When Life Finally Began

Chapter 22

I had gotten up extra early so I would be ready before Jenna. I had put on mint green shorts and a navy blue tee shirt. Later I would be wearing something much better though.

"It's my birthday!" Jenna screams as she gets out of the elevator. She was wearing the same sweatpants, and a navy blue tee shirt with a diamond on it.

"Are you hungry?" I ask.

"Well a kind of, but I'm not hungry. I wouldn't mind eating something I guess." She mutters.

"Well you do have these wonderful doughnuts from the bakery." I pull out a box filled with sugary doughnuts. Her eyes wandered over the tasty treat.

"Dad always got me these for my birthday."

"Oh well its good you're still getting them!" I say uneasily. She had become distant and sad.

"If I take a shower would you be able to paint my head again?" She asks.

"Yeah, I can make it better than before." I smile weakly.

"Well first I'm going to eat a doughnut." She sits on one of the tall stools, and grabs a doughnut that was filled with custard. 

"Do you want one?" She asks after she finishes the pastry.

"I will in a few minutes," I say. Dustin was updating me on the progress of the party. The work was going surprisingly smoothly. 

"Are you texting my brother?" She rolls her eyes.

"As a matter of fact I am." 

"Well today is supposed to be about me. So can you eat with me?"

"Well we were talking about you." I laugh.

"That is great." Now talk to me.

"Alright, so do you want me to help you get ready?" I ask. 

"Yeah, Mom got me like four different dresses I just can't decide which I like best." She throws her hands up in the air like it was the problem of the century.

"I'll help you since I know the theme." I say sticking my tongue out.

"Okay well I'll come downstairs when I'm done."

"Then I'll help you with your dress and the paint."

I wait till she is gone to pull out my phone, Dustin and I had planned to Face Time so he could show me what the place looks like.

"Sorry Jenna was being queen." I say quietly. Being my paranoid self, I lean over making sure I could hear shower water running.

"Let her, she is only nine once."  He shrugs. His eyes had large circles around them. 

"Well we are almost done. You are going to take Jenna here at 12:30 sharp. Her guests will be arriving at 12:00." He says in a polite manner.

"Let me see!" I giggle.

He flips off his front camera and focuses on the room surrounding him. The room seemed bigger. It had a small curtain that separated the painting area from the princess design.  They had worked the paintings on the wall into the theme. It seemed a dragon was popping out of the wall. The kid drawings now had a small paper underneath captioning them. One said died while fighting an imaginary dragon.

"Oh wow! Jenna is going to love it! I wish it was my party!" 

"So my Mom didn't overdo it?" Dustin asks.

"Nothing can be overdone for Jenna!" I laugh.

"Right well you better get back to whatever you’re doing with Jenna."