Surprise

Ray led me out to her truck. It was the obvious conclusion: I would never let her drive my dad's truck and my mom had her car. I heard her open the door and she helped me up into it. I swung my legs inside the cab and tucked the skirt of my dress under my thighs. She shut the door and reemerged on the drivers side a few moments later.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Ray realized, after she'd started the engine. She scooted over next to me and handed me something - my iPod? "I need you to listen to your music."
"Why?"
"I don't want you to accidentally overhear anything," she replied, slyly. I rolled my eyes behind the blind fold but did as she asked anyway. I placed my ear buds in my ears, shook the Nano, shuffling my music, and flipped through until I found a song that I liked. I might have fallen asleep, but with my eyes covered and my ears singing from the music I couldn't be sure.
A while later, I felt my headphones being ripped from my ears, the sounds of Metallica fading quickly. "Stay put, I'll be right back," Ray said. I nodded my head. There was a moments pause before she opened the truck door, hopped out, and slammed it shut. I heard voices, muffled and far off. One I recognized as Ray's baby voice, but the other was deeper, more male. The passenger door was pulled open.
A strong, large hand was placed on my right calf. This hand pulled me to the side, to face the opening in the truck. My other leg followed as the unknown hands guided my hands to their shoulders and then placed themselves around my waist. I scooted myself to the edge of the seat and let myself be lifted up and set down on the ground. Although, they never said a word, I knew the person in front of me was a guy.
He attached himself to me, his left arm stretching behind my back, hand resting on my left elbow. He guided me through a parking lot while Ray told me when to step up onto and down from the curbs. We stopped after a few minutes and, from the air displacement from their movements, I knew my two captors were silently discussing something.
"There's a set of stairs here, forty five of them," Ray finally said. "I'll count that way you'll know how far up we are and stuff."
"Okay," I replied. However, after ten steps, we discovered that it would take me forever to get up the steps - I was tripping, kicking my toes, and lifting my legs too high. My male keeper picked me up bridal style and carried up the rest of the steps.
He set me down at the top, still not removing his hand from my elbow. I was grateful for that comfort; I was light headed from the quick trip up the stairs and being picked up so swiftly.
"It's right through here," Ray murmured and I was led across a small area and through a set of double doors.
We were brought into a hallway, the sound of my high heels stopping short, like something was blocking all the noise. We went up another flight of stairs. It was easier for me this time - the stairs were wider and set at larger intervals.
"Okay," Ray said after a while. "Wait here."
I heard Ray walk ahead of me and felt my male bonder shift to stand behind me. He untied my mask keeping it tight against my face so I still couldn't see anything but held in such a way that he could pull it away when necessary.
"Okay, bring her forward," she said as she came back a few minutes later and I was led forward. My guy placed my hands on a metal railing, one hand on the right side of my lower back, the other holding the strings to my blindfold.
Ray began counting, loudly.
"One."
My heart was racing. I knew I was in a large room.
"Two."
It felt like one of those really awkward moments, like when you walk into a classroom late and everyone turns to stare at you. Even if you couldn't see anyone looking at you, there was still that really tense, thick feeling. That's what standing there felt like, what waiting felt like.
"Three!"
With the final number, the blindfold dropped and my senses were assaulted. There were hundreds of people, screaming - mostly 'surprise' and 'happy birthday'. I saw some of my best friends from Europe in the crowd, laughing at my face. As I gazed over the crowd I realized that the only people there were the people that I really loved. It may have been selfish, but it really solidified to me that not everyone was out to get me.
Club music started pounding and people started dancing. I smiled as I felt someone tap my shoulder. I spun around to face Zach, one of my best friends. We had met through an intermediate Spanish class at our community college a little less than a year ago. We hit it off great.
His ice blue eyes twinkled at me as I took in his appearance: great fitting jeans, a simple dark grey v-neck, and a black blazer. He leaned down and kissed my cheek before pulling me down a set of stairs that led to the dance floor.