𝚂𝚄𝙿𝙴𝚁𝚄𝙽𝙺𝙽𝙾𝚆𝙽 ✩ ɢʀᴜɴɢᴇ

𝟹𝟶. 𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚡 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚎

"It's Joe Elliott's birthday today! Isn't that cool? I hope he's having a good time. I wonder what kind of cake he'll have. I wonder if--"

"It's your birthday too, Alex. You should also hope you have a good time. And you should wonder what kind of cake you'll be getting."

After Rhea had sent her home that morning, Alex had gone to the AIC house to see if Charlie was there. She wasn't. In fact, the only person there was Layne. He'd been in the middle of cleaning the apartment, and Alex had immediately volunteered to help. He had declined her offer, but she'd helped anyway, and now they were sitting at the table trying to turn a lighter into a flamethrower.

"I'm getting cake?"

"Well, yeah, it's your birthday."

"So?"

Layne sighed.

The sound of a key being inserted into the lock startled Alex into dropping the lighter as she was putting the metal cage back on it. The door swung open and in walked Charlie and Jo, followed seconds later by Jerry, who seemed to be having a hard time looking past the cases of drinks in his arms. He very slowly walked into the kitchen and put them down next to the fridge, then turned around and almost jumped when he saw Layne and Alex sitting at the table and staring at him.

"Holy shit, you guys look scary. Hey--happy birthday," he said, gracelessly patting Alex's shoulder.

"Thanks," she said, managing to turn a stifled laugh into a smile that was too wide on one side. She turned to look at Charlie and Jo, then back at Jerry. "What's up with all the drinks?"

"They're for me," Layne said. "I'm severely dehydrated."

"Yeah. Yup. He needs them all," Charlie said. She turned to Alex and asked, "are you gonna do anything today? Well, right now?"

"Um, no. Why?"

"Perfect. Come on, I'll explain on the way."

Alex handed the lighter to Layne and stood up, waved goodbye to everyone else there, and walked out with Charlie. "Can you tell me where we're going now?" she asked as they went toward the stairs.

"McDonald's, first of all. The other places are surprises."

"Oh, alright. Sweet."

The first stop was odd; Charlie bought Alex ten nuggets and some fries, but did not let her get a drink. "What if I McChoke?" was a question Charlie had no answer for, but she insisted on waiting until they got to the next stop. She also insisted on covering Alex's eyes while they walked to the next place, though she did agree to give Alex clues as to where they were going. Alex couldn't figure it out and as such was very pleasantly surprised to see that it was her favorite diner--the diner she, Charlie, Stone, and Andy had frequented well into their adulthood.

"Well, check out what the cat went and dragged in!" Donna, the owner of the diner, exclaimed when she caught sight of them. Her brows furrowed and she turned to look at the calendar taped to a nearby cabinet before looking back to Alex and saying, "happy birthday, dear!"

"Thanks, Donna," Alex said with a grin. "It's great to see you. How are you? And good ol' Patch and Stickers?" she asked, referring to Donna's husband and son, respectively.