"Happy Birthday!" Mum cheered when I stumbled, bleary-eyed, into the kitchen. I smiled lopsidedly at her, leaping into her outstretched arms for a hug. "I can't believe you're already an adult."
"That has the mentality of a child," I commented.
"Well, you and Lloyd have something in common, then," she teased before leading me to the dining room. "Your dad called but you were still asleep. I told him that you'll call later."
"Okay," I murmured, taking a seat and staring at the stack of pancakes with a grumbly stomach. "Those look delicious."
"Dig in!"
I smiled, grabbing a pancake and slid it onto my plate. Dad missing out on my birthdays wasn't anything new, but I didn't blame him. His job was far away and hugely important. He'd always make time for Christmas, though.
"So, what are you going to do today?" Mum asked, taking a seat next to me and grabbing her own pancake. She took the golden syrup when I had finished with it. I shrugged with full mouth.
"Dunno," I replied, voice muffled. "I think Lloyd's taking me somewhere, but he's been kinda secretive about it."
Mum hummed but didn't reply. As I chewed on my pancakes, I thought back to the month before, where Naomi found out about Lloyd being the Green Ninja. Initially, she freaked out (understandable) but she soon settled down. We had a long, firm discussion about keeping the secrecy just that, a secret. Then Lloyd slipped up and basically revealed that the rest of the group was also the others in the Secret Ninja Force. Dumbass. Adorable, yes, but a dumbass.
School since then had been... well, fairly mediocre. It felt so nice having Naomi in on the secret. We could finally talk without me worrying about accidentally slipping up about Lloyd and the Green Ninja being one in the same.
After Cole's interruption of Aaliyah and Claire a month and a bit back, they hadn't really directly spoken to me. It still stung, yeah, and good god it will take a long time for this wound to heal, but at least I could be reassured in the fact that they wouldn't try and build up on what they had begun.
As much as I didn't want him to at the time, I can't thank Cole enough for intervening and putting some reality back into my airheaded brain.
"Thinking about those girls again?" Mum said sniffily. I turned my gaze to her before shaking my head.
"No."
"You can't lie to me."
I dropped my eyes. "I know."
"What's up, sweetie? Don't be sad. It's your birthday!"
"I'm not sad," I replied, looking up from my pancakes to stare right into her e/c eyes. "Honest. I'm fine."
Mum didn't look convinced. It was probably because she could sense the heavy weight on my shoulders and the regret that sat in my stomach. Mother senses and stuff. It's tingling.
"Seriously," I insisted with a short laugh. "Everything's okay."
Before mum could argue against my words (I could tell that she was coiling up for a lecture), the doorbell rang. I quickly leapt up to my feet before clambering to the door with an "I'll get it!"
I threw open the door with a large grin. It immediately dropped when nobody was there.
I frowned, a bit iffy at the fact that we had just been ding-dong-ditched on my birthday. Just as I went to close the door, Kashu lying down alertly made me pause.
"Kashu?" I titled my head in confusion as I bent down to his height. He shuffled forward excitedly, snuffling his muzzle into my palms while staring up at me with those big brown doe eyes of his. "What are you doing here?"
My fingers brushed against something on his collar. Intrigued, I gently lifted his chin and to my complete surprise, found a necklace chain woven around Kashu's green collar (of course it's green because of course, he's Lloyd's). I unthreaded the necklace, resting the pendant on my finger as I lifted it closer for me to inspect it. A small skateboard charm. On the back of the board was a date- the date of about a month ago when Lloyd finally asked me to be his girlfriend.
I pressed the necklace against my chest and sighed emotionally, finding it impossible to ignore the growing, wobbly smile on my face. I released a short laugh, prompting Kashu to leap up and scramble into my lap for attention. I gladly gave it, scratching him behind the ears and hugging his face, taking extra care with his lost limb to not put too much weight on that side of his body.
"He's such a cliché charmer," I whispered against Kashu's forehead. He whined, pulling away only to lick my forehead and stumble from my arms again. He limped towards where Mum was in the dining room. I could tell that he made it when she let out an excited squeal.
