Howling In The Night | Night Cat #2

Howling In The Night - Chapter 7

Birthday Blues

With skills that even a first-class ninja would envy, I knocked on the large wooden door while trying to balance two heavy parcels in my arms.

One was a long, rectangular box covered in glittery blue wrapping paper; the other was a larger, heavier box that contained the biggest chocolate fudge cake that the little town bakery had ever made.

Okay, fine. Maybe it wasn’t the biggest – but hey, it was still pretty damn big.

I had just started to think that my arms would fall off when the door opened, revealing a very astonished looking Xander. Well, at least I think he was astonished. I could only see the top of his head.

“Surprise!” I yelled, pushing past him and entering the house before he could even invite me in. I was certain that the act would have earned me a hard glare from my mother, but I really didn’t care. I had carried those heavy parcels all the way from the bakery: my poor arms were turning into Jell-O.

“Wha—” I set the two boxes down on the kitchen table and turned to find Xander standing in front of me, shirtless, wiping his dripping wet hair furiously with a towel. “Avery…” His gaze moved past me and locked on the boxes. “What are those?”

I spun around hastily and busied myself with removing the big red ribbon that was tied around the cake box. “Your birthday treat, of course!” I replied, not looking at him. “You didn’t think I was going to let you go through your birthday without getting you anything, did you?”

I removed the lid of the box to reveal the most scrumptious chocolate fudge cake I’d seen in a long time. “How did you know it was my birthday?” Xander asked, peering at the cake from over my shoulder. I couldn’t see his face, but his tone of voice suggested that he was still taken aback by all this.

“You mentioned it once.” I said, turning around slowly. I had assumed that he had had plenty of time to grab a shirt while I opened up the cake – boy, was I ever wrong. “I just went home and—”  My eyes widened in shock when I turned to find him still shirtless. “Oh dear God! Aah!”

“What?” he asked, jumping back when I yelped.

“Could you put on a shirt, please?”

“Huh?”

“A shirt, Xander.” I covered my eyes. “A shirt.” I gestured wildly at what I assumed was his bare chest.

“Oh.” embarrassment colored his tone. “Crap!” He yelped as realization finally decided to pay him a visit. “I’ll be right back.”

I heard the thumping sounds of his footsteps as he ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs. I only opened my eyes when I heard his bedroom door slam shut.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that the boy had a bad body or anything – far from it, actually – it was just that I wasn’t really comfortable being around half-naked guys. It didn’t matter who it was; even the sight of my cousin Roddie without shirt made me feel really weirded out.

God, I was such a freak, wasn’t I?

A few minutes later, a fully-clothed Xander returned to the kitchen, running his fingers through his, still, wet hair. “Here” I said, thrusting the gift I’d gotten him into his hands.

He looked down at the parcel and smiled sadly. “Avery,” he put the box back on the counter and walked over to stand next to me. “You shouldn’t have…”

“Your mom was out of town and I didn’t want you to go without a celebration. You’re eighteen, Xander!” I smiled. “You’re an adult now!”

He gave me the same sad smile as before. “Yeah…” He glanced at the gift longingly and then shook his head. “But I’m really not in the mood right now.”

I looked up at him, confused. Something was wrong. Xander wasn’t his usually chipper self today. “What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned. I looked into those smoky gray eyes of his to try and find out what was bothering him and for the first time ever, I couldn’t. His eyes were unreadable. I began to worry. This was the first time his eyes didn’t betray him. It was as if, I don’t know… he’d put up a wall to shut me out. “Xander, is everything okay?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged casually. “I just… I just don’t think my birth is something that needs to be celebrated, that’s all.”

I gasped. “Don’t you dare say things like that!” I smacked him lightly against his arm. “Of course your birth is something to celebrate! Don’t you ever think otherwise.”

“You don’t get it, Avery.” He pulled out a chair and sank into it. I followed suit. “There’s nothing to celebrate today, okay?”

“Why?” I asked, frowning. It was his birthday! Why wasn’t he even a little enthusiastic? Why did he seem so… sad? The depressed tone in his voice was breaking my heart into little pieces and I wanted more than anything to cheer him up. “Because your mom’s not here? That’s okay. I’ll take you to the Log Hut for dinner. You can get the steak you like so much. My treat!” I coupled my brightest smile with those words, trying to get him to smile, too.

It didn’t work. In fact, it had the exact opposite of the desired effect. My offer to take him out to dinner only made him sadder. He pushed the cake away from him in frustration, almost sending it flying off the table. “No, Avery. You don’t get it!” He stood up, running a shaking hand through his hair.

I rose from my seat, too, trying to look him in the eye. “Then explain.  What’s going on with you today? Why don’t you want to celebrate?”

“Because today is my father’s one year death anniversary!”

I froze.

Xander’s father had died on his birthday? He had never mentioned that to me before…

I suddenly felt like the worst human being to ever walk the earth. I had known that Xander blamed himself for what happened to his father, but I never knew that there was so much more to that guilt. His father had died on his birthday. That was a whole different layer of grief and guilt all together. No wonder he was sad. No wonder he didn’t want to celebrate.

And here I was waving chocolate cake and limited editions of his favorite books under his nose.

I was a horrible, horrible person.

Without even thinking about it, I leapt up and threw my arms around Xander’s neck, thanking heavens that he couldn’t see my face. If he could, he’d have seen the fat tears that were rolling down my cheeks. “Oh, Xander…” I choked miserably. “I’m so sorry.”

He must have heard the strangled sobs, because he abruptly pulled away from me and peered down to look at my face. “Hey, hey…” He said as he wiped a few tears from my cheeks with his fingers. “It’s okay. You didn’t know…”

“I- I’m sorry Xander. I’ll just go now.” I said miserably. “I’ve caused enough trouble.”

Then he did something I didn’t expect. He laughed and then leaned down to give me a small peck on the cheek. “Thank you, Avery.” He whispered softly. “For trying to make this day special for me.”

I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks. “You’re – you’re welcome.” I stammered, unsurely. “But I am sorry.”

He shook his head, smiling now. “It’s okay, really. I just – I just need to be alone for a while, okay?”

I nodded in understanding and then let myself out. As I reached the main road, I was tempted to throw myself in front of a bus. Why? Because while a major part of me was feeling like the worst creature to ever walk this earth, another small part of me kept rewinding back to that peck.

Yeah... Was anyone willing to shoot me?