It Stays As It Was Left

2015.1995

May 29, 2015

"Happy birthday!" Becca yelled as she unlocked Stevie's house, kicking open the door with Ashley in tow, carrying a couple of presents. Stevie let out a groan, leaning forward to gulp down the last of the wine bottle she had opened up that day.

"Where are you?"

Stevie stood from the couch and walked to the kitchen where Becca was placing a cake and turning on the camera, pointing it towards the woman hunched over, holding the bottle of wine to her like some sort of cave troll hoarding her treasure.

"Why are you guys here?" She asked. "I thought you were at the studio."

"Finished early," Becca rasped out as the doorbell rang. "Giving you a birthday party."

She handed the camera over to Ashley and went to open the door.

"Other people are coming?" Stevie asked, looking down at her pajamas.

"Yep," Ashley said with a laugh. "You might wanna change."

Stevie let out another groan and walked to her bedroom, mentally going through her closet. She pulled a long black dress over her head, followed by a silk floor-length cardigan before heading back out to the kitchen.

"Hey," Jeong-Hui greeted from her spot in Sung-Tae's arms.

"Where're the kids?"

"With my parents," Camila said, eyeing the cake in excitement as Becca uncorked a few bottles of wine, filling glasses for the girls.

"Happy birthday," Jimmy said to Stevie, bringing her into a hug.

"Thank you," She said. "But you all know how much I hate this."

"Whatever," Becca said with an eye roll, turning to point the camera at her face. "She always does this. Never wants to make a big deal about her birthday, but always planning ours."

"That's how we met," Ashley pointed out. "Remember?"

"Yep!" Becca said. "Stevie threw me this huge fuckin' party and invited Ashley, she was trying to be a matchmaker."

"And it worked out, didn't it?" Stevie said.

"Yeah," Becca confirmed. "More than you wanted it to seeing as you caught us hooking up in the bathroom."

"Ugh, yeah."

Stevie shivered in disgust at the memory of her best friend going down on the woman Stevie had known a few months and Becca cackled.

"Let's eat the cake," Camila suggested and turned to grab a knife.

"Great idea," Stevie said brightly, wanting desperately to change the subject. The girls watched as Camila sliced into the light yellow cake, flopping the chocolate cake onto plain white plates and handing them out to the surrounding adults.

Stevie was handed a plate and she immediately dug in, savoring the taste of her favorite bakery.

"Why are you filming?" Stevie asked Becca, gesturing towards the camera and the woman shrugged.

"They told me they needed more filler film," She said. "Figured this would work."

Stevie narrowed her eyes, not believing a word that came out of her mouth.

"If you say so," She said slowly, taking another bite of cake. The group of seven finished the cake relatively quietly, enjoying the time they could spend together in silence without the sounds of their children screaming around them. Not that they didn't love their kids, but it was nice to actually be able to pay full attention to everyone without the worry that there was a Lord of the Flies situation going on behind them.