Happy Birthday Read Online Free Page A

being grumpy almost all day long, just because she was not there, when my friends, her friends, our friends, were there trying to cheer me up and give me a proper birthday.
    However, could someone blame me for wishing to have her instead of all of them?
    After some time talking, Kirsten, who was lying with her head on my leg, stood up and took her hand to her hair. It was then that the little chain appeared, calling Suz’s attention, who was next to James, almost immediately.
    I watched Kirsten and her exchanging glances, all that girls and sixth sense stuff.
    “Guys, I think Kirsten and Doug have something to tell us...” Suz said loudly, driving everyone’s attention towards us. At first we exchanged meaningful looks, but then she nodded.
    “I...” I begin, trying to create a little suspense and hide the smile who insisted on coming out. “I proposed to Kirsten.”
    “And I fucking said yes!”
    The next minutes were mostly “Fucking finally”, “Congratulations”, “When is the wedding?”, “Who will be the best man and the maid of honor?”, “Where will be the wedding?”, and many other comments and questions that made me fell dizzy, but the dazzling smile on Kirsten’s face was what made me the happiest, numbed. Not only because after several times, she finally had said yes, but because I felt she was as happy as me for it.
    “Calm down, everybody! The wedding is not planned for anytime soon. We have just engaged and will remain that for some time.
    “When did it happen?” Lana asked, taking a sip of her beer, getting closer with the other girls to see the ring, which made Kirsten seat on the couch to show it better.
    “On my birthday.” K gave a silly smile for taking more than a month to mention it. “We wanted to tell it personally to our closer friends and families, but our busy schedules...”
    “We are going to tell my parents tomorrow,” I said. “I’ve invited them to lunch.”
    “I’ll call my parents tomorrow morning, so we can tell the four of them at the same time. My old man will lose his mind!” Kirsten looked into my eyes, laughing and intertwining our hands.
    “So, a toast to the latest engaged couple,” Tim started, raising his Heineken. “To that wedding not taking too long to happen and to your happiness forever.” He lifted his bottle and drank it.
    “We all know that you two together are stronger and happier,” Suz said with a slightly choked voice, revealing her emotive side. “You have a connection none of us could ever understand, each of you with your own way of being. Both have strong and distinct personalities, but you can somehow harmonize them. I won’t say I wish you be happy because I know you already are, so I wish this last forever.
    After Suz’s words, which described precisely a part of our relationship, the others said some words, but I was not paying attention anymore, and with the number of times they had toasted and drunk, I think I was not even caring that our friends were more than tipsy by the end of the night.
    Getting my full attention, Kirsten’s hands grabbed my shirt as she moved to lie on my chest again, and I leaned to kiss her neck.
    There, watching her laugh of some stupid joke from one of our friends, holding a bottle of beer, I felt home. Not because we were literally at home, but because she was home with me.
    Every moment by her side is unique, special, unforgettable.
    Loving her was easy; accepting her with all her faults, foibles, and fears was a consequence. I would join us together if it were possible, so that we would never be apart, but it wouldn’t be the same thing. We were like we were, and as much as I was really looking forward to the ‘later’, having her in my arms was the best moment of my twenty-eighth birthday. It was like it was supposed to be, and I could not have imagined a better birthday to me.

About the author
    L etícia Kartalian  is an author of contemporary novel since she was fourteen.
    Her