At Eighteen
Summary: It's Marty's 18th birthday, and she only has one wish. Will a sudden return of Willie be everything she's been waiting five years for? Willie/Marty.
Disclaimer: All characters are from the movie, "Beautiful Girls", and do not belong to me. They appear in this story solely for writing and entertainment purposes, and no profit whatsoever is being made from this story
Rating: PG-13 for a majority of the time, but possibly MA in some select chapters.
Note: Story in first-person narrative with Marty.
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It was my eighteenth birthday. Even though, he had said I would forget him, I hadn't; I hadn't forgotten him for a single moment in my romantic life, not even when I tried to. Every person of the opposite sex that I had taken an interest in, whether a man or just a boy, just could never measure up to Willie. Willie seemed to be one of a kind. I told myself that he had to be past me by now, that he couldn't possibly be as attached to me as I seemed to be to him even if we did occasionally speak on the phone. Nothing deterred my thoughts of him though.
As the lights in the room were dimmed, family and friends huddled around me and sang happy birthday before the room fell silent. With the heat of the lit eighteen candles rising towards my face and candle wax beginning to drip down onto the cake, I had one wish. I could have wished for a new car or my acceptance letter to Brown, but instead, as I had been doing since my fourteenth birthday, I closed my eyes and wished for him; I wished for Willie. As I blew out the candles, the room erupted with applause and cheers once again. I smiled, made conversation, and ate cake, despite a certain lack of enthusiasm and an appetite.
When the party was over and everyone had cleared out, I stepped out on the front porch. The street light in front of our house had gone out and it was cold as usual, but I didn't care. With my long coat on and a small mug of hot tea in my hands, I was alright. I looked up at the red sky before looking over to the white fence that stood between our houses and wondering if he would suddenly appear if I stood by it once again. I wished it could have been as easy as it was back then. It began to snow after a few minutes and I tightened my coat around myself. My mother called me inside, but I just wanted a few more minutes. I sipped my tea and looked down till I heard the engine of one of the plow trucks coming down the street. I thought it had to be one of his friends; they were the only men in town who started as soon as the first snowflake fell.
The truck's headlights lit up the street, and particularly, my house as it passed. It didn't go far beyond my house though, stopping in front of Willie's house. He moved so quickly that I didn't even have a minute to wonder about the truck's sudden stop; the passenger side door just swung open and Willie jumped down and out of the truck with a black duffel bag on his arm. I didn't know if it was just an odd coincidence that he had just come back to town on my eighteenth birthday, or if it was fate; I wanted to believe it was fate. I put my mug down on the small table, rushing out into the snow to catch him before he could get inside his house.
"Pooh!" I shouted. It was the first thing that came to mind.
He turned to my direction without hesitation; his eyes seemingly wide open to the older me.
"Marty?" He asked softly with a grin as he slowly moved closer to his side of fence and I moved closer on my side.
"Didn't tell me you were coming back to town last time I called." I said excitedly, unable to help the grin on my face and feeling a little like I was thirteen all over again.
"It was a bit of a last minute decision." He replied with a grin to match mine, taking in a deep breath of the cold air. "You look…dressed up." Willie added a moment later after obviously looking me over a bit.
"You mean, grown up, don't you?" I teased.
"That too." He said with a little laugh. "What's the special occasion?"
"My 18th birthday. My parents assured themselves that this would no doubt be my last birthday with them, so they insisted on this huge party. I don't really care about birthday parties, but it was nice. I got a new red dress out of it." I said with another smile and a shrug.
"Your birthday? It's today?"
"Yup, and I don't think it's going to change regardless of how many times you ask about it." I teased.
"No, I…Happy Birthday." He said sincerely with another smile, obviously thinking about something else as well though.
"Thank you. I'll accept you being here as gift alone." A beat. "Staying long?" I asked, hopeful he would say he was staying at least a week or two.
"Uh…just a couple days for the wedding."
"Lost your car?"
"No, it broke down on a corner a few blocks back. Kev just happened to be around."
"Oh, so those drunken, dry heaving, cheese eating, filth eating outhouse boys are good for something." I teased once again. "Don't forget me?" I asked a bit seriously, knowing it could be easy to get caught up with his friends and his family.
"Never." He said with a grin. "Especially since you're eighteen now." He teased as he started moving back towards the front door of his house.
"Oh, so you remember that?" I said a little louder, still at the fence.
"There was never a chance I'd forget." He said as he opened the door and stepped inside.
I smiled to myself and stood in the cold for only another moment before heading back inside as well. Maybe, birthday wishes weren't so immature as everyone makes them out to be.