Fight or Flight

"Happy birthday, Beautiful," Matt's husky voice murmured in her ear.

Veronica smiled, trying to hopefully contain her blush. "Thank you."

She embraced him tightly, wrapping her arms around his hard torso. She leaned her face into his chest, smelling the fresh detergent of his t-shirt. "You said you were coming back next week.”

"I lied," He shrugged with a grin. "It just so happened that the tour was ending when Val called and said she was planning a party for you."

"Oh," Veronica said quietly. She wondered if Val had started this from the beginning. "I should thank her later."

"The guys are here too," He said, referring to his bandmates. "I think they're taking the party out back."

Just then, Audrey cut in. She skipped over, leaning into Veronica’s side.

"Audrey, this is-" Veronica began to introduce the two.

"We already met," Audrey cut her off with a mischievous smile.

"Oh God." Veronica refrained from face palming her forehead. She could only imagine the things that Audrey had said to him already.

"Matt, I'm sorry to take your girl, but I’ve gotta get her outside,” Audrey said.

"It's no problem," Matt chuckled. "Take her away."

"I'm sorry, Matt," Veronica apologized as Audrey dragged her by her elbow.

Veronica tried to prevent her heels from sinking into the grass as Audrey led her through the backyard. The patio was lit under multicolored strobe lights. White lights were strung in between the trees, resembling shooting stars across the indigo sky. The guests danced and mingled to the loud music. Veronica noted the lot of people; people that she probably didn’t know or didn’t know she knew.

"Oh, oh! Look at the great food," Audrey exclaimed, dragging her to a table full of food.

Veronica looked at the different types of finger sandwiches, salads, fruits, and barbequed foods. She looked up at the tall shelves of cupcakes. Little toy soldiers guarded the cupcake tier. The tiny green men were positioned on top of each vanilla cupcake. She could see that green food coloring was used in the cake batter to give the cupcakes a green swirl.

"Okay, I feel like I'm at a little boy's birthday party," Veronica laughed at the little action figures. She sincerely appreciated her military-themed party.

"Hey, Val and Michelle helped me make all those cupcakes," Audrey feigned offense. "And little boys’ birthday parties don't have alcohol."

She pointed to another tier of trays. The trays contained all different colored jello shots. There was a cooler of beer beside the table, and there was even someone to operate the mini bar. Now Veronica really had to go talk to Val for helping out. She almost felt bad for blowing up at her at the bar.

"You wanted to know, and now you know," Nathaniel said, walking up to them with a drink in his hand. "Val and I wanted to surprise you. She had ties with Matt and I had everything else."

Veronica bit her lip, feeling stupid. She'd actually accused her best friend of cheating on his wife and she nearly cursed out Matt's ex-wife.

"I didn't want you to tell Audrey because she'd question me, and if I told her we were planning a party, she would have definitely told you," Nate said. "I mean, I had to tell her eventually since we were using our house."

"I'm sorry for everything," Veronica said, hugging him again. "I shouldn't have made such a big deal about it."

"Don't worry about it," He shrugged it off. "Just enjoy your party.”

"I will. I’ll be back,” Veronica told him, noticing Val walking across the backyard. She was wearing the black dress that she bought during their shopping trip. Veronica took a deep breath. She sometimes hated being the bigger person. She hated apologizing to people even more. “Val.”

Valary spun around at the sound of her name, gasping. She rushed over, pulling her friend into a hug. "You look so hot. Audrey did great with your hair and makeup."

"Yeah, she did." Veronica smoothed down the strands of her hair nervously after they pulled back. "I just wanted to apologize... for blowing up at you the other night."

"Girl, don't even apologize," Val giggled, shaking her head. "It's alright. I know how it must have looked from your perspective, but you were just looking out for your friend."

"I was," Veronica nodded shamefully. "I'm still sorry, though."

"Seriously, don't be. We just wanted to surprise you, that's all."

"Thanks for this, too. Audrey said that you and your sister helped bake the cupcakes,” Veronica said, glancing over at the food table. She made note to thank Michelle too.

"I hope you like them,” Val said. “The toy soldiers were Michelle’s idea.”

"I love them,” Veronica smiled. She embraced Val for another hug.

"Good, now let's go get a drink and party!"



"There goes the birthday girl," Matt said, finding Veronica in the kitchen after the party really got started.

Veronica tried to respond as best she could with a mouthful of cupcake. She imagined how ridiculous she must have looked while shoving the delicious dessert into her mouth.

"You've got a little icing on you," Matt said, picking up a napkin from the counter. He wiped the tip of her nose, gazing into her brown eyes for a little longer than normal.

Veronica began to laugh from embarrassment. She quickly swallowed the cake in her mouth, snorting from laughing so hard. She picked up another napkin to wipe her mouth. “Thanks.”

"I missed you a lot.” Matt wanted to make sure she knew how much he missed her while he was on tour.

"I missed you, too. I'm glad I got to see you a week earlier than I was expecting,” She said honestly. She was surprised that it still wasn’t awkward between them, even after he professed his undying love for her. She wanted to leave before she made it awkward. “I should probably get back out to the party…”

“Wait.” He grabbed her wrist before she could turn away from him.

Veronica froze, looking down at where his large, rough hand touched her skin. It was a tight grasp, but it didn't hurt. She could get out of it if she wanted to. She looked up at his hazel eyes. There was a moment of silence before she spoke.

"Matt-"

Veronica was cut off by his lips on hers. She gasped in shock at his tender kiss and her eyes instinctively fluttered closed. His lips were almost timid against hers. She rested a hand on his solid chest and kissed him back in response. Their first kiss was deep and sweet and almost innocent. His grip on her wrist loosened and she could have pushed him away, but she didn’t want to. His hands moved to her hips, giving them a squeeze before unlocking their lips.

Veronica forced her eyes to open and she pulled away, wide-eyed. Her mind was clouded as she searched Matt’s honey eyes to tell her what was going on and what the kiss was supposed to mean. She wasn't sure what had just happened, but she was startled by the door sliding open and the clicks of heels approaching them.

"Now's the main event." Val rushed into the kitchen right on time, completely naïve to what occurred. "You've gotta come blow out your candles."

"Okay," Veronica said shakily, giving Matt a quick look before following Val outside. On a table was a wide, rectangular cake decorated with white icing and two candles to symbolize her age.

"On three, we're gonna sing happy birthday." Val gathered everyone around the table after lighting the ‘three’ and the ‘zero’. "One, two, three..."

As they sang happy birthday to her, Veronica couldn't help but feel warm inside. The warmth came from her loving friends, but the butterflies in her stomach were surely because of Matt. Her eyes rose from the flickering, little flames to Nate and Audrey directly across the table. Veronica chewed her bottom lip as Audrey winked, giving her a knowing look.