30 Going on 13

ONE

  BEEP BEEP BEEP!
  "Ugh, babe, turn it off," I groan as I pull the pillow over my face. I hear the alarm switch off. My husband, Brad, cuddles up next to me.
  "Morning, baby," he whispers in my ear. I smile as he gives me a peck on the forehead. "Now we better wake up before we're late for work," he adds.
  I nod. I crawl out of bed and Brad follows me to the bathroom. I add toothpaste to my toothbrush and go to my closet. Brad's still sitting on the bed with no clothes on but his boxers.
  "What do you think about this one?" I ask him, pulling out a red strapless dress.
  "I don't know," he says, scratching his head. "Maybe you should wear that tomorrow," he stands up and walks towards me. "Tomorrow is a special day." He holds my hands and brings them to his lips.
  "You know I don't care about my birthday." I frown taking the toothbrush out of my mouth.
  "But why not? I can show you something special," he smiles, that crooked grin and dimples that I always loved showing.
  "I already told you," I laugh. "And besides, no one really ever celebrates their thirtieth birthday."
  "Fine," he throws his hand up in the air as if surrendering. "Fine, I at least tried."
  I laugh again and stick the toothbrush back in my mouth.
  ~~~
So, I'm going to skip to the part where I meet my best friend at work cause I highly doubt you'd want to hear all about my morning routine.
  I'm sitting in my office on my computer when I hear a knock on my door. Anabel's head pops in with her usual grin.
"Hey, Anabel!" Debbie runs up to me, arms wide open.
  "Hey, Debs, how are you?" I hug her, smiling.
  "I'm doing amazing! Know why?" She asks poking my on my arm and grinning like an idiot.
  "Is it because of my birthday?" My smiles fades.
  "You know it girl! So what're we gonna do? Go to a club? Take some shots." She said all this so fast I could barely even understand a word she said.
  "Woah woah, none of that is happening." I chuckle.
  "And then we'll go to..wait. What?"
  "I don't celebrate my birthday." I answer plainly.
  "No! No no no no!" She stomps her foot.
"Oh my lord, how old are you?" I scoff. "Now, let's hurry up, we're late for the meeting."
"As your assistant, and you're bestie, I'm telling you-"
"Blah blah blah!" I cover my ears. "Whatever you're going to say I'm going to assume is unimportant."
I grab my brief case and some papers. "'Kay, let's get going. Wait-" I walk up to the mirror hanging on one side of my wall. "How's my hair?"
"Does it matter? I mean, like, they're all women. Unless," her face suddenly turned serious. "You're secretly lesbian."
"What?"
"Nothing, nothing." She says.
"Okay let's go."
We walk out of my office and into a long hallway lighted by bright lamps hung on the high ceiling. Then we open a glass door and into a room. Three walls were all glass and one was made of dark polished wood which hung a large flat screen TV. In the middle of the room was a long glass table in which women sat around.
  "Thank you all for attending this monthly meeting," I greet them with a smile. They stared at me, serious.
  "Tough crowd," I cough into my hand. "So, it's June! And you all know what that is!" I wait for them to at least mumble something back. "No? Oh, come on people! It's summer! Yay!" I smile with arms wide open. Still, silence.
  "Okay." I clap my hands. "So let's get started." I nod towards Deborah. She clicks a remote control and the flat screen TV switched on. Then a picture of young girl laughing appeared on the television with a preppy dress with neon colors holding a pineapple. Her hair caught in the wind.
  "This," I point at the screen. "Is what Florida's teen girls are into. Short dresses, shorts, sandals." The screen changed to a girls feet. She wore pink sandals. "You see? Bright colors like these scream out: summer!" I laugh. I hear shuffling of papers through the quietness. "Um, well, any other ideas?"
  A lady no older than her thirties stood up. "Don't you think Florida's Cuties magazine should have a bit more than just clothes?" She asked.
  "Yes! Yes, that's exactly what my next idea was." I nod to Deborah again. The screen changed showing a purse, and then changed again showing phone cases, then nail polishes, and room decor. "What do you think?" I ask.
  Silence.
  "Okay, so we all agree that this is what Florida's Cuties magazine June edition will be based off of. Let's get to work!" I clap my hands again. All the ladies rushed to get their papers and briefcases and in less than twenty seconds, it was just me and Debbie.
  "Well, that went better than last month," Debbie chuckled.
  "That's because only three people came," I sigh. "I just typed a whole two pages of questions I was hoping they'd ask me."
  "Well at least a fair amount of Florida's Cuties magazines are being sold right?"
  "Whatever, I gotta get home."
  "Oh, why this early? Are you planning-"
  "Bye, Anabel." And with that I left.
  I got in my Volkswagen Passat and grabbed my iPhone. I held the home button.
  "Call Brad," I said to Siri.
  "Calling Brad." Siri replied.
  "Hello?" Brad said through the phone.
  "Hey, babe. I'm coming home."
  "Oh, about that, I think I might be coming home late. You know, a lot of people are actually coming to see that big house I told you about. I think I might actually get it sold by today."
  "That's great honey! Well, you sound busy, call me when you're getting home."
  "Okay, Anabel. Hey, how was work?"
"You know, the usual."
"Hell?"
"Worse. I feel like those ladies hate me!"
"How can someone hate some one as kind and beautiful as you?"
"Shut up, Brad." I smile and hang up.
In no less than twenty minutes, I arrive at my penthouse. I throw my purse and briefcase on the floor and throw myself on the couch.
"Ugh, what a day!" And I doze off.