"Funny how the heart can be deceiving
More than just a couple times
Why do we fall in love so easy
Even when it's not right"
-Pink
*
Toby and Felicity had gone back to the dining hall the second Sebastian and I started kissing. Hand in hand, the two of us approached the table, our friends waiting behind it, their eyes on us, but there were a dozen other people all around doing the same. We soon found out that our table was now adorned with birthday garlands. A chocolate cake was right in the centre, a golden "L" shaped candle was lit on it. Before my brain could understand what was going on, everybody started singing "Happy birthday" to me. I felt so embarrassed, but happy. I bent over the table and blew out the candle as everyone applauded.
Two minutes later, everything was back to normal. The other guests and the bed & breakfast staff got back to what they had been doing before my arrival with Sebastian in the dining hall. I cut the cake for the four of us, we made a toast in my honor and then we ate and drank.
It turned out that, not only Toby had been secretly conspiring with Felicity to arrange this weekend getaway, but also - without Felicity knowing! - had helped my boyfriend finishing his Los Angeles job in order to let him return to London earlier than expected, just in time for my birthday. Sebastian had arrived that same evening directly from the airport by rental car while we were having dinner. I had to admit that Toby had done a great job with this birthday gift. I planned to thank him in person later.
Felicity started taking pictures of our party with her phone camera and posted a few on her Facebook tagging herself, me and Sebastian. When Toby revealed that he had no Facebook or any other social media profile at all, she labelled him "Loser".
"As punishment, I'll take pictures of you with Lily smearing the leftovers of the birthday cake on your face!" she declared.
At first, Toby firmly refused, but when Sebastian claimed to love the idea and pushed him to switch seats with him, he went along with it. I was amused too, I put a yellow paper pointy hat on his head and then I grabbed the plate containing all the cake that we couldn't eat.
"Are you ready to snap the pictures?" I asked Felicity, who sat near me with her phone aimed at us. She did a thumbs-up and I started to countdown. "Three... two... one!" I smeared the cake on Toby's face and the flash of Felicity's phone camera hit us.
The four of us laughed very hard, Toby included, Sebastian even applauded. Felicity kept on snapping pictures and Toby decided that I had no privilege as the birthday girl and so he could get his revenge straightaway. He took a big piece of cake from his lap and mashed it on my face. We laughed harder and harder, the flash kept on hitting us.
When I felt calmer, I took a napkin and helped Toby to clean his face a little bit.
"Thank you" he said a few seconds later, taking the napkin from my hand while I was removing chocolate from his beard. He looked me straight in the eye.
He smiled, I smiled.
I couldn't help noticing that, since Sebastian's arrival, Toby had been barely speaking, avoiding to look at me. Now our eyes were locked together again and I just lost myself in that moment, that lasted longer than I expected. It took the last of the flashes to interrupt it.
I suddenly realized that my face and the front of my dress were filled with crumbs of chocolate cake, so I got up and said "I'll go to get myself cleaned up."
Felicity, who was tapping on her phone, raised her head, got up and followed me to the toilet.
As she helped me removing the remains of my cake war with Toby from my body, I told her about Sebastian and I confessing our love for each other. After five minutes of me talking non stop and she keeping quiet, I stared at her, frowning.
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
She turned on the tap and washed her hands. "Yes" she said, toneless. "Why?"
I shrugged. "I have just told you that Sebastian admitted his feelings for me and you just... seem like you don't care, that's it."
Felicity stared back at me. "I am truly happy for you" she smiled. There was honesty in her eyes, and affection, but also... concern? "It's just that..." She stopped, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again. "You know, it doesn't matter now" she finished, smirking and waving her hand as to throw out something that wasn't important at all. "You deserve to enjoy your birthday to the fullest. We'll talk about it when we get home."
"Are you sure?" I asked, touching her arm.
She put her hand on mine and squeezed it with love. "Absolutely. Let's go back to the boys."
***
"Where is Toby?" Felicity asked as soon as we returned to our table.
Sebastian raised his head, saw me and smiled, making me melt. "He's outside talking to Daisy on the phone" he replied to Felicity but looking at me, he took my hand and made me sit on his legs.
I kissed him and took his beautiful face between my hands. "You look exhausted, baby. Do you want to go to sleep?"
He shook his head but rubbed his eyes with the tips of his thumb and index finger. "I want to stay with you at least until midnight."
I chuckled. "Are you afraid that I will turn into a pumpkin after midnight?"
"I don't want to miss a second of your special day. I arrived so late..."
I kissed him again.
Felicity stopped typing on her mobile phone, put it into her handbag and got up. "I should go to the reception to pay for the cake and the birthday garlands" she said. "But I need to withdraw some cash before. I had a problem with my credit card."
"I will pay for them" Sebastian suggested. "It's the least I can do."
"Shut up" she admonished. "Toby told me that you paid the room for Lily and me, so please let me be the independent woman I am and pay for the birthday party I have arranged."
Sebastian sighed. "I spotted an ATM a couple of kilometers away from here. Do you want me to drive you there?"
"Oh, thank you so much!" Felicity turned towards me. "Are you coming with us?"
I thought about it for a few seconds, then I made a decision. I got up. "No, I think I will wish Toby goodnight and then go back to my room to have a shower."
Sebastian got up too. "Don't go to sleep just yet. You owe me one."
He winked at me and I blushed.
"See you later" I whispered, my mind to what was coming next for us.
He kissed me and headed with Felicity to the bed & breakfast main entrance, I walked towards the yard. I saw Toby from the distance, he was sitting on the fountain, in the same exact spot Sebastian and I had shared hours before. I walked towards him on the gravel track until it become a cobblestones path. Just a few steps away from the fountain, I almost tripped over a bulging cobblestone and I silently cursed the stupid high heels that I was wearing.
Toby didn't notice me, his elbows leaned on his knees, his forehead on his hands. He was the picture of desperation.
"Toby!" I exclaimed, quite concerned. I sat near him and touched his shoulders. "Hey, is everything alright?"
He took a deep breath and sat upright. He looked ever more exhausted than Sebastian, who had travelled from the other side of the world to attend my birthday party. Toby looked like he was back from hell. He glanced at me. "I'm okay, Lily." Even his voice didn't sound like him.
"Hey, don't lie to me" I protested. I saw his phone in his hands. "Is it Daisy? Did something happen?"
Toby rubbed his beard and kept on avoiding to look at me. "I can't... I don't want to talk about it now."
"Okay" I said. Silence followed for a minute, until I decided to break it saying "Thank you for your birthday gift." I tried to express all my gratitude, knowing that words would have never been enough. "Nothing else could have made me happier."
He smirked, still not looking at me. "That's exactly why I did it" he murmured.
He sounded so far away, so lost. Whatever was going on, he was my friend and I wanted to help him. I took his hand. "Is there anything I can do for you, Toby?"
He said nothing and didn't move his hand, but neither did he pull it away from mine. Something had broken inside of him, I could feel it. I wanted to hold him close, tell him that everything was going to be okay, but I also felt that if I touched him more than I was already doing, he would have fallen into pieces. So I tried to instill all my affection for him through the touch of my hand.
Toby suddenly turned his head towards me and his amber eyes were huge, dark and... without stars. My heart skipped a beat when I realized this. "Just stay" he breathed, there was need in his voice, he was asking for real help.
"I'm not going anywhere" I whispered, and I meant it.
"Thank you" he said.
His hand finally moved, his fingers intertwined with mine in the same exact way it had happened with Sebastian earlier that night and, like then, we spent a few moments just contemplating our hands in silence. The more my skin would touch his, the more I felt like this was exactly what he needed, that my touch was powerful enough to make him feel better, even if it was something very innocent, very simple... like drinking a cup of tea or watching the falling rain.
"Hey!" a voice snapped.
We suddenly looked up to see Sebastian taking long strides towards us, Felicity walking just behind him.
Something in the way Sebastian was moving and watching us pushed me to leave Toby's hand and jump on my feet, startled. "Sebastian--"
He ignored me and stopped right in front of Toby, who got up as well to face him. "Take your hands off her!" he shouted. I had never seen him so angry before and, honestly, neither had I imagined that his body could contain so much rage.
Felicity and I exchanged looks, she was as scared as I was. I got closer to Sebastian and touched his arm, but he shook my hands off.
"Calm down, man" Toby protested, calm and cold as ice. "You hardly slept--"
"DO YOU THINK I'M STUPID?!" Sebastian was throwing lightning bolts from his eyes. "I'm tired of this, Tobias! It ends tonight!"
"Sebastian, everything is okay. They were just--" Felicity tried, in vain.
"She is MY GIRLFRIEND!" Sebastian went on, his eyes never leaving Toby's. "You know how long I have been looking for someone like her, all my life. Now she's here and. She. Is. Mine!" He emphasized every word by touching his own chest with a finger. "I love her! You are married to Daisy, Tobias. Deal with it."
Toby lowered his eyes and grabbed his friend by the shoulder. "Come on, let's talk inside" he said, trying to drag him down the cobblestones path in the most peaceful way. But Sebastian didn't move, he just turned towards him, planting his feet to the ground.
"Don't fucking touch me!" he snapped, violently shaking Toby's hand from his shoulder.
"Sebastian" I breathed, touching his back. "Please..."
"Don't defend him, Lily, he doesn't deserve it" he said, disgusted. "He's a backstabber... he lets people down... he hurts them... even his own family."
This seemed to have hurt Toby very deeply. Moving catlike, he took a step towards Sebastian and now their noses where just a few inches away from each other.
"Don't you dare insult my family!" he growled, like a demon just raised from hell. "I won't let you."
At this point, I was trying to pull Sebastian away and Felicity was doing the same with Toby. But we were two girls trying to prevent two big boys from having a fight... it was nearly impossible for us to stop them. They were like two lions ready to tear each other apart.
"You won't?" hissed Sebastian. "Man up, Tobias. For the first time in your life!"
I didn't know what Sebastian meant with those words, but Toby's gaze grew more and more unforgiving. "Stop it" he hissed. "Now."
Sebastian said "No" and gave him a shove.
"Please stop!" I pleaded.
"Guys, enough!" Felicity shouted.
Toby absorbed the shock in silence, looking at his friend with huge surprise. Then, his defenses broke down and he pushed him too, harder.
Sebastian moved backwards so abruptly that I hadn't the time to walk away, his body hit me and I lost balance. I took a couple of steps backwards, tripped on the bulging cobblestone that I had avoided before and fell on my back.
But I didn't hit the ground, not at once. The back of my head hit something very hard, I was struck by the sharpest pain ever. My body fell down but I didn't feel anything, like it didn't belong to me anymore. Before my ears stopped working, I heard a scream and someone calling my name. Then a huge feeling of exhaustion overwhelmed me and I blinked, fighting to keep my eyes open and see the faces looking at me from above. But I lost my battle, right when, looking one of those faces, I finally felt at peace and smiled.
Everything went dark and I disappeared.