First Light

67 fox cake

Saturday 28th of May 2022

Marlo:

Jonah and I are at the skate-park early, before the sun gets too hot and skating gets too sweaty. It's cool enough that I can wear a zip-up hoodie, and the sun is mostly concealed by clouds anyway.

"Did you call that cake place yet?" Jonah asks me as I skate past him.

"Yeah, they said they'll be able to do it the day before her birthday." I reply with my back facing him, then turn sharply to head back in his direction.

"What's with the double flavour? Raspberry with lemon and orange with vanilla?

I grin. "Faye liked both."

"Don't you think it's a better idea to ask her what she wants for her own birthday cake?"

"I'm not going to ask her because it's meant to be a surprise. She went cake-tasting with me when it was your birthday, and she said she couldn't pick between those two flavours."

Jonah's confused frown immediately changes into understanding. "Okay, that makes sense."

I laugh. "What, did you think I was just picking two random flavours and praying that she liked them?"

"Oh, definitely. Seems like something you would do."

"Idiot."

"You're the idiot."

I shake my head at him. He responds by skating off.

"Could you help me with decorating?" I ask once he comes back a couple minutes later.

He steps off his skateboard and resorts to sliding it from side to side with his foot. "Decorating what?"

"Faye's birthday, J. What were we talking about only a few minutes ago?"

"Isn't it weeks away?" He asks.

I genuinely wonder what gives me the patience to deal with Jonah. Maybe it's second-nature at this point.

"It's a bit less than two, yes," I answer him. "On the 7th of June. But I don't mean decorating now, I'm talking about on the day. I can ask Georgina to take her out somewhere so she's out of the flat."

He does the gun-finger motion at me, and makes a clicking sound with his mouth. "Gotcha."

"So that's a yes? You'll help?"

Jonah kicks his skateboard towards me with a huge smile on his face, and I stop it with my foot.

"Of course I'll help, it's for Faye. Who we all know and love."

I laugh. "Yes."

"What kind of decorations were you thinking?"

"The usual kind of decorations for a birthday?" I answer, confused. "Balloons, banners. That sort of stuff. In green, of course."

Jonah nods, a hand to his chin as if deep in thought. "I think you should sprinkle some flower petals, too, like a trail of them from the flat door to the kitchen. Make it all romantic and cringey. So that way she can walk that path when she comes back with Georgina."

"Okay, yeah. I'll do that. I can get her favourite flowers - "

"Food as well, of course," He cuts across me and starts listing his favourite snacks. "Don't object because other people are going to be there who will be hungry."

"You mean you?"

"Yes."

I try not to smile. "Bastien is actually taking care of the food, so it won't be snacks. When I last saw him I mentioned Faye's upcoming birthday and he offered to bake some stuff for us to have. Pastries and things like that."

"I'll still want snacks." Jonah replies.

"Buy your own then."

"You'll need drinks, too. Alcohol maybe - what's your budget?"

I scoff. "It's not going to be a massive party, Jonah. It's for just us 5. Me, you, Faye, Georgina and Mikel."

He takes a sharp inhale of air through his teeth. "Cheapskate. You're going to be a shitty husband to her."

I roll my eyes. "When Faye and I are married I will have an actual job with actual money. I'm barely surviving right now as it is."

"Well then maybe you should stop ordering so much take-out." He mumbles, but he avoids my eye because he knows that he does the exact same.

"Okay, any more ideas? One's that aren't overly expensive."

"I was going to suggest a chocolate fountain and strawberries but maybe not."

"We can still have strawberries and melted chocolate, just without the fountain."

Jonah nods. It's starting to feel like he's the one I'm trying to plan the birthday for.

He lets out an exasperated sigh a couple seconds later. "It's so boring that you're poor."

"It's boring that you're poor."

+

Jonah comes with me to the cake place afterwards to speak with the staff about decorating Faye's birthday cake. I've already thought about it so I know what I want by the time we arrive there.

I want it to be a deep-green butter icing layer for the background, like a forest. The staff member we're talking to - Keith - shows us how it can look digitally with an iPad, as they said they don't make them until the day before for freshness. I want Faye to have an orange fox, and Jonah suggests it to be sleeping on top of the cake in a pile of autumn leaves, which couldn't sound more like something Faye would like. Keith tells us that they'll be edible, made out of fondant, and says they can make the leaves cascade down the cake so the sides don't look too empty. I am more than happy by the time we thank Keith and leave.