Lunch was nice. We went to Outback steakhouse ~ my favourite ~ and boy was it good. I grossed out the twins by having a medium rare steak ~ them being vegetarians and all ~ but I comforted myself with the fact that Bill didn't try to squirm away, and instead held my hand under the table.
As the rest of them chattered, I idly wondered what the sudden extra attachment was all about. Sure, he held my hand plenty, but today it was like a surplus. I wasn't complaining, mind you; on the contrary, I should think.
"Killa, what do you think?" Georg asked, jolting me from my thoughts.
"Hmm, about what?" I asked.
Georg rolled his eyes and sighed. Tom just laughed.
"What movie are we gonna watch?" Tom asked.
"I don't care. Pick one. Just no gore, ok?"
"Yes!" Tom exclaimed, high-five-ing Georg.
"Should I have cared?" I whispered to Gustav. He just shrugged. I asked Bill the same thing. He also shrugged.
Well of course he wouldn't care. He won't be watching the whole thing. Knowing this sent my heart into a panic. To be completely honest, I was afraid to know what secret he was keeping from even his brother. That was unheard of for the twins; they always knew everything about each other. So it must be a pretty darn good secret if only one of them knew.
Tom probably knows by now, though, I reasoned, thinking of Bill's excuse for riding here with Tom. True, it could have been about something else, but… Ok, stop, seriously. You're getting yourself worked up over this. It's probably nothing, anyway. And then when he gives it to you and it is, in fact, nothing, you'll be disappointed. So relax!
This reproving of myself was starting to get old. But my mind was wandering so much these days! It was a good thing I always had my guard up, or else I might speak some of the things I thought, and that would not be good, especially in situations like these.
Half an hour later, we had all finished up and someone lit a match behind me. It made me jump, it was so loud, and then I cringed. Here was a waitress with a stupid cake with a number 19 candle on top. Two other waitresses stood beside her and they all started clapping and singing some stupid happy birthday song. I put my head in my hands. I knew who set it up.
"Georg! I'm going to kill you!" I said loudly, not quite in a yell. He was laughing his head off like the immature older brother I never had.
"Come on, Killa, lighten up! Bill's the one that wanted cake," he said, trying to stop the laughter. The waitresses all left and I glared at Bill.
"I swear to you, it wasn't my idea. I said something about cake when we first got here, but it was Georg's idea to tell the employees. I promise," he said, defending himself.
I turned my attention back to Georg.
"I'm gonna kill you," I said again, although I could feel myself smiling. Stupid boys. They always got what they wanted. I shot a quick glance at Uncle Dave. He saw it and just rolled his eyes. My feelings exactly.
Then it was off to the movies. My heart was hammering in my chest, despite my constant efforts to calm myself down. It was just a movie, for Pete's sake. We went to movies all the time. But this one was different. This time, I was expecting something other than a movie. And it was wreaking havoc on my brain.
At least I knew what we were going to see. It was some sci-fi flick called Avatar. I guess this ex-marine was going to this planet to be his brother and save the alien world. That's what I got out of the review, anyway. It didn't matter to me. I wouldn't be watching the whole thing.
So the lights dimmed and the previews started. I loved movie trailers, but I was getting antsy. How long until Bill left? How long did Uncle Dave say to wait after he finally did leave?
I knew the answer. We were about half-way through the movie, I think. I was actually getting into it; the special effects were amazing, to say the least. My brain had calmed down and my heartbeat was back to normal. That is, until he got up.
Oh, sheiße, here we go, I thought. I glanced at Uncle Dave. He had half a smile on his face, although that part of the movie wasn't necessarily funny. Meany. I decided to count to 300 before I left. That was five minutes; would that be enough?
One…two…three…
Finally I got to three hundred. It seemed like nine hundred by the time I was done. I leaned over to Tom.
"I'm going to go see what's taking Bill so long," I whispered in his ear. He jumped at my voice, clearly into the movie.
"Oh, ok," he said, just now noticing that his twin was missing.
I got up, my hands shaking just slightly, and walked up the aisle and out the door.
The lobby was bright; too bright. But I turned a corner and nearly ran into him.
"Oh, there you are. I was wondering what was taking you so long," I said half-honestly.
"So Dave did talk to you. Good, I was beginning to wonder. Come with me," he said, running his fingers down my arm and taking my hand. I shivered slightly and hoped he didn't notice. I was never sure.
He took me out to his Porsche. Were we going somewhere? I would have thought we would have stayed at the theatre.
Suddenly he spun around and held my shoulders.
"Do you have any idea how much I love you?" he asked.
I blinked stupidly, like a baby cow wondering what to do when something was blocking its way.
"Do you?" he asked again.
"I…what?"
"You have no clue how much I love you, do you?"
I just stared at him. This was not what I was expecting at all.
Suddenly, without any warning at all, his lips were on mine, kissing me with such a fervour that I nearly forgot to breathe. It didn't last long, but long enough to send me into cardiac arrest.
"Here," he said softly, opening the door of his car. He reached under the seat and pulled out a 5x7 rectangular package. It was wrapped by him, that much I knew; it wasn't overly-perfect. "I got this for you quite some time ago, but just recently remembered I had it. Go ahead, open it," he prompted me.
I took the object from him, hands now trembling like never before.
"Shh, relax," he cooed, hugging me from behind like I liked. I didn't want to ruin the wrapping job; it was too nicely done. So I flipped it over and started at the seam, sliding my nail under the tape. The rest of it came off easily. I was staring at the back of a book. But it wasn't just any book. I knew this one without even turning it over. But I did anyway.
There, on the lower right corner, was my name, written in child-like script. It was my diary from the tree-mailbox at my old house. Tears welled up in my eyes and spilled over so fast I didn't even have the time of day to think about trying to stop it.
I opened it to the first page, but couldn't make out any words. I closed it and turned around to hug Bill back, throwing my arms around his neck and burying my face in his thick black hair.
"Oh, Bill," I sobbed. "You don't know how happy you just made me."
He chuckled softly and held me close.
"Happy birthday, love. I'm glad you like it," he said.
"Like it? I love it," I choked. "And…and I love you, too. I always have."
"Really?" he asked. I nodded. "I should've listened to him."
"Listened to whom?"
"Gustav. He knew there was something there, but he didn't want to say anything for the longest time because he didn't know how I would take it. Am I really that unpredictable?" he mused. I nodded again and laughed a little.
"Unfortunately, yes," I said, reluctantly pulling back a little to dry my eyes. Bill beat me to it.
"Well, I'll just have to work on that, now won't I?" he grinned. "Now for another question. Would you by any chance want to be my girl?"
I couldn't believe he actually had to ask. I felt the tears coming back so I nodded quickly before we locked lips again. Who knew my nineteenth birthday was to be my best one?
Certainly not me.
