Snapshots

Chapter One

You have to eat cupcakes in a certain way, or else their magic won't work.

"And how'd you figure that?" I ask, turning my amused gaze towards Owen. He just shrugs, his cheeky grin out in full force, displaying the wire-rimmed turquoise braces that clash so magnificently with his red hair.

"Everybody knows it," He laughs, taking the cupcake from my hands and breaking the cake part into two halves. He squishes the bottom half on top of the frosting, compacting it down tightly together, before proffering it to me in a way that's almost triumphant. "See? Now you get frosting in every bite,"

"Magic," I intone drily. It does nothing to throw off his perky grin. "You didn't make it yourself did you? I'm not going to get food poisoning?"

"Relax, Ellery made it," He confesses, as I take the first bite. I have to admit, it's kind of genius.

"Ellery made it?" I say through a mouthful of cake and frosting. "You know that's probably going to come out of your pay cheque,"

"Whatever, it's good, right?" He smirks, as he begins walking towards the fence that separates our two gardens.

"It'll do," I begrudgingly nod, and he laughs at me as he vaults over the fence and makes his way to his back door.

"Sure. I think we're coming over later, mum got you a present. I'll see you at work," He calls over his shoulder. I turn on my heel, a hand under the cake to catch the crumbs. I'm just about to head through the sliding doors to my kitchen, when he says something that makes me turn my head. "Oh, and Listen?"

I glance over at him, leaning lazily against the climbing roses that tangle up his wall, the sunlight hugging his face in profile.

"Happy birthday,"

☀

"Mum?" I call up the staircase. "Where are those Jammie Dodgers?"

"Did you check the cupboard?" Comes the harried reply. I stare down the hallway to the open plan kitchen where all the doors are ajar, the contents ransacked.

"Kind of,"

"Fliss probably ate them," She says, thumping down the stairs two at a time, tugging on a cardigan over her loose-flowing dress.

"The whole packet?" I say incredulously. "There were about twenty!"

"Well, you know your dad can't eat them," She shrugs in reply. "Besides, are you sure you want them anyway? You've just had your lunch, and they're not very good for you..." I frown, shrugging.

"A few won't hurt, mum." I say quietly.

"Well, I've not even seen them." She replies.

"That's because I hid them," I inform her, following her down to the kitchen. She turns to stare at me, lips turning up into an amused smile.

"You're an odd girl, Alicia," She says - my mum who has never once called me by my nickname; possibly the one person in the universe who won't. And I love her for it. She kisses my forehead before grabbing a bottle of water and making her way back up the hallway, me trailing along behind her. "Can you go to the bakery perhaps a couple of hours early today? I'm going to pick up your grandparents for tonight,"

"But it's my birthday," I wheedle, and she just pulls an exaggerated pout in reply, mocking me.

"And that is why I am picking up your grandparents," She says with a grin, nudging me towards the staircase. "Now scoot,"

"Fine," I mutter, dragging out the syllable, but I can't stop the smile that spreads onto my face as I bound up the stairs. After all, it's against the law to be unhappy on your own birthday.