LWLU – Birthday Game
After the giggles wore off, conversation died down while everyone ate. Sara focused on her plate as best she could, but Michael’s eyes were on her while she ate. Why did he insist on doing this to her? What, if anything, did he want from her? Was his intention to drive her mad? He was doing a damn good job of it.
At the height of her panic, a hand covered her left thigh, reminding her of the truth. Michael was in the past. Paul was in her future. She looked over at him and he kissed her shoulder. He returned to eating with his left hand while his right skimmed up her thigh. Sara did her best to hide her grin and took a sip of water to cover.
Nika tilted her head to the side. “Aren’t you right-handed, Paul?”
“Yeah.”
Sara bit her lip then looked over at Veronica. “So how did last semester turn out for you?”
Nika wasn’t so easily distracted. “But why are you eating with your left hand?”
Veronica read Sara’s face and talked over her. “It was pretty good. I think I’ll end up with mostly A’s, maybe a B or two.”
She sucked in a breath of air when Paul’s hand reached its destination. “That’s great, Roni.” She shifted in her seat, to give him better access or block him, she didn’t know. “When do you start applying to law schools?”
“I’ve already been applying, but I need to take the LSATs before anything is set in stone. Those are in a few months.”
Sara was barely able to concentrate on her friend with what was going on under the table. He needed to stop or she was about to lose it. She slipped her hand under the table while Jane asked some random question about the LSATs and batted his hand away. Paul shot her a look then relented. She was about to return her hand to the table when she had a more interesting thought. Turnabout was only fair play, right? She set her hand on his knee, letting her nails rake across the fabric lightly.
Nika grinned at everyone. “I have some news.” Once all eyes were on her, “You know how I watch a lot of television?”
“Yes,” they all groaned.
“Well, it so totally paid off. I landed a part on a television show.” Everyone congratulated her and she continued. “But here’s the best part. It’s a recurring role in the series so I’m going to be on every week. I’ll have to move in a few weeks, but my agent has already lined up some apartments for me to look at as soon as I get there.”
“Move?” Sara’s hand stilled on Paul’s leg. “Nika…Where is it filmed?”
“This is actually the best part. LA! I’m going to sunny California. How awesome is that?”
Even as she told her how wonderful it was, Sara felt her heart breaking inside. She was about to lose her best friend when she moved halfway across the country. That wasn’t the worst of it. Michael either already had plans to move with her or he’d soon follow her. Is this what he’d been so hot to tell her all day? While he might hate her, she didn’t want him to move away.
She wasn’t ready to lose him yet.
Damn.
Michael turned his attention to Nika. “I thought you weren’t going to say anything this weekend?”
“I couldn’t help it. It’s not like Sara thinks I’m stealing her birthday thunder or anything.”
Sara mustered a smile. “Not at all. Anyone else have announcements or big news they want to share while we’re at it?” She looked around at everyone, giving Michael a pointed look. “Anyone?”
“I don’t have an announcement, angel,” Paul began, “but I want to go ahead and give you your present. I was going to do it tomorrow night when everyone else does presents, but I can’t wait.” He gave her a quick kiss and left the room.
Nika bounced around in her chair. “Omigod! This is gonna be so good.”
Jane looked around the table. “She knows it’s not her birthday, right?”
“I know. I know. It’s just…I can’t…Oh…Ahhh! He’s going to propose.”
Sara dropped her fork. “What?”
“Don’t be mad. Please don’t be mad at me. I know I shouldn’t have said anything, but I’ve known for weeks and I just couldn’t keep it to myself any longer. He didn’t know what to get you and he wanted it to be really special and…”
Veronica’s eyes lit up. “You told him he should propose, too?”
“Well, yeah. Wait. He asked you, too? This is so great.” She looked back at Sara. “If you have a short engagement then you can have a June wedding. Sara, can we both be maid of honor?”
“What?” Sara looked at her two best friends in shock. “He’s proposing? You two told him to propose?”
“Make that three, Sara.”
Michael turned on his brother. “I expect this shit from these two, but…bro? You told Kellerman to propose. Why would you do that?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, they’re perfect together, Mike.”
Jane looked around in discomfort. “Yeah, he didn’t ask me what to get you, but I just met y’all a few hours ago.”
“Well, I certainly didn’t tell him to give her a ring.” Michael shook his head. “You’ve all lost your minds. They haven’t even slept together yet. You can’t marry someone you haven’t slept with.”
“They did in the Bible.”
“We don’t live in the fuckin’ Bible, Jane!”
“Well you certainly couldn’t. You say fuck too much. You’d get smited down before you ever got to have sex.” Nika grinned. “Besides, they would have slept together already if you hadn’t started whining in the first place and gotten your brother to go knock on the door.”
“I wasn’t whining. I just didn’t think we should eat without…”
“Without stopping Sara from getting her toes curled on her birthday weekend? Yeah, that’s a great present, Mike.” She turned a mischievous grin Sara’s direction. “And Paul will so curl your toes. I mean, you’re an idiot for waiting so long, but it will so be worth the wait. I can personally guarantee that.”
Veronica smacked Nika on the shoulder. “We get it. Paul’s good in bed. I thought we finished the uncomfortable toe curling conversation before dinner.”
Michael’s jaw dropped. “You slept with Paul?”
“I told you about that.”
“You were drunk. I thought you were kidding.”
“I never kid about sex, margaritas or not.” She pouted out her bottom lip and patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, baby. You’ve still always rocked my world.” She turned to Sara and mouthed, “He will curl your toes.”
Jane shook her head. “Have any of you people not slept with the rest of you?”
Nika smiled brightly. “I’ve never slept with Linc.”
“Um…Neek?” Lincoln shook his head.
“Huh?” She squinted and looked up at the ceiling in thought, sticking out her tongue, also flicking it upward. “Oh, yeah! I did sleep with you that one time, huh?” She shrugged. “Okay, so I guess I have slept with every guy here. Wow. I could draw some really fun comparisons if I wanted to.”
Veronica shoved her plate out of the way and pressed her forehead to the table. “Please, God, make it stop.”
“If you brought me here for an orgy, Lincoln Burrows, I swear we are breaking up. We don’t do that where I’m from. Sex is for two people…um…sometimes just one, but it’s supposed to be just two.”
Sara looked around and every face she met was filled with amused horror. “Where did Paul hide my present? Siberia?”
“Attic,” Linc muttered.
“Sara,” Nika stage whispered, holding both hands out, fingers several inches apart. “Paul.”
“Dammit, Nika, I already know that.” Her face grew hot. Why did she say that? “I mean…crap.” She pushed her plate away and joined Veronica by putting her head on the table.
“What’s wrong with them?” Paul asked.
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure, Linc? I feel like I missed something.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Sara lifted her head from the table and turned to look at Paul. He had a gift bag in his hand that looked too big for a ring box. Looks were deceiving though. What was she going to say if he proposed? Should she say no and crush him in front of all their friends? Or should she say yes and just set a long engagement to make sure she was really ready?
Paul knelt beside her chair so he was nearly at eye level with her. “I wanted to get you something really special since this is the first birthday we’ve celebrated together.”
“I’ve known you for years.”
He touched her face. “I know. It’s different now that we’re together.”
Nika grabbed Veronica’s arm and whispered, “Omigod…”
“Paul…”
“I really hope you like it. Happy birthday, Sara.” He handed her the bag.
Michael cleared his throat. “You have to play the birthday game, Sara. It’s a rule.”
“I think we can let her off the hook with this one, bro.”
“No way. It doesn’t matter if the gift is from her boyfriend; it’s still a birthday gift so she has to guess what it is before she opens it.”
Paul grinned. “It’s okay. Go ahead and guess. You’ll never get it.”
“Okay.” Sara shot a look over at Michael and then smiled at Paul. “Well, it’s heavy…”
Nika started bouncing in her seat again. “That means it’s a big one.”
“Y’all, didn’t we already establish that when he was in Siberia?”
Paul looked from Nika to Jane then to Lincoln. “Are you sure I didn’t miss something while I was gone?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”
