Faking Love (Complete)

Chapter 33 - The Birthday Party

I went into the bathroom at the salon and changed into one of the dresses my friends had helped me pick out at the mall, and when I came out, everyone gasped.

"Oh my gosh! You look incredible!" Akari said with wide eyes before snapping some pictures with her phone.

I was wearing a purple-silvery, sparkly dress with spaghetti straps, a v-line hem and a sweetheart neckline. It hugged my curves and was short and sexy, but somehow still classy looking. I had picked that dress out of all the ones we bought that day at the mall because it fit me like a glove and felt like it was made for me. It was perfect for my birthday party.

I walked over and gave Akari a hug before saying, "Thank you SO, SO much. You're amazing. You have no idea how much all of this means to me."

She shrugged and said, "You're welcome, but it's not that big of a deal. It gave me something to do and makeovers are my second favorite thing in the entire world. I'm not gonna tell you what my first is," she said with a mischievous smirk, and I laughed.

I looked back at myself in the mirror and seeing how pretty I looked made me suddenly feel emotional. I couldn't remember ever feeling pretty in my entire life and now I did. My eyes started to water and Akari said, "Hey! You blink away those tears. You can't mess up my perfect makeup job before anybody has a chance to see it."

"I'll try," I choked out, fanning my eyes.

She smiled before giving me another hug, looking me up and down . "You seriously look like a princess and I feel like I'm your fairy Godmother or something," she said proudly. "Now go and get your man! Preferably any man OTHER than my brother," she laughed, "but you do whatever makes you happy."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you saying you don't want me to date your brother?"

She shook her head. "Hell no I don't want you to date my brother. You're way too nice. I love him, but that asshole would just break your heart. That's why I never set him up with any of my friends, not the ones I actually like anyway," she laughed. "Now if there's somebody you can't stand, he'd be perfect for them."

I nodded and said, "Well thank you for the advice. You probably know him better than anyone, so I'll take your word for it."

"Good idea," she smiled.

I heard my phone ding and looked down to see a text from Jasmine.

'Hey, how close are you to being ready? People are already showing up for your party.'

I texted her back: 'We just got done. I'll be heading that way here soon.'

"Well I've gotta run. I guess people are already showing up for my party. Are you coming?" I asked Akari.

"Nah, I would, but going to a high school party with my little brother really doesn't sound like a good time. I hope you have fun though," she smiled. "Let me know how it goes."

"I will. I promise," I said, giving her another hug before leaving.

As I drove across town towards Jasmine's house, my nerves started building up because I hated my birthday. Something always happened to embarrass me. I hoped tonight would be different, but I wasn't getting my hopes up. At least my Mom didn't know about the party. She definitely would have shown up drunk and embarrassed me in front of everyone.

As soon as I turned onto Jasmine's road I could hear the bass of the music and I pulled through her open gate to see that her huge yard and circular driveway were already full of cars. The doorway of her french style mansion was decorated with an archway of what looked like a thousand gold and silver balloons and streamers. Two of the balloons were in the shape of the number 18, and there was already a line of people waiting to get in.