The Summer Daze

Chapter 8

            I stayed up the night before my birthday just to countdown the seconds until I was eighteen. When midnight arrived, I felt this big wave of accomplishment come over me. Leon texted me immediately wishing me a happy birthday and I replied with a 'thank you' text. And then I got a happy birthday text from Noah. That made me literally sit up in bed. I texted him back with a 'thank you' along with two smiling emojis before asking him if he'd be at Maxi to celebrate with me. He told me he would and that made me smile for real. I went to sleep as quick as I could because I couldn't wait to see him.

            I awoke the next morning to a big breakfast in the kitchen cooked by Terri, and a bunch of birthday gifts waiting for me in the family room. After eating with them, we went into the family room. Before I could even open my first gift, the sound of the doorbell rang throughout the house. My dad disappeared from the family room and returned shortly...with my mama! She had a blue shopping bag with her. I was so surprised that I stumbled as I tried to make my way over to her.

            "Ma, what are you doing here?" I asked with the biggest smile on my face.

            "There was no way that I was going to miss my baby's eighteenth birthday," she told me before hugging me. "Happy birthday, sweetie."

            "I told you I was working on a surprise," dad said to me. "Happy birthday, son."

            "You set this up?" Terri asked him with her arms folded.

            I could tell by her body language that she wasn't exactly happy to see my mama right there in her home. My mama seemed to ignore her and kept her focus on me. Meanwhile, dad's smile faded and Tavian seemed to be enjoying the showdown. Realizing that things were getting tense, I kept one arm around my mama and put the other around Terri and joked, "Look familiar, dad?"

            At first, I wasn't sure if my humor worked but soon enough both Terri and my mama were laughing while holding their stomachs. Tavian rolled his eyes and dad let out a longwinded sigh of relief. That was definitely one of the moments where I was happy to have such a striking resemblance to my father. There was no way that joke would've worked in any other situation.

            "I didn't want your mother to miss out on this special day," dad finally said, bringing the seriousness back. "Terri, I was going to mention it to you but didn't want to risk spoiling the surprise for Dorian. I'm sorry."

            "It's fine," she said. "I would've rather you told me beforehand but...it's fine."

            "I brought you a gift," mama said to me while picking up the blue shopping bag she'd brought with her. "It's something that will come in handy at college."

            Because she's my mama, I decided to open her gift first. It was a brand new MacBook Pro. I'd had the same Dell laptop for the longest so I was excited to finally have something new and better than that raggedy ass Dell. I hugged my mama and told her, "Thank you."

             "I got a raise at work and you've had that other laptop for so long, I figured you'd appreciate a new and better one."

            "I love you, ma."

            She kissed my cheek and told me, "Love you, too, baby."

            "How was your flight, Tracee?" dad asked her.

            "It was quick. I've never flown in first-class before. Thanks for the ticket, Rashad."

            "You bought her a first-class ticket?" Terri asked my dad.