Sweet Caroline

#68 Birthday kiss

Never in my life have I been this happy. It's hard to imagine my life with Nathan and Rose in it. After that first night, I've been staying over more often when it's his week with her. Rose accepts me so easily that it's hard to believe she's only known about me and her father for a little while. The kids still tease her sometimes, but now that the parents are slowly easing up on me, it's only a matter of time before the kids will follow their parents' lead.

I want to share my happiness with my friends, but they make it pretty hard to do so. Shaughna just made manager at the restaurant she works at, but she's not happy about it whatsoever.

"I don't want to work at that place my whole life," she complains loudly over the phone. "I know that I'm good at the whole bartending and waitressing thing, and I've basically been managing the restaurant for years, so it's nice to have my paycheck catch up to my value to that stink hole, but I don't want this to be the thing I'm good at. I want... I don't know what I want!"

I try to talk her through it, but she just gets frustrated with me. Now that I've got my life in order, it annoys her even more that hers is still in the same place that it was years ago. Well, not completely of course, since she's got Dshawn now and they are still going strong. That freaks her out more than she wants to admit, since she hasn't been in a relationship for seven years. Luckily, I'll get to see Shaughna in a week, when she drives up for Tiffany's birthday.

That brings me to my other best friend, who is doing well, but who isn't exactly happy. Tiff still feels free now that she is openly gay, but despite her busy dating life, she hasn't found anyone she can get past the third date with. We both know that it's because she still loves Hillary and won't be able to move on until she faces her fears, but Tiffany refuses to talk about it.

Finally, three days before her birthday, I decide to give her best present of all. If it works, I will give her a chance at true happiness. If it doesn't... Well, I might lose a friend over it, but I refuse to let that stop me. She needs me to step up for her.

I look up Hillary and contact her through social media. She is beautiful, even I can see that, with her long black hair and bright blue eyes. She's petite with big boobs and she's got a hell of a lot of piercings – ears, nose, eyebrow, belly, and that's just the ones I can see in her pictures. Hillary responds within an hour, curious to know why her replacement at her old school wants to talk to her. I give her my number and when she calls me, I'm a little nervous.

"Tiffany's birthday is this weekend," I tell her.

"Yeah," Hillary responds with a smile in her voice. "I know that, Caroline. She's my friend."

"Mine too." Okay, time to just be blunt. "Has she told you yet?"

"Told me what?"

That's a no. I take a deep breath. I know that this is not my place, but I can't sit by and wait for Tiffany to grow some balls. "Are you coming to her birthday?"

"Erm..." Hillary hesitates. "I wasn't planning on it. I'm in France right now. Why?"

"I think you should come," I say. "And if money is an issue, I'm more than willing to pay for your ticket as a present to Tiffany."

"Money is not an issue," she assures me. "Why do I need to be there?"

"Because she is dating," I spit out.

Hillary laughs. "Tiffany has been dating for years, girl. Always looking for Mr. Right. I'm not surprised that she's still out looking. What does that have to do with her birthday? Or with me?"

"She's not looking for Mr. Right," I explain. Here we go. "She recently realized that she's actually more interested in finding Mrs. Right."

"What?" Hillary exclaims. "Is she...?"