Free Happy Birthday to Me Again (Birthday Trilogy, Book 2) by Brian Rowe

heard
Hannah shout: “Oh, Cameron?”
    I turned around.
“Yeah?”
    “One more
thing.” She motioned with one of her fingers for me to come closer. If she tries to kiss you, run.
    “What is it?”
    I made my way
back over to her, and she slipped a flyer in my hands. “I don’t know if you’re
busy on Friday night, but some friends of mine are throwing a party over in
Damonte Ranch. You and your girlfriend should come.”
    I analyzed the
flyer for a moment before sticking it in my pocket. “Oh… sure… thanks.”
    “So you’ll
come?”
    “Maybe… we’ll
see.”
    I dumped my tray
at the trashcans and meandered out of the food court. As I made my way into
Nordstrom’s to find something special for Liesel, I brought the flyer out from
my pocket and looked at it again. This was to be a college party, the kind I
still hadn’t been to, obviously, since I had pushed off going to Yale for a
year.
    We shall see, I thought.
    ---
    I ended up
buying Liesel a simple but elegant necklace, and I held the birthday gift in my
hands on Friday afternoon when I got the call that would inevitably change the
rest of my day.
    “Hey sweetie!”
Liesel yelled over the phone, laughter echoing all around her. It sounded like
she was already celebrating her nineteenth birthday, even though there was
still one more day to go.
    “Hey honey, how
are you?”
    “Any plans tonight?”
    “Nothin. You?”
    “Well, I was
wondering, since we’re going out for my birthday tomorrow night…”
    “What?” I asked,
smiling and sitting up on my bed. “It’s your birthday tomorrow?”
    She just giggled
on the other end. “Very funny, Cameron.”
    “Well, shit. I have
to start thinking of a curse I can put on you !”
    “Yeah, go ahead.
Let’s see if you can come up with something. I’ll bite my fingers in
anticipation.” She paused for a moment, and I heard two girls’ voices in the
background. “So, no, anyway, my girlfriends here wanted to take me out for my
birthday tonight… we’re gonna go to dinner, see that new Natalie Portman movie,
and then maybe try to sneak into a bar or something.”
    “Wow, Leese,
that sounds like a lot of fun.”
    “Yeah, it should
be interesting. Is that all right? I promise we’ll get to see a lot of each
other tomorrow.”
    “That sounds
perfect. You have fun.”
    “I will,” she
said. “I love you.”
    “Love you too.”
    I hung up the
phone and tossed it on the bed. I held out the necklace, trying to decipher the
perfect way to present it to her at our special dinner tomorrow night. I
brought it down to my nightstand, then diverted my attention to the right.
    The flyer sat
next to the remote control on my dresser drawer, calling out to me, begging for
me to take another look at it.
    I laid down on
my bed, resting my head against three comfy pillows, and read the details on
the flyer again. This party sounded like a blast.  
    I can just stop in and say hello, I thought. Stay twenty minutes. Ten minutes. Just make an appearance. Can’t hurt.
    I walked down
toward my bathroom, thinking how great it was for Liesel to have those friends
at Uncle Tony’s. She needed them, people besides her fiancée to take her out
for a night on the town and have some fun. And as much as I loved Liesel, it
also gave me small chunks of time to myself .
    I opened the
door to the bathroom, just as Kimber appeared at the end of the hallway, a sour
look plastered on her usually radiant face. “Oh,” I said. “Hey.”
    It was nice to
see Kimber on a daily basis, still living at the house. I knew moving to New
Haven later this coming summer would hinder our relationship a little. Liesel
and I were going to get an apartment near Yale and finally live together for
the first time. I would attend school while she would find a new job in the
area. Where she’ll have to make new
friends, I thought.
    A whole hell of
a lot was to change in a few months, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be ready for it. It’s the next