Hey guys, I'm kind of jumping around time-wise, so bear with me. Hope you enjoy. Feel free to comment any thoughts. :)
I crouched behind the grey couch in my living room. I looked to my dad across from me and we shared a silent exchange of smiles. Carmilla should be here any second. The sound of muffled footsteps alerted us of her presence outside. Carm knocks quickly before opening up the door and yelling, "Hey cupcake, this new Doctor Who episode better be amazing because I was in the middle of the most amazing book-"
"Surprise!" my dad, Carmilla's brother Will, her older sister Mattie, and I all screamed at her while jumping out of the dark with huge grins on our faces.
The brunette regarded us with wide eyes before the biggest smile I have ever seen spread across her face. "What are you guys doing here? Mattie, when did you get back?" she ran up to her older sister and gave her a bear hug.
"Your little friend convinced me to take some time off of work and come back home for your eleventh birthday." Mattie said with a slight smile tugging at her lips.
Carm pulled away from her sister and looked at me; a shocked look plastered on her face. "You did all this," she gestured wildly to the Edgar Allen Poe decorations lining the living room. (She was very interested in the poet at the time. it took a lot of time, and help from my dad, to find out where to get said decorations, and to know who the heck that dude was).
I smiled shyly at her, "Of course I did! The eleventh birthday is the most important! Or was that the sixteenth? Anyway, I know your mom doesn't celebrate your birthday, so if I didn't so it nobody else would. So I looked up pictures of your Poe poet, hehe see what I did there, and apparently he had a thing about ravens or something. And then I called your sister, I got her number from your brother, and talked her into coming down, and here we all are. Whew!" I took a deep breath and smiled at her.
"Don't hurt yourself cupcake, you can stop to breath." she said with a slight laugh.
"If it is too much just tell me, I can take it down." I stated nervously.
"It- it's perfect." she whispered as she walked over to me and enveloped me into a hug. "I love it so much, thank you Laura." She pulled away from me and faced everyone else, "Thank you all, this is the most wonderful birthday I have ever had."
"You're welcome kitty." Will said with a small smirk. I guess he's not as terrible as I thought, he was at least nice enough to help me get Mattie to come down to celebrate her sister's birthday.
Carmilla just smiled and then gave everyone hugs and talking animatedly about that Poe guy. Every once in a while, her eyes would meet mine and she would smile at me. I just stood there looking at the most wonderful girl in the world, thinking about how wonderful life is with her in it.
"Whatchu thinkin about kiddo?" my dad questioned as he sidled up next to me.
"Just… that I really like seeing her like this; all happy. She's so sad all the time; doesn't let the fire in her eyes burn as brightly when she's around other people. You know?"
"I do see what you mean." He said softly, before walking away; lost in thought.
"Hey creampuff." Carmilla murmured as she appeared by my side. "I wanted to thank you for all this, especially getting Mattie to come down. I haven't seen her in six years, since she left for Chicago and never looked back. I missed her so much, and calling just isn't the same as seeing her, you know?"
"It was an honor to help you celebrate your birthday Carm, but it's not quite over yet." I said as my dad came out of the kitchen with an all-black cake with "HAPPY ELEVENTH CARMILLA!" scrawled across it in silvery frosting. "Don't worry, I didn't make it; dad bought it at the store." I joked.
She rolled her eyes and mumbled something about "liking it no matter what" under her breath. A chorus of voices started to sing Happy Birthday. When the song was concluded, she closed her eyes and blew out the candles, while everyone cheered.
(000)
After everyone left, the birthday girl and I were laying on the floor in my room; "Happy birthday Cam." I said to her as I pulled her gift out from under my bed. She quirked an inquisitive brow, but silently opened it. Tearing away the wrapping paper, she revealed a thick volume on astronomy; mainly the constellations. "Since you always like to look at the stars at night and whatnot, I thought you might like to know about all the different constellations and the stories behind the-"
My explanation was I interrupted when Carmilla tackled me with a hug; "I absolutely love it." She whispered softly in my ear.
Later that night, we sat up on the roof gazing at the stars, Carm narrating the individual stories for each constellation. I look over at my friend and think there's no place I'd rather be.