"Happy birthday, Ari!"
Dinah beamed at the little girl in my arms, showing her the three-tiered chocolate cake she'd spent hours perfecting. It smelled awful, but even I had to admit it was gorgeous.
Dinah had insisted on baking it herself, arguing it would be more special for Ari's first birthday with us. Camila fervently agreed, though her innocent proclamation that chocolate cake was clearly Ari's favorite made it apparent she was hoping for the same recipe that had resulted in the cupcakes she loved so much.
I showed Ari where her name was emblazoned on the cake in bright green frosting. Dinah was adamant green was her favorite colour because "she always picks the green one if I give her a choice between two outfits." She said.
Ari had no idea what was written on the cake, but she understood that today was special because we had been showering her with more attention than usual. Dinah had bought her a gold plastic tiara to wear, telling her it was "a special birthday crown." Though she liked being "special," she wasn't a fan of the tiara. Every time it was placed on her little head, it got tossed aside within minutes.
Ari eyed her cake curiously. If I hadn't grabbed her little hand mid-swipe, it would have had an Ari-sized handprint in it.
"Hunry!"
"You can eat it soon," I promised. "We're just waiting for the rest of your guests to get here."
I glanced around at the small gathering already accumulated in our yard.
Ari was too young to go to school, so the guest list had been limited to Justin, Camila, Selena and a few random kids and their parents from our outings to the park. All of them were older than Ari, but it was the best we could scramble together.
The weather forecast assured the darkening rain clouds would hold off for the day, so we'd decided the kids would enjoy playing in our sizable backyard. Dinah had even rented a bouncy castle and a portable playground for the older ones.
I was contemplating whether Ari would be patient enough to wait for Camila and her family to arrive when my girlfriend peeked around the gate into the backyard.
Selena trailed behind, setting her son down in the grass to tie his undone shoelace.
"We were just waiting for you guys," I told Camila as she sidled up to me. "You're the last ones."
"Sorry we're late," she apologized, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Selena had a wardrobe meltdown or five." She cut her eyes at Demi who was helping Dinah set up Disney princess themed plates on the patio. "She's been jittery all morning. She wants to make a good impression."
I chuckled, sparing a glance at the other woman. She was wearing a white eyelet sundress.
"It's fine. We're still setting up. Dinah just took the cake out of the fridge and the kids have been too busy giving the castle a work out to notice they've not eaten yet. It's killing Dinah not to join in, though she's excited to get the barbeque going."
I gestured to the brand new gas grill Dinah had bought for the occasion. It gleamed even under the overcast skies. In her eagerness to learn how to operate her new grill, Dinah had purchased a huge assortment of barbequing foods. Our guests would have a selection previously unseen at a two-year-old's birthday party.
"Cake!" Ari exclaimed.
Camila grinned at her. "Happy birthday, sweetie. Did aunt Dinah make you a cake? I bet it's yummy."
Selena joined us, her son on her hip. She waved at Ari. Justin was more reticent. He cuddled shyly against his mother; it always took him a few minutes to warm up.
"This must be the birthday girl I've heard so much about." Selena smiled at Ari, who informed her that there was cake.
I nodded. "This is Ari. She's just turned this many," I demonstrated holding up two fingers. Ari mimicked me with pride.
We had taught her how to show her age this morning and she'd been doing it incessantly, though she had no idea what it meant, just that it made everyone really happy when she did it.
"Two, already? Oh my. You don't look a day over 20 months," Selena claimed, even as she surreptitiously scanned the yard for Demi. She stood a little straighter when she spotted her. I bit my lip to hide my smile.
Camila chuckled. "Yes, Demi's over there, Se. Stop being a creeper and go talk to her."
Selena ignored her best friend, sticking out her tongue at Camila when the kids weren't looking.
She busied herself with pulling an intricately wrapped gift out of her bag.
"Happy birthday, Ari," she told the little girl as I set the gift on the table with the other brightly wrapped packages Ari had accumulated.
Ari had already grasped those words were often followed by something good.
"Cake?" she suggested.
I smiled at her one-track mind. We definitely shouldn't have shown her the cake first.
"Well, it is your birthday," I conceded, though we had gotten into the habit of saving dessert until the end of her meals. I chuckled at how parental I'd become in a matter of weeks.
Camila regarded Ari's cake with identical gleaming eyes. "I'm with Ari. There's no reason to delay eating cake. It's chocolate!"
She stood to kiss Dinah’s cheek as she passed us with a handful of forks. "You're the best, Dinah!"
Dinah gave a humble shrug, though her smirk shone right through it. "It's nothing. Ari likes chocolate, so…"
I snorted at her contrived modesty, a little jealous my girlfriend was kissing her when she hadn't even kissed me yet.
"Dinah gets a kiss and I don't?" I said pouting. "I thought you liked me best?"
"Sorry, but the cake sealed it." Camila wrapped an arm around my waist, a hint of a smile playing at her lips. "Dinah's my new favourite. Maybe if you bake something as delicious as that cake, I'll reconsider."
I held her to my side, careful to keep from crushing Ari, who reminded me that she, too, was a fan of Dinah’s baking.
"Cake!"
"I'm not waiting until I bake something to get a kiss from my girlfriend." I smirked.
"You're so needy," Camila sighed, but relented, kissing me more fervently than she probably should have in a yard full of children.
"Better?" she asked when she pulled away, soft eyes meeting mine. In them, her feelings for me were written in bold letters. Any irrational jealousy was squashed.
"Definitely," I mumbled, containing my grin.
We rounded everyone up, working in tandem to divide up slices of cake. Normani, who'd taken an inexplicable liking to Ari, offered to help her eat hers so I could help Camila serve the remaining slices.
I handed the birthday girl over to Normani, more than happy to let someone else deal with the messy aftermath of feeding her.
At first it had been bewildering to see the compassionate way Normani supervised Ari, but it had become evident that there was a lot more to Normani Kordei Hamilton than she wanted us to know. Her interactions with Ari were a rare window into what I suspected was the real Normani. There was no denying her maternal streak was real. It was impossible to fake something like that.
I'd thought in the frenzy of handing out pieces of cake, Camila wouldn't notice I wasn't eating a slice. She was more observant than that, though it seemed she was no closer to questioning me about my weird habits. I was starting to wonder if I would have no choice but to tell her myself.
"You must be on the most awful diet ever," she claimed as she forked a decadent piece of cake. "I swear, you eat next to nothing. You wouldn't even eat those salads I brought to the park yesterday."
"No diet. I'm just not hungry," I shrugged.
Camila scoffed. "You're always not hungry. Let's see…"
She proceeded to list numerous occasions I'd turned down food, ticking off a finger with each one. She managed to get to seven before I stopped her.
"Okay, so I've turned down food occasionally. What's the big deal?" I brushed it off.
Camila shot me an incredulous look. "It's not just occasionally. And this isn't food. It's cake. Trust me, anyone human is hungry when there's cake. And this isn't just cake, it's chocolate cake."
My skin prickled with anticipation. I could taste the truth in the air. Would this be the time she called me on it?
"Anyone human?" I repeated, struggling to remain casual, though I wanted nothing more than to confess she was right.
To my great frustration, her attention was drawn to the other side of the yard where Selena and Demi were shuffling their feet, the air between them as thick as water.
"Oh, look!" she gasped, a grin overtaking her face. "Selena's doing it. She's talking to Demi!"
Over the past week, she had been adamant that they were perfect for one another. She was well-aware of her best friend's crush, which wasn't all that surprising. Selena like an open book.
I tried to stay out of it. Dinah was insistent Demi wanted Heidi. I wasn't going to meddle in her personal life; knowing how much it had annoyed me when Dinah had butted into my relationship with Camila was deterrent enough. I would let Demi make her own decisions unless she asked for my opinion.
I would support Demi in whatever choice she made, though a part of me was hoping Camila was right. I liked Selena. She was sassy and intelligent; a perfect foil to my straight-laced, over-achieving best friend.
"I wish I could hear what they're saying," Camila grumbled. "Damn it, if I'd known she was going to make a move, I would have sat closer."
I laughed at her frustrated inflection. "It's very uninteresting. Selena's telling Demi that the pediatric department at the hospital misses her. They're talking about work stuff. Stop being so nosy."
Camila eyed me challengingly. "I'm not being nosy… I'm being a concerned best friend. And holy crap, how the hell can you hear them over the racket the kids are making on that bouncing thing? I'm straining and I'm getting nothing."
I chuckled at the note of jealousy. "I heard purely by accident. You, on the other hand, are being nosy. It's probably karma."
Normani sat down next to us with Ari in her lap. She gave Camila a warm smile. Though they'd warmed up to one another somewhat since their initial meeting, it seemed they tolerated one another more than anything else.
"Selena's really laying the charm on Demi, huh?" she asked, following Camila's gaze.
Camila shot me a smug look that seemed to say ‘see?’
I glanced at Normani, surprised she was attempting to make conversation with us. Normani was usually much more dismissive of Camila. She must have noticed my shocked expression. Her internal voice was conciliatory… almost.
You're annoying when you pout. I figured if I made nice with your human you'd stop with the condescending sighs and 'oh, Normani's such a bitch' thoughts I know you have.
"Don't get your hopes up," I told Camila, though I was speaking just as much to Normani. "There's no flirting involved. They're talking about work stuff. Still."
Normani scoffed, intercepting one of Ari's sticky hands from leaving a brown handprint on her crisp white pants, instead wiping them on a handful of napkins. She was much better at it than I was, even after almost two months of practice.
"You'd think for someone that can read," she stopped from revealing my ability when I shot her a lethal stare, "…people, you'd be better at spotting attraction."
"But Heidi–"
"Maybe she's attracted to Heidi, too," Normani continued, bouncing Ari on her knee. "She's gorgeous. I saw her last week when I was out with Dinah, and the girl is hot. Doesn't mean she can't like Selena, too. People don't turn off feelings just like that. Not even Dr. Goody-Two-Shoes."
I laughed at the absurdity of the conversation. I never thought I'd see the day that Normani appreciated another woman's attractiveness without belittling it in comparison to her own, nor one that Demi was accused of playing the field. And since when did Normani care whom Demi ended up with? She'd always seemed too self-absorbed to care about anyone's life but her own.
"You're calling someone hot?"
Normani smirked. "Well, she's no me, but who is?"
I rolled my eyes. That sounded more like Normani. "I can understand where Camila's coming from, but why are you so insistent there's something going on between Demi and Selena? Just because they are friendly doesn't mean there's more to it."
"I'm just calling it as I see it," Normani shrugged.
"I see it too," Camila insisted, her eyes sparkling. "Maybe they're not there yet, but there's potential. Selena hasn't looked at anyone like that since I can remember. I want her to be happy."
I smiled at her hopefulness. Camila was a hopeless romantic at heart. It was even more apparent with Normani's cynicism still hanging in the air.
"It's not that they wouldn't make a good couple," I clarified. "I just think we should let them decide that on their own. Let them be together because they want to be. Not because they're being pushed together."
"It's not pushing," Camila refuted. "If they need a little nudge to see how perfect they are for one another, what's the harm?"
"Look," Normani said, her gaze still on the pair, "Selena’s touching her elbow. Classic flirtation. And Demi's not stopping her. They probably won't need any nudging. I hope Demi changed her sheets last night, 'cause she's ready to go."
I snorted in derision at that seedy comment. "You really enjoy taking the romance out of everything, don't you?"
Normani grinned proudly in confirmation.
Camila ignored us, her eyes on her best friend. Even her beloved cake had been abandoned in favor of the show our unwitting relatives were putting on. I felt sorry for them. At least they seemed to be oblivious to the fact they were the focus of gossip on this side of the yard.
"Maybe we should give them a little–" I was shushed before I could finish.
I scooped up Ari – who was in desperate need of a change of clothes – from Normani's lap, glad to have an excuse to get away.
"You two spy all you like. I'm going to go do something useful."
I'd just finished tucking Ari's squirming legs into a fresh pair of overalls when Camila's dark head peeped into the room we had designated as Ari's. We'd just finished refurnishing it with a baby safari theme last week.
"All clean," I informed Ari, who seemed to be doing everything in her power to make redressing her a hassle. I didn't envy Demi who was the one to dress her most mornings.
"Cwean sing!" she insisted.
"Not even because it's your birthday," I countered. One time singing the clean up song was enough to scare me for the rest of eternity.
Camila chuckled from her spot in the doorway. "It wouldn't kill you to sing for her, you know."
"Hey," I greeted with a wry smile as she stepped into the room. "Is the Selena and Demi show over?"
She smiled back, leaning against Ari's giraffe changing table. "No. They're still talking. It's not as much fun when you're not there to tell me I'm being ridiculous."
I did up the last button on Ari's overalls, scooping her up.
"You're not being ridiculous. I just don't want you to be disappointed if they don't end up together. Relationships aren't cut and dry. Not with my family."
She regarded me suspiciously. "What do you mean 'not with your family?'"
I sighed, wishing I hadn't brought it up. In the middle of Ari's birthday party was not the time to get into this.
Camila took a step closer to me, her earnest eyes only inches away.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" Her eyes seared into mine. "This is the second time you've gotten weird about your best friends. Last week you freaked out when I brought up Dinah and Normani. Now you're acting odd about Demi and Selena. What's going on?"
"I can't tell you," I sighed, knowing before I said it that she wasn't going to let it go at that.
I gave her my most imploring look, hoping she'd take the hint and drop it. I wasn't as compelling as I hoped. She ignored me.
"Can't or won't?" she challenged. "You can tell me anything, you know that."
I faltered, unsure how to end the conversation without riling her up further. I decided to go with the truth. I was tired of lying to her.
"It's not as simple as that. I've been waiting for you to see the signs yourself. If I just say it, you won't believe me."
Camila's brow scrunched, her hands white-knuckling the edge of the table behind her.
"What are you talking about? Why wouldn't I believe you? And what signs?"
Ari tugged on my sleeve. "Teddy pway?"
"Signs that I'm different," I explained, handing Ari a stuffed rabbit to keep her occupied. "Haven't you noticed anything odd about me? I'm not normal, Camila. Neither are Dinah or Demi."
"That you guys are transex? But I knew that…"
"It’s not that Camila, " I said softly.
Camila's eyes met mine, a trace of uncertainty in them, though her tone was forceful.
"Whatever it is, just tell me."
"Have you noticed anything strange about me?" I pressed.
If I'd still had a pulse, it would have been pounding out like a sledgehammer (AN : Sorry I had to do this xP), much like Camila's was. As it was, I only felt a hollow, nervous ache. I could only hope this conversation didn't end in disaster. This wasn't how I'd wanted to do this at all.
Camila started to shake her head, but I stopped her.
"The truth. It’s okay, you won't hurt my feelings."
She chewed on her lip, unsure whether or not to believe me.
"Well, I guess there's that you don't eat," she offered after several silent seconds. "Not in front of me, anyway. The one time you did, you looked like you'd rather be doing anything else. When I made French toast, remember?"
I nodded. "I'm sorry about that. It wasn't your cooking. Really."
Camila regarded me solemnly. "Are you anorexic?"
I choked down a chuckle, startling Ari who had tossed the rabbit aside and was amusing herself with the cuff of my sleeve.
"No. Not at all. I'm perfectly healthy in my own way."
"Does eating in front of people freak you out? Like… a phobia or something?"
I shook my head. "It's not about food. Have you noticed anything else unusual?"
Camila's eyes flicked to me and she chewed her lip again, still wary of offending me with misplaced words.
Her voice was soft. "You're always kind of cold. Not freezing or anything, but when I kiss you, your lips are always cold. I figured you were sensitive to temperatures. It's not exactly weather up here, you know? Your skin feels a little different, too. No hard, exactly… because you've got the softest lips… but firm, maybe? Does that even make sense?"
I repressed a smile at her rambled description; at least she didn't seem to find kissing me repulsive. In fact, the fluttering of her heart and pink hue of her cheeks told me she liked it very much.
"Anything else?"
She shrugged, but answered more swiftly this time.
"Sometimes you seem to know what other people are going to say before they do. I notice it a lot when you're with Dinah and Demi. It's difficult to explain, but it's like you'll say something in response to something they haven't said yet. It's kind of unsettling, actually." She paused a beat, her tone turning dubious. "Lauren… why are you asking me this? I don't see how any of these things are connected. What am I supposed to be seeing?"
"Just think," I insisted, bending down to retrieve the toy Ari had tossed when she started to get restless. I wished Camila would have brought this up when we weren't with her, but there wasn't anything we could do about it now.
"Lauren…"
"Please, Camila?" I entreated. "What else?"
Camila sighed, but seemed willing to appease me. "Okay… this isn't that weird, but you have insane reflexes. Last week when I dropped that glass and you managed to catch it before it hit the floor? I remember thinking it was almost like you stopped time to make it possible." She laughed. "I know that sounds crazy and you probably think I'm nuts… but I don't know how else to explain it. I've never seen anyone move that fast before."
I nodded. "It's not exactly stopping time, but I can see how it would appear that way to a human."
"A human?" she repeated, her eyes narrowing. "Are you trying to tell me you're not human?"
"Camila…" I started, but she interrupted me, her tone sharp.
"Stop. Why are you doing this? Is this your way of saying you don't want to be with me?"
Tears clouded her beautiful brown eyes and her heartbeat was loud and erratic in my ears. I tried to pull her closer to me but she resisted, turning her watery eyes away. She scrubbed a sleeve over her face, wiping away the traces of wetness that had spilled onto her cheeks.
I waited until she let me tilt her face to mine to respond. I wanted her to see I was sincere.
"Not at all. I'm committed to us. I'm worried you might not feel the same when you discover the truth, though."
"Then tell me the truth!" she snapped, her watery eyes blazing. "What could be so damn important that it'll change how I feel about you?"
I was about to recount all of the things Camila had pointed out and ask her to think about how they could possibly connect, but Ari beat me to the punch.
"Teddy vampire," she said, her small voice clear. She grinned at Camila before returning her attention to the stuffed rabbit like she hadn't just told my girlfriend I was a vampire.
I shushed her, but it was too late. The damage was done. Camila glared at me.
"Vampire," she repeated slowly, her gaze sweeping over me, her expression unreadable. I wished, once more, that I could see what she was thinking. "That's it, isn't it? You're trying to tell me that you're a vampire?"
"Does that scare you?"
Her voice was icy, sarcasm seeping into it. "Not really. If you wanted me dead, I'd be long gone by now."
I tried not to sound too hopeful. "So you believe me?"
She shrugged, though her eyes narrowed. "I don't know. I'd have to believe vampires exist. Right now I'm more inclined to believe my girlfriend is an asshole who couldn't think of a better way to break up with me."
"I can prove it to you," I offered. "Just hold Ari and I'll–"
Camila held up her hand. "Thanks, but no thanks. You can save the bag of magic tricks."
"Camz, please." My desperation grew as it became clear she was shutting me out. "Let me show you that I'm serious. I know you're hurt, but I swear that wasn't my intention."
She shot me a piercing stare. "Oh really? You thought that making up these lies would… what? Make me fall madly in love with you? Grow the fuck up, Lauren."
"I'm not lying."
She rolled her eyes. "Let's pretend you're telling the truth about this vampire thing," she spat, distaste in each word. "Then you should have told me from the beginning. There's no way you get to be the good guy here. Either you're a lying, bloodsucking monster, or a really crappy excuse for a girlfriend. Which is it?"
When I remained silent, she scoffed.
"That's what I thought."
Without a second glance at me she darted out of the room, her footsteps an echo behind her. It took all of my considerable strength not to follow her. The logical part of me knew it would not be a good idea to make a scene downstairs.
Ari looked up at me with her too innocent face, her brown eyes sparkling. I got the impression she knew exactly what she had done.
I sighed. "What the hell, Ari? What did I ever do to you?"