Calum came with his guitar. Such a showoff. He is singing. My parents are smitten by him. If the way they are paying rapt attention to his singing is any sign to go by. Ben can sing too, he is the best bathroom singer in his opinion. Maria also seems impressed with Calum. She pinches my thighs and winks. I shouldn’t have let her sit beside me.
“He’s hot,” she whispers. “Is he available?”
“You have a boyfriend,” I remind her. “Daniel. Daniel Holt. The hot guy with green eyes.” Her grin is instant. It’s a surprise and miracle they are still going strong. “Yeah, you are very much not single.”
“I’m allowed to admire other people.” Maria pokes my cheek to support her fallacious claims. I feel like admiring people can lead into something more. Feelings sure can be weird and I will rather be on the safer side. “You too, Tessa. Admire from afar. Keep your options open. You should try it sometime.”
“No, thanks. She’s fine this way,” Ben replies on my behalf. He’s sitting by my left and Maria is by my right. Taking my hand, he places it over his knee. His eyes lift to my face. “Gracie, admire only me.”
“Okay. You must admire only me too.”
He grins. “Of course.”
“You two make me sick,” Maria chimes. She storms off to an empty couch and flips us the middle finger. Mum glares at her and she mutters a sheepish apology. When Mum is no longer looking, I stick out my tongue at her.
Calum’s song comes to an end. Mum signifies for us to gather round the cake Benny ordered for me. Have I said I loved that boy? I love him. Too much.
“Make a wish,” Ben says.
I stare at my square cake with eighteen tiny candles on top of it. Ben urges me to blow out the candles and I do that while wishing Benny and Gracie will be together forever.
Mum carries the cake to the kitchen, Daddy takes it upon himself to regale them with embarrassing tales about my childhood. I swear every parent studied: How to embarrass your kids in front of their friends.
Pictures of me from my childhood are splayed over our table, he picks one and starts another story.
“I didn’t pee my pants,” I cut him off. Six pairs of eyes turn to me. If I had superpowers, I’ll reach for those pictures and rip them. In the picture, there is a wet spot on my pants. “It was water, Daddy. Water.”
When we were little, Daddy took Hayden and I to a horror house. It sounded fun up until we went inside. I died so many times but the worst of them all was having a clown jump out at me. I hate clowns. Thinking of it makes me shudder. I never went back there.
Daddy is telling them another story. This one I actually like. Mira, Leah and Calum are all seated on one couch. Leah and Mira are holding hands and Calum is staring at Daddy with an odd appreciation. It’s now I realise Calum never talks about his father.
Mum returns with a tray of sliced cake for everyone to pick. Maria connects her phone to our speaker and a familiar playlist starts. Ben helps me to my feet. Someone already cleared the table so the middle of the parlour is empty. We dance for a little bit till Daddy takes over. Mum is next. I dance with everyone present. As usual, Calum is the last person to step forward.
“Happy birthday,” he says.
“Thanks. Thanks for coming.”
“It’s okay. Sorry I have been an ass these past few days.” I pat his shoulder in silent acceptance. We will eventually be fine. “We are cool, right?” I nod. “Your dad is awesome.” Yeah, he’s the best in the whole world. He spins me in a small circle, perfectly in tune to the song. “If looks could kill, I’ll be six feet under. Your boyfriend is glaring.”
My laughter is free and malicious. He lets go of my hand so I can join Ben. The grumpy boyfriend folds his arms across his chest.
“You danced with him longer than you did with me,” he mutters under his breath. I ruffle his hair but his frown doesn’t slide off his face.
“Is Benny jealous?”
Ben sighs. Emotions shadow his eyes and I take his hands. The others are busy chatting, leaving us two in our bubble. “I just need to be sure you won’t start liking him and leave me for him.” My heart breaks, I’ll never do that. “I don’t want you to leave me.”
“Do you know what I wished for?” I ask him. He shrugs. Stubborn boy. “I wished for us to be together forever.” A smile breaks out on his lips. “It’s me and you forever, Benny. Calum is just my friend.” My voice lowers. “If you don’t want me to be friends with him, it’s okay. I’ll understand that.”
“Na. It’s cool.” My brows jerk up. We both look to Calum, he is talking to Daddy while Maria and my mum chat away. “Yeah. I’m cool with it. I know I’ll always have you. I will always have you, right?”
The bubble we are trapped in is deflated by clapping from Mum. She’s the first one to offer me a gift. A small box with a tiny ribbon around it. There’s a necklace inside and Ben helps me hook it around my neck. My fingers run over the pendant. A customised pendant of my name.
Daddy is up next. His box is bigger. A peek inside the box reveals a pair of leather boots. I squeal and clap. My shoe collection is growing. The mending heart crew is next.
“This one is from all of us,” Calum says. It’s a bracelet with letter beads that have been arranged to form the words: Mending heart.
The mischievous glint in Maria’s eyes hint at her gift. Ben also finds her grin suspicious.
She drops a small box on my lap, one hand curved around her mouth as she whispers, “Open it when you’re alone.” Curiosity gets the best of me, I steal a peek and my cheeks warm in embarrassment. “I tried to warn ya.”
My best friend is foolish. If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t have gifted me a pack of flavoured condoms.
Ben doesn’t give me anything but he inches closer to me. “Your gift is in your room.” My brows shoot up. “Sorry I went into your room without your permission.” A snicker tunnels out of my throat. “Your mum allowed me but she stood watch at the door. Are you mad?” I make a disappointed face. “Sorry, don’t be mad.”
“I’m not.”
“Then smile for me.”
I do exactly as he asked, showing off my dentition and he pinches my cheeks. Minutes, later, the guests begin to leave. The mending heart crew leaves first. Maria promises to visit later to play catch up. I help Ben up to his feet. We can have our discussion now.
“We are going to my room,” I say to no one in particular. Before a response comes from either of my parents, I yank Ben towards the stairs and we race upstairs.
“Keep the door open,” Mum calls after us.
Ben and I are giggling as we enter my room. I don’t know what Mum thinks will happen but she can rest assured we won’t be doing anything horrible.
My steps falter once I step inside my room. The first thing I notice is the box on my bed. The same one I gave to my neighbour. The combat boots are inside. Ben’s notes too. I take off my shoes and put on the boots. They are as comfortable as I remember.
Ben joins me on the bed and pulls my feet to his legs. “You’re not supposed to return gifts, you know?”
“You’re not supposed to break your girlfriend’s heart, you know?”
I empty the remaining content of the box on the bed. My hair clip is there so I slip it on. Ben flicks my hair behind my ear and runs a finger over the butterfly on the clip. I hug him from the side and my head nestles in the curve of his shoulder.
My room here is bigger, so is my bed. We settle in the middle of the bed and start arranging the notes in order. Butterflies storm my belly each time he reads out a line to me. What was I thinking returning these notes? I love them.
A white envelope on the vanity table catches my eyes. It wasn’t there this morning. Ben shrugs when he notices what I am staring at. Is that his gift? I don’t know what I expected but it’s not a letter.
Is that a letter?
There’s a picture of Ben kissing my cheek glued to the mirror. I stagger to the vanity and he comes after me. He hooks his arms around me from behind and a kiss to the back of my neck has my toes curling.
His breath fans my neck and I moan softly. We stay like that till his fingers brush the picture. His face contorts like he’s holding back his laughter and I nudge him in the ribs with my elbow.
“Don’t even talk about it,” I murmur. His grin becomes wider. “Don’t even think about it.”
I snatch the envelope. It’s a bit bulky. What could he have written? The only person I ever exchanged letters with is Noah. Noah hasn’t called or texted to wish me a happy birthday. I can’t say I’m bothered since our communication over the last few weeks have been shitty. The letters brought us together. Now that we don’t have them anymore, there’s really nothing for us to discuss.
“Is this it?” Ben nods. “What’s in there?”
“Open it yourself.” A moment of hesitation passes between us. Ben guides me to the bed and we sit side by side. “I hope you like my gift, Gracie.”
“I’m sure I will.” I turn the envelope over. There’s nothing to indicate what might be inside except the words written on it: To Gracie. I take a deep breath and rip it open.