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Andy
The doorbell rings,waking me from a deep sleep. I'm sure one of the others will get it. I'm a dead weight, there is no way I'm moving for anything right now.
I roll over and close my eyes, getting comfy in my bed. The sunlight streams through the crack at the side of my blinds, and I can feel the warmth of the day calling my name, but I don't have anywhere to be this morning, so a lazy sleep-in it is.
The damn door chimes again. Where are the others? Don't they know it's my birthday and I should deserve to stay in bed this morning? I groan loudly and throw back the covers. I slip into my robe. Sleepily I make my way to the front door, pushing it open to reveal an empty front porch. How odd.
I curse at the annoyance of getting up for nothing. Then my gaze drops down and I see a bunch of flowers leaning against the side wall of the house. I pick them up, my mood improving. Looking them over, the greenery is fresh and beautiful, and they're in soft pale pink wrapping paper with a beautiful silky ribbon at the front.
But it's the flowers themselves that have a sudden uneasy feeling washing over me.
It appears that it should be a dozen roses, but the heads of the flowers have all been removed. What the actual fuck kind of a gift is this? I catch a glimpse of a small note attached to the ribbon. I slip it out and read the card.Happy birthday, Andreais all it says, in black capital letters. Is this a joke from one of my friends? It's not funny if it is, but it looks like something Luna and Darcy would think up together to get a laugh.
I take the weird bunch of flowers into the house and lock the door behind me. I sit them in the kitchen sink, not quite sure what else to do with them. I'm too awake now to bother going back to bed, so I fill the kettle, putting it on and waiting for it to boil. I wonder where the others are.
I don't have to think on it for long. Seconds later, Jasmine, Darcy, and Luna arrive through the front door chatting excitedly about something. "Happy birthday!" they sing together when they see me. Their expressions change from excitement to worry when they catch sight of me.
"What's wrong, Sis? It's just one year older, you don't have to be all pouty about it," says Jasmine.
"Did one of you do this as a joke?" I say, pointing to the headless flowers in the sink.
Darcy comes closer to inspect the bunch of flowers. She scrunches up her nose in disgust. "What the fuck, babe?"
"I know, right?" I say, trying not to show how freaked out I really am. This has to be just some weird joke. They'll break soon and start laughing.
"Flowers with no heads? That's weird as hell," she says to the others, and they come over to look at them as well.
"This definitely wasn't us," the others agree.
They look deadly serious, and I can feel the slight tremble in my hands. "I was hoping it might have been, cause now I'm kinda freaked out about it. Who sends flowers like this?"
Jasmine comes around the counter and places the large box she's holding down, then wraps her arms around me in a supportive hug. "First your car, now this weird gift. Do you think someone is trying to mess with you?"
"Yeah, it's starting to feel like that." I didn't even tell Jas about the lights going out on me at the soccer field, cause until now, I had myself convinced I was just being silly, but now I'm not so sure. And if this is someone messing with me, they know where I train and live. It's really creepy.
"I'm sure we'll work this out. Come on, don't let it get you down. It's your birthday, we need to celebrate. Here, we organized breakfast from your favorite place for you." She hands over a brown paper bag and a to-go coffee.
I inspect what's in the bag. It smells amazing. A breakfast wrap, eggs, bacon, avocado, salsa, and fresh baby spinach. These things are to die for. "Thank you." I take it to the dining table and the others follow.
Food first, then I'm calling my dad, not something I like to do unless I have to. Don't get me wrong, I'm close to my parents, but I also like to show how independent I am, and I have since I was young. It's my other sisters who normally need them the most. But my dad is smart and super protective; he'll know what to do about all of this. I just feel bad because it was only a few weeks ago he was here helping me fix my car. But my entire family are coming to LA this afternoon for my birthday, so he would be here anyway.
The girls spentthe day trying to distract me and making sure I had a good day. We spent the afternoon getting ready for my party, and it definitely helped. I'm in a better mood now. I'm so excited to see everyone I care about this evening. My party is a dress-up at a local venue. I love celebrating my birthday, and every year we make a big fuss about it, any opportunity to dress up and party. This year's theme is Superheroes, cause I'm a nerd at heart and love my comics. Also, it's just fun to dress up as a kickass powerful woman.
The four of us look authentic as hell. Jasmine is Harley Quinn, her hair in high pigtails, with blue on one side, red on the other. She wears a ripped white t-shirt, fishnet stockings, and red-and-blue booty shorts. And carries a baseball bat. She looks seriously fierce and would give Margo Robbie a run for her money.
Luna is Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy, in tight black leather pants and jacket. It took us forever to paint her skin green, using the body paint she got from the costume shop. It's so worth it, though. She looks totally legit. It's going to be fun for her trying to wash it off, though.
Darcy is Captain Marvel with a blue-and-red bodysuit.
And me, I'm Wonder Woman, of course, with flowing chestnut-brown wig and all.
We strut into the party, all the craziness of this morning almost forgotten. My dad said he will install a security camera and alarm system, and for now, that's all I really think we need to do. None of the things that have happened are really all that bad, but I feel safer knowing I'll have a little extra protection soon.
Everyone is here. Mom, Dad, and my other two sisters, Amelia and Cassie, have made the trip from Palm Springs, my hometown and where they all live. My sisters look adorable. Cassie has her strawberry-blonde hair in a high ponytail and is dressed as Black Widow in a skin-tight black bodysuit. Amelia is sexy Sailor Moon. Her stupid ex-husband would be so fucking jealous if he saw her right now. She is the oldest of the four of us, but you wouldn't know it. She has a rocking body and is the trendiest of us sisters, with her perfect complexion and her pretty, short blonde bob styled to perfection.
"Happy birthday, darling." Mom wraps her arms around me in a warm embrace. She is a beautiful woman, tall and slender, with long pale blonde, almost-gray hair. She's not in costume. Instead, she's in a fitted navy-blue dress that is cinched at the waist, showing off her perfect figure. She's the kind of woman who is always perfectly dressed, and even though I always throw a dress-up birthday party, she has never dressed up for one.
When I pull back from her, I feel almost teary, though I don't even know why. It's been a couple of months since I ventured home, so that could be it.
