Birthday Surprise

by Mark Reed

Read at your own risk. If smut offends you, don't read this. If you're younger than 18, don't read this.

I was snoring happily the morning of my 21st birthday. I had the day off of work, and planned to sleep in and generally behave very lazily while lounging about in my room and playing assorted video games. You never get enough chances to be lazy, at least in my opinion. But then again I'm a rather strange person. My name is Mark. Well, that's not my real name, but I can't tell you *that.* After all, true names have true power, and my birth name has the power to find me anywhere in the world, with the help of a few services conveniently available on the Internet.

Getting back to the subject at hand, I *really* like sleep. I dream of beautiful women I'll never meet, and count a rather large number of very happy looking sheep. If you can't tell, I'm not a morning person. Waking up early is not my idea of a good time. So when my alarm clock started blaring loud radio music at 6:30 in the morning, I cursed myself for accidentally setting the clock, turned it off, and went back to sleep. I figured I had meant to do something at 6:30 PM and set it to AM instead. It's happened before, and I was too sleepy to realize I hadn't planned anything for 6:30 that day, or for any time during that day, for that matter.

The higher pitched chirping of my small travel alarm clock started at 6:35. "Bloody hell," I growled to myself as I reached over to shut it off. It wasn't where I usually put it. Odd, but it might have gotten knocked off the nightstand at some point. By the time I realized the damned clock had been placed on top of my TV on the other side of the room, I was fully awake.

I got up to shut it off, trying to remember a reason for needing to wake up so early. I shut the alarm off, but noticed a neon green envelope under it. "Happy 21st" was written across the front. My eyes opened slightly in surprise. A birthday card, for me? My curiosity piqued, I opened it. The front of the card had a picture of a young male in a bathroom who had obviously just woke up. His hair was mussed, his eyes half open and red, his body in a stance out of some second rate zombie movie. It was supposed to be one of those humor cards, but someone had blacked out the funny little message with a black marker. I opened the card, to find the corresponding punch line blacked out, with a note written in pen next to it.

Mark-

Happy 21st Birthday! Sorry to wake you so early, but you've got a busy day ahead of you. Your friends and I have gotten together and planned out several surprises for you. Don't worry, I'll be leading you every step of the way. In the bathroom you'll find your first present from me. You've got about 50 more minutes to shower, dress (your clothes have already been laid out for you), and wake up. Don't eat anything. You've got a breakfast appointment. Open the card by the door at 7:30. I'm confident you're going to have a lovely day.

Signed,
"Birthday Surprise"

You could have knocked me over with... well, something light. I have a variety of friends across the United States that I know from the Internet, but in person my social skills are a bit lacking. Kind of like how the Grand Canyon is a bit of a ditch. Other than my roommate and his daughter, I don't have any friends in Richmond. This didn't feel like my roommate's style. Besides, it wasn't his handwriting. Well, *someone* was in Richmond, because they had apparently snuck into my room in the middle of the night and planted this. The fact that someone else might have been in while I was asleep didn't seem to bother me, though.

Ah well, time to get moving! I went to the bathroom to find out what my first present was. A watch was sitting on the sink. It was a 10 dollar cheapie from Walmart, but anything more was a waste. This was an exact copy of one of the cheapies I had bought before, already set up and everything. A pin holding the metal band of my old watch had broke about two weeks before, so I was happy to get a new one.

I used the bathroom, showered, shaved, and returned to my room. A black pair of sweatpants, sneakers, two pairs of socks, one of my nicer T-shirts, and my grey zip up over shirt were laid out on the two person cushioned bench I use to sit in front of my computer. Well, apparently the events of my day excluded fancy dining. That was just as well. I'm not fond of dressing up, and probably would have worn something with blue jeans anyway. At least this way I knew I was dressed for the cool fall temperature. My birthday is October 21st, and I had moved to Virginia from California about a year before, so I was still getting used to the weather. I looked at my new watch. I had just enough time to get dressed before I had to leave.

There was another birthday card at the door. Well, I assume it was a birthday card; the text had been blacked out just like the first card. This one had a picture of a guy jogging on the front. I opened it.

Mark-

You really WILL be running if you're running late. You've got an hour to get to the Shoney's at Dumbarton Square. Nothing quite like a morning walk to start the day, eh? When you get there, tell the person up front your name and that you have an appointment.

"Birthday Surprise"

I shrugged. Dumbarton Square was two miles away. A 50 to 55 minute walk for me when I'm taking it easy. I had time.

8:30 AM

The walk was actually nice. I took my time and enjoyed the morning sun. The traffic on the streets I took wasn't too bad, and I was in a good mood. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to plan my day. I couldn't help but be excited. My birthdays are usually very low key. One year I forgot it was my birthday entirely until my mother wished me a happy birthday that evening. I usually get one or two presents, or if it's a celebratory year my family would take me out to Lions or Denny's or some other low cost sit-down restaurant. Shoney's is one of the east coast versions, and it fit right in with what I was accustomed to. That narrowed the field of which one of my friends could be "Birthday Surprise" because only a few of them know me quite so well. That kind of minor information could have only come from my best friend Dylan back home in California, or the two or three 'net friends who knew what my family life used to be like. Then again, the card had said all my friends were in on this. I tossed about ideas on who the mystery surprise person could be while I walked.

I got to Shoney's on time and told the woman who seated people my name and that I had an appointment. That seemed a bit misleading to me, because Shoney's isn't the kind of place that *has* appointments, but the lady smiled when I told her and told me my table would be ready soon. "A table for two?" I asked hopefully. Perhaps Birthday Surprise would join me?

She checked her notes again and shook her head. "It doesn't say, but your name is the only one mentioned in the note." She sounded apologetic.

Ah well, it was still a nice treat. I smiled. "Thanks anyway." I waited until the table was ready and she led me to a corner in the back. I blinked. Someone had done a lot of research! I'm not usually too aware of my surroundings, so I'm uncomfortable in a situation where people are behind me. I know, it's a bit odd, but like I said: I'm an unusual person.

The breakfast was a buffet, so I grabbed whatever I liked. I had French toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, and orange juice. It was a big breakfast but I rarely have enough money to eat out, so I was a bit of a glutton. I had already been assured the breakfast was paid for. It was the first time I had ever been 'treated' to a breakfast where I ate alone. I enjoyed the unusual irony of the moment.

I watched people while I ate. I made up little stories to go along with their lives. The guy two tables over from me was a lawyer, having breakfast with his wife before going to work. He had a clandestine meeting with a secret lover for lunch, but didn't realize that his wife and the lover knew each other. The wife planned to be at the lunch meeting when he got there. The two women were going to jump him and try for a threesome.

There was a black couple getting food at the buffet counters. They were both gay, but were 'friends of convenience' to keep up appearances. The woman didn't know that the guy was bi and madly in love with her, but he knew she wasn't interested and chose to be her closest friend and keep his love unrequited.

I don't usually watch people when I'm alone and in public. Usually I find a nice flat wall to settle up against and read. I'm a big reader. I'd just finished a five book series on Merlin and had moved on to a Marion Zimmer Bradley sci-fi book (Darkover series). I had read Mists of Avalon and her prequels and loved them, but I especially enjoyed the Darkover series. You need fluff to steady your mind between the bigger books, and telepathy has been one of my favorite fiction topics for a long time. I didn't feel like reading on my birthday, though. I ate and watched people instead. I made sure everyone had a more interesting day ahead of them than my own. It was challenging and fun, and kept my mind off what surprises were yet in store for me.

At 9:15 a few waitresses came over with a brownie and balloons. They sang a goofy little song that only one of them knew all the words to. I'd like to find the business executive who first had the brilliant idea of making these kind of songs mandatory and have him sing it all day long. Those poor waitresses! Ah well, they seemed to have a good time with it, and were of good cheer. One of them handed me a card and I thanked them while we all laughed.

The blacked out text was getting to be a theme. I guess someone couldn't find cards with appropriate things to say. This one had a picture of a big breakfast setting. I opened it to find a picture of someone sick in bed. I'm guessing it had something to do with breakfast in bed. There was a phone card stuck to the other side of the 'page.'

Mark-

Hope you enjoyed your breakfast. You're just snacking for lunch, so scarf whatever is left until you're full. When you're ready, use the phone to call Dina. She's got a little time before she has to head for work and is expecting your call. She'll tell you what to do next. The card has $20 dollars on it. Pretty much all of your friends say you're not in touch enough. Poke Poke!

"Birthday Surprise"

I laughed. I don't have a phone and haven't had a phone card in months. It's gotten to the point where I don't talk to anyone who can't reach me through the Internet. The phone card was definitely a good choice. Whoever was planning all of this was certainly practical! Devious, too. If all my friends knew I had a phone card, I'd have to call them all in the next few days so I wouldn't slight anyone. Maybe I'd find out who Birthday Surprise was before the end of today, but I was sure I could weasel it out of somebody by the end of the week.

I went to a pay phone outside the restaurant and called Dina. Dina has been a friend of mine for a couple years, since I met her online in my senior year of high school. She was one of the people who knew me best, mostly because I had shared so many things with her. She introduced me to hypnosis (taught me almost everything I know about it, really) and has been my one and only steady hypnotist so far. There have been others, but not with the 3 or 4 times a week pace we had back when I was going under regularly. Dina and I are still good friends, but we moved out of the hypnosis part of our relationship a while back. I hadn't gone under for anyone other than myself in almost a year at that time, and it had been a while before that incident, too.

Dina picked up the phone will a cheery "Happy Birthday!" I laughed and we caught up for a while. I hadn't talked to her on the phone in a couple months, so it was fun. I kept trying to find out what else was planned for my day, and who the mystery surprise person was, but she wouldn't go for it. She sounded pretty mischievous, and teased me quite a bit. Talk turned to other things for about five minutes before she shocked the hell out of me.

When we first started playing around, Dina placed a few post hypnotic triggers to quickly get me in trance. When we stopped trancing each other regularly, I started doing self-hypnosis more actively. I used the triggers she had placed because they already worked. Post hypnotic triggers have to be used regularly or they fade away, but how regularly depends on the person. In my case, it's rather difficult to get a trigger in me, but the induction triggers Dina placed are a special case because they were the first set I had ever accepted. When Dina took me under almost a year before the day of my birthday, she had used the same triggers she had always used. They still worked for her, so she knew they were still 'valid.' She waited until I got done retelling a funny incident that had happened to me earlier that week, then said the trigger phrase. I dropped like a rock. Not literally- I had figured out how to go into trance while standing up after the first few months of being hypnotized. I was still standing at the pay phone, but I went into trance immediately.

I woke up sometime later and looked at my watch. The phone call had lasted 15 minutes total. The line was dead on the phone, so I hung it up. I couldn't remember anything from the trance, but knew where I was supposed to go next.

9:30 AM

The Dumbarton Public Library is something like a block or less distance from Shoney's. I use the library quite regularly to access the 'net. It took me about 3 minutes to get there. The library had just opened so the Internet accessible computers were mostly free. I sat down at my favorite one. I had two hours to hang out here before moving on to whatever happened next.

The Internet is God's gift to the 21st century (through Al Gore, of course). If it weren't for the friends I made and activities I had over the 'net, I would have graduated high school and promptly gone insane. While getting online was something I did (and do) quite regularly, I still considered it a valuable present. I know, I know, I have no life. That's okay, neither do you, if you're reading this. NYEH!

My mailbox was full of E-Cards. I was touched. Usually I got three or so every year from thoughtful friends. This year it looked like someone had let the word out and made sure I was deluged with good wishes. There were even a few notes from some of my newer friends on a yahoo group I had recently joined. It nearly brought tears to my eyes. People cared! I was so loved.

Rich was on yahoo IM as I signed on. I messaged him and said hi. He sent back the obligatory "Happy Birthday" and a smile. I tried to find out anything I could about Birthday Surprise and what was coming up next. I'm a curious person. It wouldn't have been normal if I hadn't tried! He stayed mum on the subject, but didn't tease me about it all that much.

Rich is an author friend of mine that I've known for a couple years now. I met him in the same group as Dina. Rich isn't his real name (and for that matter, Dina is false as well) but it bears a resemblance. If I'm not going to say mine, I sure as hell ain't spillin' my friends' names. *Grin*

We talked for a while about some of the stories he was trying to muddle through. I'm usually one of his main feedback people, mostly because I'm a bit longwinded. (You didn't notice? Yeah, right.) I actually have a couple of stories I need to make critiques for and send back to him. I talked to him about that, trying to hold my guilt at bay, before conversation turned to chit chat.

The yahoo group I'm on seemed active. Someone had made a public announcement of my birthday and a lot of people were congratulating me. The private emails I got were probably from that. I swear I'm the youngest person on the list. If there's someone younger out there, I haven't met them yet. Oh well, they all seem to love me anyway. I posted a general reply, telling them all what a sweet group they were. Not just because of my birthday- they really are a great group of folks. I expected someone to respond with something appropriately dirty minded by the end of the day.

I had a little time before my two hours ran out, so I took a small stroll down memory lane. Another author friend of mine, Wiseguy, wrote a short story called Coming of Age. I indirectly inspired it by talking to him one night on IRC and mentioning I was 18. He was at this conference at the time and there some basketball players in the area.... well, if you want to know more, check his website. He explains it in the background info he has behind each story.

It was a good read. I rather liked Boxing Day out of all his short stories, but Coming of Age is close behind that. I fired off an email to him for grins, mentioning that I had been reading it and thinking of that night. He'd smile at it. Wiseguy's cool.

My two hours was almost up, so I said goodbye to Rich and did a last check of my email. I'm glad I did, too, because there was a new E-card waiting in my inbox. Rich told me to check email just as I was opening the E-card. He said it had been time delayed to arrive 10 minutes before I had to go.

Mark-

Time flies, don't it? Hope you had fun, but you can't be a lazy net bum all day long. When your time is up, go outside and wait. A taxi will pick you up and take you to your next surprise. Don't worry, the taxi's been paid for.

"Birthday Surprise"

A taxi? Jeez! Someone wasn't worried about cash flow. For a moment I had a brief fantasy of being taken to the airport and being flown back to California to see my sister. I mentioned it to Rich and he laughed. That reminded me to fire off a quick email to Sis before I left. I'd call her later that night, or the next day if things got busy.

The taxi arrived promptly at 11:35, about 5 minutes after I had gone outside. I asked the driver where we were going, but he only smiled and shook his head. At first I thought he didn't speak English, but then he told me he had strict instructions not to spill the beans. He did say I'd probably see him again later in the day. I sat back and absorbed that little tidbit while he drove. I'm not all that familiar with the city I live in just yet, and we drove through an unfamiliar part of town, but I did recognize our final destination. It was the mall I go to every now and again. He stopped at the main entrance. The mall has several main entrances, but this is the one I'm most familiar with. I grabbed my backpack and got out.

I take my backpack with me everywhere I go. I walk a lot so I have a large bottle of water (as in, an old half gallon Gatorade bottle filled with water) and whatever books I'm reading in it. My maxim: Always carry a book with you. You never know when something is going to leave you waiting, and if you're just standing around, it's great reading time.

11:50 AM

I'm familiar with the entrance to the mall I was at. It's across from a movie theatre I go to occasionally, and has a Ruby Tuesday's right off to the side as you go through the door. Was I having lunch at Ruby Tuesdays? Expensive, but I thought the note had said I'd be snacking for lunch. No, I decided. I didn't think I'd be going there. The Ruby Tuesdays is just the first restaurant before you get to a mall food court with a bunch of fast food places. It's possible I was supposed to pick the poison of my choice, but so far everything had been laid out for me. I turned to examine what else was available. A bunch of tables were in the food court, and the Ruby Tuesday's was on my left. On my right was the reason I'm most familiar with this entrance to the mall. It's an arca...

My watch suddenly started beeping. I looked it in confusion, and a wave of something passed over me, making me feel a bit dizzy. I knew it was a post hypnotic suggestion, but none of them had ever made me dizzy before. It was an effective way to bring something to mind though- at least now I knew what I was supposed to do. I took my backpack off and opened the smaller of the two pouches. There was a birthday card inside. A picture of a couple of guys playing a video game was on the front, under the now familiar blacked out text.

Mark-

You should be at the mall by now, or will be there shortly. In the same pouch as this card is a bag full of tokens. You've got about an hour's worth of playing time. Don't dance the day away!

"Birthday Surprise"

I had thought so. Someone was going right for my sweet spot. As I was saying, across from Ruby Tuesdays is an arcade I attend as much as I can. They have a Dance Dance Revolution machine there. I *love* Dance Dance Revolution. It's the only form of exercise I really enjoy, although walking isn't that bad anymore. Before I left California, a coworker got me started and I became hopelessly addicted. DDR can get expensive, though, so I don't get to play it much. In fact I hadn't played it in six or seven months at that time.

I greeted the manager as I walked in and went straight to the DDR machine in the back. I counted out the tokens in the Ziploc bag that was in my backpack, wondering why I hadn't heard them clinking around while I was walking to Shoney's earlier. I began to have suspicions that Dina's trance earlier hadn't been the only one I'd experienced the last couple of days. In fact, I couldn't remember what I had done for the weekend at all. That worried me just a bit, but I let it go. If hypnosis was involved, then a part of me knew what was going on and had agreed to it.

There was a girl dancing on the machine when I got back there. I finished counting out my tokens (definitely enough for an hour) and watched her. She was good. I knew the song she was dancing to (Drop the Bomb) and it was about my level on light mode. I checked the machine; yep, light mode. I shook my head to the tune and covertly checked her out while she was still focused on the dance.

Brown, shoulder-length hair, white skin with freckles, glasses, a cute nose, what looked to be green eyes, all on a small face. She looked to be about 5'6, but it was hard to tell with her moving constantly. She was in blue jeans and a red shirt with three pink hearts in the center. She was a bigger girl, which can slow a DDR player down (I should know, I'm big too) but she had some experience and appeared to have her act together. Cute, very cute. I didn't have a chance in hell, but you can't stop me from dreaming.

She got done dancing and I applauded, earning me a very nice blush and smile, I the machine to make sure that was her last song (three songs on this particular machine) and started up a conversation. "That was good. Do you play three to four feet songs?" I asked. Difficulty in DDR is measured in feet- the more feet, the harder it is.

She shook her head while she caught her breath. "I'm just warming up. I usually play four to five."

I smiled in pleasant surprise. "Do you mind if I join you for doubles? I have about an hour here, and I play four to five feet, too." It was very unusual for me to meet someone who wasn't either just starting out or playing the 7 to 10 feet songs. She was exactly on my level, from the sound of it.

She didn't mind, so we loaded up and started playing. I wanted to show off, so I chose one song to warm up with, and two to put her through her paces. I had more trouble than she did handling the songs because I hadn't practiced in so long. We completed the set and she chose the next three. This time she put me through *my* paces, getting a higher score than me on every song. It was great, and I learned right then not to get too chauvinist with her. Usually I wouldn't have tried something like that, but hormones do really silly things to you.

I picked slightly easier songs through the next set and said I still needed to catch my breath. She smiled and took the conceded victory with grace. For the next 40 minutes we jumped, jiggled, grooved, and jived like the two Dance Dance Revolution maniacs we were. She finally called a water break, which I gladly consented to. We talked while we rested, exchanging names and bits about our personal lives and just generally getting to know each other.

Her name was Jenna Giambi, with no relation to the baseball player. I had actually known a Jason Giambi back in high school, so we bantered about how much that last name can get someone in trouble. She was going to a junior college in the area and working a little on the side to get by. She was 21, about three months my senior. She had one older sister who was off at UCLA figuring out what she wanted to do when she grew up. Jenna had moved with her parents from Florida after she had graduated high school. She'd been a DDR maniac for about three months, but got regular practice at it. I told her to keep it up and explained how I had pretty much quit because of the money drain. We discussed why we played DDR, which led to a discussion on exercise, which we both disliked in all its non-DDR forms. We had similar senses of humor, and she kept cracking me up with little commentaries on just about everything.

Eventually we were both calmed down enough to play again. I checked my watch and noticed I only had ten more minutes left to play, which equates to about one set. I told her this would be my last game before I had to go and asked her if she wouldn't mind pushing it for three songs. She agreed and the machine kicked our asses for the next 10 minutes. We barely hung on to the pace of the songs and were both heavily sweating by the end of the set, but it had been a lot of fun.

We got off the machine and talked while we calmed down. She asked me where I was going and I promptly told her that I didn't have a clue. That got a puzzled look, so I explained about my day. Her face lit up when I finished and she told me to have a happy birthday. I thanked her, adding enough emphasis to let her know I really was grateful and not just being polite. The arcade manager found me at that point and asked me if I was Mark. I told him I was, and he gave me a pink envelope which looked suspiciously like it held a birthday card. I thanked him and opened it. Blacked out text framed a guy in a movie theatre eating popcorn. These cards all seemed to have themes, and I had a pretty good idea what my lunch was going to be. There was a movie ticket and some money inside the card, confirming my guess.

Mark-

Feeling tired? Good! Get over to the movie theatre and relax for a while. You should have enough money for a large soda and a tub of popcorn. Enjoy the show!

"Birthday Surprise"

I showed the card to Jenna, who was looking at it curiously. I don't think she had entirely bought the Birthday Surprise angle until that point. She smiled and gave me back the card, saying she was happy I had such good friends. I smiled and agreed with her, deciding to take the plunge. "Do you have anywhere you need to be for a while? I have a little extra money, we could see the movie together."

Did I mention she has a lovely blush? She thought about it for a second and then gave me a thousand watt smile. "That'd be great," she said sweetly. My heart leapt. I had a date!! Sort of.

1 PM

I don't have a clue what the movie was. I think it had something to do with vampires. It was dark and gory and the scripting needed work, but I didn't care. I was hyper-focused on the girl sitting next to me the entire time. She seemed a bit distracted from the movie as well. Probably a good thing, because I wasn't sure if she'd be the kind of girl who enjoyed fighting and gore. She is, but I didn't know that then.

About a third way through the movie I noticed she had her hand on the armrest. Now, I've already said I'm not the most social person in the world. When it comes to girls, I'm particularly dense. However, I had been through *this* particular event once before. Two years ago, I had taken a female friend out to the movies. She had put her hands on the armrest and I was clueless. About halfway through the movie she finally grabbed my hand, which was when the idea that handholding is good first occurred to me. No, that's not fair. I had wanted to hold her hand the whole time. I just completely missed her signals.

*This* was a signal. I took her hand in mine and checked her face to make sure this was okay. She smiled, and I let out a sigh of relief. I was officially holding a girl's hand! Yay for me!!

I hope I didn't miss anymore signals, but I didn't know any more other than the hand-on-armrest thing. Jenna assures me that I missed quite a few.

Halfway through the movie she moved closer to me. This was foreign territory for me, and I usually respond to something new by panicking. I tried not to freak out, and instead moved closer to her in response. By the end of the movie we were snuggling over the armrest. Snuggling with a girl, WOO!

3 PM

The movie got out and we headed to the bathrooms. I skipped down the hall, generally embarrassing myself and making quite a show for onlookers. Jenna laughed and joined me in skipping. If you've never seen two larger people in their younger twenties skipping, it's something to see. It's also unbelievably fun.

We used the bathrooms and met up again. I felt drawn to one of the ushers for some reason I couldn't explain, and with the earlier use of hypnosis and the pace of how the day had gone, I figured it would be a good idea to follow through on the impulse. I walked up to him, told him my name, and asked him if he had a card for me. He blinked in surprise and said he had forgotten, but he did. He handed it to me and I opened it while Jenna tried to read over my shoulder.

This one had a picture of a birthday cake and balloons, and had honest to goodness text on the front! "Happy 21st Birthday" arched over the cake and balloons. I opened it.

Mark-

I hope you've been enjoying your day. A taxi will meet you outside and take you to your next destination. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

"Birthday Surprise"

I handed the card to Jenna and she smiled as she read it. She looked up with a small glimmer in her eyes. "Well, let's go outside and see what we have," she said in a cheery voice.

The taxi was indeed waiting outside. I was kind of sad because this probably meant Jenna wouldn't be able to go with me. I turned to ask her what she was going to do, but she was already talking to the taxi driver. It was the same guy who had driven me earlier. He was shaking his head and smiling. They talked for a bit more before he finally nodded. After one more short burst of information, Jenna turned back to me with a large smile on her face.

"Come on," she said. "I'm your ride. I've got a car and the taxi driver has already been paid. He told me where you're supposed to go next, so I'll drive you over."

I smiled in relief. I did *not* want this part of the day to end. I saw a different opportunity present itself as well. "You sure you know how to get there? What streets are you going to take?" Hey, it was worth a shot.

She just smiled. "Nice try. The driver told me you're not supposed to know, and I promised him I wouldn't tell you. Let's roll."

I followed her to her car, a mid nineties red jeep, and hopped in. We chit chatted as she drove, but I had no idea where we were going and she refused to tell.

It was 3:15 when we pulled on to Cary street. At least I knew where we were by that point. I had walked Cary street once earlier in the year. It was a colorful place with lots of little shops. Walking Cary street is a cool thing to do if you've got a free afternoon and are in the area. We pulled up next to a specialty gaming shop I had visited on my prior trip down the street. I gave Jenna a puzzled look and she got out with a smile. "Here we are," she said. She paused a moment, then added "but from here on my guess is as good as yours."

I groaned silently. Birthday Surprise was pushing all my buttons, but I wish I could have received a less geeky present. I wasn't sure if Jenna was a gamer and didn't really want to find out on our first day together. We went inside to find the store slightly crowded. I walked over to the manager and asked him what was going on.

"Oh, there's a magic tournament going on, and a Star Trek tournament is about to start," he said. I didn't know how to play magic, not my thing, but I used to play the Star Trek customizable card game as much as I could. It's even more of a money vacuum than Dance Dance Revolution. Didn't Birthday Surprise realize I haven't played Star Trek since my mother tossed out all my cards a couple years back?

Apparently this had been anticipated; the manager asked me if I was Mark. I said yes, and he said he had a package for me. A deck of Star Trek cards accompanied another birthday card. I glanced nervously at Jenna, hoping she could take my geekness in stride. She smiled encouragingly at me and I opened the card.

Mark-

You're going to play Magic! Just kidding.

Haven't played Star Trek in a while, eh? Well, don't worry. You should be familiar with the deck I've provided. It was a bit difficult to find all the correct cards, but you should have fun with this one. The tournament is small, so you should be out around 5. A taxi will pick you up outside. Engage, ensign!

"Birthday Surprise"

I was now completely puzzled. *None* of my friends on the 'net knew I used to play cards. The only person who could possibly have helped was Steve, an old high school buddy who had built all my decks for me. If someone had tracked Steve down without my knowledge, who *knew* what they were capable of. How long had this day been planned?

I told Jenna about the tournament, and asked her if she wouldn't mind hanging around. She smiled and nodded. She talked to some other people while I signed in and got ready for the first and only card tournament I've ever played in. I looked at the deck I had been given. Either someone had spent some serious phone time with Steve, or they were psychic and read the deck straight from my memory. It was a Romulan deck, almost an exact copy of one of the two Romulan decks I had before my mother threw my cards out. This one was a trick deck, designed for a quick win but easily foiled by a little planning.

I looked up from my cards to see Jenna talking avidly to one of the magic players. My curiosity piqued, I walked over to listen in. I know my speech can be a bit hard to follow when I'm geeking out over cards, but the card talk between Jenna and this guy left my head spinning.

"Ball lightening is crap!" Jenna was saying. "It always gets Bolted or Incinerated or Black Knight-ed." She turned just in time to see my puzzled face and started laughing. "I take it you don't play magic?" I nodded dumbly. Jenna played magic? Maybe I didn't have to worry about geeking out after all. I let her get back to her alien speech patterns when the tournament started. Once I got started playing, she stopped talking to watch my game from the side of the table.

The tournament I was in *was* small. Four people, including me. It was set up so everyone played everyone. My trick deck did pretty well in it. The first guy I played groaned as soon as we started playing. Each player puts down a number of locations, and he saw what I was going for immediately. I took his groan as a sign that he wasn't prepared. I was right, he wasn't. Luck was on my side, too, because I got the perfect first hand.

I won't go too far into explaining how the game works, but the Romulan deck I have is designed to be cheap (literally) and dirty (figuratively). It's composed entirely of common cards, which means you don't need to spend an arm and a leg to build the deck. The deck is called a trick deck because it's designed to exploit something and win the game without having to worry about silly things like fighting or playing fair. There's a location card for the Romulan-Federation neutral zone, worth ten points by itself. The points it's worth increases by ten with every other neutral zone card on the board. (Most location cards are unique. The neutral zone card isn't, so you can place more than one.) If you place five or six neutral zones down, each one is suddenly worth 50 or 60 points each. You only need 100 points to win, so if you can complete two missions before your opponent can get a ship over to stop you, you've won. Not only that, but the neutral zone is a space location. Normally, you have space and planet locations mixed in together. The opponent plans for this and has space and planet specific dilemmas (the cards or challenges you have to beat to win the mission, each player can put six under a mission) in his deck. If you play all space locations, some of his dilemmas are useless.

The first game was over before it really had much of a chance to start. With the hand I got, I had a manned ship out and doing missions by the second turn. He couldn't get a ship over to block me in time, and I won in a few turns.

Jenna has never played Star Trek. It was a fad, as most CCG's (Customizable Card Games) are, save Magic. Magic: the Gathering is the king of CCG's. Others will come and go, but Magic outlives them all. It has a very dedicated following. Star Trek got knocked out of the card game standings when Pokemon came on the scene. It sucked, because the value of my $300+ card deck dropped to under $100. It didn't matter, because later I lost them all, but I was bummed at the time. I talked to Jenna and explained the game as best I could while we waited for the next game to begin.

My second game wasn't quite as easy as the first. The guy had seen my deck while I played my first game, and even though you can't change out cards between games, he had time to plan for it. He played a Klingon deck, who like the Romulans can attack without warning. There was one tense moment when he got a ship out and hunted for me, but I had two of my cheapie quick deploy scouts out by then and together they barely managed to shoot him down. I wrapped up the missions and won before he could man his second ship.

I was fated to lose the third game. I got a horrible starting hand, and he had a ship out and was getting it manned in no time flat. He played Borg, which is a slow deck because you can have trouble getting from the Delta Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant (where most everyone else is) and the Borg cubes need 7 drones to be operational. His ship was up and hunting for me by the time I got a guy to man my measly little scout. I tried to do a mission, but could tell by the evil grin on his face that I was not going to like his dilemmas. I was right. He could have kept that cube to himself all day long and I wouldn't have stood a chance of winning. As it was, the guy on my ship died from the dilemmas, so the vessel was derelict by the time his cube cut it to pieces. My space station (and thus the game) followed shortly thereafter.

5 PM

I had a lot of fun playing in the tournament- reliving old memories and geeking out. Jenna seemed to have a good time too. She had spent her time watching me and talking to some of the magic people she knew. When the tournament ended, we walked outside to wait for the taxi. We talked about it, and quickly decided that she would get the next location and drive me to it again. I asked her if she had to be anywhere by a certain time, and she smiled and shook her head. She's so cute when she blushes. She asked me if that was an invitation to spend the rest of the night together. Jenna tells me I'm cute when I blush, too.

The taxi arrived, driven by a different guy this time. Jenna managed to talk him into giving her the location of my next destination and we hopped in her car. She had a frown on her face, so I asked her what was wrong. "I think you're going to someone's house this time," she said.

Hrm. I gave her the address I live at and asked her if that was the place. She nodded. I smiled and told her she was right. We were going to my house. She smiled at that.

My roommate's truck wasn't in the driveway when we got to the house. This was particularly odd. Usually I'm home at 5:30 everyday because I have to babysit my roommate's 9 year old daughter. She's a... er.. spunky little lass, and I usually enjoy it. We're a bit like older brother and little sister. Sometimes I think she just uses me for the games on my computer. For the most part I don't mind that, though. It means I can read in something resembling peace.

I invited Jenna inside. As the missing truck indicated, nobody was home. On a Tuesday? I explained my puzzled look to Jenna and she showed a slightly concerned expression as well. Ah, well. More fun for us!

I am a slob. Let me just get that across right here and now. I. Am. A. Slob. I'm a 21 year old male, which I suppose can be synonymous with slob, but isn't a very good excuse. Nevertheless, I lucked out that day. I didn't remember doing it, but I had tidied up my room over the weekend. That, or Birthday Surprise had been cleaning while I was gone. Either way, I silently thanked the cosmos that I had a somewhat presentable room to show Jenna into. She looked around, frowned slightly at my "bed" (a blanket on the floor as a mattress and a comforter and sleeping bag as covers) but the room in general seemed to meet with her approval. It was spartan, because aside from my computer I'm not all that materialistic of a person, but it had the essentials (bed, TV, computer, clothes, lamp, sitting space).

While looking around my room (making sure nothing would embarrass me) I noticed the computer monitor was off. Weird, I thought, I never turn it off. I hadn't noticed that this morning, but then again I had been rather distracted at the time. I turned it on and found a WordPad document up.

Mark-

Did you win? Hope so!

Let's celebrate. There's a rental movie in your VCR. I thought about microwavable popcorn, but you've probably had enough popcorn. Don't eat anything- the surprises will continue. Enjoy the movie!

"Birthday Surprise"

My stomach grumbled at the mention of popcorn. I had used the money intended for that to buy Jenna's ticket. I didn't regret it for a second, but I was getting hungry. Ah well, from the sound of it, that too would be provided. I turned to see Jenna reading the computer screen with a slightly teary eyed look. "What's wrong," I asked her.

She looked at me. "You're loved, you know that?" It sounded like she was trying not to cry. I took a risk; I hugged her. It seemed the right thing to do, and I got a thrill out of it.

"I know," whispered to her. I was having a bit of trouble keeping my voice from cracking as well. I suddenly understood what had gotten to her. Thinking about what had gone on throughout my day was a bit overwhelming. I owed someone a big thank you when I found out who Birthday Surprise was. For that matter, I probably owed all my friends a big thank you, too.

I took a deep breath and squeezed her again, enjoying the intimacy of the hug. We separated eventually, which was good because her close proximity was distracting me and certain parts of my body were becoming more active than I wanted just then. I gave her the best smile I could manage and said "join me for a movie?"

She smiled and nodded. I wanted to see what movie we were watching, and went to press the eject button before pushing the tape back in. I paused at the last second, deciding it would ruin a bit of the surprise, and turned the TV on and pressed play instead.

When the movie came up I swore to God right then and there that someone was either psychic or telepathic. It was "Hackers," one of my favorite movies ever (though I have no idea quite why). I love it, but hadn't seen it in a couple years at that point. (Are we sensing a theme here? That day seemed to be a constant renewing of my old loves.)

Whoever had planned my day out hadn't anticipated on my having company, though. Hackers is great, but has a couple of love scenes in it which are not appropriate for a first date. I blushed furiously as this realization sank in. I fought hard (and failed) to keep the nervousness out of my voice as I asked the question stampeding through my mind. "Uh, have you ever seen this movie before?" I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch this one with her there, lest she become offended.

She looked back at me with a wry smile, making me think she could read the thoughts straight from my mind. "Yes," she said coyly.

I began to sweat. "Um, do you want to see something else?"

The smile grew wider. She was enjoying this! "Oh? Why wouldn't I want to see this?"

"Um, ah, well," I stumbled. I couldn't finish putting my foot in my mouth because she suddenly burst into laughter. I guess the look on my face had been pretty priceless.

"It's okay, Mark," she said relaxingly. "I know you didn't plan your day out. I like this movie."

I can only imagine what my face looked like at that moment. Relieved? Sheepish? Hopeful? Whatever it was, it earned another round of laughter. I joined her this time.

7 PM

I love Hackers. It rawks. Have I said that it's my favorite movie yet? Well, anyway, we were both on a definite high when the movie ended. We had been holding hands since it started, and had been cuddling just a little before the first love scene started. She pushed herself closer to me during that part, and I thanked the cosmos my waist was nowhere near any part of her body just then. We stayed cuddled together throughout the rest of the movie. We both whooped and cheered when the good guys won and Zero Cool typed the infamous line: Mess with the Best, Die like the Rest.

Hackers was one of Jenna's favorites too, much to my shocked delight. We spent an unknown amount of time after the credits talking avidly about why we liked the movie and what our favorite parts were. This led to a serious round of 'net geeking and a debate over what could and could not actually happen. She convinced me that my prior intellectual stances were all wrong. It was then that my second maxim began to form: Jenna Is Always Right.

The onset of this realization was interrupted when the doorbell rang. At first I thought my roommates would get it, but then remembered we were home alone. I hopped up to go to the door, wondering who in the world it could be and why they didn't use the side door like everyone else who remotely knew the residents of this particular house. The answer was obvious when I saw the chinese delivery guy standing on the front porch.

Two large containers of sweet N sour pork, one large container of sweet N sour chicken, and two equally large containers of pork fried rice. Oh my God, I'm in love with Birthday Surprise.

If you're guessing I hadn't had chinese food in a while at that point, you're dead on. It had felt like *forever* and I had been fiending for some good sweet N sour pork for, well... ever. This was enough to last me most of the week.

Jenna tells me that I looked like a half starved zoo animal when I saw what was inside the containers. The delivery guy was nice, said he had already been paid (and tipped) and gave me a shiny yellow envelope to go with the food. Birthday card, anyone?

The front of this one had been blank, but there was a Polaroid picture of the front of a chinese place glued on, with the name of the business and address. It was a ways away, but they delivered. I opened the card to see a hand drawn picture that made me burst out laughing. It was a face, and Jenna assures me it looked *exactly* like I did when I saw the chinese food. The care and detail of the drawing was apparent. The style looked a little familiar, too. For that matter, so did the handwriting on the card. I hadn't noticed it before, but I think something in the back of my mind was finally beginning to click. I thought I might be able to figure the mystery out by the end of the night after all.

Mark-

Is your mouth watering? Dig in! I hope you enjoy it. It doesn't look quite as good as the stuff from the Chinese Cafe, but it was the best I could rustle up.

Have you bothered to wonder why your clothes were laid out this morning? Open your closet and find out.

Just a couple more tricks left up my sleeve, and then the show is over. I hope things have been entertaining.

"Birthday Surprise"

This was beginning to freak me out. The Chinese Cafe is a small, out of the way, very busy chinese place in the town I grew up in. It has the second best sweet N sour pork I have ever tasted, and the fact that Birthday Surprise hinted they had tasted it before narrowed the field of friends down REAL quick. If I didn't know I was loved by this person, I would have been afraid for my life at that point. I was positive the person had to be a telepath or psychic. It was entirely possible all my friends could have gotten together and came up with this stuff, but the attention to detail was startling.

Jenna shook me out of my daze by asking if we were going to eat or just stand there all day. I smiled and went to the kitchen to get some plates. If I were alone, I wouldn't have bothered, but with a girl I felt it was mandatory.

Jenna didn't wait for me. She was using a plastic fork to eat out of one of the boxes by the time I got back with a plate. She looked at me like I had grown a third eye and asked in an extremely puzzled voice what the plates were for. I laughed and put them away. The look on her face told me the point had been made deliberately. I suppose any girl who can hang out with a guy wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt isn't too worried about elegance. I was growing to like her more and more as I got to know her.

We ate in silence for a few minutes until Jenna started talking. I was too busy devouring my food to really talk, but she didn't seem quite as intent as I was, so I got a few questions out to keep the topics flowing. Jenna likes chinese food, but sweet N sour anything isn't her favorite. That's okay. While I like a lot of stuff that isn't sweet N sour, I figured I had enough fanatical devotion for the both of us.

Once I settled down a little and started acting as if the food wasn't going to grow feet and run away, our talk grew more animated. The topics were both diverse and long winded. Jenna knows how to listen, and she speaks in such a way as to remind me that I need to actively listen too. As long as I remember to pay attention to her without blathering on inanely (which in truth isn't all that difficult) we are an incredibly talkative couple. Some of Jenna's friends have remarked to me that she rarely talks as much as she does when I'm around, and while I'm fine on volume, I have to admit that my discourse seems to be more focused and to the point around her. We work well together that way, I guess.

Something she said reminded me of the latest card, and I picked it up to make sure I hadn't imagined things. I had been so shocked by the chinese food that I hadn't paid much attention to the closet part. I got up, opened my closet, and jumped back as a box fell to my feet. It had a bunch of envelopes and wrapped presents in it. Another Birthday Surprise, apparently.

My friends are the best people on the face of this planet. I wasn't expecting any gifts for my birthday. I didn't want to seem greedy or stuck up or arrogant or whatever by walking around saying "my birthday is coming up, here is my wish list. I expect it to be met." I had had a talk about three weeks prior with Rich where I explained just this feeling, and said that was why I wouldn't show my birthday wish list to anyone. I did, in fact, have a list, but I thought I had kept it to myself. Either Birthday Surprise got it through otherworldly sources, or I had spilled the beans to Dina at some earlier point and couldn't remember doing so. I really doubted the second option, but the first seemed too fantastic to consider. Either way, my wish list was at my feet.

Dina sent me a pair of blue jeans in my size. I had been in serious need of a new pair of pants and couldn't afford it myself, so I was extremely grateful for this. A friend in Nashville sent me a new belt. The old one I had had gotten worn out and too big for me. My waist had shrunk because of all the walking I'd done over the last year. A lawyer friend of mine sent me the same Best of Kansas CD he had given me the year before (I promptly lost the first one in a car accident) and a Best of Bruce Springsteen album to go with it. My sister had sent me a gift certificate card for Walmart. There were cards with each of the gifts, and a few from some other friends (Rich, Dylan, some people I haven't mentioned). Birthday Surprise had already taken care of the last item on my wish list: chinese food.

I think I squealed or something as I was opening the presents. Jenna looked at me curiously. I explained the relevance of each gift. I saw a flash of something pass through her face as I was busy talking about how I needed a new pair of jeans. I'm hoping it wasn't pity. It's not something I feel I can ask Jenna about now.

8 PM

My alarm clock went off and interrupted my musings. It has a duel alarm, and apparently Birthday Surprise had been in the mood to use every alarm she or he could get his or her hands on. This just about completed my set. I turned off the alarm and noticed the card underneath the clock. No doubt that was the intention. The blacked out text was back. The front had a picture of a guy at a party who looked humorously drunk. Confetti floated above him, and he was frozen in the middle of either wobbling or falling down.

Mark-

Happy 21st Birthday! Yes, I know it's been said already. I don't think the importance has been underlined enough yet.

Happy TWENTY FIRST Birthday! You'll find your last present in the fridge. Remember: Water is your friend. I'll be seeing you soon...

"Birftay Thurpwise"

Would you believe I had no idea what my next gift was going to be? No, me neither, looking back. Clueless, I tell you, clueless. Even Jenna knew without having to open the fridge. I never have been able to take a hint or seven.

I opened the door to find six different cans of beer. Not a bad idea since I hadn't tasted but one or two before then, and didn't know which one I liked. Birthday Surprise didn't seem to, either. A telepath, then, not a psychic. It had been proven.

Jenna had an appropriately amused look on her face. "I take it you haven't touched much alcohol on the past." I nodded and looked back at the beers while I did a little thinking. Did I really want to go that route tonight? With Jenna here? I mean, it would have been great if I had been alone, but I didn't know if I wanted to test my body's ability to make a complete and utter fool of me. Jenna solved my problem for me by grabbing a beer and handing me another. "Shall we?" she asked innocently.

I shrugged. "Someone thinks I should. Why not?"

9 PM

If I were a good boy, I'd say the night ended there. I'd say we both had one beer, drank lots of water, and she went home thinking me the perfect gentlemen.

If Jenna ever gets a hold of this story, she's going to KILL me, but I just can't resist.

We had been talking and drinking and cuddling and laughing for about an hour since my last birthday present. We dusted off the beers, which I was hesitant to do, but yanno, I had to keep pace with Jenna and all that. I was feeling nice and drifty, I'm guessing everyone else calls this "buzzed," and I was having a bit of trouble speaking straight. Jenna was doing better, but not by much. Finally she looked straight at me with the most serious face I had ever seen and said a series of words I would never have expected to hear from her. "Make love to me."

I blame it on the alcohol. Under normal circumstances I would have froze up, threw my eyes open as wide as they could go, and gawked at her until the heated moment had passed and I had sufficiently embarrassed myself. Instead I looked at her with what I hoped was an equally serious face and said "I thought you'd never ask." That was all it took. And honestly, I didn't make love to her. She made love to me. That's perfectly fine with me, as it was my first. It's a night I'll never forget, yet can barely remember through the haze of beer.

She had been laying against my chest before this, and was looking up at me. She raised a hand to caress my cheek and drew my head close to hers. She kissed me tenderly, lovingly, gently. I did my best to respond in kind. I could feel my whole body straining to get closer to hers, my nerves tingling for just one additional little touch against her skin. My lips felt like an erogenous zone. I was dazed and loving it.

At some point her hands began traveling up and down my body. She squeezed my groin, causing me to groan and start in surprise. She broke the kiss long enough to smile something a small hunted animal must see before the killing stroke descends. Her shirt came off, revealing her white cotton bra. My eyes lost all power of control and stayed fastened to the two partially revealed globes of flesh. She must have taken my shirt off at this moment, but I was too distracted at the time to notice. The next thing I remember for sure was when her bra came off. That was when my hands lost all sense of control and joined my eyes in being equally helpless. I watched my hands gently squeeze her breasts; felt her soft skin against mine and the heat our bodies were giving off. My neck decided this helpless thrall thing might be a good idea, and joined the group by bending down so I could suckle against a nipple. I think it's something genetically encoded into every male. See nipple: suckle. There's just no stopping it.

She held my head to her chest and moaned softly. My hands were exploring the flesh of her sides and back. They traveled down to feel her ass through her pants. I felt her pants begin to move, and suddenly the pants weren't there anymore. My hands greedily felt the newly revealed skin and panties. I felt her push me to my back and stopped suckling when she pulled away. I was self aware enough to realize she was trying to take my pants off, and quickly helped her. To this day, neither Jenna nor I remember what on earth happened to our shoes.

Her hands were traveling up and down my chest and stomach. Mine returned the favor. I lay there for a moment like that, savoring the moment and burning her beautiful body into every corner of my memory. Her hands grabbed my boxers and I lifted my hips in compliance again. She bent her head down to suck on my nipple while she was pulling my boxers off. I gasped at the sensations. I hadn't realized the male nipple could be that sensitive. My body suddenly decided to go into completely passive mode and lay back to enjoy the ride.

It wasn't too long before it was just that, either. She pulled her panties off, giving me a brief view of Heaven, then straddled my waist. She held me and directed me to the right place, then moved down on me. Warmth unlike anything I could have imagined covered that little part of my body. I moaned and closed my eyes to savor the sensations. I could hear her moan above me just a second later.

She began to move herself up and down on me, creating delightful friction. My hands moved automatically to her hips as she began putting her full weight down on me. There's something very special about the weight of a woman on top of you. It'll always be my favorite position. Jenna seems to like it a lot, too.

Eventually she started really pounding down on me, and the sensations became exquisitely pleasurable. I tried to move my hands to cover the bouncing breasts in front of me, but my body seemed to like my hands where they were, because I found myself grabbing her hips again. We both started moaning as she came down on me faster and harder, harder and faster. My hips began thrusting up to meet hers, setting off a whole new wave of moans and groans. My nerves were on fire. My body was on fire. She was on fire. I watched her cheeks flush and her eyes twist shut, her breathing become heavy and labored. I hoped she was close, because I knew I was.

I could feel the sensations building within me. Rising and rising, building and building, always getting closer and closer to the promised moment. Finally I found myself at the edge of the moment. I looked at her face, trying to judge how close she was. I wanted to take her with me, and desperately needed to slow down if she wasn't ready yet.

The moment passed. All the building feelings in me crested. My body began to spasm in pleasure. I took a deep breath and let out a loud moan as I came inside her. I consciously opened my eyes to look at her. She was watching me, her look of lust evident. She smiled encouragingly and I closed my eyes before they popped out of their sockets.

The waves of pleasure finished passing through me, so I opened my eyes to look at her. She grinned just as her muscles flexed around my member and started the feelings rolling through me a second time. When they began to calm, she flexed her muscles again. The pleasure washed through me again and again, starting up every time it began to fade. Eventually I couldn't take anymore and signaled her to stop. I took a deep, unsteady breath and my eyes returned to her face. The grin had changed to a knowing smile. I knew she hadn't gone with me and felt bad about it. I ordered my body out of passive mode and rolled her over. She was surprised but went with it. I pulled out of her and reached a hand down cup her sex. I moved my hand a bit and my fingers explored her warmth a little before finding her clit.

She gasped as I began rubbing my fingers against her nub. I smiled, suddenly realizing the feeling of power this position gave me. I did the best I could to bring her closer to orgasm, and she gave me appreciative moans. My other hand found her breast and I began to rub my thumb lightly against her nipple. She tensed suddenly, inhaling a deep breath and arching her back. I could see her stomach muscles flex and quiver. Her face locked up in a mask of pleasure. She came almost silently, letting out only a small squeak.

I kissed her lips gently while she recovered. She opened her eyes and smiled gratefully at me. We cuddled for a few minutes before she spoke again. "Happy birthday," she grinned. Her voice changed to a near whisper. "Thank you."

"It was the least I could do," I said honestly. "You've given me something incredible tonight, I should be thanking you." I paused before deciding to take another leap of faith. "We're going to do this again some time, right?"

She smiled at me. "Yeah, Mark, we are." With those words, all was right in the world.

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2003
The next day, 8 AM

I woke up the next morning with my first hangover. To this day I think it was the best damn hangover I have ever had. It told me the day before had all been real. I really had slept with Jenna that night. We really had snuggled for a while before she got up to leave, explaining that she lived with her parents and they'd worry if she didn't get home. She really had kissed me and wished me a happy birthday again as she left. I really had fallen comfortably asleep, thinking of her.

I got up to grab a glass of water to help get rid of the hangover. I filled the glass and brought it back into my room. I sat down on the two person seat in front of my computer and took a large drink of the water. I put the glass down and my eyes fell on one of the birthday cards from the day before. I picked it up and read it again. One part caught my eye. "I'll be seeing you soon..." I snorted. Nice touch, that. I went to the bathroom to meet Birthday Surprise.

I'd like to think my brilliant powers of deduction had kicked in during the night. I might have finally added up the clues, but the fact that the hypnotic suggestion restricting my memory of the weekend was gone certainly helped. Only one person could have placed that- with a little help from Dina, of course.

I looked at the character in the mirror. He was grinning back at me. "Thank you," I said in a mock solemn voice.

~Fin~