It was finally my 18th birthday, and unfortunately I hadn’t seen Jarred for 6 months. After I showed him my favourite place in the whole world (the fort at the fuel station), we drove the rest of the way to my house and he stayed with me for another two weeks, and then he returned home. The two weeks was good, but it went so quickly. The first week was spent moving me into the granny flat on my parent’s property, although my siblings now called it ‘Ali’s Fortress of Evil.’ I lied in bed, reading some weird fan fiction on watt pad when I heard a knock at the door. Without waiting for me the even get out of bed, my little brother, Conrad, walked in holding a large-ish box.
“Happy Birthday Ali.” He mumbled. He was 13 so he wasn’t really good at the whole brother-sister bonding stuff. My little sister ran in screaming happy birthday and throwing confetti everywhere.
“Hey! You have to clean that up now!” I laughed. Conrad placed the box down on my small desk, along with three envelopes.
“The envelopes you can open now, the box you’re not allowed to yet, but you’ll know when you can.” He mumbled. I held my hand out and he brought the envelopes over to me.
“Thanks.” I said, taking them from him with a smile. I placed them down on my bedside table and somehow climbed out of bed, turning the fan off shortly after and opening all the doors and windows. My sister had disappeared, probably back to mum and dad to tell them I was awake.
“So, uh, just come over when you’re ready I guess, mum and dad want to see you.” Conrad mumbled before walking out of my place and back to mum and dads. I decided to open the envelopes. There were three of them, a pink one, a white one and a blue one. I opened the white one first and it was no surprise that it was just an ordinary birthday card from my Nan and Grandad, however, a hundred dollar bill fell out of it upon opening, along with a necklace with a small blue heart on it. I picked up the money off the floor and put it in my purse before observing the necklace. I found it odd that there were no dolphins this year, they always gave me dolphins. It was a gorgeous necklace and I put it on straight away and moved onto the next card. I decided to open the blue one and then the pink. The blue one was from Kyle and his girlfriend. He was 21 now and I was surprised they didn’t have a kid yet. This card held a little more authenticity to it:
Dear Ali,
Happy Birthday, might come up and see you soon. Hope you like the gift.
From Kyle and Tara.
P.S. I think she’s pregnant. Send help.
“WHAT! NO WAY!!” I yelled. I knew they were going to have a kid together eventually. I was so excited to finally have another baby in the family. In the envelope there was a small tissue paper wrapped gift. I gently picked it up, not knowing what it was, and opened it. It was a gift card to a book store, with one hundred dollars loaded up onto it. I immediately picked up my phone and called Kyle and Tara. Tara answered.
“Happy Birthday Ali.” Tara said as soon as she answered.
“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” I praised in one breath. I could hear Kyle laugh in the background, apparently I was on speaker phone.
“It’s okay little cousin! We’ve got to go though, call you later!” I heard Kyle call through the phone.
“Okay.” I laughed, “Bye!”
“Bye Ali.” Tara laughed and then hung up. I put the gift card in my purse next to the hundred dollars from Nan and Grandad. I picked up the pink card and noticed my hands were shaking. I carefully peeled the envelope open and pulled out what was inside. It was a letter, but I didn’t know who it was from.
Dear Ali,
I miss you so much. Please come to the airport at 3pm on Sunday the 14th of March. I will be there.
Love from Dianne.
I started crying tears of joy. Dianne was my best friend and I hadn’t seen her in over a year. She came to my high school as a German exchange student but left as an almost Australian. So on Sunday, I would be there, and waiting. I had two days to prepare the guest room for her. I’d do that tomorrow. I completely forgot about the box sitting on my table. I knew now wasn’t the time to open it.
“Shower first.” I whispered to myself. I had my whole day planned out. I would go for a shower, go see my parents, Skype Jarred and then climb into bed and watch movies all day until someone wanted to hang out. And then, after dark, I would go night clubbing. I walked into the bathroom and turned the hot water on in the shower. Once steam started to form from the water I turned the cold water on to level it out and stripped out of my pyjamas and climbed into the water. Goosebumps rose all up my arms and down my legs and the water felt too cold. I quickly washed my body and my hair and then turned the water off after rinsing. I climbed out and got dry, walking back through the house to go to my room. Sitting in the living room was a large suitcase.
“Dianne?” I called out, thinking maybe she had come early and that letter was just a coy. Remembering that I was in just a towel, I quickly made my way to my room to get dressed. I opened the door and almost screamed. Jarred was lying on my bed, watching television.
“Happy Birthday!” he exclaimed, licking his lips as he took in my appearance.
“What are you doing here you asshole!” I yelled running over to him and kissing him, hard.
“I’ll leave if you want.” He joked, a massive grin plastered on his face.
“No, stay.” I mumbled, turning away and opening my wardrobe. I dropped my towel and put on a pair of underwear, followed by a bra. I had lost a heap of weight since I last saw Jarred and now I was less self-conscious of my body. I wasn’t fat to start with, but I was really self-conscious. I lost five kilos in six months. Jarred fox whistled as I stood with my back to him in bra and undies, trying to decide what to wear. I gave him the finger over my shoulder and pulled out a black just-above-knee-length dress and pulled it on before applying some deodorant and wrapping the towel around my hair to dry it. I went to my small dresser and pulled out my eyeliner.
“No makeup.” Jarred demanded. “You never used to wear makeup.” I sighed and put it away. Damn him and his brilliant memory.
“Do my parents know you’re here?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I got here last night at about ten. I stayed in their guest room because you were asleep and I didn’t want to wake you. That box, it’s from me by the way.”
“oh.” I laughed, it kind of all made sense now.
“Oh and Ali?”
“Yes Jarred?” I smiled.
“Is it okay if I stay with you?” he asked.
“Yeah, you can stay for as long as you want?” I laughed, walking over and lying on my bed with him.
“No I mean forever, I want to live with you.”
“Jarred I-“
“Look Ali, I spent almost two months straight with your annoying ass and I loved every second of it. Yeah we fought on occasion but I love you and I never want to be without you and –“
“Shut up, you can stay.” I interrupted, and then I kissed him. Every fibre in my being buzzed with love for this boy. He pissed me off and made me sad and annoyed a lot. And I know I do the same to him. But I love him and he loves me and that’s all that matters.
“Happy Birthday.” He whispered as he pulled me into him. I rested my head on his chest and watched the television. It started blurring from the tears filling my eyes.
This was the best birthday ever.
“I love you.” I whispered after minutes of silence. And it was true. I never wanted to be without him again. He was a massive pain in the ass but he was my pain in the ass. And I was never letting him go. I would do literally anything for this man. I would move to Canada and live in an igloo if it meant being with him. I would give up my life for him. And if loving him was wrong, I never wanted to be right.
Because that’s what love is.
