Two Birds [S.Uris]

VI. The Bird Book

Right as she is about to head off, the door slowly opens. It'a a woman around her age, maybe a little older. She has brown curls that are neatly done and purple glasses that fit her face well. "Oh, hello. I- I used to live here. I was wondering if I could maybe look around?" Fleur says to the woman.

"That's quite impossible. My husband's lived here for his entire life. You can't be much older than him. Are you sure this is the right house?" The woman asks. "Maybe not. Might be next door." Fleur sighs, then turns around, preparing to head out.

"Fleur?" She hears someone call out. The blonde slowly turns around, looking towards a tall man that was standing beside the woman. "Arthur?" Fleur smiles. Arthur nods, then walks out, pulling the girl in for a hug. "I haven't seen you since the wedding! How are you and Stanley?" He asks, giving her a tight squeeze, then letting her go.

"Yeah, it's a long story. I'll explain soon." Fleur sighs, looking down at her feet. "Is this your sister?" The woman asks, looking to her husband. "Yeah. Fleur, this is Maya." Arthur introduces her. Fleur smiles, shaking the woman's hands.

"Oh, please! Come in, come in." Maya says, welcoming the blonde into the house. "Sorry, it's a little bit of a mess. Libby is always quite a trouble." Maya chuckles. "Libby?" Fleur asks, smiling as she enters the familiar home.

"Our daughter. She's not here though. She's at her friend's house." Arthur explains. "Wow." Fleur chuckles. "What about you and Stan? Any children?" Her brother asks.

"Yeah, no. We were having trouble in that department. Also, Stanley passed a few days ago." The blonde says hesitantly. "Shit, Fleur. I'm so sorry." Arthur says, hugging her once again.

"It's fine. I really can't stay here for long though. I need to find something in my old room. I'm pretty sure it should still be there." Fleur explains, pointing upstairs. "Sure, feel free to look around.  It's Libby's room now so just watch out for the toys on the floor." Maya smiles.

"I doubt you'll find anything, Fleur. We cleaned out this house a long time ago." Arthur says. "I have a feeling I'll find it." The blonde replies, then slowly makes her way up the steps.

Fleur slowly makes her way up the steps where she heard loud noises. She's home alone and the shuffling coming from her room isn't stopping. "What a perfect way to be spending my birthday." She mutters under her breath as she clutches a large bat in her hand.

She reaches her door, slowly pushing it open and waiting as it creaks. "Surprise!" Stanley shouts, jumping out in front of the door, causing her to jump and swing her bat, hitting Stanley in the arm. The boy screams, falling to the ground.

"Stanley! Holy shit!" She shouts, dropping the bat and running up to the boy, placing her arms on his shoulders. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry." She says worriedly, yet chuckles a little. "Yeah. I think my arm is only mildly bruised." Stanley groans out, slowly getting up and facing the girl as they sit down on the wooden floor.

"Im so so sorry, Stan. You scared the shit out of me." Fleur says, nudging him. "How else am I supposed to surprise my girlfriend on her 14th birthday?" Stanley smiles, inching himself closer to her. "Maybe in a way that involves less scaring." Fleur chuckles.

"I don't know how to make it up to you." Stanley sighs, smirking. "I have an idea." Fleur smiles, placing a hand on his cheek and pulling him in for a kiss. After a minute, Stanley pulls out, leaving Fleur disappointed. "What?" She asks.

"I have a present. Close your eyes." He instructs. "Jeez, Stan. Why do I have to-" she argues, but is cut off by the boy. "Just do it. Hold out your hands."

"Alright, fine." She says, shutting her eyes and holding out her hands. Suddenly, she feels a large rectangular object placed in her arms. "What's this?" She asks, still keeping her eyes closed. "You can open them now." Stanley smiles, standing in front of the girl.

She opens her eyes and looks down, finding a large bird book sitting in her arms with a card on top of it. "Hey, this is the first bird book you ever showed me." Fleur smiles, looking at the cover of the book, filled with tons of birds. "Yeah, that one night you came over for the first time." Stanley adds, walking over beside her and sitting down, wrapping his around her.

"Yeah. And we had to do that Friday dinner thing." Fleur chuckles, taking the card and slowly opening it. Once it's open, she reads aloud.

Fleur looks under the bed, that looks the same as it always did. She reaches her hand far, then feels a cardboard box  that was standing against the wall all the way in the back. She smiles, then pulls it out.

She holds the box in her hand for a moment, then opens it. She pulls out the bird book, blowing some dust off of it. Right beneath the book, was the card.

"Hey, Fleur. I wanna wish you a super happy birthday. I love you so much and you made my summer a million times better. I probably wouldn't have survived without you. Sincerely, Stan the man." Fleur reads.

Fleur smiles, turning to look at Stanley. "I love you too, Stan." She smiles, placing a kiss on his lips once again. "I'm home!" Arthur calls out, causing the two to pull apart, looking towards the door, then chuckling. "You should probably go before Arthur murders you." Fleur says, smiling to the curly haired boy.

"What? I thought he was okay with me now." Stanley asks in confusion. "He is, but not when you sleep over, we're home alone, or when I didn't let him know first." Fleur recites the rules, counting them with her fingers.

"Alright, I get it. Happy birthday, Fleur. I'll see ya Monday at school." Stanley smiles, backing away towards the window. "Bye, Stan." Fleur waves, then closes her window. "Hey." Arthur smiles, walking in.

Fleur quickly pushes her present under her bed, and gets up off the floor. "Hey, Art." She smiles. "Happy birthday. I got you something." He smiles, handing her a wrapped box.

Fleur chuckles, opening it and reading it quietly. "Stan the man." She sniffles, wiping away a tear.

She sits on the bed for a moment, reading through the bird book, remembering everything that Stanley used to tell her.

"And this one's the Tufted Puffin. The golden plumes seen on the Tufted Puffin only appear during mating season. When this species is ready for nesting, they burrow into the edges of cliffs." Stanley says, looking down at his book passionately. "They're pretty birds." Fleur smiles down at the page, leaning her head on Stanley's shoulder. "Yeah, they are." Stanley replies.

"Hey, Fleur. You doing alright? Did you find it?" Arthur asks, walking into the room. "Yeah, I found it." She smiles sadly, sniffling. "What is it?" Her brother asks, taking a seat next to her.

"A birthday present from Stanley. My fourteenth birthday. He was so sweet." The blonde smiles down at the card. "He was a good kid. It took a while, but I liked him. I'm sure he was a great husband too." Arthur comforts his sister, placing an arm around her.

"The best."

Authors note: Fleur's birthday is November 30th (today)

And guess what: it's also my birthday 😃 I'm fourteen.

Happy 43rd birthday to Fleur (cause she was 40 in 2016 😂)