Better Off Friends

We both went through the motions on Sunday nights. Fortunately, I only had to put up the act for the first two weeks of school before I started making excuses to get out of the di

It didn’t matter. I had an awesome birthday. The guys came over after the game. Stacey brought some of her friends. Of course, Mom invited Macallan, but, thankfully, she couldn’t come. She didn’t even give me anything. Her birthday was in a couple of weeks and I pla

If only our family could’ve figured it out and stop forcing us together. Fortunately, I was always free on Saturday nights, so it could be just me and my girl. My real girl.

Stacey had been great about the whole Macallan thing — which meant she never really brought it up. She let us be us, which had nothing to do with that. I appreciated it.

That Saturday when she pulled up in her car, she seemed extra excited to see me.

“Hey, handsome.” She bent over and gave me a kiss, her high ponytail brushing against my cheek. “I thought we’d try someplace different for di

“Sure.” I shrugged. I wasn’t in a great mood. The previous night had been our third game of the season and I still hadn’t gotten any playing time. I could run fast, was getting better with catching, but Coach wasn’t putting me in. I couldn’t show him my frustration, so it bounced onto the other people in my life.

“Where we going?” I asked when Stacey pulled into a hotel parking lot.

“I heard the restaurant here is really good.” She laughed nervously.

I got out of the car. Stacey looked at her phone. “Can you hold on? I have to make a quick call.”

“Sure.” A hotel seemed like a strange place for di

But then things got weirder.

“Levi?” I turned around and saw Macallan with Danielle. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?”

Danielle looked at each of us and stepped in the middle. “So crazy, right? I guess this is the new place to be.” She laughed as Stacey came over.

“Hey, guys,” Stacey said warmly to Macallan. “So insane that you’re here.” She exchanged a look with Danielle. “Um, I guess we should go in.” She started walking faster, with Danielle keeping step and saying she liked Stacey’s shoes.

This left me next to Macallan.

“Are you following me?” I asked her.

She groaned. “Yeah, whatever.”

“It’s just a little odd that you’re here. I never even knew this place had a restaurant.”

“It wasn’t my idea — it was Danielle’s,” she said coldly.

“How convenient for you.”

Danielle and Stacey led us inside and stopped in front of these giant double doors.

I was so a

Macallan stopped and looked right at me as if she could read my mind. “Get over yourself, Levi.” She stepped in front of me.

“After you!” Stacey said as she and Danielle opened up the double doors.

I put a scowl on my face to let them know how much I didn’t appreciate this situation as I began to walk into the room.

“SURPRISE!!!” A loud shout echoed in the large ballroom. It took me a second to figure out what was going on as I saw the faces of friends and family greeting me. Then I saw a HAPPY SWEET SIXTEEN BIRTHDAY, MACALLAN AND LEVI! sign.

The secret meetings between our parents had been for a birthday party.

I turned to look at Macallan, who looked as shocked as I felt. So she hadn’t been lying to me about not knowing what was going on. But she was lying about something else.

Mom came up laughing. “Did we pull it off? Were you surprised?”

I don’t think I’d ever been so shocked in my life.

Talk about being oblivious.

I know, they got us so good.

I was referring to our parents. How could they not have figured out we weren’t even talking?

Yeah, we weren’t speaking and they threw us a joint surprise party.

I’m more shocked that Danielle didn’t say something to my dad. She doesn’t hold things in.

Like you do?

Oh, yes, I was the one who was being irrational.

Man, I was being such an idiot.

I’m sorry, I don’t believe I heard you. Could you repeat that?

Yes, I was being an idiot, a total idiot. Even I wouldn’t have wanted to hang out with me.

And people think girls get emotional.

Again, I was really confused after you abandoned me.

And you wondered why I had to leave the country?

I was shocked at first by the unexpected group of people cheering “SURPRISE!” And the evening got even more surreal from there.

Dad came over and gave me a big hug, followed by Uncle Adam.

Dad beamed. “Here I thought you were too smart for your old pops to get you.”

I looked around and saw about fifty people, from all over my life. There were mostly people from school rounded out by some family members and a few of my cooking class friends.

It wasn’t hard to pick out who was for Levi and who was for me. It was like this one wedding I went to the summer before. Mom’s friend from college was marrying a guy Mom didn’t approve of. Everybody on Suza

“Who wears jeans to a wedding?” Mom had asked under her breath.

I’d shrugged. I was only ten at the time, so I didn’t have that great an answer.

Six years later, I still didn’t have the answer for a lot of things.

Levi went over to the jock contingent. It was then I noticed Emily was there. I was pretty sure Levi’s mom wouldn’t have invited her. I sca

Emily gave me a little wave and approached cautiously. “Happy birthday, Macallan.”

“Thanks,” I said as we embraced uncomfortably.

“Great party!” she said as she sca

“Yeah.” It was a great party.

“Anyway, I know it’s been a while, but it’s a big day, so I got you a little something.” Emily handed me a small wrapped box.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have,” I protested. She shrugged in response. I didn’t know if I was supposed to wait to open presents, but since I hadn’t even known this party was happening, I figured I could be excused for not following protocol.

I slowly unwrapped the box to find a silver necklace with a delicate flower pendant.

“It’ll go with pretty much anything,” Emily offered.

“Thanks so much.” Emily knew I was awful at accessorizing. It was a gene that wasn’t passed on to me. I unlatched the necklace and put it around my neck.

“Here, let me help.” I held up my hair as Emily latched the necklace. It fell right in the middle of the scoop neck shirt that I was wearing. “Perfect!” she declared.

I gave Emily a grateful smile. She was looking out for my girly well-being even though we were no longer close.