"No matter your problems, face them with a bright smile and a bucket of chocolate ice-cream," nana once wisely told me. At the time, I was barely twelve and thought that I could summon a unicorn if I just believed in myself.
A decade later, despi...
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Maeva's point of view.
"Where do I put the cake?" asks James, a bead of sweat hanging onto the tip of his nose.
He's been lifting boxes and moving tables for the past hour. The poor thing is working himself to death so that this party is a raging success. As I help him with the huge cake box he's holding, he looks at me, words almost falling out of his half-opened mouth. He remains silent, though, and so I proceed with the decoration.
"Is everything okay with Mark?" he finally asks, his hands hiding in his pockets. I nod as I keep blowing the rest of the balloons Julia's left for me.
To be honest, I haven't seen Mark in a while. After the last day of the bar exam, I got very busy at the lab. Hurdles of samples I have to analyze every single day, and Virgil is no help at all. He keeps sipping coffee and telling me how I always mess up. If he ends up being pushed into a lyophilizer one day, I'm not to blame.
"You haven't been hanging out a lot."
"I have a lot of work, and..." I explain, a balloon's end stuck in between my teeth.
"I know what you told him the day of the exam," he casually says.
Spitting out the rubber sphere and sending it flying through the room, I look at him, a questioning frown taking over my facial expression. Hence, he takes another balloon and stretches it with his fingers as he begins explaining, "We were having a couple of drinks, the other day. He told me about that spa night and to say that he liked it would be an understatement."
"Yeah, it was pretty good," I say proudly, "I had to somehow get him in the mood for his exam."
"And so, you got his hopes up?" he asks, his eyebrows shot up to the middle of his forehead. He pulls a stool and takes a seat next to me, waiting for me to take the fully blown balloon out of my mouth.
"What are you even talking about?"
"I thought she was the smart one in the group," says Jackson as he walks into his brother's bar, a couple of gin bottles in hand. Soon enough, Michael and Julia come in as well, and they rest their elbows on the bar counter as they shoot me glares from across the room.
"She still doesn't get it," concludes Michael, a defeated tone taking over his voice.
"Nope, and I really want to hit her," squeaks Julia, banging her head on the table in frustration.
I really don't see why everyone's so riled up. I only helped him get over a rough patch. They should be thanking me if anything. Not only did he finally agree to take the exam, but he passed brilliantly and now he's officially a lawyer. I demand a bouquet of flowers and a huge box of chocolate as a -thank you for taming the mule- gift. We wouldn't be preparing this party if it weren't for me.
"Maeva, you're confusing everyone here," says James, snapping me out of my reverie.
"I don't see what's confusing," I reply, my hands thrown in the air as the frustration in the air has infiltrated my lungs and got into my blood.
