audacity // kryoz

twenty-four

"Huh," He says in what sounds like near amusement. "Well, good luck with the cake,"

"Thanks, I'll need it. Bye,"

"Bye,"

I hang up the phone and pull my imaginary sleeves up. Let's bake this motherfucking cake.

***

After 4 hours of batter mixing, re-making the custard and burning the chocolate, I was had something that resembled a cake. It actually looked pretty good but I have no idea if it tastes as good as it looks. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. After struggling to properly fold the cake box I bought just for this occasion, I finally had the cake in the box and in the fridge.

I let out a sigh of relief when the fridge door closed. I turned around to face the kitchen I had made a mess of. I sigh again as I got to work cleaning it all up.

***

Today is the day. It is Anna's birthday. She texted me yesterday asking me if I wanted to come over and chill for her birthday. I apologized and told her that I couldn't. I lied and told her I was going out of town last minute for a family emergency. I felt bad but I hope the surprises I have up my sleeve make up for it.

I knew that her first class started at 12:45 and her last class ended at 3. I had 2 hours and 15 mins to get everything to her apartment and decorate. It was already 12:30 and nearly everything was in the car already. I just had to get the cake from the fridge. I swiftly ran back inside my apartment to grab the cake and carefully put it in the passenger seat. After spending so many grueling hours on it, I was trying to prevent as much damage to it as possible so I buckled it in. Looking into the backseat, I did a quick checklist in my head just to make sure I had everything.

Everything was finally in the car and I was ready to go, I just had to get some final things like alcohol. I mean, after all, it is her 24th birthday, she deserved to get a little drunk.

Finally, in the driver's seat, I began the short drive to Target to pick up a couple of bottles of wine to go with the Italian food I ordered in advance and some vodka to hopefully get us drunk after we eat.

***

I ended picking up a little more than I had planned. I ended up with 2 bottles of wine, some snacks and like a bottle of vodka and tequila. I wasn't planning on drinking straight vodka or tequila so I picked up some drink mixes to put with it. It was definitely more than I planned but I didn't mind, besides it for Anna.

I pushed the bags into the backseat and started the drive across the street to her apartment.

***

After I was sufficiently parked, I went up to her apartment just to make sure that she wasn't in it. I quickly unlocked the door, but slowly opened it. Cautiously, I peeked my head around the door. It looked empty so I opened the door further to walk through it. Her bedroom door was open and that too was empty. I was pretty confident that she wasn't home but I checked the bathroom just to be sure.

***

It was 2:53 and everything was finally done. The food I ordered was here, I finished decorating the place and the alcohol was in the fridge with the cake. I stood back for a moment to take it all in. It wasn't much but I hope she likes it. After some last-minute contemplation, I decided to lower the number of decorations and not use all the stuff I bought. I don't want to overwhelm her on her birthday so I just hung a banner on her kitchen cabinets and blew up a couple of balloons. I ironically bought party hats so I put one of those bad boys on before sitting on the couch. Now we wait.

It wasn't long before I heard the door unlock. I shot up from the couch just in time to see Anna walk through the door and to scream, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!"

Out of surprise, she jumped and dropped her bag. She was obviously not expecting to see me at all. Smiling, a slightly confused look fell onto her face. "What? I thought you were leaving town for a family emergency?"

I looked at her sheepishly before answering, "I may have told a bit of a lie,"

"And to think I was sad that you weren't gonna be in town for my birthday!" She starts looking around, "This is all for me?" she asks.

She's still standing by the door so I walk towards her a bit. "No this is for someone else," I say looking at her with a blank face, "Of course it's for you!"

With a big smile on her face, she starts walking towards the kitchen to inspect the food that was on the island and I trail behind her. Then out of nowhere, she turns around and gives me a hug. I freeze for a moment not expecting it but quickly recover and wrap my arms around her.

With her cheek against my chest and her arms around me, she starts talking quietly, "Thank you so much, this is the most special birthday I've moved out of my parent's house."

At that statement, I felt my cheeks warm up a bit but I didn't want to embarrass myself so I forced the heat to move from my cheeks.

"You're very welcome," I say quietly, near whispering but I knew she heard me.

I was still taking in the moment when I felt her move her head. I move my head to look down at her and her honey eyes were looking right at me. At that very moment, I've never wanted to kiss her more but I knew I couldn't so I didn't. Looking at her eyes I could tell she was having conflicting thoughts, about what I didn't know but I was near certain they were destructive. She thinks that she hides her feelings well but a few months ago I figured out that she couldn't hide her feelings from her eyes as well as she did her face. All I ever needed to know was always in her eyes and this time I needed to move her thoughts quickly and without her notice.

"You ready to party and turn 24?" I ask her with a small smile hoping she'll return it.

I was in luck because she returned my smile instantly, "You bet I am,"

A/N

this part took me a lil longer then i wanted but i wanted to finish a short story i wrote a while ago but never finished. i posted it so if u want u can read it, it's nothing special but i spent a ton of time on it so i would love if u read it. thx for 12k love u all v much and i hope all of you are staying safe. until next time. love u.