Chapter 18 #2
In the nine years since Caitlin, Gemma had never told anyone her birthday. Now that she thought about it, nobody ever asked.
“Gemma, what’s wrong?” Caitlin threw open the trailer door, running up the steps to where Gemma stood sobbing. Without hesitation, she wrapped Gemma in her arms. But it was already too late. The dam had broken, and now Gemma was forced to succumb to the surge of tears.
“The gifts weren’t that good,” Caitlin said lightly, trying to make Gemma smile. It worked.
Gemma giggled as her glassy red eyes met Caitlin’s. “You remembered.”
“Your birthday? Favorite flower? Favorite cake flavor? Of course I did.”
Salt and snot dripped down Gemma’s face, even as she smiled up at Caitlin. Caitlin hadn’t said anything earlier in the day, so Gemma assumed that she had forgotten her birthday. She wouldn’t have blamed her, really.
“Thank you, this means a lot.” Gemma pointed to the spots of mucous on Caitlin’s shoulder. “Sorry about that.”
Caitlin shrugged and waved her off.
“I’m sure you already have plans tonight…” Caitlin bounced from one foot to the other, suddenly nervous.
Gemma thought it was the cutest thing, seeing Caitin so embarrassed as she tried to finish her sentence.
Gemma considered lying. She really had been looking forward to a quiet night alone to digest the weight of the past week.
But even more than that, Gemma was shocked to realize that she would rather spend more time with Caitlin.
“I actually don’t have any plans.”
Caitlin beamed, and Gemma felt her heart flutter at being the cause. “Can I take you out for your birthday? We can jump in my car and drop off your things at your place on the way.”
“That sounds great.”
Gemma knew Hayley had an unavoidable business meeting that night, so there would be no risk of running into her while with Caitlin.
Hayley would undoubtedly give Gemma an earful for hanging out with Caitlin off the clock.
Then again, Hayley still didn’t know that Gemma had slept with Caitlin, so there would be bigger topics to unpack at their next coffee date than this.
After swinging by Gemma’s apartment building to drop off the birthday cake and bouquet, they arrived at Caitlin’s surprise destination.
“Dave )
Eres mi toro xo
Don’t forget your breakfast!
Meet me in the dining hall at 7? I have a surprise for you.
The weight of all those individual moments suddenly became too heavy. These notes had once meant everything to Gemma, but now the words fell flat. She couldn’t bear to keep reading them.
A glass-framed certificate near the bottom caught her eye. She didn’t know how she had forgotten about this.
Caitlin and Gemma had spent countless nights together in high school, sneaking out to spend time alone while the rest of the town slept.
Sometimes, they would spread out a nest of blankets and pillows in one of their backyards on clear nights and just hold each other, gazing up at the millions of twinkling dots in the sky.
They would whisper into the darkness and kiss for hours, sleep being the last thing on their minds at seventeen.
Then, for Gemma’s eighteenth birthday, Caitlin had surprised her with the framed certificate, proof that she had had a star named after her. Holding it between her hands now, Gemma felt the same sweet tenderness that had flooded her when she’d been given it eleven years ago.
Delicately placing the frame onto the floor, Gemma sifted through the rest of the box. And there it was. Lodged beneath the photographs and love letters, tucked into the bottom corner of the stacks, her fingers brushed against the velvet.
She pulled out the little black ring box, her chest collapsing with grief. Gemma rocked forward, holding herself as the tears fell, past and present colliding into one fierce ache.
Before she could lift the top and see the diamond nestled into the pillow, Gemma buried the velvet box back into the recesses of the plastic bin along with all the other items she had taken out.
A thud sounded from the other room, the closing of her front door.
“Gemma! I’m so sorry I’m late!” Hayley yelled from the entryway.
Gemma heard her best friend rummaging through her kitchen cabinet before footsteps headed her way.
“There’s still an hour left of your birthday, though, and I brought expensive wine,” Hayley chirped, rounding the corner.
Hayley came to an abrupt stop when she spotted Gemma crumpled onto the floor, crying into a high school cheerleading T-shirt in front of the box of memories.
“Gem, sweetie.” Hayley immediately recognized what she was looking at, knowing that plastic bin all too well.
Hayley rushed to Gemma’s side, placing the wine bottle and glasses onto the floor, wrapping both arms around her.
Gemma let herself go, sobbing into Hayley’s steady arms as her friend gently rocked her. For a beat, they were nineteen again, Gemma’s anguish just as raw as it had been ten years ago.