Originally Created: 2 October 2006

Happy Birthday

Beep! Beep! Beep!

You open your eyes.

It's morning. You wish it isn't morning. You wish you can roll back to sleep for another hour and ignore work you have to do today. The only thing you can look forward to today is a headache the size of Texas and a butt load of house cleaning and work to do.

Renovating your condo is no easy task, especially when you're on your own. You have to go pick up the tiles today, and then the adhesive, and then the tape and wallpaper for the spare bedroom, and then--

You groan. You really don't want to do all that work today. But, of course, you have no choice; your home isn't going to fix itself. Your hand sneaks out from underneath the bedcovers and slaps the snooze button on your alarm. You glare at the time; it's way too early to be doing anything.

You roll over with another groan, rubbing at your face. Thirty more minutes? Twenty? Ten? Five? Just a little longer... You close your eyes again and start to drift off.

Ding-dong!

Your eyes snap open and you curse vehemently.

"Now what?" you nearly shout, throwing off the bed sheets and getting out of bed. You wonder who in the world is visiting you first thing in the morning, especially on a busy day such as this one, because whoever it is better have a good excuse or else you're going to punch them in the face and run them over with your car.

You don't bother with fixing your appearance as you stumble out of your room and toward the front door. You bump against it as you peek out of the peep hole and curse under your breath.

Him.

You unlock and fling open the door, glaring at your visitor. "What do you want?"

He grins at you. "Good morning, Aidan!"

You raise a brow. "Again: What do you want?"

He only grins wider. "We have a date today, remember?"

You rake your brain for the truth in that statement. ...There isn't one. You never made any plans to spend the day with this guy today.

You snarl and pierce him with a dirty look before slamming the front door in his face. "No!" you yell through the door. "Go away, Jayden!"

You stomp back to your bedroom and fall back into your bed, groaning. Today, you already know, will not be pleasant. You close your eyes in an attempt to fall back to sleep when the doorbell rings again.

Your eyes snap open. “GO AWAY, JAYDEN!” you yell at the top of your lungs, unwilling to get up and mess with him.

The ringing doesn’t stop. You squeeze your eyes shut again and count to twenty slowly. You never make it past seven as Jayden’s impatience shows in ringing the bell more often.

You rush back to the front door and jerk it open again, pulling Jayden inside before slamming the door shut again. You whirl to face Jayden who’s grinning like the fool he is, and punch him in the arm.

“People are trying to sleep, you know. Can’t you not bother me for an hour?”

“Nope! We have an appointment to keep,” he says cheerfully. You almost want to sock him in the face for that.

“Ass,” you mutter, moving past him to your room. “Don’t talk to me. I’m tired. I have too many things to do today and the last thing I need is for you to wreck my house while I’m trying to fix it.”

You can hear Jayden trailing after you to your room. Irritated, you quicken your pace and shut your bedroom door in his face before he can follow you in. Grumbling, you strip of your pajamas and change into decent day clothes. You don’t hear any noise from Jayden, for which you’re glad, so you let out a sigh of relief.

Ah, silence…

You straighten your shirt and open your door, finding Jayden standing right in front of it. You jerk back, startled.

“What the hell are you doing, standing there?”

“I was waiting for you to finish,” is his simple answer, accompanied with a grin.

You snort and push past him into the kitchen where you fix yourself some coffee. Jayden sits at your little round table, riffling through your things.

“Hey, don’t touch that! …Freakin’ nosy.”

Jayden neatly puts everything back into order again. “Once you’re done with your coffee, we’re going to the park.”

You glance over your shoulder. “What? I never agreed to going with you; and why would we be going to the park anyway?”

Jayden raps his fingers against the plastic surface of the table. “Well, we’re going to take the bus there and walk. I want to show you something I recently found. And then, depending on what time it is, I’m taking you out to lunch.”

You flip the ‘ON’ switch on the coffeemaker. “And then that’s it?”

Jayden shakes his head. “Nope! I have the whole day planned. There’s a movie, then more walking, then dinner, and then something special at the end!”

You look at Jayden incredulously. “Hell no! I’m not going with you if we’re going to be out all day. If you just had this morning planned then I might’ve considered going out with you, but if you’re planning to bother me all day, then no. I have things to do, remember?”

Jayden pulls a whine. “Aw, but Aidan! Please?”

“No.” You barely even give him time to finish his plea. “No way.”

“Please? Pleasepleaseplease? Pretty pretty please??”

Your hand forms into a fist and you make a swipe at Jayden’s head. “Would you shut up already!” He ducks under your fist and grins. “You’re like a little kid! Grow up!”

Jayden gently pushes down your offensive hand. “Only if you go out with me today. C’mon, it’s special.”

You glare down at him for a long time before yanking your hand out of his grasp and muttering, “Fine. Just so you’ll stop whining.”

You grit your teeth as Jayden pulls on your arm down the street. You’ve just come out of the restaurant you went to for dinner and now you feel like crashing at home. You didn’t get anything done at home and Jayden still wasn’t finished with his little escapade.

You sigh heavily and focus on not tripping as Jayden quickens his pace.

“Where in the world are we going, Jayden?” you ask.

Jayden grins at you. “It’s a surprise!”

You groan and quicken your pace. He leads you down a maze of streets and cuts across a main intersection precariously right when the street’s light turns green. You shriek at him for his stupidity and he only laughs in response to your fright.

“You’re absolutely crazy! We could’ve been run over!”

“Nope! I know what I’m doing.”

“As if! Maniac!”

Jayden only continues to laugh as he sharply turns a corner onto another street. You start to wonder where in the world he’s taking you. It’s late and there’s hardly any store that’s still open that the two of you could go to.

It isn’t until Jayden draws to a stop in front of a pet shop that you realize where he’s taken you.

“Uh, Jayden? Why are we at Xavier’s pet shop?”

Xavier is an old friend of the two of you, but you haven’t seen him in four months.

“Because, this is the surprise!” Jayden said cheerfully. He drags you up to the front door.

“Uh, Jayden, the store’s closed already. It’s past store hours.”

Jayden looks over his shoulder at you. “No it’s not.” To prove it, he pulls on the front door and it swings open with ease. “See?” He grins triumphantly.

The two of you walk inside the shop; you see Xavier leaning against a counter, reading something. He looks up at the two of you and waves; you return the wave and add a small smile.

“Hi, Xavier,” you call.

“What’s up, Aidan? Looking for a pet?”

You roll your eyes. “No. This lug here,” you point to Jayden’s back as he pulls you along, “is dragging me around for who knows what reason. He’s probably getting me to buy something for him. …By the way, why are you open after store hours?”

Xavier shrugged one shoulder. “Because Jayden asked me to. I figured I could stay open for a little while longer for him, so I am. You better buy something for making me stay longer than I have to.” He smiles devilishly.

You scoff and flap a hand at him. “Yeah, I guess I’ll have to.” You follow Jayden to the canine section and are immediately welcomed with various barks of greeting and excitement. “Jayden, what in the world are we doing?”

“Looking!” He grins and stops walking. “Do you like any of them?”

The corner of your eye twitches a few times. You’re blanketed with a wall of noise. “Uh... not especially.” You look around you at the different dogs. Your eyes land on a small brown and white one. It looks like it has a mask on. “W-well… actually…”

Jayden smiles and wraps an arm around your shoulders. “Which one?” he asks, following your gaze. “That one right there?” He points to the dog you’re looking at.

You frown. “Well, it’s a nice dog…” you start out slowly.

Jayden removes his arm from your shoulders and approaches the dog’s cage. You start to protest but he doesn’t listen. He opens the cage and pulls out the dog, holding it up for you to see.

“Want it?” he asks.

You stare at the dog. It’s a really pretty dog. You like this dog. “Well… uhh…”

Jayden nods and turns back around, heading for the front where Xavier is. “This is the one, Xavier!” he announces. “I want a bow on this pup.”

You rush after Jayden. “Wait! What? I’m not buying that dog!”

Jayden looks over his shoulder. “I know. I’m buying it.” He gently lays the dog on the counter. To your surprise, the dog yips happily and sits.

“B-but— What?! I never said you could buy me a dog, Jayden,” you scold him. “I don’t need a dog. I most certainly don’t need another mouth to feed right now.”

Jayden automatically hands over a credit card to Xavier as he keeps his attention on you. “But you like him, don’t you? The dog? I’ll help you take care of it if he gets too much of a handle for you. I’ll even help you around the condo if you’re really so swamped by it.”

You frown. “No. I do not need your help with anything, and I am not ‘swamped’ with housework.”

Jayden chuckles. “Oh, really? Then I guess you remember that it’s your birthday today, right?”

You open your mouth to deny him only to break off, realizing that he’s telling you the truth. It is your birthday today. You’re turning twenty-three and you didn’t even realize it. You blink several times, shocked that you forgot.

Jayden chuckles at you and picks up the dog again, handing it over to you. You automatically take it and stare at it. It stares up at you with big brown eyes, mouth open and tongue hanging out. It’s so friendly…

“Happy birthday,” Jayden says softly, stepping close to you. “Happy birthday, Aidan,” he repeats as he lays a kiss on your cheek.

You startle and look up at him, mind blank. You stare at him for a long while until something else kisses your cheek. You pull a face and look down at the small dog in your arms.

“Eyugh!” you say, wrinkling your nose.

The dog barks and licks your cheek again. You squeeze your eyes shut as you feel dog slobber run down your face. Jayden laughs at you and wipes your face with his sleeve.

“I most certainly do not need a dog, Jayden,” you mutter, using your shoulder to rub at your cheek.

“Aw, c’mon, Aidan, it’s cute!” He laughs and escorts you out of the pet shop, saying farewell to Xavier as you both exit. “Like I said: I’ll help you take care of him if you’re so busy.”

You shake your head and look up at Jayden, a small tick of a smile at the corner of your lips. “Thanks, Jayden, but in all truth, I don’t need another big puppy to potty train.” You chuckle underneath your breath and walk off, dog in your arms. To the dog, you ask, “What should I call you? ‘Moocher’? ‘Space Waster 2’? ‘Jayden II’?”

Jayden protests loudly, following after you. “Aidan!!”

You laugh and hug the dog closer. You realize, it’s probably the best present Jayden’s given you today. …However, you still haven’t done a single thing on your condo today as you had planned. Darn it.

Jayden’s going to pay for this later…