Undercover

13. Birthday Girl

Waffles. That's all I could think of. I could have sworn that it was the smell of waffles that was surrounding me right now. But I was pretty sure that I was in bed and not in some kind of Denny's or iHOP. I didn't understand where it was coming from unless I was having a ridiculously vivid dream at the moment.

Before I knew what was happening, Cayden and Ingrid barged in with a tray that was carrying food on it. I looked at Cayden and Ingrid. As soon as they saw that I was looking at them, they started singing. Their version of happy birthday filled my ears and I'm not sure why, but it brought tears to my eyes. I was finally twenty-two years old. They had done so much for me and I felt like I hadn't been the best sister to them. I had been so rude to Ingrid, and I don't know what it was. Maybe I was just jealous that she didn't allow herself to feel anything. But at the same time, it bugged me that all she did was hurt other people to keep herself safe. I just wished that she found someone who would make her happy...someone that would bring down the walls she had so eloquently built around herself. I loved my siblings, and it was in little gestures like these that reminded me that I had everything I needed right here.

"Happy birthday, kiddo." Cayden said to me after he set down the tray. Then he gave me a kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you, Cayden." I answered.

"Happy birthday, gummy worm." Ingrid said. That brought tears to my eyes. It was the nickname our dad had had for me. I didn't know why he had chosen gummy worm, but it was something that I missed. I hadn't heard it in so long that it almost made me bawl.

"Thank you, Ingrid."

"How are you feeling?" Cayden chimed in again.

"I'm feeling good."

"Does twenty-two feel different than twenty-one?"

"Nope. Not at all."

"Just wanted to make sure."

"Please. You already know there's no difference, Cayden."

"True. But I wanted to hear your perspective."

"Alright."

"We should probably let you get dressed and stuff."

"Yeah."

"We'll be downstairs."

"Alright. Thank you. For the breakfast in bed."

"No problem." both Cayden and Ingrid said at the same time, as they closed the door behind them.

I turned to the food and I basically ate it in two seconds. This is a vast exaggeration but the point was, that the food was good. I guess I had to wear something decently nice today. I'm not usually the one who always dresses up as if there was some big event that I had to attend to every day. So there were only a few things that were nice in the closet, with the dress that I had worn to the civil ceremony being one of them. Maybe I should wear that. But I kind of didn't want to. So I went for another dress. I took out a purple dress with pink flowers covering it. It had three quarter sleeves. I wore some black tights and then I finished it off with purple flats. I didn't care if it went together or not, I just knew that this was what made me feel comfortable.

After I made sure that everything in my room was more or less in place, I took the dishes and the tray back downstairs to wash them in the sink. Before I had the chance to turn the faucet of the sink on, Ingrid came over and literally shoved me away from the sink. "You're not supposed to do that now, silly."

"Ingrid, I can perfectly wash these dishes. I'm not supposed to get princess treatment." I said to her matter-of-factly.

"I don't care. Those are the rules under this household and you cannot do any sort of work until tomorrow. You look nice, by the way."