Chapter Two

Well that was a great success!

Just what I've always wanted! To spend my birthday, my eighteenth no less, in Promptcare because of the discovery that my baby sister is allergic to shellfish! If only I had thought to grab Mom's camera! The source of blackmail material from this little incident would be endless.

"Shut up." Lil grumbled as I walked into her room carrying a glass of water and some painkillers. Even though she was completely fine after her allergic reaction scare, she now had an ear-splitting headache. Ear-splitting because she was causing the rest of us to go deaf with all her complaining.

"I haven't even said anything." I said as I handed her the glass and the painkillers.

"Yeah, but you were going to. Like how I did this on purpose or something to mess up your birthday." She snarled defensively back at me.

My eyebrows simply shot to my hairline.

"Being unable to breath due to having an allergic reaction to something is pretty lengthy thing to do to simply mess up someone's birthday, even for you."

"So, you're not mad?"

"That you had an allergic reaction on my birthday? Are you insane? Wait, don't answer that. Of course not, Lil. Why the hell would I be mad at you?"

"Well," she shifted uncomfortably in her bed, "you had that look."

I looked down her blankly.

"What look?"

She rolled her eyes at me.

"The look you get when you're annoyed or angry about something. You sort of shut down and not talk to anyone." This is what happens when you have psychoanalyst for parents, you find yourself psychoanalysing people with no conscious thought that you are in fact doing it.

"Lil," I said softly as I sat down by her feet, trying to get my mind over the fact of how silly she could still be and that really, even though she tries really hard to make you forget this fact, that she still is just a kid. A slightly messed up one at that. I blame the parental unit. "I wasn't mad or annoyed at you, ok. I was worried about you, silly. You gave us a real scare when you start doing your impression of Violet from Willy Wonk's and the Chocolate Factory. Which, by the way, never do that again, I seriously mean that."

"So, not mad."

"Nope."

"Do you want your birthday present?" she asked unexpectedly.

"Um, sure. Though honestly Lil, you really didn't need to get me anything." Lil simply rolled her eyes back at me as she leant of and pulled something out of her bedside cabinet drawer. She then handed it to me, with all seriousness.

It was a rectangle object wrapped, rather impressively (and by impressively, I mean, the amount of tape she used wrapping it) in birthday paper. I turned it slowly over in my hands, trying to guess what it might be.

"Are you going to open it or simply stare at it all night?" Lil complained as she shoved my side with her foot.

"I was just trying to figure out how to do just that. How much tape did you use?"

"Enough."

"Obviously."

I unwrapped it, or more correctly ripped at the taped paper. I finally got through it with scissors that Lil handed to me.

Once it was completely unwrapped and I saw what it was, I looked up at her with a deadpanned expression.

She giggled.

"Well, you are hopeless. I thought that it might help."

"A Dating Guide for Hopeless Guys?" I quoted the title of the book she had given me.

"You need all the help you can get. I mean, it took you over a year to tell Mia how you actually feel about her, God only knows how long it will take to get you both on a date, together." I smacked her over the head with the book.

"Ow! I was only trying to help!" she squealed as I reached out, wrapping my arm around her neck before pressing my closed fist to the top of her head and gave her a well-deserved head noggy.

"OW! Michael STOP! STOP! I'm sorry! I'm SORRY!" she screamed as she tried, in vain, to escape from the torture I was inflicting upon her head. "Look, inside! LOOK INSIDE!"

"Huh?" I let up a little on my grasp on neck and she managed to wiggle away from me, giving me a dirty look all the while.

"Look inside, dumbass!" she growled as she rubbed the stop of her head.

"Of what?"

"The book! Back cover!"

I did as she asked and my mouth dropped almost immediately.

"Where did you get these?" I asked softly as I pulled out what she had so gently tucked inside the back of the book, flicking through them with slight amazement.

"Typical of you not to notice that photos were being taken at each of the dances, which you could later buy from the Photography club." Lil said with a snort. For that was what she had given me, her real present to me, I mean, were photos from both the Cultural Diversity Dance and the Non-Denomination Winter Dance. And even though they were taken by an amateur photographer (someone who still goes to our school), they were actually pretty good photos of Mia and me.

"Thanks Lil." I said as I looked up from them to her with a grin written all over my face.

She actually looked relieved before then, of course, becoming completely embarrassed by the whole thing.

"The only reason I got those for you, was simply to show you how obvious it was to everyone else that you two had something going on between you and…"

"Yeah, yeah, Lil." I said cutting into her embarrassed rant, "I understand. These weren't a present as such as to show me how slow and hopeless I am when it comes to getting with, being with and so on with another person."

"Another person who happens to be my best friend." She warned and I rolled my eyes.

"Right. Anyway, thanks for these." I said as I carefully replaced the photos back into the back cover of book Lil had also given me. "Try and get some sleep, ok." I added when I noticed how restless she still was.

"And if you need anything…" I started but stopped when she death glared me. Rolling my eyes back at her, I quickly add as I moved out her bedroom door, just in case she thought to throw anything at me for being too brotherly towards her, "I'm right down the hall." She didn't but I heard her exasperated sigh as I closed her bedroom door.

As I was heading for my own room, which also served as Pop's unused study, I heard Mom calling for me.

Tucking Lil's present under my arm, I headed in the direction of Mom's call.

"Yeah Mom?" I tuck my head around the den doorway, "What's up?"

She simply beckon me to where she and Dad were sitting on the couch. I walked over to them and for the first time actually noticed the large rectangle box sitting on the coffee table in front of them. It was wrapped in blue and silver wrapping paper with silver envelop stuck to the top of it.

"Couldn't give this to you at lunch, but better late than never." Dad said as Mom handed me the box, which was a reasonable weight as I sat down on the floor by the coffee table.

"Can I open it?" I asked to which both my parents both looked amused.

"No, you have to sit there and stare at it, never to know what lies beneath the wrapping paper."

"Morty, stop teasing him." Mom sighed before smiling encouragingly at me. With a quick grin to them both, I opened my birthday present from them and was met with a cardboard box.

"Open the box." Mom said before I could make any smart-arse comments.

I opened the box and my mouth dropped.

"No way."

"You were saying that your old optima was starting to pack it in, so…" Dad grinned at me as I gently took out my new laptop out of the book.

"How much ram does it have?" I asked before remembering that neither of my parents were exactly what you would call 'techno wise'.

"Instruction Manual." Was all they said in response.

"It's fully charged and ready to go. Operating System already installed. And yes, it's a Linux OS, we made sure of that." Dad said, rolling his eyes at me which I only grinned back at.

"Not that we want to hear any more about that," Mom warned me, "you're still grounded from using your laptop because of that article you wrote, young man."

"But you grounded me from using my optima, you never said anything about grounding me from using this one." I said gesturing at my new laptop

"He's got you there." Dad chuckled; to which Mom simply shot him a dead-panned expression, before she turned back to me.

"This Laptop," she said as she gestured to the laptop in my lap, "is meant purely for college use."

"Then why give it to me now?" I complained. The idea of not being able to use this until fall was a horrifying thought.

"Birthday present." Dad said with a shrug.

"So you were out of ideas as to what to get me for my birthday. You decide to get me a laptop, which I then can't use until I'm in college? That's almost nine months away! The upgrades that I'm going to have to do to get it up to date when I get there are going to be enormous, not to mention time-consuming." I grumbled but I knew that if I kept up with the techno-babble my parents would eventually cave to letting me have this new laptop now.

"Do you promise not to write any more articles that have the possibility of getting you shot because of them?" Mom asked with a sigh, to which, of course, I nodded my head vigorously.

"And that you will use it only for school work purposes." Again I nodded.

"And…"

"Mom!"

"Ruth!"

Dad and I both complained.

"Ruth, I think he gets it." Dad said with a grin and Mom sighed.

"I just want him to be responsible…" She stopped when she saw the looks that both Dad and I were giving her and sighed. "Right, silly me, of course, you will be." She kissed the top my head. As she drew back I could see she was fighting back tears.

"No, don't…"I started.

"I can't believe you're eighteen already. I still remember when you were…"

"Yeah, Mom." I said over her quickly because I could feel my head just about ready to explode from embarrassment.

"Sorry, Sweetheart." Mom said as she ruffled my hair affectionately, "you're just growing up so fast."

I glanced in Dad's direction and we shared a look that clearly read 'Mother's!'.

I was finally allowed to escape a short time after that, heading back to my room with my presents, which is, hands down, are the best ones I've ever received.

I mean, I've received laptops for my birthday in the past, that's nothing new, but they've all been hand-me-downs from Dad. I've never received one that was mine to begin with. Until now.

My face broke once more into a wide, delighted grin.

"Did you get a laptop again?" Lil asked when I past her room and she stuck her head out as I went by.

I showed her my new laptop, that wasn't simply new to me, but completely and utterly new, and grinned even wider at her grumbles of envy.

"You have all the luck with presents." She grumbled up at me, a pout on her lips.

"You can have my old laptop." I promised her and she immediately brighten, because even though it is old… ok, like three years old, it's in top notch condition, with the latest upgrades and so on, so Lil is actually getting a pretty good deal.

We said goodnight to each other and headed for bed.

So overall, I guess, it wasn't such a terrible birthday after all, though…

It would have been even better if she had called.

I looked over the photos Lil had given me with the tiniest of wistful smiles.

I would see her again soon, so her not calling, even on my birthday, isn't really such a big deal.

Author's Note: I'm sorry that this chapter didn't have the phone conversation between Mia and Michael, that's next chappy. I just wanted to write the aftermath of Michael's birthday adn him getting his presents from his family.
I hope Lil wasn't too OOC. I wanted a scene between them and her giving him a crappy present that actually concealed his real present, but I think while doing that I made her... too nice? I don't know, lol. I tweaked that bit between them quite a bit.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed and please, reviews are loved.