Eyes full of stars | ✔️

Chapter 17: Try

"Funny how the heart can be deceiving

More than just a couple times

Why do we fall in love so easy

Even when it's not right"

-Pink

*

Toby and Felicity had gone back to the dining hall the second Sebastian and I started kissing. Hand in hand, the two of us approached the table, our friends waiting behind it, their eyes on us, but there were a dozen other people all around doing the same. We soon found out that our table was now adorned with birthday garlands. A chocolate cake was right in the centre, a golden "L" shaped candle was lit on it. Before my brain could understand what was going on, everybody started singing "Happy birthday" to me. I felt so embarrassed, but happy. I bent over the table and blew out the candle as everyone applauded.

Two minutes later, everything was back to normal. The other guests and the bed & breakfast staff got back to what they had been doing before my arrival with Sebastian in the dining hall. I cut the cake for the four of us, we made a toast in my honor and then we ate and drank.

It turned out that, not only Toby had been secretly conspiring with Felicity to arrange this weekend getaway, but also - without Felicity knowing! - had helped my boyfriend finishing his Los Angeles job in order to let him return to London earlier than expected, just in time for my birthday. Sebastian had arrived that same evening directly from the airport by rental car while we were having dinner. I had to admit that Toby had done a great job with this birthday gift. I planned to thank him in person later.

Felicity started taking pictures of our party with her phone camera and posted a few on her Facebook tagging herself, me and Sebastian. When Toby revealed that he had no Facebook or any other social media profile at all, she labelled him "Loser".

"As punishment, I'll take pictures of you with Lily smearing the leftovers of the birthday cake on your face!" she declared.

At first, Toby firmly refused, but when Sebastian claimed to love the idea and pushed him to switch seats with him, he went along with it. I was amused too, I put a yellow paper pointy hat on his head and then I grabbed the plate containing all the cake that we couldn't eat.

"Are you ready to snap the pictures?" I asked Felicity, who sat near me with her phone aimed at us. She did a thumbs-up and I started to countdown. "Three... two... one!" I smeared the cake on Toby's face and the flash of Felicity's phone camera hit us.

The four of us laughed very hard, Toby included, Sebastian even applauded. Felicity kept on snapping pictures and Toby decided that I had no privilege as the birthday girl and so he could get his revenge straightaway. He took a big piece of cake from his lap and mashed it on my face. We laughed harder and harder, the flash kept on hitting us.

When I felt calmer, I took a napkin and helped Toby to clean his face a little bit.

"Thank you" he said a few seconds later, taking the napkin from my hand while I was removing chocolate from his beard. He looked me straight in the eye.

He smiled, I smiled.

I couldn't help noticing that, since Sebastian's arrival, Toby had been barely speaking, avoiding to look at me. Now our eyes were locked together again and I just lost myself in that moment, that lasted longer than I expected. It took the last of the flashes to interrupt it.

I suddenly realized that my face and the front of my dress were filled with crumbs of chocolate cake, so I got up and said "I'll go to get myself cleaned up."