A Fractured Lover (Student/Teacher)

Chapter 30

I am the worst best friend in the entirety of best friends.

That was the first thought that went through my head this morning after I had woken up.

The day started off like any normal Saturday would. The week had gone by without a hitch and Nathan's last official day as my professor had passed yesterday.

It was a very bittersweet moment for both him and I to be honest.

On one hand, Nathan and I were just that much closer to me graduating and not having to hide our relationship. But sadly, Nathan was no longer taking part in his dream job. He was a phenomenal teacher and his place was rightfully so at the front of the classroom. He would soon begin the process of applying for teaching jobs at other Universities in the area.

Now, when I woke up today, grabbed my phone to check the time and saw the date, I should have listened to that stirring feeling in the back of my mind that I was forgetting something major.

If I had bothered to listen to that pestering feeling then I wouldn't currently be flying around Party City throwing every birthday relayed item into my gradually overflowing cart.

That's right, folks. I forgot a birthday. But not just any birthday.

Today was Rachel's birthday.

Now, here's the thing about Rachel and birthdays. When it comes to her and planning someone's birthday, it's like her own personal Olympics and she always comes home with the gold.

She felt as though everyone's birthday needed to be huge and special; that everyone deserved to feel special for at least one day a year and have all of the love and attention on them for that day. A sweet, selfless gesture, yes, but it also made it damn near impossible to compete and make her birthday even a tenth as amazing as she made yours.

And that brings me to my current predicament.

"You forgot?!" screeched Mia from the other end of the phone. I pulled the phone away from my ear, wincing at the sting that reverberated through my eardrum at her loudness.

"I know, I know! I feel bad enough! I can't even begin to tell you how much I freaked when I realized why Rachel was acting so weird towards me this morning..."

All morning Rachel had been practically jumping around, shooting me sly glances and acting like there was some huge secret that she knew that I knew but she wasn't going to tell me what she knew that I knew. God, it was like that one episode of Friends...

"Well, what are you going to do? I mean, Ben and I got her gifts but we thought you had something up your sleeve party wise, girl! She's gonna kill us with guilt if we don't do something."

"I know! I feel like I'm drowning in it already." I sighed as I passed the plates and forks isle of Party City and threw every Frozen themed utensil in there that I could find.

"I have an idea, but it will take some major luck to pull it off," I told Mia as I ran to the checkout counter to purchase pretty much every Frozen themed item they had in the store.

Don't ask me why, but Rachel had it bad when it came to that movie. When it first came out, we were all subjected to her singing every song at all hours of the day and night.

I swear, I will never build a damn snowman again.

"Well, what are you thinking?" Mia asked on the other end.

"A surprise party. A Frozen themed surprise party."

"Alex, that sounds amazing and if we had a week to plan it I'd be all for it but we don't have a week; we have a few hours. How are we going to pull that off in a few hours? Rachel is at the house as we speak! Plus there's not even a guest list," she groaned in defeat.