Sometimes life gets weird. You lose hope, then you'll fall down, but then you'll get back up again. Sage did. So hang in there; it gets better, with time.
A short story.
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"Stop moving Mazari." Mariah pulled Sage's foot near her again while calling him by his middle name, letting his shoe rest in her lap so that she could fix his laces for him.
He watched her with his resting expression, impatiently tapping his thumb against his arm after folding them across his chest. He didn't understand why he couldn't just tie them like regular shoelaces.
Sage was then forced to tilt his head to the left so that Solana could clip one of her Cuban Link chains around his neck, causing him to sigh in annoyance. Luckily, most of her and Mariah's jewelry collection could be passed as unisex wear, so she had accessorized his look with a Rolex watch, and a bracelet that matched the neck chain.
Today was Sage's birthday, and Mariah and Solana had put themselves in charge of getting him dressed for the day so that he didn't look as basic as he usually did. They had done a good job, too.
He wore a black and yellow sweatshirt from the brand Off-White, black distressed jeans, and yellow Thunder 4s that still had the Jordan tag on them. A black hat accompanied his outfit too. All in all, he looked good.
He didn't know why they were doing all of this for such a simple day because he didn't even plan on doing anything today. The last time he'd celebrated a birthday was when he turned fourteen. After that, they stopped, and he treated February 6th just like any other day.
Solana and Mariah wouldn't have even known that today was his birthday if they would've never asked the question during a game of 21 questions a few days ago. They only had three days to plan something for him, and honestly, they didn't have much to go on.
Being as reserved as he was, nothing even interested Sage. He wasn't a car guy so they couldn't take him to a car show, he hated overly loud environments so they couldn't take him to the club, he didn't have any friends so they couldn't throw a small party, he was just-bleh. It was so hard planning something for him with just a few days of notice.
Though he had already told them he didn't want to do anything, he was thankful for whatever they were going to do. If he had to choose, he would rather just stay in and binge-watch Madea movies with them. They were the closest people to him now, so he didn't want to be around anyone else.
He had finally started to break out of his shell within the last couple of weeks, and now came over their house whenever he was bored instead of being forced over. He rambled at the mouth about things no one asked about, and loved that they just let him. It was little things like the aforementioned that made him relieved to have them as friends.
It was so easy to be himself around them-a feeling he hadn't felt in a while. They never made him feel like a third-wheel or anything, and welcomed him with two sets of open arms every time. He was very appreciative of the two.
"You look good stink." Mariah stood up after finally finishing up with his shoes, and then she helped Solana get the watch clamped shut since her long nails were preventing her from doing it on her own.
