Chapter 16 - Phase 3

-Aida-

Aida was not on speaking terms with her best friend. No, that was a bit harsh. She was just kind of sort of shunning her for leaving her to sleep on Luca’s shoulder for an entire night (not that she was really complaining, she had been really comfortable). But for her pride’s sake, she was pretending to shun Addi.

All that was in the past, though. The only thing she could really focus on was her doctor’s appointment, which was in exactly one hour and fourteen minutes. Hopefully, she would be losing a part of her cast, and given crutches to hobble around on for the remainder of said cast. Add all of this with her giddy excitement for her upcoming birthday equaled no sleep the night before, or very little. The big seventeen was in three days. And if Aida knew Addi at all, she would be throwing a huge “surprise” party for her (like she did every year since they were four).

“Sugar, could you put your hat and mittens on, please? It’s getting cold out and I don’t want you to catch a chill,” Liza asked, already steering Aida off in the direction of the closet that stored the winter garments.

Aida rolled her eyes, “sure. Let me just wheel myself over there on my own,” she hinted, albeit unsubtly. Liza, however, took no notice, just continued on her way, a determined look on her face.

Settling back in her wheelchair, Aida crossed her arms over her chest and let out a little puff of air. Apparently she didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Thank God she might be switching to crutches (she mentally crossed her fingers at this thought).

“Pink or blue?” Liza asked, holding up the two different sets of gloves, hats, and scarves.

Aida raised an eyebrow (well, she actually attempted too, seeing as she had yet to master such a thing), “which do you think?” she asked dryly, giving the pink a pointed look, “I haven’t worn pink since I was seven.”

Liza sighed, “fine, just break my heart, why don’t you? Blue it is!” She tossed the set at Aida, who caught it and set about putting it all on. Meanwhile, Liza fluttered around, pulling on her own jacket and set of gloves, hat, and scarf. Spreading her arms out wide, almost to model her outfit off to Aida, she flashed her a smile, “let’s get going!”

“Well, the x-rays are looking good! Looks like we can take the heaviest of the top part off, and you can get crutches!” the red headed, bubbly doctor exclaimed, her high pigtails bouncing in delight.

Aida nodded, and forced a small smile onto her face; she had been in the frickin’ hospital for three hours. Three hours! And it was only now, that they told her she could have crutches. It was almost a waste of time, in her opinion.

Liza glanced over and, seeing the warning signs, took Aida’s hand in her own. Giving it a soft pat, she smiled at her almost-daughter. “Calm down,” she whispered into her ear when the doctor turned around. Aida just groaned in response.

- - - - - - - -

-Addi-

The phone was balanced between her ear and shoulder, the cap and brush part of her nail polish brush clenched between her teeth, as she wiped away a stray smear of paint that marred her toe. “Uh huh,” she muttered absentmindedly into the phone, not really listening to Aida, who was busy telling her about something important.

“Addi! Are you even listening to me?!” came the rather mad sounding voice of Aida.

Addi winced, and concentrated on not getting the tissue in her fresh coat of paint, “yeah, you said something about a dude with hot abs.”

She could practically hear the sound of her friend hitting her face with the palm of her hand, “Addi, that was ten minutes ago! Besides, I got my crutches! And I’m still having a hard time using my non broken leg, but it’s coming along! Pretty soon I’ll be hobbling around like a pro.”

“That’s great!” Addi shouted with false excitement. She cursed as her hand slipped and a trail of red paint leading down her pinky toe mocked her. Grabbing another tissue from the seemingly never ending supply, she wiped it away, completely missing her friends response.

“Addi!” Whoops! She was caught. Placing the brush back in the container, she took the phone into her hand and forced herself to listen, “can you please listen to me?”

“Yup, I even put down my nail polish for you, so this had better be good!”

She heard her friend take a deep breath, and then start from the very beginning.

- - - - - - - -

-Aida-

Monday morning was quite possibly the best day of her life (though she was sure that her birthday the next day would somehow manage to top it). Finally free of the horribly annoying machine called a wheelchair, she felt like she could fly. Zipping around on her crutches (she had spent all of Sunday practicing and forcing her leg to accept her weight) was such an amazing feeling.

“Slow down!” a teacher called out from the hallway, though she ignored him and continued on her way, minding her own business. Not having to take the elevator to get to the second floor was a gift unto itself, now she couldn’t be gawked at or laughed at when the elevator doors swung open to reveal her in a wheelchair. Now, she could fight her way up the crowded steps, even though quite a few people had warned her against it (apparently she could slip and fall, and possibly break her leg yet again. She ignored these warnings, there was no way in heck she was going back to being “that girl in the wheelchair”).

“Wow,” an outstretched arm stopped her, as did the voice. She looked up, her gaze connecting with Luca’s, who was shaking in laughter.

“What?” she asked rather crossly, not at all happy to be laughed at.

He shrugged, “I find it funny how fast you manage to move with those. I remember when I was constricted to crutches, it took me three days to move at half the speed you’re going at. Then again, I was eight, so that might pay a factor in my speed...” Aida grinned, too bad she didn’t have a camera, she could almost smell the blackmail. “Hey,” he started, “are you going to Addi’s pa–”

He stopped suddenly at the body crashing into his. Standing up and brushing away any wrinkles in his clothing, he glared down at Addi, who had ran into him. She grabbed his hand (even though he hadn’t offered it) and hoisted herself up. Once on her feet, she shot him a warning glance before apologizing, “I am so sorry! I just didn’t see you there! Watch yourself!” and with that, she took off again, racing down the hallways.

Aida bit back a smirk, she knew what he had been about to say, and no doubt Addi’s hasty interruption had been her way of trying to keep it a secret. Oh well, at least she had gotten a laugh out of it.

- - - - - - - -

“Alright, are you sure that you look awesome enough?” Addi asked for the umpteenth time from where she was leaning against the door frame to the bathroom.

Aida rolled her eyes, “we’re only going to your house to hang out, why would I need to look all glamorous for that?”

Addi stuttered, “u-um, well... Jace will be there! Yeah, and um, you don’t want to look bad in front of him?” she almost asked. If there was one thing Addi couldn’t do, it was lie, which was ironic, seeing as she was an amazing actress.

Grabbing her cell phone from the bathroom sink, Aida shoved it into her jeans pocket. Adding her blue hat, scarf, and gloves (and a jacket, of course), she slipped on her ballet flats. “Ready!” she called.

The car ride there was slightly awkward, as Addi was trying so very hard not to spill the “secret” of her “surprise” party. Aida had to admit that it was rather fun watching her best friend. Pulling into her driveway (which was already filled with a few familiar and non familiar cars), Addi pulled up to a stop and pulled her keys out of the ignition.

“Let’s go,” she called out as she slammed her door shut and made her way to the front door. With a last look at her friend, she slipped inside and Aida knew she was getting everyone ready for the surprise part.

Grabbing her crutches from beside her, Aida let herself out, stumbling a bit at the bottom. She made her way after her friend, ready for the night to begin. The door swung open to reveal black nothingness.

“Surprise!” a thunderous wall of sound greeted her as she flicked on the lights. Flashing all of her peers a smile, she made her way over to Addi, who stood in front of the present pile.

She gestured to the packages stacked high behind her, “happy birthday!” Aida leaned in and tried to give her best friend a hug (though the crutches got in the way several times).

“Have an awesome birthday!” Addi whispered into her ear as they broke apart. And Aida fully intended to.

- - - - - - - -

-Addi-

Phase 3 of The Plan was about to begin, now all the two targets needed was a push in the right direction, literally.

- - - - - - - -

-Luca-

Luca was on his way back from the bathroom, when all of the sudden two hands pushed him forward. He stumbled against someone, and started apologizing when he saw who it was. “Sorry, you okay, Aida?”

She nodded, and blushed slightly, “someone just pushed me, I think.”

Was it a coincidence, “me too. I wonder what’s going o–”

Just then, Addi’s voice broke over the babble of the party, “Ladies and Gents, may I please have your attention!” she held the microphone (though where she had gotten the microphone from, was a mystery to just about everyone) up to her lips, “I’d like to direct your attention to the birthday girl herself! And just look what she’s standing under!” Everyone’s gazes moved up, and a few cheered when they saw the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. “I think you know what this means!” Addi shouted, and slowly, everyone began to chant.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

Blocking out the chanting and Addi’s coaxing, Luca glanced down at Aida, and when he saw her hesitant nod, he leaned forward. Holding her head with one hand, her bent down to press his lips softly to hers.

For a mere moment, everyone went quiet. She was the the center of his focus, and he hers. Nothing mattered but the two of them. But almost as quickly as that moment started, it ended. Luca broke the kiss, and with a quiet “happy birthday” whispered into her ear, he disappeared into the crowd.

Aida stood there for a moment, her hand reaching up to touch her lips. That was completely unexpected. Smiling suddenly, she made eye contact with Addi, and mouthed “best birthday ever.”

- - - - - - - -

Pronunciation Guide

Aida – Ai (ay, rhymes with hay) da (duh)

Aidalynn - Ai (ay, rhymes with hay) da (duh) lynn (rhymes with tin)

Liza – Li (lie) za (zuh)

Addi – Add (add) i (ee)

Luca – Lu (loo) ca (kuh)

Giordano – Gi (gee) or (or) dan (dahn) o (oh)

Antonio – An (an) to (toe) ni (nee) o (oh)

Mattson – Matt (mat) son (son)

Reyne – Reyne (rain)

Stokler – Stock (stock) ler (ler)

- - - - - - - -

Author's Note

So, how'd you like this chapter ;)

The poll shall be up on my profile now! Yay! So go check out the dresses/tuxes (just so you know, I had no idea there was more than one style of tux, so if you have any better suggestions, please feel free to let me know :D) and then vote! Should the links not work (for example, they were only showing the same picture over and over again), then go the the Cinderaida Semi-Official Site (link is on Profile) and see the pics there).

To my readers, reviewers, alerters, and favers, you guys ROCK! I love you! :D Of course, my reviewers get a little extra attention for being just that awesome.

MagicWords, Mo- The Reviewer, , FLIPPER66, Renana, caitXvm, PeaceIsMySign93, bumbleB825, oxsarahxo, aryagal, bluebubble112, XxSiennaxX, miksan, ChemicalxDisturbance, love2read2, miksan, luv-u-lots, and .

bumbleB825: That's okay, I bet the links were totally awesome! Thanx for reviewing! :D And thank you for taking so much time for that (though I really am sorry about not getting the links, grrr... stupid FictionPress...)