Right Place, Wrong Time

16. 420 Seconds

Accosted was the best word to describe what happened to Lauren when she walked in the door of the party.

"The birthday girl's here!" Jaime cried, rushing over to pull her in.

"It's not my birthday," Lauren said, taking in the seeming hundreds of balloons scattered about the place when Julia appeared at her other side, taking her arm.

"We can have cake now," she grinned.

Lauren let herself be led into the kitchen, which was only slightly less crowded than the living room. A two layer cake sat on the counter, looking far too lavish for the cluttered and vaguely grimy room, with its elegant 'Happy Birthday' piped on the top.

"Oh, whose birthday is it?" she said.

"You're very funny," Julia said, cutting her a large slice.

She took it and turned to see Joey lean against the doorway, watching with a grin on his face.

"I heard commotion and figured there was only one person it could be about," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "Here, you want cake?" she asked, holding her plate out to him.

"I gave you the biggest slice for a reason," Julia said, still slicing the cake into pieces that weren't enough to feed everyone there.

She shrugged, offering Joey the plate again. "I'm not special," she said to him.

He had just taken the plate when she said that and now frowned, seeming about to push it back into her hands, but before he could say anything Julia began a chorus of 'Happy birthday' and it only took two lines for everyone else to join in, the noise practically deafening. Her idea of hell.

"Help me," she mouthed at Joey, who must have been the only person not singing, and probably only because he was trying not to laugh at her suffering or incur any of her rage. He just gave her a sympathetic smile and did nothing to help get her out of there.

So she forced a smile to her face even as her eyes shot daggers at Julia, and was grateful when the easily distracted crowd dispersed into a game of volleyball with one of the balloons. She sighed, the attention off of her a physical relief, and felt Joey's hand on her back, lightly stroking.

"So, definitely not a birthday party," he said, and she could hear the barely suppressed laughter in his voice.

"Why do I feel like you knew about this?"

He mimed zipping his lips, and she rolled her eyes. She hated all the fuss, but it was sweet how much her friends cared about her, and it warmed her that Joey was involved too, even if he could have given her some warning.

She snuck a slice of cake away from Julia and beckoned him to follow her to a quieter corner, out of reach of the several balloons now flying around. They both stood against the wall, tucking into the cake.

"This is very good," she said.

"There are some perks to having a birthday," he replied.

"I could go buy myself a cake any time I want. Why does it have to be my birthday?"

"You know what, I never thought about it like that."

She grinned up at him. "I just unlocked a whole new world for you."

"A world full of cake." She watched his tongue dart out to lick chocolate frosting away from his lips and had to look away.

Jaime rushed up to them then, a plastic cup in one hand and two more pinched between her thumb and forefinger, the definitely non-water liquid spilling over the sides when she dodged a balloon.