when heaven and hell meet

twenty nine

"Cancel it," she demanded.

"Why?" I asked.

She stared at me blankly before chuckling to herself quietly. Rolling her eyes, she turned her whole body to face me before saying,
"Did you seriously forget?"

I racked my brain trying to remember if I had any upcoming plans, but I didn't think I was missing anything.

"What's happening Monday?" I asked.

"Luci," she said softly. "You're turning 18 remember. It's going to be your birthday."

"Oh," I whispered. "Right. I completely forgot. It doesn't really matter. You know I don't celebrate it."

This past month had given me the most stress than in my 17 years of life. My birthday was the least of my worries.

"What do you mean?" she sighed. "For the last 4 years, we've celebrated your birthdays at my place."

It had been simple. Marcus and Celia, and on rare occasions my mother, would present a small cake with a singular candle to me. They'd sing 'Happy Birthday' and we'd eat in silence while watching a random movie. It wasn't anything grand but it was nice.

"Not really anything to celebrate," I scoffed. "And it's different this year. I don't really feel like having a "party."

I got up off the couch and went back into the kitchen. She followed quietly behind me and watched as I opened the fridge.

"But maybe a party is exactly what you need right now," she said. "It'll be fun come on."

She was being extremely pushy, which could only mean one thing.

"You already planned it," I scoffed. "Didn't you?"

She scratched the back of her head and didn't meet my eyes. I groaned and slammed the fridge door. I headed straight to my room and once again she followed me.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I really am. But it's your 18th! And I already have a theme and ordered supplies and the cake and I really thought you'd be excited about it."

She closed my room door behind me while I fell lazily onto my bed. I buried my face in my hands and took a deep breath.

"I don't want a party, Celia. Cancel it," I demanded.

She paced back and forth and chewed the bottom of her lip. I sat up and glared at her. When she finally made eye contact with me she sighed.

"It's non-refundable," she mumbled. "And I've been saving up for this! I promise you'll love it. It's going to be black and white themed and I ordered your favorite foods and got you a present and everything."

I stared at her for a few seconds before saying,
"I don't have a choice do I?"

She slowly shook her head and threw me a small smile. "Not really, no."

Do I ever have a choice?

"Who's invited to this party?" I asked.

"Well the guest list is small but right now it's, you, me, Marcus, and Khalil," she replied. "I'm going to be wearing a black dress and Marcus is going to match with me. At least I told him he will be."

I nodded and tilted my head to the side. Whenever she spoke about Marcus her cheeks would get a little red. It was awful knowing he didn't care about her as much as she cared about him.

"Can Saint come?" I asked. "Since it's my party I should be able to add someone to the list, no?"

Her body tensed up a bit and her eyes immediately flashed red. My eyes widened since it was the second time I had seen her eyes flare up like this. The red color was deep, but her facial expression didn't match the color she was emitting.