Are You Afraid of Musicals?

Chapter 6: Birthday Girl

Gabby's pov:

I check the to do list that I have in my hands and next stop, the flower shop.

But first I need to make sure to have everything ready, so I look at the kitchen table where I have all the things I need for making today the perfect day for Dani.

I'm still a little unsure about the birthday related things that I've prepared, not really knowing yet if I'm really going to use them or not, but ending up deciding on putting them on my car's trunk with the rest of the things.

After Gina told me about Dani's birthday I started preparing some things, determined on giving her the best day possible, but as the days passed, I started doubting myself a little.

I wanted to give her the best day I could, not trigger something or bring back painful memories from her past, cause as much as it hurts, I know that there must be a reason why she doesn't like her birthday. Maybe her "parents" neglected her that day and she feels bad, maybe something else happened, and I'm sure I don't want to add today to her list of horrible birthdays.

So I haven't mentioned absolutely anything. I just asked her out on a date... well, not on a date, I'm still not sure if she's comfortable with that term, so I just asked if I could invite her to something in return for the ridiculous amount of food she bought for me on Sunday, the day after the party.

It was pretty easy to get her to say yes, I honestly thought that she wouldn't let me take her out, that she would immediately know what I was trying to do, but she was surprisingly very understanding.

It's not a secret that me and my mom don't really have much money to spare, she keeps taking every shift she can at the hospital and I work at the cafe, trying to help a little as I work very hard at high school to get a scholarship and be able to go to college.

I won't lie, what Dani did was very sweet, but probably very expensive too. She bought 5 bags of food because she knew I was hungry and when I asked her why did she order so much she just said "I didn't know what you liked, so I bought a bit of everything" with a smile on her face, and I swear just fell more in love with her right there.

Cause can you believe her? And she said it so casually, so naturally, as if it was not a big deal.

Since that day something has changed in her, I can see her happier, more carefree and just enjoying the time she spend with me and with her friends, but mostly with me.

My mom has been super busy at the hospital lately and Dani's been there for me, letting me sleep at her house, taking me out with our friends to keep me distracted and asking me if I wanted to talk about it, listening to me when I did or  just hugging me and being there for me when I didn't.

I miss my mom, I really thought I was over it, it's always been somehow like this, but she always was able to make some time for me here and there and lately she just works. I know she's doing it for me, next year I'm supposed to pick a college and we need the money for that, so I feel a little selfish for wanting to have more time with her.

As she's not at home, I get to spend more time with Dani and I really love that, I really do, but I also miss my mom and Dani knows it.

This actually made it easier for me when it came to invite Dani out. She's been so focused on me that she didn't really think much of it when I told her that I wanted to go out with her on a random Thursday, that coincidentally was June 25th.

It would be easier to go out on the weekend, when I don't have to go to work, but surprisingly, she just accepted with a smile on her face.

The difficult thing was actually getting her to agree on me driving her to the place of the date in my mom's car. She tried to convince me, saying that she was no passenger princess and when that didn't work, she tried at least to convince me to take her car.