Never Have I Ever...Turned 16

Part 1

It had been 3 weeks since the Winter Dance and Dev's life was going great.
Amazing.
Perfect.
Too perfect.
So perfect it was starting to make her a little nervous. Okay, a lot nervous.
All of her friends were speaking to her. She had just gone to a sleepover at Eleanor's house four nights ago with Fabiola and Aneesa, and had enjoyed a drama free fun-filled night. No guilt ridden confessions, no dumbstruck disappointed looks, no screaming rages, no declarations of undying hatred, just laughter and movies and makeup.
She was getting along with her mom and Pati as well. Ever since Kamala had run out on her proposal dinner with Prashant, both of the older women had been so focused on Kamala and the shame that she had brought upon the family that they barely nagged Devi about anything. Hell, the other day Devi had been walking down the stairs and overhead her mom say,
"Kamala, why can't you just be upfront with people? If it had been Devi, she would have just told Prashant that he was moving too fast, not acted like everything was fine before running away from a dinner his parents flew HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD for!"
Devi had been struck dumb and stood frozen on the stairs, trying to process what she was hearing.
Did they know someone else named Devi?
No, her mother was talking about her.
Her mom was comparing Devi and Kamala, and Devi was coming out in the lead.
She was the good cousin.
She was the good cousin?
Was she in the twilight zone?
What the hell was happening?
Her mother was so consumed with the Kamala arranged marriage debacle that she hadn't even noticed that a boy had been sneaking into Devi's room every night for the past month.
Which brought Devi to the most amazing thing in her life: Paxton.
She was Paxton Hall-Yoshida's girlfriend. His official, public girlfriend. And their relationship had been going exceeding well, surpassing any expectations Devi had previously held. They had spent the majority of their days together over winter break, playing video games, watching movies, going to the beach, going to the mall, and, of course, making out.  Their days since starting school again the previous week were filled with holding hands, smiles, studying together, making out, and, of course, sharing chicken patty sandwiches while Devi sat in Paxton's lap. And every night without fail, Paxton climbed through Devi's window for even more making out.  The kissing at night was hotter, steamier than the kissing during the day.  Usually Paxton would gradually start to slow things down once they reached a certain point, but there had been a few times that he had ended up on top of her, grinding down on her with his hips wedged between her legs, groaning into her lips and neck. 
But as good as all that was, there was something else about her relationship that was even better. They were talking. Talking a lot.  They talked about anything and everything, from Downton Abbey to the best snack foods to their deepest insecurities and fears.  Devi had even begun telling Paxton a little about her dad, not too much, just some memories of him, but it was more than she had said to anybody else about her dad in a long time. And Paxton, Paxton had opened up in ways that Devi never could have dreamed of when she thought back to the boy that had mostly communicated with smirks, nods, shrugs, and nonchalant half sentences.  Something about Devi knowing about his struggles academically and his insecurity without swimming, something about their public declarations for each other at the dance, seemed to have brought Paxton's walls down completely. He told her more about his fears as a child and his fears now, his feelings about his friends and family, and how hurt he had been when he found out that she had cheated on him.  That conversation had not been particularly pleasant for Devi, but it had been humbling to realize Paxton now trusted her enough to actually admit that he had been hurt.
Yes, Devi had it all, friends, the approval of her family, and the hottest boyfriend at Sherman Oaks High.  And she was terrified. Forget nervous, she was terrified.
Terrified that she was going to fuck it all up.
It was only a matter of time.
"Devi, Devi! Are you even listening?" Her mom's annoyed voice broke through her reverie.  She looked up from the chemistry book that she was supposed to be reading to see her mother in the doorway.
"Sorry, no" Devi said, "I was studying, what's up?"
"I asked you," her mom replied with a pointed glare meant to remind Devi how much she hated to repeat herself, "Where do you want to go to dinner for your birthday this Saturday?"
Devi felt her body freeze and her heart stutter to a halt.  Her birthday.  Her 16th birthday was in three days from now and she had completely forgotten.  How had she forgotten? Usually she couldn't wait for her birthday, she would always count down the days with...
A painful lump rose in her throat as she remembered her dad's birthday tradition of announcing the countdown to her birthday every morning in the month leading up to it. Coming down to breakfast, rushing out the door to school, brushing her teeth in the bathroom across the hall, her dad had always found time to find her and announce, "Good morning! 30 days until your birthday, my perfect girl." And he had repeated this until her birthday, on that morning he would wake her up with his patented "birthday hug", which consisted of him lifting her up and spinning her around the number of times to match her age. They would shout out the numbers together as he spun.  She remembered asking him once what he would do when she got really old and it would be too many spins.  His reply had been that he would find a way to still give her her birthday hug. This would be her first birthday without it. Devi felt tears start to form in her eyes and the lump in her throat grew even bigger.
"Um, can I think about it and let you know?" Devi asked, forcing the words out, her voice hoarse.
"That's fine, Kamala, where are you going?" Her mom's answer ended in an accusatory question as something, most likely Kamala, caught her eye down the hallway. She began to walk away while calling out to Devi, "Just make sure to let me know by Friday so I can make reservations!"
Devi was left laying on her bed, frozen and staring straight ahead.  She wasn't sure how long she stayed in that position when she felt her phone buzz beside her.   She lifted up into a sitting position with her feet off the side of the bed and grabbed her phone to read the message.