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Amber
“Happy birthday, dear Michelle,” everyone sang together,“happy birthday to you!”
We cheered and raised our glasses as my sister blew out the single candle on her cupcake. I smiled and gazed around at the view surrounding us. We had rented out the rooftop patio ofMarcello’s, one of the nicest bars in San Francisco. The view was spectacular: we were surrounded by towering skyscrapers all lit up at night, with the burnt red beams of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance to our left, and the Bay Bridge’s slate-gray towers looming over the bay to the right.
I sighed and soaked it all in. It wasn’t often that my sister and I got to enjoy this sort of thing.
Michelle’s friends took turns standing up and giving toasts. Her childhood best friend. Her coworkers. Finally her boyfriend Phil got up and droned on and on like he wanted to show everyone else up, giving a speech that was far too dramatic and emotional for someone who had only been dating my sister for a month. It was like he was trying to filibuster the damn party.
When he was done, the rooftop music was turned up and everyone fell back into their previous conversations. My sister slowly made her way toward me.
“You’re the best sister in the world, you know that?” she said.
“I do know it,” I replied while hugging her. “But feel free to tell me as often as possible. Also, you still haven’t told me what you want for your birthday.”
“I don’t need a gift!Thisis plenty.” Michelle gestured around the rooftop bar. “Are you sure this wasn’t too much?”
“It’s exactly asmuchas it should be,” I said. “Although I did cancel the party clown and magician at the last minute. They would have really messed up the vibe of this place.”
My sister chuckled and said, “I meant the cost. Are you sure it wasn’t too expensive? Renting out the entireMarcello’srooftop bar…”
She wasn’t wrong: renting this space for four hours cost a metricshitloadamount of money. It was a lot, even for San Francisco. My bank account was pretty much wiped out.
But money was just a number on a page, and I loved Michelle more than anything in the world. I would do anything for her, and give her anything she wanted. Especially since we didn’t have anyone else. Just each other.
“It’s not every day my baby sister turns twenty-one,” I said, sidestepping the question of cost. “I had to be here when you had your first drink.”
Michelle winced. “I don’t know how to break this to you, Amber, but this isn’t my first drink.”
I made a joking gasp. “You mean you’ve been drinking underage at college?Like acriminal?”
“Don’t call the cops on me,” she replied. “I’m too pretty for prison. I wouldn’t last a week!”
“I’ll say,” her boyfriend, Phil, said while sidling up next to her. His arm slipped around her waist and he said, “This is really great, Amber.”
“Thanks,” I said with the most diplomatic smile I could manage. Phil was three years older than Michelle and worked as a network engineer for Western Digital. Even though he was a glorified I.T. guy, he acted like his job gave him the equivalent status as a foreign diplomat. He had the same pompous, haughty demeanor, too.
“I would love to contribute,” he went on. “Let me know how much my half of the costs are and I’ll Venmo you.”
“That’s not necessary,” I said, holding up my smile like it was a shield.
Fucking tech-bros, always throwing their money around.
Before he could open his mouth and protest more, I added, “I’m starting a new job tomorrow. Shelly and I won’t have to dip into savings anymore.”
“A new job? Outstanding.” He glanced at my sister. “You didn’t tell me she was starting a new job.”
My sister’s eyes never left mine. “This is the first I’m hearing about it, too.”
“I didn’t want to upstage your party,” I said.
“Where are you working?” Phil pressed. “Cisco? Facebook?” His eyes widened. “Tesla?”
“It’s a startup called Advanced Crypto Solutions,” I said.
Phil nodded thoughtfully. “I heard about ACS. They’re leasing a big new space on second street.”
