Michaelishious - Vol. 2021

Dec. 8th: An unexpected turn

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL!"

I knew it! People had behaved strangely all day, and my best friend, Nick, had been acting the most suspicious of them all. And when I was asked to take a detour after work, I kind of expected that something would happen. After all, I turned the magic twenty today. I was officially not a teenager anymore.

"Holy smokes!" I exclaimed and slammed my hands over my mouth. Expected or not, I did my best to act just as surprised as everybody does when things like these happen.

"I thought the party would be on Saturday?"

That was the plan. A plan I had been an active part of.

"That too," Nick said while he gave me a short, manly hug. And that was the first in a row of several hugs, until the entire group of friends were done congratulating me and had given me presents.

"But we have a surprise for you."

"This wasn't the surprise?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"There's another one," Fiona said, and snuggled up against my arm. I tried to wiggle myself free without offending her, but that was easier said than done.
"But it wasn't available on Saturday, since we decided on such a short notice."

"Hm," I said, and tried to figure out what it could be. I seriously didn't have a clue.

"Anyway! Let's have some cake," Nick announced. And seconds after, Wendy, another friend of mine, came out with a cake that looked like a giant penis.

"I didn't make it!" she proclaimed to everybody, and her level of embarrassment was almost palpable. I just laughed together with the rest. We all knew Nick was the mastermind of that idea.

"But aren't we gonna eat first?" Fiona whispered discreetly to Wendy. She finally let go of me and I huffed to myself. Why couldn't she get the hint? I wasn't interested.

"It hasn't arrived yet. We need to improvise, so play along," Wendy whispered back. Then both smiled innocently and waited until it was their turn to taste... Well, the penis.

"This is good," I hummed between mouthfuls. Nick just snickered.

"I knew you'd love it," he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. Then suddenly the doorbell rang, and he was quick to put his plate down and rushed to the door.

"About damn time!" he growled angrily, but the man who delivered it stared him down. Then he spoke slowly and with a slightly threatening voice, and the expression on his face made it clear not to mess with him.

"It's five o'clock. It's rush hour traffic. And there are a lot of hungry people out there that expect to be served at once. Just be glad your food is still warm."

This was clearly a man who didn't take temper tantrums very nicely, and luckily Nick picked up on that. He mumbled an excuse, paid him and had both Fiona and Wendy to help him place an impressive amount of trays on the dining table. The plates were neatly stacked next to the food, and forks, knives and glasses were ready for whatever you picked.

"Wow!" I exclaimed, but mostly to myself.

"Everybody dig in! It's Michael's favorite; Chinese food."

Then he turned to Vincent, Wendy's boyfriend, and added:

"With a couple of pizzas on the side for those who don't like that."

And boy, did we eat. I was honestly surprised that there was any food left, because we ate like starved animals. Neither of us had much room for alcohol afterwards, which wasn't really that bad since all of us were going to either school or work the next day. And everybody know that being hungover is not especially fun.