“Even though her fingers are like four different colors,” Luke said, grinning.
“Don’t remind me.”
Gabriel finished up my toes, while everyone else collected up the last of the cupcakes, of which I only counted five left. Luke and Silas opted to take showers tonight instead of in the morning, avoiding the rush.
When my toes were dried, I stood up, intending to help, but the others were already done with almost everything. Kota, Nathan and North were standing in the kitchen, talking about who would sleep where.
“Peanut,” Nathan said. “If you’re sleeping in that, go get in the bed.”
“Oy,” Gabriel came around the corner. “Let her sleep on the couch with me. Two of you can share the bed, and a couple of people can sleep on the water bed. Then—”
“Sang doesn’t need to sleep on the couch,” Nathan said. “I’ve had her and Silas in the bed before. She’s small so she leaves plenty of room.”
“Yeah, but ...”
“It’s fine, Gabe,” Kota said. He took my hand and tugged toward the bedroom. “You can have the couch. Nathan and I can share the bed with her.”
“That’s not really what ...” Gabriel raked his fingers through his hair, as if trying to figure out what to say and not knowing how.
“Just get some sleep,” Nathan said. “It’s been a long day for everyone.”
I glanced over my shoulder and Gabriel met my eyes. His crystal blue gaze was telling me something, but I didn’t understand it. I tried to share a sympathetic look with him, wishing I knew what he wanted.
Kota tugged me again toward the bedroom. I followed, because Kota was the boss.
The time I’d slept with Nathan and Silas in the bed, I’d been the first one to climb in and pass out, and didn’t feel either of them get in. Now that I was aware I’d be sleeping between Kota and Nathan, it seemed very awkward. I’d done it with Luke and Gabriel, in a way, but this felt different. Nathan slept right next to me usually and Kota sometimes slept really close, too.
I hesitated for a moment, but Kota nudged me forward and I obeyed. I crawled onto the bed and took my spot in the middle. Kota sat on one side, and Nathan stretched as he stood beside the bed. He pulled the blanket back.
The other weird thing was we were all in separate rooms. I understood with so many of us that it’d be difficult to have everyone sleeping in the same area. Even if the guys were going to sleep on the floor in Nathan’s bedroom, I wasn’t sure how they would all fit. Something told me they’d done this before, and they had a system. Outside of where to put me, there wasn’t a question as to who slept where.
Kota removed his glasses and planted them on the side table. Nathan waited until everyone was settled before smacking the light off. There were sounds coming from further in the house, and I imagined it was the others getting ready for bed.
“Did you have a good birthday?” Kota asked in a sleepy voice.
“Yes,” I said. “I liked it.”
“Did you?” Nathan asked. “I don’t think you’ve blown out a candle yet.”
“She’s still got tomorrow,” Kota said. “Besides, you’re the one blowing out the candles.”
“I thought I’d get one or two in,” Nathan said.
“Guess it’s fair since we skipped yours.”
I was almost sleepy enough to not catch this. Something in the last part caught my attention and I looked up at the shadowed ceiling, trying to piece it together.
And when I had it, I bolted upright in the bed. “Honey?”
“Yeah, Peanut?”
“You got to skip your birthday?”
“Uh ...”
That was a yes. “When was your birthday?”
While it was still dark, I could make out the frame of his body against the bed. “Um ...”
“Honey ...”
Nathan flipped over, propped himself up on his arm and looked over at the clock. I followed his gaze, noting that it was ten. “If you want to be technical, it’s still going on.”
My mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”
“Sang,” Kota said. He curled up further into the bed. “It’s not a big deal. Go to sleep.”
“Nu uh,” I said. “What was all this about? You guys made this big deal about my birthday and Nathan gets to skip his?”
“I told them to forget about my birthday,” Nathan said. He flopped back on the bed, his arms up behind his head to prop it up. “You know, since it was your first with us.”
“No, guys. That was wrong,” I said. It felt horrible. We’d just spent the entire evening fussing about my own birthday when Nathan got skipped over. “I don’t want to skip your birthday.”
“We didn’t skip it,” Kota said. “After we found out your birthday was the day after his, we asked him what he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to do what you wanted to do. So he got what he wanted for his birthday.”
“But that’s not fair,” I said. “I asked to skip mine and no one listened to me.”
“We weren’t going to skip your birthday,” Kota said. “Go to sleep.”
“When’s your birthday?” I asked.
“In January.”
So we hadn’t skipped his at any time. I knew Victor’s was in January. “When’s Luke’s?”
“March.”
“And Gabriel?”
Kota sighed, he flipped over onto his back. “Sang.”
“When’s Gabriel’s birthday? I want to make sure we aren’t skipping over anyone else’s.”
“It’s in November.”
“And Silas?”
“June.”
“When’s North’s?”
Kota parted his lips to give me another casual reply, but he paused. “We should really go to sleep.”
“When’s his birthday?”
“Peanut ...”
Something in their hesitating made my heart flutter. “Don’t tell me it’s today,” I said.
“It’s not today,” Kota said.
“When is it?”
Kota glanced over at Nathan. Nathan shook his head.
I wasn’t about to go to sleep now. “North!”
“Don’t do that,” Nathan said. “He’ll barrel in here and think something’s wrong.”
“Something is wrong. North!” I called out, although my voice strained the louder I got. I got up on my knees on the bed, edging toward the foot of it.
There was the stumble of footsteps and the door to Nathan’s bedroom got shoved open. North’s figure loomed in the doorway “What, Sang Baby? What’s wrong?”
“When’s your birthday?”
His head tilted, he glanced at Kota and then at Nathan. “Who tattled?”
“We’re supposed to tell each other important things,” I said, using a voice that was a little louder than I intended, which meant I squeaked. “When’s your birthday?”
North shifted on his feet. “I’m really tired.”
“Please?”
North sighed. “September.”
My head rocked back. I knew them then. There wasn’t a party or a birthday or a fuss made and they couldn’t use my birthday as an excuse to skip his. “Why didn’t I know? Why didn’t anyone want to tell me? Why didn’t we do something then?”
/> “Because,” North said. “We didn’t do anything for it because ... because you were tied up in the shower that day.”
My heart that had been pounding so loud in my ears suddenly stopped cold. “So I’ve ruined two birthdays?”
North rocked back on his heels once as if I’d struck him. In a flash, he’d crossed the room and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Listen to me, Sang. Your life was more important and I’d give up all my birthdays to make sure that nothing like that ever happens to you again.” His grip loosened. “Besides, right after that we spent the night at Kota’s, remember?”
I nodded, afraid to say what I was thinking. Of how it had been all my fault.
“The guys asked if I wanted to do anything particular, but my answer was the same as yours. I just wanted to hang out.”
“Yeah, Peanut,” Nathan said. “I said the same thing. I said I didn’t care. I didn’t want to overshadow your birthday and I wanted to hang out with you. Besides, you were up for doing what we wanted, anyway.”
I supposed that was true. It still seemed wrong. Until they made such a big deal about my birthday, I hadn’t realized how much of a deal birthdays were. Why did they mean so much to me now?
Despite what Volto—the man in the white mask—had told me, I still cared about them enough to want to do good things for them.
Which made what Volto had said even worse. When North finally left, and I sank back into the bed and quieted for the night, I remained awake for a while. I’d said it to myself before that I wanted to feel a part of them.
In a strange way, Volto finally made me feel like I was. It was the small bit of doubt that crept in, a murmur in my heart that needed to be sure the side I was choosing was the right one.
A NIGHT RIDE
I don’t know how I sensed the air shift in Nathan’s room, since I was so dead asleep. But I was dragging myself to wake up when the air pressure changed.
I checked the time on the clock, almost two in the morning. My eyes slid over as the door was opening. My heart tripped over itself. Was Volto coming back for me? I thought of North. Was he worried again and here to watch me sleep, only he couldn’t because no one had phones?
I turned slightly when a gentle touch caught the end of my foot sticking out from the covers. It was the way the fingers slid quietly against the bottom of my foot that made me turn slowly so as not to wake Kota or Nathan.