Dring, dring, dring...
Becker buried his head in the pillow.
Dring, dring, dring...
Why did the alarm always have to go off far too early?
DRING, DRING, DRING...
Would the battery eventually die if he left it long enough?
He flung a hand down onto the bedside table, and the alarm clock flew across the room and into the mirror, cracking it down the middle. Oops.
At least the noise had stopped, though; it wasn't all bad. He lay back down and cuddled down with his battered old teddy bear, dreaming of...well, he wasn't going to say what he was dreaming of, was he? But it was pretty, and sweet, and always wore high heels and minidresses...oh, okay. Jess. There, he'd said it. Jess, Jess, JESS. Happy now?
He suddenly flung himself up in bed suddenly and stared at the calendar, his heart thudding. 29th May. His birthday.
"Shit."
The phone rang. Why did people always know to ring in the middle of a crisis? He wanted to throw that across the room too, but something told him not to. He wouldn't miss the alarm clock, but he'd miss the phone. And Jess would be angry. Jess, Jess, JESS.
"What?" he yelled into the phone.
"Hi Becker, I..."
"Oh. Jess." his heart was nearly falling out of his ribs now. Jess, Jess, JE... he really had to stop that, didn't he?
"You don't sound very pleased to hear from me. Is it a bad time? Should I call back?" she sounded worried.
"It's fine," he tried to calm down – it was never a bad time to speak to Jess, was it? Mmm...
"Okay, we just wanted to sing happy birthday to you, then," Jess told him excitedly, "One, two three."
Everyone burst into song. Jess was a good singer, Becker noticed. So was Abby. Matt was reasonable, although the high notes seemed to be a problem for him. Connor was, as expected, utterly terrible. But Lester! Lester was amazing!
"Thanks..." he yawned, "Lester, you're good."
Lester coughed. Lester had a funny cough, didn't he? "Why, thank you, Becker. Very kind of you to say so, but I..."
"Can I have the day off now?"
"NO!" they all squealed at once. Jess explained quickly, "You need to come in – we've got a surprise planned for you!"
"Oh crap."
"That's not very nice..."
He felt guilty, "Sorry, Jess. But I don't like surprises!"
"Well, pretend we didn't tell you, then."
"But then it'll still be a surprise when you do whatever you're going to do..." Becker sighed, "Can't I just go back to bed? Ten more minutes?"
"NO!"
"Okay, okay..."
"See you soon!" Jess laughed, "Oh, and don't forget to bring your apron!"
She hung up before Becker could reply. He sat on the edge of his bed hugging his teddy, and wondering what they were going to do to him.
An apron? What the hell?
XxXxX
"Becker's here! Becker's here!" Jess danced around, her sparkly pink apron flying out in front of her.
"Abby, can you tie my apron?" Connor asked her, creeping up and lifting her into the air, "Pretty please?"
She screamed as he tickled her, "Put me down!"
"Is it too much to ask that you leave any boyfriend-girlfriend activity for out of work hours?" Lester sighed, fiddling with the bakers' hat sitting on top of his head, "Is this thing messing up my hair, Matt?"
"Nah, s'fine."
"You didn't look."
"Cos I know it's fine."
"How can you possibly know it's fine?"
Matt sighed, "Cos your hair's always fine, Lester."
A small smile crossed Lester's lips – this was really a day for compliments! "Cheers, Matt."
"No worries."
"Becker's here!" Jess ran around the room, "Becker's here!"
"We know, Jess."
"Sshh, everyone, get down behind the tables!" Connor threw himself to the floor, dragging Abby down with him.
Jess knelt down beside them, still whispering under her breath, "Becker's here!"
"Seriously, guys, this is ridiculous, I mean come on, it's only a bloody birthday party, I..." Matt shook his head.
"Just get down, Matt!" Connor demanded.
"Hey, I'm your boss, you can't boss me around!"
"Err, yeah, I can."
"Fair enough," Matt crouched down beside them.
Everyone looked up at Lester, who was still fiddling with his hat, wondering if it matched his suit. He raised his eyebrows, "What?"
They all reached out and pulled him down – he landed in a heap on top of them all just as Becker walked in the door...
XxXxX
Okay, so we all know I'm really bad at writing fluff! But I thought I'd try writing differently for a change ;)
Please review and tell me what you think... I might get Becker to bake a cake for you! xxx