. “I showed her a picture of you,” she explained.

After she mixed the hair dye with something in the light blue bowl, she reached with her hand the front of my head and started applying the hair dye from my scalp to the tips of my hair with a brush. I tried to close my eyes and drift to sleep, but every time I did, thousands of images were popping in my head about my previous birthdays and I didn’t know why. Yet, I came to the conclusion to go with it, even though I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to like remembering…

The fact that Brittany and Sasha were yelling excitedly next to me wasn’t the only reason I woke up. No, no. The actual reason why I did was because after I dreamt about my first birthday, I went straight to the images of mother hitting me with her belt and that last touch, was the one that caused me to come back to my senses.

I was still lying on the same chair I was. Only this time, the girl reflected had an orange-y type of brown hair. It was perfectly straightened and it was currently being combed by Mrs. Gibson’s finger. My cheeks turned pink while my eyes observed in admiration the pretty job done. Who would’ve thought I would’ve been so out that I didn’t even notice somebody washing and drying my hair?

“You’re so pretty. Oh, so pretty,” Sasha sang off key from behind me. I giggled and stood up, hugging Mrs. Gibson after.

“Thank you,” I said.

“No problem, honey! Now, you have like five hours left, so if you want to eat now, go ahead,” Mrs. Gibson suggested, talking to me, but we knew she was referring to the three of us. I nodded at the girls and we all made our way toward the kitchen.

It wasn’t until when I felt the scent of food hit my nostrils that I felt really hungry.

~*~*~*~*~

I stood up in my purple dress, ignoring everyone’s comments about how beautiful I looked. Instead, I focused on the images from my dream and the images from how this day would’ve been like… Only Pat’s motherly voice was able to break knot the between reality and fiction.

“Honey?” Her tone went concerned in a matter of seconds. I spun around, immediately touching my dress to dissimulate.

“What?”

She sighed and stood up from Sasha’s bed where Brittany, Sasha, and Mrs. Gibson accompanied her. “Is everything okay? You seem a bit…lost.”

I nodded and showed a shy smile. “Yeah. I’m just thinking a bit, that’s all.” I decided to change the subject before she had a chance to reply anything. “When are we going down?” I asked the Brittany and Sasha that were currently modeling in front of the mirror and taking pictures. “You guys look gorgeous,” I added, admiring Sasha’s green halter dress and Brittany’s hot pink puffy dress that was covered in millions of pink sequins and decorated with a big bow on the waist.

They both thanked me, but Sasha was the one to answer me as she fixed something on her face which I guessed was her make-up. “In about fifteen minutes.” As if it was out of pure instinct, I faced the alarm clock on Sasha’s bedside table and saw that it read 6:46pm.

“We also brought you this,” I heard Mrs. Gibson said, handing me a small rectangle box. I gently opened it to see a pair of silver heels in them.

I rolled my eyes. “Please, stop buying me stuff. I understand is my birthday and all, but I don’t want you guys to waste your sal—”

“Just put them on.”

I laughed and did as I was told, hoping heels didn't betray me once again. I found myself admitting that I was an easy person to look at, at least.

I checked that my make-up and new hair were both in place just after Pat and Mrs. Gibson had agreed it was time to go, but first…they felt like blindfolding me was necessary. Of course, I had no problem considering it to be sort of childish and liking it in the process.

We all took the stairs that led to my “surprise” birthday party and when Brit took the blindfold off of my head, a roar of cheers erupted. Immediately, I blushed as I saw that everything we had bought was perfectly organized to dress the room according to my standards.

I gave a sweet and small wave, mouthing the words "thank you" to all of them.

When I was done, I reached the table where the cake stood, admiring the exquisite work done and turned around when I felt something brush my arm.

“Do you like it?” Brit asked. I nodded.

Everything looked so perfect even though I didn’t exactly know half the people there. I had only invited my closest friends—which were basically the gang and my boyfriend. Though, I did remember telling Sasha to take care of the guests. Nevertheless, I remembered all of their faces; some were from school, some from the academy and some were a couple of neighbors, so, I had nothing big to worry about. Who knew? Maybe I could even make some new friends.

Thankfully, most of them came directly toward me to congratulate me which felt really nice. It would’ve sucked if it turned out to be the opposite. It also didn’t take much for my friends to come and start doing the same.

“Happy birthday, babe!” Gaby wrapped his long arms around my neck and kissed my forehead when we pulled away. “I got you something, but I decided to leave it with the rest of the presents. You’re going to die when you see it.”

“Thanks.” I tried to sound as ecstatic as possible, but all of my attention got diverted to a pair of sapphire rings that stood in the house’s door frame and only a pair of gemstones more valuable than anything at the moment could belong to a young asshole that didn’t deserve them. Yet, that young asshole had a hair, luscious and black that seemed a bit shorter, but in a good way. Just below the part of his face, his body stood like a majestic eagle watching the great green mountains from a distance and it was covered in a pair of black trousers and a blue long sleeved shirt.

I almost drooled at the sight.

“You can say ‘hi’ to him, you know…” Joe nudged me a bit, making me return from my ten second trance.

I didn’t turn my eyes away from Alex as I shook my head. “No, no. I’ll stay here.”

Joe laughed. “It’s okay; he’s coming this way anyway.”

“Hey,” he whispered as he stood only a few feet away from me. “Happy birthday.” And I felt like sighing internally. How could things change so fast in a short amount of time? We were never complete friends, but still, it’s horrible just to know he never really put effort into making my assumptions possible. I knew it shouldn’t matter. I knew I shouldn’t care.

“Thanks,” I replied.

“Listen, I know you’re busy, but can we talk for a bit?”

At that moment I felt my phone vibrate from the tiny purse I had with me. I excused myself for a bit and walked towards the balcony. I took the cell phone out and pressed the green phone button without even bothering to check the I.D.

“Feliz Cumpleaños, mija,” I heard from the other end.

I smiled at her voice. “Hola, Aunt Catalina!” I squealed a bit, so thankful that at least somebody from my family remembered.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier, darling, but I was cleaning all day.” She laughed and I pictured her knitting something in her white sofa as she did. “There was a thunderstorm today and you know how Reina gets when that happens.”

“Yeah, poor puppy…and poor you—that must've been disgusting.”

We talked for a while about how things were with each of our members and also, we talked a bit about the things we used to do together when I was little. From the corner of my eye, I saw Alex come next to me and rest his elbows against the end of the balcony. He didn’t say anything. He just stared at the horizon, lost in his own train of thought.

“Well,mija, I have to leave now; your uncle needs his medicine.”

I nodded even though she could not see. “I understand, Aunt Catalina. I hope he gets better. Please, take care.”

She sighed. “Will do,” she said. “Have a good night y que la Virgencita te guarde.”

"Thanks. You, too." I hung up the phone and placed it in my purse after. I decided to deal with whatever Alex wanted to say before I started having fun.

“Are you busy?”

He looked at me and smiled… “No.”

I threw a hand in the air, letting it fall hard on my right thigh after. “Then, talk.”

He hesitated for a while before responding. “Why are you being such a bitch toward me?”