I laid in bed scrolling up and down Facebook on my laptop. So many people were giving me birthday wishes. Family, friends and acquaintances left me hundreds of messages and I solemnly went through each one. Both my mother and father posted embarrassing pictures of me when I was younger and congratulated me on turning the big '23'. I liked their posts and decided to keep it moving. Birthdays just weren't my thing anymore.

The past two years I haven't been celebrating my birthday at all. Most people took days off from work and spent the whole day celebrating with their friends, but I just kept going as if it was any other day. I was grateful for another year of life but I didn't make a big deal out of it. Today, I allowed Mia to take me out for breakfast and that's all of the celebration I needed. It was almost 4:00 in the afternoon and I was content with my lazy day so far.

"Are you sure you don't want to do anything," Mia screeched. It killed her that I never wanted to celebrate my birthday anymore. Birthdays were a big thing for her and her family. Growing up I had two birthdays, the one my parents threw and the one her family threw. The one's her family threw were ten times more interesting. My face always got pushed in a f-cking cake, the music was always on point and the drunk adults were always entertaining to laugh at. "My mom said it's not too late to come over!"

"It'll take us six hours to drive back home. Plus, I really don't want to party, Mia. You know how I feel about today." Mia sighed and I scoffed when I looked back at my laptop. "Yuck. Reese wished me a happy birthday. I'm only her friend to see when she'll finally break up with that girl she's with."

"Queen of keeping tabs on her exes," Mia said sarcastically.

"I have to make sure I'm doing better than them. The only one I don't keep up with is Eric. He can choke," I grumbled.

"Don't bring him up today, okay?"

I sighed and tried to erase all things Eric from my brain. "You're right. Your mother sent me a video of her singing 'Las Mañanitas'," I told Mia to lighten the mood. "Your brothers and sisters were in the background."

She smacked her forehead with embarrassment, "She's annoying. I bet all our friends back home are sharing it. They made her a viral sensation once and those bastards will do it again." I laughed as I remembered the time Mia's mom went viral for cursing out her little brother and hitting him with her flip flop. It was only ten seconds but it was hilarious. "Are you sure you don't want to do something? We can go clubbing with Tyra and Lisa? You could call Andy and get some birthday sex." Mia wiggled her eyebrows at me and I laughed off her last suggestion. She's been really into Andy lately. She went from not trusting her to talking about how cute we were together. It was weird that she changed her mind so fast, but I was thankful because I didn't have to hear her complain about how she didn't want me to get my heart broken.

"She doesn't even know it's my birthday," I told Mia. I didn't want Andy to feel obligated to do anything for me on my birthday. So I didn't plan on telling her it was my birthday at all. We'd address my birthday whenever it came up but for now, I was just letting it be.

My phone vibrated and a text message showed up on my screen. I read the name of the recipient and screamed. "Oh my God!" I threw my phone to Mia. She caught it and looked down at the screen before throwing it back to me. We threw the phone back and forth until I finally caught it and read the message. "I know we don't talk anymore, but happy birthday, D! You're my biggest mistake. I know this day is bittersweet for you. Try your best to actually enjoy it this year." While screaming, I threw the phone to Mia. "Burn it!"

Mia stared down at the phone and shook her head. "I can't burn your f-cking phone, moron. Should I delete it?"

I snatched my phone from Mia and looked down at the message once more. "Should I reply?"

"I don't know. Should you?"

"I don't know."

"How does it make you feel?"

"Sh-tty."

"Just ignore it."

"If I ignore it then it's probably going to make things worse. It's going to annoy me for the rest of the day if I don't reply."

"Reply then."

"But with what?" I thought for a second before I began typing the words out. "Thanks, Eric. Smiley face. That's good, right?"

"No! No! No smiley face. Delaney, if you send him a smiley face-"

"I kind of already sent it." Mia grabbed my phone before face palming. "It wasn't just a smiley face. It was an emoji! He's going to freak out. Oh my God! He's typing! Back out." Mia threw my phone towards me and I quickly backed out of the conversation.

My birthday was the day I caught him with a girl. That's what ended our relationship and that's what stripped me from celebrating my birthday. While I was celebrating with my friends, I let down my guard and he was sleeping with someone else. I always felt like sh-t on my birthday since then but I was slowly getting better. Andy was definitely helping me get over the whole thing.

When Eric replied back, I waited five minutes before opening his message. "When are you coming back to San Francisco? I'd love to hang out sometime?" Mia shook her head vigorously.

"Tell him never."

I texted back before reciting what I texted back to Mia. "I probably won't be back home anytime soon."

"Okay, that's good. Send it."

"Already did."

"Well, dammit, consult me before you send it!"

"Sh-t. F-ck. Oh my God," I screamed after reading the last text. "He's coming, Mia! He's going to be in Santa Monica next week. He wants to hang out. Sh-t! I shouldn't have replied because now I really can't say no!"

"Yes you can! Tell him no!"

"Then I'm going to be a b-tch."

"When did you ever care about being a b-tch? Tell that motherf-cker no!"

I sighed and began texting him back. I sent the message and bit my lip. "I told him yes."

"What the f-ck!?"

"Listen, it'll either help me cope with things or it'll f-ck sh-t up and I'll never talk to him again. We either end up being friends or enemies. That's all. I need this final closure, okay?"

"Fine. Just try to free your mind from all things Eric for now." She looked at her phone to check the time and gave me a peculiar smile. She had something up her sleeve. "What's your mood right now? From a 1 to 10?"

"I'm like a 5."

"Okay, that's not good."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Why are you being so weird!?"

"I told Andy about your birthday. She's going to be here in five minutes! And I don't know what she has planned, but I really don't want you to be b-tchy to her and ruin things because we both know how you are when you're in your moods. So, I need you to buck up and focus on how much you like Andy right now," Mia ran her words together and talked like she had a gun pointed to her head. It took me a few seconds to process what she said and put it together.

At the moment, I could literally kill her. What made her think that she had the right to tell Andy when my f-cking birthday was? The whole Eric thing was taking a toll on my mind at the moment. There was no way I could be mentally ready for Andy in five minutes. "Should I text her and tell her that you're not feeling well?"

I sighed. "No. Maybe she can make me feel better."

The doorbell rang and Mia just sat there. "What? It's for you."

I rolled my eyes and sauntered towards the door. When I swung the door open, I saw Andy just as I expected. She was grinning. I tried to remain unamused but her grin was addicting. I found myself grinning too. She made her way into my place with that stupid grin still on her face. Was she high or something? I closed the door and turned to face her with my arms crossed. "First off, what's up," she said casually.

"Nothing much," I replied with a small giggle.

"Really? Because I could've sworn it was someone's birthday." She scrunched up her forehead and looked around the apartment.

"What are you up to, Andy," I asked. I was kind of curious. From the look on her face, she was trying to prolong the point she was getting at. She seemed excited and her face was full of life. Her hair was slicked back and immaculate. The clothes she was wearing fit perfectly and they were relaxed but tasteful compared to her normal style. She was wearing a light pink shirt with an odd small white logo on the chest pocket with khaki chinos to match. Damn. She looked amazing in pink. That was definitely her color.

"I just want you to know that I'm pretty amazing, Delaney."

"And why is that?"

"Because I got my hands on these," Andy pulled out two ticket stubs from her back pocket. She passed me one and when I read what was on it, I screamed to the top of my lungs. Andy smirked and Mia ran out into the living room to see what was going on. I was screaming and jumping up and down on the couch.

"What's going on," Mia asked with a bit of worry but mostly curiosity.

I jumped down from the couch and gave her the ticket. "Andy got tickets for the Drake show tonight!" I ran over to Andy and pulled her into a tight hug. She hugged me back as she laughed uncontrollably at how enthusiastic I was. I thought she couldn't get me out of my Eric funk but I was totally wrong.

I cupped her cheeks with my hands and planted a kiss on her lips before running back over to Mia who was staring at me with a gigantic smile. A couple of minutes ago, I wanted to kill her for telling Andy about my birthday but now I wanted to kiss her too, so I did! I kissed Mia on her lips before taking the ticket from her. She laughed and wiped her lips as if she was disgusted. It's not like it was the first time I've ever kissed her in excitement.

Looking back at Andy, I put my hands over my chest. My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my body. I had to catch my breath. "Are you serious right now, Andy? Please, tell me this isn't a joke."

"It's not a joke, darlin'. I got us tickets."

"But why me? You literally could've picked anyone! Leo...Lin...Rafael...another girl."

"Well, one, it's your birthday. Two, I can go to a concert with them anytime. Three, you're the only girl I want to spend time with. And finally, you love Drake just as much as I do. It's one of the first things we bonded over. So why don't you stop asking questions and change out of those sweats? We have to hit the road, doc! The show is in L.A.!"

I gave Andy one more kiss before running to my bedroom to get dressed. I can't believe she actually got us Drake tickets!

Andy|

"Drake tickets? I would've never thought. You really outdid yourself," Mia congratulated me as she sat beside me on the couch. "You really came through. I haven't seen her this excited about something in months."

"He's here on her birthday, it was destined. Just wait until she finds out that I got us our own private booth." I'm not going to lie. I was feeling myself. To see Delaney open the door and seem kind of disappointed that I was there to seeing her jump up and down on the couch with anticipation made me feel like the sh-t. I did well with getting those tickets. I had to pay a fortune for them at such a short notice."

"She may literally have a heart attack when she finds out about the private booth thing. This is so perfect for her. She needed this, Andy. Make sure she has an amazing night." Mia's eyes were glistening and she seemed genuinely excited for Delaney.

"I'm going to make this one of the best birthdays she's ever had. Don't worry. It's going to be special. I want her to feel special because she is."

"I feel so bad for doubting you."

"You're protective. I get it."

It wasn't long before Delaney walked out of her bedroom. She was one of those girls that didn't take long to get ready, but still somehow managed to look better than every girl in her vicinity. When I laid eyes on her, my jaw nearly hit the floor. It was like she took the air that I was breathing and I was stuck in a trance. She looked like she was dressed to impress Drake himself. Her two-piece dress showed just enough of her toned tummy and the lower part of the dress wasn't too short but man, did it fit those curves of hers firmly.

Mia's hand lifted my jaw up to close my mouth and that's what took me out of the trance Delaney bestowed on me. "Well, are you ready," Delaney asked with a confident smile. She knew she looked good but I was going to tell her she did anyways.

"Uh, yeah," I replied as I stood up. "You're breathtaking." I took her hand and gave her a soft kiss.

"That's my best friend! Go best friend," Mia cheered.

Delaney and I both laughed as we walked towards the door. "I promise not to have her back too late."

"Oh, you can have her all night. No rush," Mia said with a wink.

-

Do you think Delaney meeting up with Eric is a bad idea?