My Heart Beats Faster

Chapter 20 - Cinderella

“Wake up Dev! Wake up! Today's my birthday!” was the first thing I heard in the morning. It was a super excited, very happy voice. That voice belonged to Alexandra.

“As if I could forget,” I said groggily. My eyes opened half-way. I really did not want to wake up, but today was a special day. Her birthday. She had reminded me all week, and all last week. Alexandra was a lucky duck, her birthday was in the summer, not during school like mine.

“Can we have pancakes for breakfast?” she asked, still really happy.

“Anything for you today.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

“I'll keep that in mind for later,” she said as a mischievous smirk played her face. My word, I wonder what she had in store.

The day went on, and we did everything she wanted to do. But I knew that tonight at 5:00 there was gonna be the best surprise for her ever.

Five o'clock already arrived, almost too quickly. I had convinced Alexandra earlier that her “party” would take place at my house. It was gonna be absolutely perfect. I led her up my steps, then to my front door.

“Close your eyes first,” I said.

“Why?” she asked me.

“You'll see.”

“With my eyes closed?”

“Silly goose, you'll open your eyes later.” I received a nice giggle and her eyes closed. I dug in my pocket for the keys. I finally found them, and jiggled them in the lock. I opened the door and led Alexandra inside.

“Open your eyes now,” I whispered in her ear. Her eyes fluttered open.

“But it's-” she started. I turned on the lights and all the tea lights flipped on. I had scattered rose petals everywhere. “Beautiful,” she finished.

“That's not all.”

“Really? 'Cause this is a lot already.”

“Come with me.” I took her to the backyard. Her eyes widened like the full moon. I had decorated my backyard with Christmas lights. The sky was starless tonight, so this was absolutely perfect. It was like the stars were close to us.

“No way,” she said in disbelief.

“Yes way.”

“You didn't have to do this you know.”

“But it's a sweet sixteen. Your sweet sixteen.”

“But I didn't even wear a dress.”

“That's fine.” She walked from the patio the yard and twirled around.

“It's like a fairy tale,” she whispered.

“If you dance with me, it'll feel even more like a fairy tale,” I called to her.

“Then come over here and dance with me!”

“Thought you would never ask.” I could tell she didn't know how to slow dance. Her hands were placed awkwardly, kinda like she was hugging me. “Like this,” I explained. I moved her arms so they wrapped around my neck. I moved mine to wrap around to her waist. I pressed a button from a remote in my pocket and music came on. We swayed, waltzed and twirled. I got to the point where I dipped her. I was about to get back to the dance, when she stopped me. I looked straight into her eyes. They were beautiful. Big and green, full of all kinds of emotion.

She whispered, “How come you can make me feel like Cinderella in converse and jeans?”

“Because I'm different,” I whispered back. We got back to dancing and the night was only getting darker. I carried her inside after a while. I could see that she was getting tired.