The Only Exception

Eleven

~Lainey~

"Cutting it a little close aren't you?" Spencer wasn't even going to give me a second to even enter the living room today before jumping straight on my back. I was too hungover to argue back so just gave him a grunt. "Come on, I've got you some breakfast." 

"What-" 

"Cake. It's your birthday today for all intents and purposes. Birthday equals cake for breakfast." He pulled at the bag over his shoulder, pushing a plastic box into my hand before grabbing the free one, pulling me out the door of the apartment before I could mutter an argument. 

There wasn't a chance in hell I was eating this cake. No matter how fucking good it looks. 

"It's lemon and raspberry." I turned my head, Spencer watching me which sent a shiver up my spine. "You couldn't love a normal flavour could you? Had to go with something next to nowhere sells. I had to trek everywhere to find the one store in town that bakes it that could squeeze you one in so you better enjoy it." 

"I'm not hungry." I turn my head back to the box for just a second before staring at the doors, pleading with the universe for someone, anyone, to need the lift at the same time. For the doors to open and someone to step in that distracts him enough for this awkward tension to dissipate. This elevator has never felt so small or slow. I can handle it normally. It's not that long of a ride and there wasn't a chance in hell I was walking 50 flights of stairs. I'd be dead before I reached 20. 

"I'm not telling your parents or Noah about last night if that's what you're worried about." I try to not move but I can feel his eyes on me. I can feel them looking for any sign of something to pull at, a weakness that would give him plenty of information to ruin everything. 

"Tell them, I don't care." 

"Well obviously you do. Otherwise you wouldn't have been leaving your phone at Chelsea's so I wouldn't follow you there." 

"I knew you were still tracking my phone. That was part of the agreement. That you don't."

"You were supposed to tell me where you were at all times so you broke it just as much as I did in checking on you. Do you have any idea how stupid that was? What if something had happened there and I thought you were on the other side of -" He breathed, pinched the bridge of his nose before calming himself down. "It doesn't matter now. You're fine. It's in the past. Going forward, just tell me where you are and I won't have to follow you. Only reason I came last night was because you were supposed to be on the north side of town." 

"I never said that." 

"I know you didn't. So I didn't know where you were, so I tracked you. See where this is going?" I rolled my eyes. Spencer sighed, scratching the back of his neck as we pulled to a stop in the basement. The doors opened and we walked to his car in silence. Not another word was said until we were pulling out of the drive. Spencer reached over, taking the box out of my lap, opening it and stabbing the fork he'd put inside into the treat before putting it back in my lap. "Eat." 

"I'm not-" 

"Impossible. You haven't eaten anything since whatever fucking salad you had at 5pm yesterday. You're not getting away with not eating anymore. Eat the cake." 

"I said-" 

"I don't care what you said Sunshine. I don't care how you've celebrated the past 6 fucking birthdays. I don't care if you seem to think it's not important anymore. Today you're having the birthday you wanted as a kid so you're gonna sit there, eat your cake and you're not gonna keep denying yourself something you want." I stared at the side of his face, jaw tight as his knuckles gripped the steering wheel, turning white. He pulled the car over to god knows where but I didn't move. I felt like I was completely frozen just watching him. The tips of my fingers and toes were frozen but my core was burning and my head was beyond fuzzy. "What the fuck happened Lane? Every single year for your birthday you made the biggest deal out of everything and then what? You just stop?" 

"I want to go home." 

"Well we're not going home. Tell me what happened." 

"I grew up. People got busy. It isn't a big deal." 

"Yes it is." 

"No. It isn-" 

"Yes it is Lainey." Spencer's hand hit the plastic steering wheel, making me flinch and the burning got worse. He turned in his seat and stared at me. For weeks I've been wanting quiet but this, right now, with how he was staring at me, it was too much. "Why don't you even remind them now?" 

"No point in making everyone feel bad about it." 

"But it makes you feel bad." 

"It doesn't." He raises an eyebrow. "It doesn't. I spend it with my friends, we do whatever when we all have some time." 

"They don't even call Lainey. Your dad I could kind of understand but Noah? Your mom?" I feel myself suck in a breath. "You and your mom used to-" 

"Stop." 

"No Lainey. I'm not stopping. I remember how much you loved your birthday. I remember watching you smile every year. I remember your mom going all out for the entire week. I don't get how you can all go from that, to no one remembering in less than a year." He's staring at me and I know he can see I don't get it either. It just did and I hate it but I can't let myself get hurt over this. It's so fucking small and there's so many huge problems in the world that missing my birthday is literally irrelevant. "So what happened?" 

"Nothing." I turned my head in my seat, wanting a giant hole to just appear and swallow me whole. 

"Lane-" 

"Nothing happened Spencer. Just fucking drop it for fuck sake. Not everything happens for a reason. Not everything has an explanation. You don't need to know every fucking thing. You left. You disappeared. Not the other way around. You lost any right to know what happened in our family when you left." 

"So something did happen?" I glared at him. "Just tell me Lanes." My jaw clenched. No. Not happening. I dug the fork into the cake, keeping eye contact with him whilst taking a bite. Spencer sighed, understanding that this was officially the end of the conversation and he wasn't getting a single thing out of me. If Noah hadn't told him, it's not my business to open my mouth.