Coffee Breaks

Chapter 24: Bella's Birthday

One Week Later, Bella's Birthday;

I didn't realize how many friends we had until Quinn and I had to reserve both joining rooms of the party area at the restaurant in order to fit everyone. Along with Bella's adult friends, who were really just me and Quinn's friends, Bella had also invited her friends from school, which was practically her whole class because Bella was one popular little girl. Quinn was running around, stressed out as ever, trying to make sure all the guests were seated properly and that Bella was okay. I, on the other hand, was pretty calm and collected. I never really stressed too much about parties; just make sure there's tons of food and good music and everyone will be okay. But Quinn, she was sort of a perfectionist when it came to birthday parties, especially Bella's.

"Hey Britt, have you seen Bella?" Quinn asked as she walked by carrying several colorful gift bags. "Or Noah? Is he and Santana here yet?" She was frantic and it was sort of making my eyes hurt at how fast she was moving around.

"Quinn, relax." I sighed and grabbed on to her shoulders. "Bella's with Kurt and Rachel, and no Noah's not here yet, but San said they're on the way." Quinn eased her body as I answered her questions then nodded.

"Okay, I'm calm." She replied as she took in a deep breath. "Just tell me when they're here, okay?" I nodded as she walked off to greet more guests. I went back to walking around aimlessly, saying 'hi' to people as I walked by, when I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket.

Santana: We'll b there in 5, parkin now

"Well, here we go." I thought to myself and stuck the phone back in my pocket and went to find Quinn. She was standing over by Sam talking with Mercedes when she saw me walking over.

"Are they here?" She asked anxiously as she half jogged the rest of the distance to me. I understand Bella meeting her father, well she wouldn't know it's him, for the first time can be stressful but it doesn't have to be this stressful.

"Quinn, deep breaths." I teased and brought my hand up to rub her back comfortingly. "San said they're parking right now and they'll be here in like 5 minutes." I watched as she struggled to stay composed and nodded. "Just stay calm, Q, me and Sam will be here if you need us." She gave a weak nod then ran her fingers through her choppy hair.

"Alright, I'll go get Bella. Just introduce them to people when they get in." Quinn instructed as she walked off to find Bella. I watched as she made her way through the crowd until I couldn't see her blonde head bobbing amongst the crowd. I looked down at my phone and saw that it had been 4 minutes already so I decided to make my way to entrance of the party room. Just as I neared the double doors, Santana and Noah appeared wielding gifts. The two were dressed very nice; Noah in dark gray dress pants with a black button up tucked in and the sleeves rolled up and Santana in a red and black plaid skirt with a black scoop neck shirt tucked in with her hair pulled back a little by a black bowed hair band. They were definitely a little overdressed for a now 5 year old's birthday party, but I wasn't going to make a big deal over it. At least they didn't show up in sweat pants and a dirty tank top!

"I see someone's used to attending super fancy parties." I teased with a little giggle, The pair turned to look at each other's outfits. "Hi, baby, you look very nice." I greeted then leaned in to give my girlfriend a kiss on the cheek before reaching for her gifts. She blushed a little then licked her lips.

"Hey, what about me?" Noah whined playfully.

"You also look very handsome." I replied with a laugh.

"Thanks, we weren't sure what the dress code was so.." Santana started as she glanced over at other people's attire.

"I guess we went a bit over; at least you're not in dress pants right now." Noah said nervously and he unbuttoned the first couple buttons of his shirt. "Good thing I took that tie off in the car." He gave a weak smile then held up his gift with a shaky hand. "Damn, why am I so nervous? This is for Bella." He laughed as I took the gift from him.