Cris picked me up since seven in the morning, she got here so early that I was still asleep and instead of waking me up like a normal person, she decided to jump in my bed and yell at me to wake up. Of course, she got what she wanted and if it wasn’t because it was her, my mood would’ve been completely ruined.
“Honey! Wake up! We have an amazing day ahead of us and you gotta wake up, NOW!”
She forced me out of bed and into a change of clothes so early in the morning and she told me to come down to the kitchen where my first surprised was waiting for me: chocolate chip pancakes, grapefruit juice and chocolate chip cookies. My parents were also there and they all almost caused me a heart attack when I walked in.
“Happy Birthday Joana!”
Cris ran to hug me and whispered in my ear.
“You’re now basically an old person.”
“Hey!”
She laughed and moved to one side so that my parents could hug me one by one.
“And my present?”
They both laughed and my father rolled his eyes.
“This is your gift. You’re being kidnapped all day long and your mother promised not to call you at all, unless its been three hours and you haven’t checked in with us.”
That warning was for me as much as it was for Cris, who nodded firmly with her head. All four of us eat breakfast together and, then, Cris and I left from my house to hers.
“There’s not going to be anyone here all morning, so we can be alone.”
She cornered me between herself and the closed door behind me and kissed me, a light blue kiss that left me grinning. We walked inside her house and she proudly showed me the fort she had built for us in the middle of her living room, it was made of bedsheets and pillows and there were small lights inside and a second breakfast with sandwiches and candy and fruit. We both laid down inside and, after we settled in, Cris played a movie that neither of us actually saw because as soon as Cris rested her weight on my chest and I surrounded her with my arms, we both fell asleep… no one’s surprise.
We woke up a couple of hours later and the laptop screen was completely black, not that we actually cared, all we cared about was waking up together and I knew that was the best birthday present ever, it was actually all I wanted and Cris gave it to me without me even asking. We stayed there together, lit only by the little lanterns and keeping each other company. I don’t actually know how long we were there, with Cris time passed by differently, we could spend an eternity together in just one instant.
We came out from the fort begrudgingly because Cris had more surprises ready. She pulled out a backpack where she had another change of clothes for me, which she apparently took from my room as I was still sleeping, and we both dressed up to go to a little bar. Once we got there, all four of the other girls were already there waiting for us and they all yelled “happy birthday” at the same time, making every single person there to look at me.
“I think Joana is having embarrassment stroke.”
Nora said that out loud before all four of them gave a group hug and started ordering shots to celebrate.
“You don’t turn 18 every day, girl.”
Viri shouts that and they all start saying that I’m old and that I need to start taking care of my hips and that I need to slow down for a ‘lady my age’, and so on for a couple of minutes until the DJ played a song they all got excited about and started singing.
We were there for a couple of hours and then we went out to eat some pizza, we talked about small stuff and about life in general up until Viri, Eva and Nora left, and an hour later Amira left too, so Cris and I walked back to her house once the sun had come down. She had a whole plan, it was all calculated to the minute because as soon as we started walking, the stars began to be noticeable in the sky and she held my hand the whole way back.
As soon as we got back to her building, she took me straight up to the roof where there were lines of lanterns lightning up the place, there were pillows and blankets, a couple of beers, and everything was set up perfectly so we could lay there and watch the starry sky.
“They really outdid themselves, this is perfect.”
And it really was, it was all perfect, and we stayed up there until the sky was about to change colors again, and we went back inside her place as quietly as possible so we wouldn’t wake anyone up. We entered her room and our sleeping clothes were already prepped so, we changed and got inside her bed.
“I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself. I just wanted today to be perfect. I wanted it to be the most perfect day, actually.
She looked at me and I removed some stray hairs from her face.
“Why?”
“Well, because its your birthday and it is my favorite day of the year because my favorite person in the entire world was born today, the person I want to be with forever.”
I felt a gigantic smile forming in my face and I moved closer to be able to kiss her.
“Well, it was. It has been the best birthday I have ever had.”
Cris smiled, satisfied with herself, then, she raised her eyebrow and I felt her hands creeping up in the back of my neck, and I let her pull me closer to her.
“Well, its about to get even better.”
And she kissed me, a red kiss with a ton fireworks.
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cover art de @joanascock en IG
