I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock. 12:00. Midnight. I watched as the little 0 to the right disintegrated and turned into a bright green 1. I had officially been 21 for one whole minute. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, ridding myself of unwanted eye gunk. Turning around, I groped my bedroom wall until I found the magic button, switching it so that the room was filled with light. I couldn't sleep, not knowing what day it was. My birthday; the worst day of the year. I hated it. I hated being the centre of attention all day and never being able to have a moments peace. I hated getting bombarded with messages on Facebook and texts of people who I'd never even spoken to before wishing me well for the day, but then ignoring me the next. However, most of all I hated the terrible presents that you are forced to look pleased about, like terrible DVD's you've never heard of and disgusting, hand-knitted sweaters in far from subtle colours (yes, I'm looking at you grandma).
I reached over to my CD collection and pulled out a Mcfly CD, dropping it into my CD player and letting the first track, 'Love is easy' play, creating a nice backing track for my birthday morning as I turned to fill the kettle; if I can't sleep then there is no point in trying. Mcfly were my all time favourite band, apart from Busted that is. When I first heard they were creating a 'supergroup' I screamed so hard I made my mum drop her cup of tea down her front. I wanted more than anything to go and see them in concert and I knew they were coming to Newcastle, where I lived, but I had no money left after paying that terms fee for law school the week before. All I could do was dream.
My iphone buzzed on my bedside table, startling me and causing me to jump. I reached over clumsily, knocking over a pile of my revision books from law school in the process, and picked it up.
"Ellieee! Happy Birthday babee! XxX" It was my best friend, Molly. She had promised to text me as soon as it was my birthday (despite my protests that I really didn't want her to) and she had not let me down.
I replied slowly, my hands taking over and typing a reply, sending it before I even knew what I had said.
"Thanks Molly. I can't wait to see you later! xx" Not too bad for being half asleep I think. I lay back down in bed and cocooned myself in duvet; it's the only way I can sleep. Just as I was beginning my journey to the land of dreams my phone buzzed again and I was jolted awake. Sighing, I reached over and checked my inbox.
"Why wait until later?" said the text. I stared at it for a couple of minutes before my eyes were drawn away to my front door, where I could hear my buzzer ringing indicating that someone wanted to come inside my tiny little studio apartment.
I swung my legs over the side of my bed and jogged over to the door, opening a crack to see who was there before letting it swing open completely. I was Molly, standing outside my door in her pyjamas with a huge grin on her face, making her look like the Cheshire Cat on ecstasy.
"Molly what the hell are you doing here?" I said, startled as she let herself into my house and started rummaging through my kitchen cupboards.
"It's your birthday dummie; I came to give you your present!" she said, finding a half eaten jar of nutella and a clean spoon and eating the hazelnut spread out of the jar.
"Molly I told you not to get me anything! And did you walk here in your pyjamas?"
"Of course not. I got the train. Duh!"
She pulled my arm until I was sitting down on the bed and she sat down next to me. Putting the jar on my bed, she dragged the bag she had dropped on the floor when she first came in over to where we were sitting. I watched as she rummaged around at the bottom of the bag until she smiled in delight, pulling out a small box which had a blue ribbon wrapped around the top to stop the lid falling off. She handed me the box grinning again.
Taking the box I looked at her curiously and peeled the ribbon off, removing the lid as I went, and my eyes were met with the best sight I could have possibly seen. Two McBusted tickets were laying in the satin rimmed box. I stared at the tickets and then back at Molly.
"Are you serious?!" I practically shouted at her.
"Of course! I know you really want to go see them so me and a couple of your friends from law school chipped in to get you these tickets." She smiled as she said it. I thought hard about who from school would do something like this and started listing off the names. Melissa, David, Ned, Charlotte; I'll have to remember to thank them.
I screamed louder than I care to admit and through my arms around her neck. I was ecstatic. I was really going; I, Ellie, was going to see McBusted on the 21st May 2014 and I literally could not wait.
