Birthday Surprise

Christen took a deep breath and exhaled slowly through her nose. Her arms were extended above her head with her hands touching each other and her right foot was resting on the side of her left leg as she cleared her mind. She closed her eyes for a few minutes and held the pose as she felt nothing but serenity. That serenity was broken by Sir Mix-a-lot's Baby Got Back. Letting Kelley pick her own ringtone probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. Christen opened her eyes and returned to her normal stance before reaching down to grab her cellphone. She was about to greet her fellow Stanford grad when her ear drums were shattered.

"Happy Birthday Pressy!" Kelley shouted through the phone.

Christen had to bring the phone away from her ear if she didn't want any permanent damage done to her hearing.

"Thanks Kel," Christen replied enthusiastically as she began to roll up her yoga mat.

"Ah, the big 2-7. How does it feel kid?" Kelley asked over the phone as Christen went back inside and put her yoga mat back in the closet.

"Honestly, I feel old," Christen admitted, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a box of cereal from the cupboard.

"I guess that means you better start working on all of the crazy things you want to do before the dirty thirty! Won't be long before you're walking to practice with a cane!"

Christen rolled her eyes and took a bite out of the cereal she had poured for herself.

"Speaking of crazy, where's Tobin?"

"She's still in bed. I made her watch one episode of Jersey Shore with me last night and I'm pretty sure she stayed up past two trying to finish the season," Christen giggled.

"So does she have anything special planned for you today?" Kelley asked.

"You know Tobin. It'll probably be something sweet and romantic, but on the down low," Christen shrugged as she finished off her cereal and put the bowl in the sink.

Kelley hummed in agreement, "That's true, I remember for Valentine's day last year she-"

"Kelley!" Christen heard someone scream on the other end of the receiver.

"Shit. My mom's going to kill me! I used the blender to make Christmas cookies last week and I think I broke it. Gotta go Press! Later," Kelley hung up.

Christen shook her head at her friend, not even bothering to ask why she was using a blender to make cookies. Kelley is lucky their next game is less than a month away. The sooner she's back on the field, the less havoc she causes while visiting her family in Georgia.

Christen walked into the bedroom and saw a lump underneath the sheets. She smiled and moved to Tobin's side of the bed.

"Tobs," Christen whispered as she moved a few strands of stray hair out of her girlfriend's face.

Tobin grumbled and shifted so that her back was facing Christen.

Forget about the "happy birthday", Christen's face fell as she wondered why Tobin hadn't even mumbled a sleepy "good morning" to her, like she always did.

Christen was about to leave the room when Tobin shifted farther away from Christen and grabbed her wrist to tug her down onto the bed in the space Tobin had previously occupied.

Christen was immediately covered in Tobin as she latched her arm around Christen's waist and placed one leg atop Christen's own. Tobin's head was resting on Christen's torso as she intensely cuddled with the forward.

"Happy birthday Chris," Tobin whispered as she looked up at Christen.

"Thank you Tobs," Christen smiled down at the girl in her arms.