Impossible

Pity Party

"I don't know. I still kept living," he scoffed softly, shaking his head. "I guess even when we're at the breaking point, there's still a way to keep going."

As they watched the organic compound reach its melting point, she wondered about her own limits. Her father had reached his and it cost him everything. She wondered what hers was and how close she was from it. And even if she was there, no one knew or had to know.

Jessica's savings were dwindling with all the birthdays she was celebrating. Angela's birthday came and they had a little party for her at the Webers' house. She and her mom helped Mrs. Weber bake a three-tier birthday cake. Emily played with Angela's twin brothers, Joshua and Isaac, who let themselves be bossed around and help with decorating the living room for the party. Mike and Tyler worked on a birthday banner that had uneven lettering but nobody said anything about it.

Angela was on her first real date with Jacob and wasn't back till the afternoon. When Jacob's Volkswagen Rabbit pulled up in the drive way, they closed the lights and hid as the two made their way inside the house. They all jumped up yelling "surprise!" as the lights went on, startling Angela who was staring at them wide-eyed and clutching her heart. They practically pounced on her with greetings and hugs.

"We know you hate surprises but we know you also want cake," Mike explained. "And we knew you would choose cake any day."

Angela was smiling widely, eyes misting up. "It's a good surprise."

"And speaking of cake," Jessica and Lauren carried the cake monstrosity over. It had buttercream frosting and she had been so tempted and hungry the whole time. "Check out this puppy."

They all ate cake and gave Angela her presents. Jessica had found a nice oak jewelry box from the thrift store, repainted it a deep red and varnished it. Growing up with not a lot of money, she was very good at DIY-ing presents. Angela was always very appreciative of everything she received.

Her best friend hugged her. "Thank you, Jess. It's beautiful."

"You're welcome," she replied before saying in a whisper. "You're gonna give us the details about He-Man later, right?"

Angela pulled away, blushing. She clutched on to the pendant she was wearing and Jessica finally noticed that it was a wooden wolf head the size of a dime and carved with great care.

"Pretty," Jessica remarked. "Is that new?"

Before the brunette could answer, Jacob leaned down and whispered something in her ear and the two were lost in their own little world. There was an easy intimacy with how close they were sitting together, Jacob's arm around her waist as he whispered into Angela's ear. She laughed softly at whatever he said and he gave her his bright smile. Jessica felt oddly bereft at the display.

"That was fast," Lauren told her in a low voice only they could hear. "Not even a month and they're already smitten."

"Some people just have it easy, I guess," Jessica took a big bite of cake, eyes straying to where Mike was laughing at the photos Eric took of the party. "Some of us have to work for it."

"Lucky them," Lauren leaned back into her chair. "Poor us."

Jessica knew she sounded petty and jealous. She was happy for Angela, really. But she wanted what her friend had. She wanted someone to whittle something for her or spoon feed her cake. And she began to wonder if Emily was right and she did need that birthday wish.

Pathetic.

Emily wasn't too old for trick-or-treating yet and after agreeing to share her candy haul with Jessica, she agreed to chaperone her sister as their mom refused to let Emily go alone. Mike was throwing a Halloween party later that night so she had some time to accompany Emily around the neighborhood. Emily wanted to go as a witch and her costume was just a witch's hat and a black dress. Jessica decided to go as a sexy vampire.