UNEDITED
When Leon Saint-Laurent receives a wedding invitation in the mail, he soon realizes nothing's fair in love and life.
****
Eliza is set on marrying James. She wants to step into a new chapter of her life. One where she can forget the past a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Eliza
2007, Tenille's Thirteenth Birthday Party, Whistler, BC
"Okay," I say, putting the cake down in front of Tenille. "It's time to sing 'Happy Birthday' to the birthday girl!"
This year, for her thirteenth birthday, Tenille's party has a gold-and-pink theme: there are light-pink streamers hanging from the ceiling; gold balloons floating and rolling around on the floor; the cake even matches with its pink-lemonade flavour and gold sprinkles. It's a fancy party – something I'd never do myself – but I like it. It's simplistic, but also elegant.
Tenille groans, covering up her face as her mom walks in holding a camera. "Mom," she whines. "We don't need photos – we're not five anymore."
Leon, who is standing opposite to me, frowns. "Yes, we do, Ten. We need photos or else we're not going to be able to remember what this day was like."
"Thank you, Leon," Mrs. West says, shooting her daughter a lighthearted glare. "Now, everyone smile!"
Tenille, although she does roll her eyes, smiles and tugs me and Leon down so we each have a cheek pressing against hers. We look up at the camera, the glow of thirteen candles lighting up our faces, and make goofy faces. The flash goes off once, twice. For the third one, we change our faces back to normal smiles just to please Mrs. West.
Around us, the rest of our friends begin to sing happy birthday. Leon's also singing, a big smile on his face as he belts out the lyrics. Tenille and I exchange a glance. If there's one thing we hate, it is people singing this overrated song. I don't think there's anything more awkward than sitting in a crowded room with a birthday cake in front of you while people sing to you. Every time it happens to me, I feel like I should be doing something – maybe even singing along – but I'm too unsure of myself to make a decision. I also don't know what to do with my hands or where to look. I feel for Tenille right now.
When the song is over and Tenille has blown out the candles, the cake is sliced and served by Mrs. West. There are eight of us at the table: me, Tenille, Leon, Aaden, Nadia, Paden, Gabbie, and Talbot. The cake is delicious – moist with a little bit of acid to cut the sweetness – but I can only have a few bites before my stomach begins to feel sick. I've never been a big fan of sweets. So, while everyone is devouring their slices of cake, I push mine around with the fork. I want to eat the cake so I don't offend Mrs. West for putting in all this hard work, but I can't force myself to do it.
To my left, Leon nudges me. I look at him and begin to giggle. There's a smudge of icing on the corner of his mouth and his hair is extremely untidy, making him look like a bit of a clown. He gestures to my cake. "Are you gonna eat that?"
I shake my head. "I really like it, but the icing is too sweet for me. The only thing I can eat without getting a stomach ache are those cookies Mrs. West always makes." I pause, glancing down at Leon's empty plate. "Do you want it?"
