Happy Birthday from New York City

I watched Katie swirl her wine around in her glass, a bored expression on her face as she waited for the oven to beep.

“I’m going to eat all of this before the oven is ready,” She whined, sticking some cookie dough in her mouth. I laughed at her childishness before popping my own ball of dough in my mouth.

“You’re going to get a tummy ache,” I warned.

“Said the person who is eating just as much as I am,”

“Touché,”

I took a sip of my eggnog before licking the remaining drink off my lips. I could feel my brain tingling from the alcohol and smiled at my sister.

“Have you decided what you wanted for your birthday this year?” She asked, downing the rest of her drink. “I still say we go get sh’mammered and do something we’ll regret in the morning.”

“I don’t really want anything,” I raised my eyebrows. “and I definitely don’t want to do that. Norm would kill me.”

“But he’s not here,” She taunted.

I couldn’t help but sigh disappointedly.

“Hey look, you still have me.” She walked around the island and hugged me.

I laughed, “Yes, of course I do. I can’t get rid of you!”

She pulled back and stuck her tongue out at me but was distracted by the doorbell ringing.

“It’s awfully late for visitors,” She walked out of the kitchen to see who was at the door. I didn’t hear anyone talking, and focused on finishing my drink when Katie came back into the kitchen, a card in her hands. “It’s for you,”

“No shit, this is my house.”

She rolled her eyes before handing me the envelope and walking off to refill her glass.
“No wonder I’m an alcoholic… I have to deal with you all the time.”

I ignored her and ripped open the card, discarding the envelope on the floor. I studied the front of it, swirls of white and blue danced across the card. I looked over the fancy script before opening it. Something fell from the card, and as I bent down to pick them up, I noticed they were plane tickets.

Quickly, I looked back at the card for an explanation.

Nik,
I couldn’t stand the thought of missing Christmas this year without you by my side. Here are some tickets for you and Katie to come see us in New York.

Love,
N

P.S. Don’t tell Katie Tom is here.

“Here,” I said, holding out a ticket to my sister. She took it and looked it over, setting her glass of wine on the counter before she could drop and break it.

“New York? Why am I going to New York?”

“Dunno, I guess Norman doesn’t want me to travel alone,” I looked up and smiled. “You best be going home and getting ready, our flight is tomorrow.”

“I guess on that note, I’ll be leaving.” She walked over to me and kissed my cheek and hugged me goodnight. “Sleep tight, I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Joy,”

She laughed as she turned away, walking out of the front door. I listened as her car roared to life and watched from the window as she backed out of the driveway before I walked upstairs and into the room I shared with Norman.

There were pictures of our life everywhere; reminding me just how lonely it is with him not around. We’ve been together close to three years now, and I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. Sometimes, life got hard with him traveling for months at a time for movies and TV shows, but then he’d send me a plane ticket or come home and I’d forget all my loneliness when I could hold him in my arms again.

I opened the closet door and pulled out my suitcase, throwing it on the bed and flipping the top open in haste. I didn’t know which clothes I was grabbing as I threw them into the suitcase sloppily, all I cared about was getting on that plane tomorrow and seeing Norman. I made sure to pack warmer clothes, just in case it started to snow while we were there.

I set my suitcase on the floor besides the door before pulling the covers back on the bed and slipping in between them. I wondered what tricks he had up his sleeve as I closed my eyes, but sleep didn’t come immediately. I must have been too excited to be leaving tomorrow. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, hoping it would be enough to calm my racing thoughts and help me sleep. The last thing I saw was the red bold numbers of the clock reading back to me: 1:24 am.



“Nikki! We’re going to be late! Wake up!”

I forced my eyes open at the sound of Katie yelling. I didn’t know what she was going on about, but as soon as I saw my alarm clock, I panicked. The airport!

“Holy shit,” I jumped out of bed and started running around grabbing something to change into. I wanted to look nice for Norm when I got off the plane, but I was so tired, I just didn’t care. I settled on a ‘I heart NY’ sweater for a fitting occasion. I pulled on my boots and made sure I had my coat before I grabbed my suitcase and followed Katie out of the door.



“Taxi!” Katie yelled, but it was hopeless. The taxis were zooming by, not giving us a single look. I pulled up the address of the hotel we were supposed to go to, and noticed it wasn’t too bad of a walk to get there. The only downside was that we had to carry our luggage.

“Come on,” I tapped her shoulder to get her attention away from the impossible task of getting us a taxi. “let’s just walk,”

“With our luggage? I don’t think so,”

I sighed at her stubbornness. “Oh look!” I turned where she was pointing to see a man holding a sign with our names on it. She ran to him and introduced herself before pointing to me.

“Right this way,” He walked across the street to where a limo was waiting. My eyes widened at the sight but it wasn’t long before the surprise wore off. Of course Norman would do something like this.

The ride was short, but Katie spent most of the time sticking her head out of the sunroof to see all the sights. I laughed when she finally sat back down. Her face was bright red and her hair was blown all around. I wanted to tell her that Tom was here so that she could fix herself up, but I bit my tongue.

“You look a mess,” I handed her purse to her and she started digging through it for her makeup bag. She had managed to make herself presentable, except that her nose and cheeks were still a little rosy.

“Alright, Rudolf,” I opened the door and set out of the limo and looked up at the nice luxurious hotel. “Let’s go,”

She stuck her tongue out at me, but followed me into the building anyways. The first thing I noticed was the giant decorated Christmas tree in the back corner, with wrapped gifts underneath. I smiled at how beautiful it was when some hands snaked around my waist.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” I turned in Norman’s grip and leaned up on my toes to kiss him. He happily returned it.

“Alright you two, break it up.” I hesitantly pulled away with a sigh. I could always count of Katie to ruin something special. “You know me; I’m a cock-block,”

“But we still love you,” Norman chuckled. “Oh, there is a surprise here for you too, Katie.” He pointed somewhere behind her, and once she spun around, I could see her face falling in shock.

“Tom!” She took off running, pushing people out of her way to get to her husband. She jumped on him when she was close enough, and he caught her effortlessly. I smiled into Norman’s chest, happy my sister could be with her love as well.

“Come on, let’s get your stuff up to the room before we go sightseeing.”

“Alright, that sounds good to me,” I walked hand in hand with Norm up to our suite, leaving Katie and Tom alone to their own plans.

The room was magnificent in size and was much bigger than my two bedroom house back in Michigan. I saw pictures of us together sitting on tables and hanging up on walls and I smiled. We were staying in Norman’s New York apartment.

“Home away from home,” I muttered, pulling on Norman’s shirt to bring him closer to me. I had missed his touch and his smell for way too long and planned on making up for lost time.

His mouth met mine in a sweet kiss, which soon turned hungry when he felt my hand trailed down his torso and latched onto the belt; quickly undoing it.



I could hear the crackle of the burning wood in the fireplace as I lied with Norman, his arms wrapped around me securely.

“Mmm, I could stay here just like this forever,” Norman mumbled, half asleep. I smiled to myself, thinking the same thing. There was no where I’d rather be then right here in his arms.

The vibrating of my phone pulled me from my fantasy land. I reached over to get it, with much difficulty, as Norman wouldn’t loosen his grip on me. After I grabbed it, I thought about letting it go to voicemail, but Katie’s name flashed across the screen and knew that if I didn’t answer it that she wouldn’t let me hear the end of it.

“Hello?”

“Hey, stop whatever you’re doing,” she laughed, knowing full well that she was interrupting. “Tom and I want to go out and eat dinner, but we want y’all to come with,”

I looked over at Norm to see him sitting up on his elbows. He gave a shrugged and I sighed. “Yeah, we’ll meet you down in the lobby in thirty minutes,”

“Great,” The dial tone was what I was met with and I ended the call. I shook my head. Katie was something else, but she was my sister and I could only hate her for a few minutes before I forgave her for being a pain in my ass. I knew I got on her nerves from time to time as well, but that was how siblings were.

I got up from the bed, pulling the sheet with me and trailing it into the bathroom where I started running a shower. I poked my head out to see Norman still lying there. “Baby, come take a shower with me,”

He jumped up from the bed with a devilish grin on his face. “No funny business, I told Katie we’d be there in thirty minutes.”

“That’s plenty of time; twenty minutes for me to devour you all over again and then ten minutes to get dressed.”

The only thing keeping me standing was his hands on my hips. Otherwise, I would have been a puddle on the floor from his words. I didn’t waste any more time by jumping into the shower, Norman hot on my heels.

happy
birthday
nikki

I ran around the room trying to get dressed, but nothing was fitting together. I decided to just throw on what I was wearing earlier before I was any later and Katie would bite my head off. I chuckled at the thought and found Norman waiting for me on the couch.

“Okay, I’m ready,”

“About time, Love. We’re five minutes late.”

I scoffed. “All thanks to you,”

I watched as he faked hurt. “Me? I’m not the one that took fifteen minutes to get dressed, knowing we only had ten.”

“That’s true, but I told you no funny business in the shower. You know it takes me way longer than ten minutes to get ready.”

He grabbed my hand and led me to the elevators. “I didn’t hear you complaining earlier.”

My face grew hot in embarrassment, but it didn’t last long. He was right; I wasn’t complaining and if it wasn’t was him we’d still be in the shower.

The elevator dinged when it reached the lobby, and I could see Tom and Katie cuddled up on one of the lounge sofas in the waiting area. I smiled and waved to get the attention. “Ready to go?”

She nodded and stood up, then lent a hand to help up Tommy. She was so caught up in being with Tom, that she didn’t even notice we were late. I shot a knowing look to Norm and he smiled before wrapping his arm around my waist and bringing me closer to him as we ventured outside. The night was much colder, and I shivered with the temperature drop.

We caught a taxi when Tom threw out his arm for one, and we all smashed into the backseat. Katie was practically sitting on Tom, but I don’t think neither of them minded.

Once we were seated at the restaurant, I sighed contently. This couldn’t have been a better night as I looked around all the people I’ve come to care about. Norman kept my eye the longest, only to break it when the waitress came over to us.

“Can I get a round of tequila shots? Make it Patron Silver, please?” Katie smiled devilishly at me and I quickly shook my head but the waitress was already gone. “Don’t think any of us forgot it was your birthday.”

It was funny that she said that, because I had forgotten it was my birthday. Norma squeezed my hand to let me know he agreed with Katie. Much too quickly, the waitress came back with our shots and Katie passed them out.
“To Nikki, for being another year older, and being the best older sister I could ask for. I’m super glad that we were able to come to the greatest city and be with our loves to celebrate this day.”

“To Nikki!” Norman, Katie and Tom shouted, lifting their glasses high before downing them. I picked mine up like it was contagious and shot it back to get it over with. I could feel the burning, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. Rather surprised, I smiled at Katie.

“Thank you,”

Katie clapped her hands together. “Alright, let’s eat.”

happy
birthday
nikki

Dinner was eventful to say the least. Tom was doing impressions, and changing his accent along with them before we started shouting out words for him to say in his native tongue. I was full and felt like bursting at any moment, but Katie kept going on and on about how she wanted to go have a night on the town. Tom talked her into doing it another day, and with his hand on her thigh, I knew they were going back to the hotel.

“See ya tomorrow, sis,” Katie slurred, before turning and leaving with Tom. He was holding her up mostly before he gave up and carried her outside.

“That was something else,” Norman laughed.

“That’s Katie for you,” I turned to him. “What do you want to do now?”

“It’s up to you, birthday girl.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Well… I’ve never been ice skating in New York before,”

“That’s tragic,” He stood up after throwing a couple bills on the table for a tip and pulled me out of the restaurant by my hand. He waved down a taxi (which the men seem to have better luck with than Katie) and told them to go to The Rink at Rockefeller Center.

Once we pulled up, I was in awe with all the Christmas decorations and all the people that were there skating. They were bundled up in layers of clothing with gloves, scarfs and hats making me feel underdressed.

He walked up to the counter and talked to them for a moment before he paid for the skates. I smiled as he walked back to me, ice skates in his hand. “Ready?”

“I was born ready,”

He laughed before handing me my skates. “I got the VIP package, so we’ll be alone.” I raised my eyebrows while lacing up my skates and once I was ready, I carefully followed him out to the rink. There weren’t very many people there with us, maybe a few couples skating off into the far ends of the rink. He took my hands and helped glide me over the ice, carefully keeping my balance so I wouldn’t fall.

After an hour of skating, we decided to take a break; grabbing a mug of hot chocolate. We cuddled together by a window, watching the snow flurries in the wind. I could feel Norman’s breath warming up the back of my neck, causing the goosebumps to form on my body.

“Merry Christmas, Nik.” He kissed the side of my neck. “I love you,”

I turned in his grip and wrapped my arms around his neck to keep him close. I pulled him down so that our lips could meet in a slow and passionate kiss. He cradled the back of my head with his hand, and I melted into his embrace.

“I love you too,” I rested my hand on his shoulder, going back to watching the snow. “Merry Christmas, baby,”

happy
birthday
nikki

We decided to walk back to the hotel, enjoying each other’s company and the snow falling on our heads. As we approached the hotel, we noticed Tom and Katie outside, enjoying the weather as well. I smiled up to Norman when I felt something hit me in the chest. I looked back at the couple to see Katie with a snowball in her hands.

“Did… you just hit me with a snowball?”

She looked down at the snow in her hands. “I don’t know; did it feel like this?” She asked before throwing the ball in her hands at me, this time it hitting me in the stomach. I bent down and gathered some snow in my hands, ready to retaliate, when another snow ball hit me.

“You realize this is war!” I ran after her, tackling her into the snow before Norman and Tom joined in.

I wasn’t sure how long we were in the snow, truly enjoying the snow and the company of our loves before we were inside thawing out, but it felt like hours. I couldn’t feel any of my limbs, and my face felt like there were a thousand needles in it, but none of that bothered me.

Norman and I grabbed all the covers from the bed and brought them into the living area and bundled up with them next to the fire place. He pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head before lying back with me. The last thing that crossed my mind was that I was where I’ve always wanted to be – with Norman by my side – before I closed my eyes.