WE'RE FINALLY BACK NOW THAT CALLA'S DONE WITH SCHOOL! ><><><><><><><><><> Leaning on Cass's shoulder, Audrey stumbled into the guest bedroom in the Jones's house, collapsing onto the bed. "Do I really have to stay here?" she asked Cass, her head still not back to normal. "Yes, you do. You are not going into your house again until I'm there to keep you safe," Cass told her protectively. Even though Audrey insisted she was fine, Cass knew that she felt worse than she was letting on. And deep down inside, he was still trying to push away self-loathing. He could get back to the self-deprecation after Audrey was okay. "Really Cass, I feel much better-" her voice trailed off as she let out a yawn. "Get some sleep," Cass practically ordered her. "No, I'm fine," she insisted. Cass sighed. "Audrey, for the love of all that is sacred, PLEASE just take a nap." "Will you let me do things again if I take a nap?" she pleaded. Cass shrugged. "Only if you actually look like you feel better," he told her. Audrey grouchily grabbed a blanket and laid down. "Happy now?" Cass nodded before disappearing out the door. The rest of the evening was highly uneventful, just a couple of half-hearted jokes and a decidedly somewhat burned dinner that Mr. Jones made and everyone pretended to like. The next morning, Audrey dragged herself out of bed with a sigh. She was almost to the kitchen before she realized it was finally the day of Cass's birthday party. Excitement bubbled up as she rushed to get some breakfast, trying to act normally when Cass came into the room. The plan was for her to keep him distracted while Rob and Laura got the party set up. Which would either be really easy or really hard. Cass plopped down in a chair next to her and grinned. "Good morning, my lady." She smiled back. "Morning!" she replied cheerily. "How'd you sleep?" "I slept okay," Cass said before yawning. "Well, okay is better than nothing!" she added. "Agreed. How about you? Did you get some sleep?" Audrey nodded slowly. "I got some, but being sedated really made me not want to sleep. "Yeah, seems legit." Mr. Jones wandered into the kitchen a little while later while they were finishing their bowls of cereal. "So, what are you kids going to do on this fine Saturday?" "Hmm, well, I thought maybe Cass and I could go to the park for a bit, if that's okay with you." Audrey responded. Rob nodded. "That's fine! I don't need any help today, so you kids can go have fun." "I don't need anything from you two either so feel free!" Mrs. Jones "Great! Is that okay with you, Cass?" Audrey asked. Cass nodded. The park seemed decently safe for Audrey, and he was still paranoid. "Cool, but let's not fall in the river this time, okay? That would really suck." Audrey laughed. "Okay, no falling in the water today." Audrey got up and stretched before heading towards the door. Cass followed; still a little worried. Audrey still didn't look 100% okay, and he didn't like how she wasn't being as careful as he would prefer. They walked in silence for a while, just taking in the sights around them. "Hey, Audrey?" Cass suddenly said. Audrey shook her head a few times to clear the mental fog. "Yeah?" "How are you feeling; be honest. I know the sedative took more out of you than you're telling me," Cass said. Audrey took a big shaky breath. "I'm doing pretty good actually. A good night's sleep did me some good, I think." Cass knew she was telling the truth, but he also knew there was more. Her eyes still looked drowsy, and it was like she had to try extra hard to focus. "Hmmm...RACE YA TO THE PARK!" He suddenly exclaimed with a laugh, sprinting down the sidewalk. Audrey sprinted after him, laughing. He beat her by just a little bit, but both of them were out of breath when they reached the park. "That was awesome," Audrey panted as they collapsed on the grass. "I know, right? My dad never let me do that!" Cass agreed. "Seriously?! Why?" He shrugged. "Said it was undignified or something" he said, doing air-quotes around the word "undignified". "Well, your dad is a soggy chicken nugget!" Audrey laughed. "Very true. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's still bitter about the time I beat him in a race when I was like 6...That really ticked him off." "You beat him in a race when you were 6?!" Audrey gasped. Cass nodded. "Why would he still be mad about that?" "I mean, granted that is really impressive but he also looks like he's been around since the dinosaurs. And he has the personality of a slice of burnt toast...so...yeah."
Just then Audrey's phone vibrated. She pulled it out of her pocket to see a text from Mrs. Laura saying, "We're ready!" She texted back a quick "Ok, be back soon" and put her phone back in her pocket. "What's up?" Cass asked. "Your parents need us for something. I dunno. Better head back," Audrey replied nonchalantly. Cass raised an eyebrow but didn't question any further. "Mrs. Jones said they need help cleaning the gutters or something like that. Sorry." "Hmm, okay," Cass said, but still didn't quite believe her. Audrey grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the way they came. "C'monnnn!" He followed, wondering why Audrey was suddenly so excited about cleaning gutters, if that really was what Mrs. Jones wanted. But, oh well, he had nothing better to do, he supposed. He might as well just follow along. Audrey was buzzing with excitement by the time they reached the house. "Why are you so excited to clean gutters?" Cass asked, shaking his head good-naturedly. "Oh, um..." Audrey hesitated, not sure how to respond. She grinned as she thought of the perfect excuse. "My parents never let me help them do it because I was "too young," so this is the first time I've gotten to do it!" "Okee then," Cass slowly nodded, wondering why she was acting weird. He glanced at the windows, frowning slightly. "Why are all the lights out? This is getting weird." "Just come on," Audrey said, pulling him inside. "Okay, okay, geez!" He exclaimed jokingly. Audrey dragged him inside and the lights turned on. "Surprise!" Mr. and Mrs. Jones shouted, appearing around a corner. A banner hung in the middle of the room saying, "Happy Birthday Cass!!" Happy tears formed in Cass's eyes as he stood there in stunned silence. He backed away, looking oddly uncomfortable. "Uh...thanks...I-I appreciate it. But you didn't have to do this," he stuttered. "Yes, we did," Laura told him, giving him a hug. He froze and then hugged her back before turning to Audrey. "You were in on this, I take it?" Audrey nodded, grinning. "Of course I was!" He gave her a hug as well. "Thank you, I needed this," he whispered. "I know. And you deserve it. You're awesome," she told him. He stepped back. dashing the tears from his eyes. "Yeah, thanks." He gazed around the room, taking it all in. Balloons, streamers, and other decorations covered everything. "Do you like the decorations?" Mrs. Jones asked. "Audrey picked out most of it. She knew you liked red and blue, so we decided to pick that as the theme." Cass nodded. "They're perfect!" he told them. "LET US START THE FESTIVITIES!" Audrey proclaimed, doing a silly little dance. Everyone chuckled and Laura brought out a beautifully decorated cake. Mr. Jones fumbled through a couple drawers, looking for some matches to light the candles. Finally, he just grabbed a tiny lighter from one of the drawers. "Eh, this will work good enough, I s'pose." They surrounded the cake as Rob lit the candles. They turned out the lights and began singing. "Happy birthday to youuuu!" "What do I do?" Cass whispered to Audrey, not sure why everyone was staring at him. "Don't worry, no one on earth has figured out what to do when people sing happy birthday. Usually we just settle for sitting and staring awkwardly," she half-jokingly assured him. Cass looked at her questioningly once they had finished singing. "Now you blow out the candles," she whispered. Cass looked confused. "But wouldn't that get spit on the cake?" "We just try not to blow too hard. I have no idea who came up with the idea, though. It /does/ seem kinda weird and gross." Cass shrugged his shoulders and attempted to blow out the candles. Only half of them went out. "Do I blow the rest of them out or do I only get one chance?" Audrey laughed. "You keep trying until they're all out," she explained. "K. Just checking." The rest of the candles went out after another gentle blow. "Did you make a wish?" Laura asked. Cass quickly looked towards Audrey. This was getting weirder and weirder by the second. "It's just a little tradition some people have. You make a wish and, supposedly, if you don't tell anyone, it'll come true." Cass slowly nodded and then closed his eyes. A couple seconds later he opened them and smiled. "Yayyy!" Audrey exclaimed, throwing a handful of confetti in the air above Cass's head. Cass laughed. "You just got confetti on the cake!" he said, picking sparkly paper squares out of the frosting. Audrey grinned sheepishly. "Whoops." Mrs. Jones shook her head, smiling at the exchange. "Shall we eat some cake before we get too much more confetti in it?" ><><><><><><><><><> Writing by Rena Gale and Calla Tolliver Cover designed by Calla on Canva Music from the public domain
