Best Day of My Life

Chapter 8 - Emily

    I pulled into my driveway, not daring to look up at my porch until I got up there. I kept my eyes down as I unbuckled my seat belt and got out of the car. I walked up to the porch with my eyes down and stepped up the steps. Only then did I look at what was at my feet . . .

    Or at eye level. The thing that was on my porch was a whole bunch of brightly colored balloons. “Aww, how original,” I said to myself and grabbed the strings. I opened my door with my key and pushed it open, all the while holding onto the balloon strings and scrolling through my contacts to call Kayla. (Yep, I’m just that awesome at multi-tasking.)

    I held the phone against my ear with my shoulder as I closed the door and went up to my room with my balloons. It rang twice and Kayla picked up.

    “So, what was it?” She asked automatically.

    “That’s it, no ‘hey, how’s it going,’ or ‘hey, what’s up?’” Now that the door was closed I held my phone to my ear as I walked upstairs to my room.

    “Well, I already knew why you were calling woman! Now tell me, what was on your porch?” She asked.

    “You know, I don’t think I should tell you now, just ‘cause you didn’t greet me properly,” I said with a smile on my face. I knew I was bugging her to no end.

    She groaned for a long time. “Fine. 'Hey, how’s it going?' Now spill!”

    I laughed. “Kayla, you are too funny.”

    She sighed. “I know! Now tell me woman, before I die of suspense! Were they flowers like we thought? Or were they something else?”

    “Fine, fine, always wanting to get to the point, aren’t we? Okay, so they were balloons,” I told her.

    She gasped. “Really? How original!”

    “That’s what I thought!” I said, laughing.

    “Is there anything else?”

    “Well, there’s a weight with a party decoration covering it.”

    “No, silly. Like a note or something.”

    I looked the balloons and the string up and down. “Nope, no note.”

    “Well, that’s lame.”

    “Not really. It’s the thought that counts right?”

    “I guess so. Well, I have to go, but promise you’ll call if you find anything else, all right?”

    “All right.”

    “‘Kay, bye Emily!”

    “Bye, Kayla!” I hung up and threw my phone on my bed and sat by it. I contemplated what she had said. Yeah, okay, maybe it was a little lame that he didn’t leave a note, but he did text me so at least I know who it’s from right?

But there had to be something! I could tell that Adrian was not the type of person to do things halfway. I stared hard at the balloons, as if they’d give me the answer. They didn’t. I sighed. Maybe it’s a hidden message, like on spy movies? No, too complicated.

I sighed again and looked at the bright, colored balloons. I grabbed one and pulled it towards me. It looked at it from all the angles, twisting it around in a full 360 degrees. I looked at it from the top and the bottom. I looked at it from the . . .

Wait. There was something there! I looked at the bottom again and found a slip of paper just inside the balloon’s skin. There was a note! Adrian just added a little work for me, which was alright, in fact, it just made him a whole lot cuter.