Birthday... Bash?

Birthday is a salty word if you're not a fan of cake and ice cream.

June 30, 2018

Patricia cracked her eyes open as the sun came through their bedroom window one morning. She knew exactly what day it was, she'd been dreading it for weeks. Today, June 30th, was her birthday... and Piper's. She was never big on parties, presents and such (she'd gotten used to what she had), and it was never any fun having to share with her picture-perfect sister.

Patricia would admit though, since she had been dating Eddie, her birthdays hadn't turned out so bad. It was nice to have someone that cared mostly for her, rather than for both her and Piper, like her parents claimed, or just Piper. She still didn't like big, attention-grabbing birthday spectaculars though, so when she cracked her eyes open that morning, she was checking for signs of anything of the sort.

Lucky for her, Eddie was on the other side of the bed, facing her, eyes closed. She sighed, contently, closing her eyes and hoping to sleep some more, but unknown to her, Eddie had other plans.

He opened his eyes slowly, when he thought she had closed hers again. Seeing as she did, he inched across the bed, careful not to be noticed. He got real close to her face, about an inch away, holding his breath, before he smashed his lips to hers.

Patricia's eyes flew open, as if it would have been someone other than Eddie, but she quickly kissed back, until Eddie pulled away.

"Happy Birthday Yacker," he smirked, pecking her one more time and then hopping out of bed.

"What, that's all I get?" She teased.

"We can finish this later. Now come on, I'm taking you somewhere," he winked as he walked across the room in only his boxers.

"Where?" She groaned, trying not to look at his deeply defined back muscles and rock-hard abs on the other side.

"Really, Yacker? It's a surprise."

Patricia groaned again. She didn't like surprises, even though Eddie's usually turned out alright. "How am I supposed to know what to wear if I don't know where we are going?" she pointed out, sitting up.

"Technically, you don't have to wear anything..." His cheeky comment earned him a pillow to the head as he finished picking out a t-shirt from the dresser. "I mean, you look beautiful in everything?"

"Nice try, Krueger," she laughed, getting up, and giving him one more whack with the pillow before hopping in the shower.

Patricia's eyes slowly cracked open for the second time that day. Taking in her surroundings, she noticed she was basically in the middle of nowhere, Eddie in the drivers seat next to her. She turned her head to glance at the clock: 12:30.

They had been in the car for three hours. Now she knew why he had insisted on leaving so early.

"Where are we?" Patricia asked, finally sitting up straight in her uncomfortable passenger seat.

"Oh good you're up," Eddie said smiling over at her, "we're almost there."

"Where exactly?" She repeated, already irritated by that fact that she'd spent 3 hours of the day cramped up in a car.

"You'll see," he reassured.

So she turned her head back towards the window, watching the trees pass by. That was, until a familiar Sick Puppies tune filled the silence between them.

The name "Piper" flashed across her screen, and in one swift motion she swiped her finger to answer the call and brought the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Happy Birthday Trix!" Piper yelled over the abundance of background noise.

"You too Piper," Patricia said, trying her best to hide her grumpiness from her car nap. Piper responded, but Patricia couldn't understand a single word she said.

"Where are you?" She asked, but the crackling noise she heard instead, followed by the dial tone, told her that the call had been lost. She scoffed, letting the phone fall into her lap, as Eddie looked her way.

"Lost the call?" He asked, and she simply nodded. "Sorry, there's not much reception out here..." He admitted, her second scoff confirming his statement.

"They're at a concert by the way," he said after a few moments had gone by. "Ben invited me to bring you too, but I figured you'd want to do something different."

"So Ben took Piper to a concert, and you're taking me on a ride to the middle of nowhere?"

"Yacker, we're not even there yet," he pointed out, turning up their favorite CD. He was trying his best not to get frustrated with her.

"Whatever," she huffed, "It looks like Ben's winning." She froze once she realized what words that had just come out of her mouth.

He knew, well, he hoped, she didn't actually mean that. By now he figured he should be over the whole rival thing, more than over it actually, but it was just the way she said it that brought back bad memories: The time Ben had spent a few weeks at their school.

The constant competition between the two was always evident, and had been easy to pick up for Eddie's housemates as well. Not only did Eddie have to compete against Ben for the dodge-ball tournament, but there was also a time he thought he would lose Patricia to him as well. He had become so wrapped up in the competition that he didn't even realize she just wanted him to drop the whole thing, and didn't even care who won the stupid tournament. And now, when she said it as if she did care, about their irrelevant rivalry, it made him wonder what actually went through her head all those years ago.

But, she hadn't meant for it to come out like that, really. It was meant to sound like more of a tease than anything, but when he didn't say anything back, she figured she should not say another word. That would assure she wouldn't wind up in anymore trouble.

When they finally arrived at their destination, however, she still felt a bit guilty. "Plotter Kill Nature Preserve" she read the sign out loud. "Seems a little violent for a nature preserve" she teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Eddie smiled at her effort. "Looks like you caught me" he chuckled, putting his hands up in mock defeat.

"Well, let's see what surprise you have in store for me, shall we?"

"I thought we had established I'm not exactly the outdoorsy type," Patricia huffed, slowing to a halt. Her legs were getting tired after almost thirty minutes of hiking. She couldn't even imagine how Eddie felt, he was carrying a dorky backpack.

"And I thought we had established you were going to have to patient," he smirked.

"I thought we had established I'm not exactly patient either," she huffed, crossing her arms, noting the grey clouds rolling in. "Will you at least tell me why you're carrying a backpack?"

"I said be patien- ah it's right through here!" Eddie exclaimed, pulling her through the trees.

"What's right through-"

"Wait!" Eddie said stopping abruptly. "Close your eyes."

"What?! N-"

"I said close your eyes!" He exclaimed, but when she didn't obey, he stood behind her and covered her eyes instead, continuing to lead her.

"Just a few more steps... and... Voilá!" Eddie exclaimed, in a cheesy French accent, removing his hands from her eyes.

Before Patricia stood a waterfall, about 50 feet into the air, with sparkling water flowing down the rocks, falling into the rippling river below. It was a beautiful sight, even without a clear sky above. "Whoa..." She breathed.

"You like?"

"Of course, doofus! I'm surprised you found this place," she teased.

"My mom used to take me here all the time when we lived closer," he admitted, taking off the backpack. "And, drumroll please... a picnic for two."

Patricia rolled her eyes, but helped him lay out the blanket and the food, sitting down next to him. "Can you actually pronounce the stuff this time?"

"Yes," Eddie promised, smile plastered on his face, thinking back to their dates at Anubis. "Guess picnics sorta became our thing huh?"

"Guess they did," she admitted as she scooted closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder while they watched the water rush down over the rocks. "Thank you," she muttered, soaking in the quiet moment they had together. The past few weeks had been very busy, and she realized they hadn't really had a moment to themselves, until now.

Eddie smiled to himself, and kissed the top of her head, content with the relaxing moment as well. He hadn't really gotten her a present, he figured the proposal would be enough. He was planning on doing it today, but was just waiting for the right time. He'd even brought the ring with him, in the backpack, and he could even do it right now.

But...he just didn't want to ruin to silence of the moment. It was just so... serene, that even moving a muscle would break the fragile silence. Not to mention, it wasn't often that Patricia rested her head on his shoulder so openly. He began to close his eyes, lightly resting his head on hers, until a crack of thunder jolted to two awake from their daze.

"Shit," Eddie cursed as it started to pour, raindrops instantly soaking the two. They both hopped up quickly, trying to salvage as much of their picnic as they could, before throwing the red-checkered blanket over their heads and heading back to the car as fast as their legs could carry them.

They both let out a sigh when they sat down in the car, soaking wet, as the rain continued to fall outside.

"Did we save any of the food?" Eddie asked hopefully.

Patricia rummaged through the bag, trying to find any remains. "Nope."

"Great," Eddie huffed. "Guess we'll have to drive until we find a place to stop." He started the engine of the car, turned up the music once more, and then they were off.

"Can we stop here?" Eddie begged about an hour and a half later. Patricia looked at the billboard sign for some diner that she really didn't want to stop at, but she was just a hungry as Eddie.

"Please?!"

"Fine," she gave in. "Did you even bring any money?"

"No," Eddie grumbled, disappointed in himself.

Patricia sighed, searching around the car until, luckily, she found a ten. They could at least split something.

When they entered the diner a few minutes later, one waitress immediately caught Patricia's attention. She was tall, thin, bleach blonde, and had one of those tans that was way to dark to be real. She hated seeing girls like that, wearing close to nothing, especially when she was with Eddie. It was sickening how little self-respect they had. Besides that, they also always drooled over Eddie, which was even more sickening. Hadn't Joy told her about some 'girl code' that says you can't go after a guy who's already taken? Well, Joy hadn't exactly followed that rule herself, but that shouldn't exempt the rest of the word.

Patricia was actually counting on not being seated in the area by that one waitress, but of course that's exactly where they headed.

"I'm Ashley, and I'll be your sever today," she said popping her gum, obviously uninterested. Well, that was until she saw Eddie. Upon seeing him, she immediately stood up straight, a sickly smile emerging on her face.

"And who might you be?" She asked flirtatiously, batting her eyelashes at him.

"He's taken," Patricia spat, smirking at the girl's eye roll as she walked away, going to get them waters.

Usually this wouldn't bother her as much as it did today. Maybe it was the fact that she had spent half of her birthday in a car while the skies opened up outside, but this chick definitely had a liquid-dumping in her near future.

"I could've told her that myself you know," Eddie half-smiled when he realized she wasn't talking to him.

"Whatever," she huffed, taking a look at the menu as the waitress returned. Patricia was still watching her like a hawk out of the corner of her eye though.

She set down the waters. "Anything else?"

"Yeah I'll have some coffee..." Eddie said, then looking to Patricia, waiting for her to answer.

"I'll take a new waitress," she smirked, setting the menu down. Ashley only smirked back mockingly, throwing some straws down in the middle of their table.

Eddie picked one up, examining the wrapper, and lightly chuckled. Patricia, wondering why in the world Eddie would be laughing at a straw wrapper, picked one up for herself, only to see a the waitress' number scribbled across.

She scoffed, feeling her blood boil as she saw Ashley make her way back over to their table, pot of hot coffee in hand. Patricia glared at her the whole time Eddie ordered for them, and muttered a "Watch your back," when she disappeared again.

"So..." Eddie started. "I'm sorry your surprise didn't really go as planned..."

Patricia's only response was to force a small smile, before deciding to get up and go to the restroom.

Eddie had to admit, she was making him a bit upset. It's wasn't his fault the weather didn't exactly agree with his plans, and it wasn't his fault the waitress thought he was attractive. He just didn't understand what had her on such an edge today, and he just wished she would talk to him. Despite their five-year relationship, Patricia still was not very good with opening up to people.

He saw Patricia returning, as well as their waitress, who had two plates of burgers and fries in her hands.

Patricia saw her walking, her shirt unbuttoned a little more than it was before, and decided now was her perfect opportunity. She stuck her leg out as she approached the booth, tripping Ashley. However, Ashley had oh-so-kindly dumped both plates of food in Patricia's direction, before falling onto Eddie.

"You slapper!" Patricia exclaimed, standing up without finishing her sentence to grab the pot of coffee instead. She began to dump it on her, but was forced to stop when Eddie pushed Ashley off of him and grabbed the coffee from his raging girlfriend.

He set it down, apologizing, before grabbing Patricia's arm, pulling her out of the restaurant.

They both sat in the car with complete silence surrounding them for a few minutes, neither knowing what to say.

"You can't just do that Patricia," Eddie said seriously. "I know she was a bitch, but-"

"But what?" Patricia scoffed. "She was a cute bitch?!"

"That's not what I was going to say..."

"Yeah, whatever. And I don't need you to tell me what I can and can't do," she spat before turning her head towards the window and putting her feet up on the dashboard, doing her best to fall asleep for the long car ride ahead of them.

Patricia walked straight to the couch when they finally arrived home, Eddie following behind.

"You finally ready to talk to me?" He said with attitude, not even trying to hide the fact that he was upset with her.

"Depends, are you done flirting with other girls?" She spat, turning on the TV, ready to continue ignoring him.

"God, Patricia I was not flirting!" He exclaimed, standing up and turning the TV off so they could actually settle this.

"Oh no, you smiling at all the girls we pass, including the one who spilled food all over me, is not flirting." She stated sarcastically, not even looking him in the eye.

"Seriously, I can't be friendly? No wonder everybody in this damn building is scared of you." He spat, finally catching her attention.

"At least I don't flirt with other guys!"

"Would you stop going on about that!" He shouted. "Five whole years I could have spent with anybody else, but I chose you."

He regretted those words as soon as they came out of his mouth, and even more so when Patricia let out a little gasp instead of a snarky comeback. He put his head in his hands. "Patricia, I didn't mean it like tha-"

"No it's fine! I'll leave!" she shouted, "Have fun with anybody else."

"Wait!" he called after her, but she was already out the door, the slam echoing through the now silent apartment.

Eddie growled and kicked the counter as hard as he could, letting out his frustration, only damaging his foot more than the counter. He ran his hands through his hair, wondering what on Earth he could do to fix this. That's when he remembered how his and Patricia's fights would usually end: she would slam the door, leaving them both to cool off, and then he would open the door, to see that pretty little smirk on her face, and he would wrap her in his arms. So when he went to the door that day, that's exactly what he was expecting, and then they could move on with their day, because for God's sake, it was her birthday.

But this time, the time he regretted his careless words the most, the hallway was empty.

Patricia wavered outside the door the Piper's hotel room, deciding whether she should knock or go somewhere else. They probably weren't even home, because Ben had taken her to some stupid concert, probably classical music. But when she was about to knock, the door opened, Ben screaming "Fine!" before pushing past her and stomping down the hall.

Patricia opened the door all the way, and entered when she saw Piper sitting criss-cross on the hotel bed.

"Hey," she muttered, quickly wiping some tears away.

"Uh... are you okay?" Patricia asked awkwardly, considering she had just walked in on them in the middle of a fight.

"Do I look okay? Ben and I just had a fight!" Piper exclaimed.

"About what?"

She sighed, "I don't want to talk about it... Why are you here?"

Patricia took the chance to flop down on the bed next to her sister. "Eddie and I had a fight too..."

Piper nodded, in understanding. "Want some ice cream?" she asked after a few minutes.

"What? Why?"

"Well, for one I'm pregnant, but it also helps after, you know, a fight," Piper explained. Patricia pondered this for a moment, she'd never really let Joy or any of the other Anubis girls talk to her if her and Eddie were in a fight, let alone drag her into one of those post-breakup sisterhood meetings.

"I don't thin-"

"Trust me," Piper interrupted, shoving the carton in her face, "It helps."

Patricia didn't say anything else after that, they were done with the usual's:

Usually Eddie's surprises turned out fine, but today they didn't, just like usually Patricia would have waited outside the door, but this time she didn't.

And neither of them knew where it would go from there.

Ugh sorry that sucked, like really sucked, but I told myself I had to finish this one by today so yeah. Thanks for the reviews though! They really do make my day!