Birthday Girl Ch. 03

Hey guys,

Once again, thank you for your overwhelmingly positive response, I really appreciate it, it's where I get the courage to continue.

All errors that may be present are mine, I have not used an editor as yet, though if you think I need one please let me know and I'll try to find one.

As always, creative criticism is most welcome and please don't forget to vote.

Anyone not of legal age................. dum dee dum di doo

Enjoy!

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"You should totally text her right now," Jenna said as she plopped down beside me on the sofa with a bowl full of popcorn. She was in pajamas that depicted the solar system, dark blue with tiny stars all around and the planets in various locations. Uranus was on her ass.

"How old are you again?" I asked bewildered anyone would wear that. "And where did you even get PJ's like that?"

"I stole from them from NASA. Got a problem?" she responded with sarcasm.

"Are you crazy? You can't text her now man, you have to wait for three days." Nick shouted from the other side of the room. He was bent over the DVD player hooking it to the TV.

It was Movie Night. Technically it was Sunday Movie Afternoon but Movie Night had a better ring to it. It was always at Nicks place because he had a huge fifty three inch monster. No, not that monster. Sony LED 3D, whatever acronyms TV's had these days, this TV had them plus more. Couple it to a 7.1 surround sound system, ridiculously comfy couches, and all the snacks you can eat and it was obvious why we hardly went to the theatres any more. This setup put IMAX to shame.

"Hey Nick, the 90's called, they want their idiot back," Jenna said throwing a popcorn at the back of his head. "Brian don't listen to him, no one follows that crap anymore, and besides, she gave you her number." She insisted as if that settled the whole matter.

It was the day after the meet and these two, specifically Jenna, had spent most of it extracting every minute detail about last night. Unfortunately I could not answer all her questions. For the life of me I couldn't remember if she placed her glass next to mine or not. Who even notices these things? Men was the response I got.

"Dude, trust me, you don't want to come across as desperate. This might be your one and only chance, you can't screw it up. " Nick said as he stood up, the DVD finally hooked up, then turned to Jenna, "it took him twenty seven years to work up the courage to talk to a girl, we can't afford to wait another twenty seven if this doesn't work out."

Jenna nodded, "You do have a point....."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence guys, what would I ever do without you," I said with sarcasm dripping from my voice.

"Aaaaawww don't worry Bry, we have a room set aside just for you in case you end up old and alone." said Jenna rubbing my arm.

"And if you remember, even I texted Jenna after three days," Nick said with authority.

"Yeah, and I'd almost forgotten who you were jackass." Jenna shot at him.

Nick had had enough of her smart mouth and pounced on her, grabbing both her hands in one of his and tickling her with the other. "Forgot me huh? Let's see you forget this now! Muhahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Jenna squealed and writhed under him trying to get away but he was too strong and kept up the attack. She was almost out of breath with tears in her eyes when suddenly Nick let her go and slumped to the floor. After a few seconds is when I noticed he was actually holding his groin with both hands and slowly rocking to and fro. Ouch........... I started laughing my ass off. Serve him right. Serve them both right for torturing me.

Still panting, Jenna slid down next to him and put her arms around him. "Shit I'm so sorry honey, I swear it was a mistake, you know I'd never do that on purpose," she said rubbing his back. Nick could only nod.

"If you want, later, I will kiss it better-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up there, no no no, too much info guys, I did not want to hear that" I shouted as I got off the couch with my hands up, my laughter cut off abruptly.

That got a muffled chuckle out of Nick as Jenna looked up at me, "How old are you again?" she threw my own line back at me.

"Not old enough to hear that!" I retorted. "It's bad enough hearing you guys going at it like rabbits, now you gotta describe it as well?" I added, referring to the time we had gone for a trip and our rooms were adjacent and the walls were really thin.

Jenna's ears went red as she said sheepishly "We apologized for that, it was our first anniversary, excitement and all...."

"The receptionist three floors down thought there was an exorcism going on, you kept screaming Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!" I mimicked her.

We stared at each other for about five seconds before we burst out laughing. I tripped over the couch and fell down and soon all three of us were rolling around laughing, Nick still holding on to his balls. The laughter finally subsided after five minutes. We climbed up on the couch, Nick and I on either end and Jenna in the middle with the remote. It was her turn to choose the movie and we groaned as the title came up. Inside Out.

"Can't you watch this some other time? Preferably when you are alone?" I complained trying to grab the remote.

"It's my turn to choose today and this is what we are watching. Live with it. I'm tired of cars, guns and kung fu." She said hiding the remote under her back.

"But babe, you always fall asleep before we get even half-way through," Nick said with exasperated tone. He was right. Jenna had never sat through a whole movie without dozing off. Sometimes she made us watch movies twice just so she could finish it, first one half then the other.

"Deal with it bozo's" she said and resumed the movie ignoring our pleas.

Finally we gave up and started watching the movie. It wasn't too bad. Not like Frozen. My brain had frozen over watching that. As Sadness and Joy argued on the screen my mind started drifting to last night. The smile, the giggle, the adorable dimple. Should I follow Jenna's advice and text her? Or maybe I should wait. After all, we just met last night, wouldn't it come across as needy if I contacted her so soon? Once again I pictured her laughing and it involuntarily made me smile. She was something else. I remembered the way she had tucked her hair away and the look she had been giving me at the time. Shivers ran down my spine. I wasn't used to being looked at like that. Like she was trying to figure me out.

I made up my mind that I would text her. Not right now, maybe in the evening, when I was back at my place. Ever since she left me with that chaste kiss she had never been completely out of my mind. It was an innocent kiss, but her expressions and her body language spoke volumes, saying much more than words ever could. I sensed she didn't hand out such intimate moments just on a whim which made it all the more special. No, I couldn't leave her hanging. Despite her outward confidence I sensed she was putting her neck out when she kissed me and I wasn't about to betray her trust.

Watching all the emotions the girl had in the movie I realized I had a couple more in my head that she didn't, like Stupid and Inappropriate. Those two were the worst. If I ever had a chance to talk to her face to face again I'm pretty sure those two would dominate. Plus there was the fact that she hadn't told me her name. Curse you damsel! I had tried to enlist the services of a private eye, aka Jenna, but even she was stumped. She couldn't find anything on damsel on social media and believe you me, she could even find Wilson for Tom Hanks on that shit. Looked like she wasn't a social media addict. We had something in common. Woo Hoo!

I was surprised to see the end credits rolling so soon. I had just spent the entire movie thinking about a girl. Not a good sign. As usual Jenna was sprawled over the whole couch, drooling on Nick's chest and one foot on my lap and the other on the table. The woman couldn't stay awake through an episode of Simpsons much less an entire movie. Nick looked at me and both of us smiled at the same time. He picked a piece of popcorn from the bowl on her tummy and gently inserted it in her ear. She didn't even flinch. We were both snickering. A second piece ended up in her other ear. Nothing. This chick could sleep through a hurricane. Getting daring now, Nick tenderly shoved a third piece through her left nostril. She fidgeted and scrunched up her face but relaxed after a bit. Nick and I could barely hold in our laughter. Now whenever she exhaled it came out as a whistle because of the obstruction. I was convulsing so hard trying to stop the laughter I thought I'd crack a rib, and it was harder for Nick since she was lying on him and he didn't want to wake her. He picked up the final piece and shoved it up the other nostril. Jenna reared up like a cat whose tail has been stepped on.

We both ran as she hurled insults at us that would shame a sailor. Nick got two pillows on the back of his head before he ducked into another room. Then she rounded on me. Self preservation had kicked in a while back and I was already at the main door sprinting out towards my car. From inside I could hear her yelling, "Just you wait Brian, I'll get you, just wait till your mystery girl is in the picture, you're so dead!"

I drove off still laughing to myself. Nick was in for a world of trouble, she was going to make mince meat out of him.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

My finger hovered over the send button as a battle raged inside me. To send or not to send, that was the question. After hours of deliberate planning and consideration followed by more hours of writing, erasing and re-writing the text, I had finally settled on what to send.

Hey....

I think I put Shakespeare to shame with that one. A more articulate greeting I had never seen. But that still didn't solve my dilemma of actually sending it. My thumb had been hovering over the send button for five minutes now as I fought tooth and nail with my demons. Finally I figured out my right thumb had declared mutiny against me and was refusing to obey my commands, so I used my left thumb to press down on my right thumb which eventually tapped the send icon. My shoulders sagged as I released the breath I hadn't realized I was holding. In that moment I realized one more thing. A twelve year old girl probably had more guts than me.

Well, the deed was done. Now all that was left to do was to panic. I had heard of butterflies in the stomach but I think mine had evolved to giant mutant rats with fangs, talons and a really mean attitude. I took a deep breath to calm down and started pacing my room. It was just a text, how bad can it be. But what if she thought I was creepy for texting so soon and assumed I was stalking her, then she might think I was some kind of perverted maniac that preyed on young girls like in the horror movies and she might be preparing a wooden stake right now and wearing a garland of garlic just in case I was a machete wielding vampire in a Jason mask and............. I shook my head. Sometimes I hate my overactive imagination.

My phone chirped and I froze, looking at it in horror. What sorcery was this? Oh wait, it was my phone, and it was alerting a text. I approached it like you would approach a sleeping grizzly. Swiping to unlock it I saw I had one unread message. Maybe it was Pizza Hut informing me about their latest discount on a double crust cheese filled pizza. Tapping on it revealed three words,

Who is this?

Of course. All my planning and strategies and I had forgotten she didn't have my number, only I had hers. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Uhmm....... Its Brian, I don't know if you remember, we met last night at the club, I kinda made you a year older by mistake.

Yes, that is what a girl wants to hear, that she's old.

My knight in shining armor!

A warm feeling spread in my stomach that suffocated the rats. Die scoundrels die!

You give me too much credit. How are you?

Oh you know how it is in old age, if I don't pee myself I consider it a good day.

I laughed out loud at that one. She was almost as bad as Nick and Jenna.

You're never let me forget it are you?

Only after I get you back. You robbed a girl of her youth, I should send you to the gallows.

Fair enough. So what you up to, besides cleaning your dentures of course.

Nothing much, just negotiating a deal for world peace, looking for a cure for cancer, the usual you know.....

I managed not to burn my toast in the morning. Beat that.

No no, you win, unburnt toast is way more important than world peace.

We bantered back and forth for an hour. She could give as good as she could get and at times even left me without a come-back. I was going to have my hands full with this one. If she ever teamed up with those other two idiots they'd shred me to pieces. After an hour she announced she had to leave,

Ok Brian, this can go on all night but I have to get up for work tomorrow, old people stuff you know, you kids won't understand.

And what do you old people do anyway? Knit sweaters?

Ha ha, I'm a radiologist if you must know

You fix radios?

You're kidding right?

I have this old one that used to be my dad's, doesn't really work anymore, think you can take a look at it?

I swear I'm going to stop talking to you.

Fine fine, of course I know what a radiologist does, I'm an electrical engineer.

Aaaah, that explains a lot.

What do you mean?

Never mind.

Spit it out woman.

Your behavior, you deal with electricity, do the math.

You work with X-rays, by your logic you should be see-through by now.

You would like that wouldn't you?

You being see-through? Definitely.

Perv......

By the way, what was your name again?

Nice try.

Damn it.

Good night Brian, sleep tight, I'll talk to you tomorrow.

I'll hold you to that. Good night ................................(fill in the blank with your name)

Hahaha, you're silly. Take care.

You too.

I read our texts again and couldn't believe I had a conversation with sexual innuendo in it. The hairs on my chest nearly doubled in length. I was now a man. Bow before me mortals! I was so psyched up it took me three hours to sleep.

** ** ** ** ** **

The rest of the week wasn't as eventful. She was really busy and hardly had time to chat but she would always wish me a good morning and bid me good night and mostly with something funny like Morning Sir Arthur or How art thou, O protector of dames everywhere. She just made my day. I had been meaning to ask her out for a date but just couldn't work up the courage. No matter how I phrased the question it never seemed quite right to me. Deep down I knew I was sabotaging my own efforts in order to procrastinate.

On Friday Jenna threatened me with bodily harm if I didn't ask her out. I had learnt the hard way not to take Jenna's threats lightly. My damsel was more chatty today and we had been bantering on and off throughout the day. Figuring she had more free time today, I decided it was now or never and initiated operation Ask for Date.

So miss radiologist, are you going to be mighty busy tomorrow?

Mighty busy? Shit this was already going downhill.

No, I'm off for the weekend actually, there's a new intern and he's getting all the graveyard shifts. Hooray for me!

There was still hope.

In that case, would you maybe like to you know go somewhere, you know, like me and you, like someplace out somewhere.....

And I squashed that hope.

My my kind sir, are you thinking of mayhap courting me?

This chick was awesome.

O fair lady, thou have charmed thee and with thou's permission thee shall try thee's best to impress thy fair one.

What the hell was I writing? I really hoped she understood was I trying to say because I had no clue what I had just written. She didn't reply for like five minutes and I started to get worried. Finally.....

I'm sorry, I couldn't stop laughing after reading that. I think we should stick to proper English from now on, I'm getting cramps from laughing.

Maybe I should get a big red nose and oversized shoes and join a circus somewhere. She texted again....

Oh and in response to your question, yes I would love to do something with you tomorrow.

Head out of the gutter, she doesn't mean that something.

So should I pick you up?

I wasn't going to try any funny lines. Well, not for a little while at least.

I'm meeting Sally in the morning so pick me up at two?

Two it is. And where do I pick you up from?

She gave me her address, she lived only twenty minutes away, and excused herself.

Can't wait for tomorrow, see you then.

Me neither, see you.

It took a few minutes for it to sink in. Then panic. I had asked her out but where in the world was I going to take her? I sifted through all my regular joints in my head and none of them seemed appropriate. I didn't want to take her anywhere too romantic for our first date else she thinks I have other more nefarious intentions in mind. Something light and fun that will be able to let us get to know each other better without it being too intense. Maybe I could drive around with her until I saw something interesting. Knowing my luck we'd probably end up at a strip club. I drifted off to sleep with my mind feeling like Google maps.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

There were still five minutes to spare when I pulled up to her place, a nice two story colonial style house in the sub-urbs with an immaculate garden that had a swing in the middle. It was the traditional style with a brick finish and a two car garage off to the side. There was a silver Q7 sitting in the driveway. I texted her and told her I was outside and waited, watching a dog in the house next in line chase its own tail.

Be right out.

I still hadn't figured out where I was going to take her. No place I thought of fit the criteria I wanted. Finally I had come to the conclusion I'd just wing it just like I had since I met her. Whenever I planned things they never worked out for me, and since meeting her I had just gone with the flow and it was serving me well. As someone had said, don't fix it if it aint broke. I wasn't going to fix it.

The front door opened and she appeared wearing a blue sundress. Now I could tell fashion about as much as an earthworm could but she looked like she was made to wear sundresses. She looked as cute as a button with her hair tied in a ponytail and matching blue sandals. It was as if she'd stepped out of a summer magazine.

Everything I had practiced that I was going to say vanished as she walked over to my car waving and smiling. Damn that dimple. The Men In Black should use it to erase people's memories because it sure as hell made me forget everything. I even forgot to get out and open the door for her. She opened the door and got in, shutting the door and finally snapping me out of my stupor.

"Hey you," she said putting on her seat belt and looking over at me smiling.

"Hey you to you too," I replied flashing her a grin of my own. "You look really nice."

Her smile got even wider, "Thanks, though I hope I'm dressed appropriately, you didn't say where we were going."

"You're dressed just fine, don't worry."

"While we are on the topic, where is it that you're taking me?"