.....

Sarah

It's my birthday! Birthday! And my 3 best friends are planning my birthday! I'm definitely going to get drunk! Obviously, it's gonna be at Derrick's house because his mom likes me. His mom will be out of town on a business trip.

I squeal. I'm on facetime with Derrick.

"Derrick! It's my birthday!!"

"You have been saying that a million of times," He rolls his eyes.

"Are you ready?" I ask all smiling.

He laughs. "If I need to take care of you again, nope. I'll let Rose do it."

I am getting ready for the night. I am putting my makeup on in the bathroom, out of the corner of my eye, I see my father coming up to me. I am still on Facetime with Derrick. He sees me twitch.

I should've closed the door.

My dad comes uninvited...and he puts a shiver down my spine.

"Mhhhmm...you look good," His eyes glaze at me, almost like a snack. "Happy birthday...honey...mhmmm..."

I freeze. I don't see Derrick's reaction, and my dad doesn't know I'm on facetime or doesn't realize it.

"Dad stop..." I freeze, and Derrick sees me, vulnerable.

I don't know how Derrick feels. Maybe he thinks I'm a slut. I never told both of them the truth about my dad. My dad sexually assaults me. And it's the only way he's ever given me attention. And it's the reason why I strive for sexual attention from men. Because I don't know the difference from genuine attention. I was never given it as a child. My mom watches it. She's said to me she gets off by it.

I am shivering.

"I'm not doing anything wrong..." He says, "I can't say my little girl is sexy?"

Suddenly, he notices I'm on the phone. With Derrick. Oh no.

"Who is that?" He starts to get angry at me.

Derrick gets up in the facetime call and ends the call immediately. He texts me and I see it out of the corner of my eye.

Derrick👴🏼OldMan: I texted Rose, to come get you. Stay strong Sarahrex. 🦖 Birthday plans are going to start early.

I turn on my theatrical and lying to him.

"It's Rose...I facetimed Rose and one of her boyfriend's friend wanted to talk to me a bit..."

"I don't care about your bullshit story." He said. "Did he hear me?"

I croaked. "No, I was muted..."

"Well Keith's friend better not do shit to you," He looks into my eyes and I am in fear. "I know how guys can be." He looks down to my ass and he bites his lips.

Suddenly, the doorbell saves me. My dad runs away, and I opened the door.

"Hi, love! Happy birthday," She says and takes my hand.

"What's going on?" My dad is furious, until he sees Rose.

Rose looks like mom. A bit. She was just younger. And my dad actually was interested in Rose. So, she caught his attention but in a way where he was listening.

"I am helping Sarah here celebrate her birthday for the weekend."

His eyes look down. "No boys. Except for Keith." He pauses. You don't want to attract lustful men."

"Of course," I know Rose is yucking, but she's doing this for me.

"Have fun, girls," He waves me goodbye and I wave back.

Once he closes the door I get into the car. I sobbed.

"Derrick didn't know what to do," She says. "So he texted me."

I am stuffy. "Once in a while, he can be smart."

She smiles. "Derrick's Mom made you a birthday cake!"

"Really?" My eyes popped and smiled, almost making me forget about the trauma I endured.

"Yes." She smiled. "And it's gluten free. Red velvet cake."

I blush slightly. Derrick knew my favorite cake was red velvet. How thoughtful of him.

"Actually, we all helped," She says driving.

She gets to his house and parks. She shows me a picture of everybody with Derrick's mom. I scroll through the pictures. Derrick has a chef hat, and an apron that says kiss the chef.  Even though he's my friend, a part of me melts. There's another picture where Keith and Derrick stand together, like there rivals in a tv show. Another with Keith putting dough on Rose's face. And then another picture of Derrick on the kitchen table, attempting to open his legs up the furthest he can.

"Somebody's an attention whore," I laugh, referencing the last picture I see.

"Sorry, we had fun without you." She says.

"It's okay. I'm happy that you guys got happy because of me. Thank you."

"Oh, we haven't started."