My cheeks flush. “I don’t have any boyfriends, Mom.”
Mom walks to the counter and leans down behind it. When she stands back up, she’s holding a purple vase of sunflowers and red roses. My jaw drops.
“This boy’s name was Jonah,” she says, giving me a look like I should be ashamed of myself for not knowing which boy came to see me.
It feels like my legs are numb as I walk toward the counter, where a beautiful display of flowers are waiting for me.
“He also got you this,” Mom says, setting down a small cake box. I open the lid and find a personal sized chocolate cake. White icing letters on top sayHappy Birthday Nat. My stomach twists in a painful way. Jonah did all of this for me?
I pull out the card attached to the flowers.
Have a wonderful 18th!
Your favorite study geek,
Jonah
My lip quivers and I bite down on it. “Mom, do you mind if I...?”
“Yes,” she says with a laugh. “Go find the boy. He seemed so disappointed that you weren’t here when he stopped by.” Mom winks at me. “He was cute.”
I flush a deep red and grab my phone from my back pocket, rushing outside the store to call him so my mom won’t overhear.
He picks up on the second ring, and I can hear the smile in his voice.
“Hello, birthday girl.”
“Thank you for the flowers,” I say, feeling like a simple thank you isn’t enough. “And the cake. It’s adorable.”
“You’re welcome,” he says. “The cake is from Mary’s Bakery off sixth street. My family gets one for me every year on my birthday. They’re really good.”
I bite my lip. “How did you know it was my birthday?”
“Your ChemXLabs password. Zero four, zero three.”
I laugh. “I can’t believe you remembered that.”
“We’ve only logged in to ChemXLabs like a hundred times,” he says with a laugh. “I’m sorry I missed you today. You said you worked all the time, so I thought you’d be there.”
I should have been there. I shouldn’t have been out waiting on a guy who would just stand me up. I should have been at the store where I said I’d be. Then I could have seen Jonah.
“I’m sorry,” I say with a sigh. “I’m normally there. Today was just…an off day.”
There’s a silence for a few seconds and I start talking because I’m not ready to get off the phone. “So all that talk about wanting to buy a book was just a ruse, huh?”
“Yes,” he says. “I mean…I wanted to look at the books too, but your mom was there and I talked to her and I just felt awkward so I left.”
“Oh no… What did my mom say? Please tell me it wasn’t embarrassing?”
He laughs. “Oh it was so embarrassing. She told me every humiliating story about you that she could think of.”
“What!”
He laughs. “I’m just playing. She was really nice. I was just nervous. It’s super awkward bringing flowers for someone’s daughter. And then she freaked, because apparently, she forgot your birthday.”
“Yeah…only you and April remembered,” I say. Technically Caleb remembered today, but he also blew me off so I won’t count that. “The flowers are so beautiful. Thank you so much, Jonah. I’m so lucky you’re my friend. You’ve saved my birthday.”
There’s another long silence, and then some idiot on the beach screams out like he’s howling at the moon. His buddies laugh, and the weird thing is that I can hear the same thing through Jonah’s phone.
