Birthday Girl Ch. 07

I groaned as I thought of getting Lissy's bag down from the loft. I creeped back in and saw the table had been cleared.

"No breakfast for you," Sally said from behind me, startling the lights out of me.

"But I'm so hungry," I whined.

"Deal with it," Jenna said, as they walked to their rooms to get their luggage.

I looked pleadingly as Melissa.

"Don't look at me like that," she said, "you got yourself into that mess."

I rubbed my stomach as I continued looking at her beseechingly.

"Oh alright," she relented and pulled out an omelet between two pieces of toast from behind her back. "I hid this for you, but if you dare tell anyone I'll break an egg on your head."

I drew a cross across my chest as I took the sandwich and gave her a kiss on the cheek as we went up to the loft to get our stuff as well. Sometimes the little things count just as much as the big ones.

Getting her bag down the stairs was even worse than getting it up. The narrow passage plus the steep decline made for some death defying acrobatics to get the suitcase down without ending up in a body cast. After handing it over to the attendants I went back up to get my own meager possessions and found Lissy at the landing taking one last look at the loft.

"Mind if we take one selfie here?" she asked tentatively as I stood beside her.

Normally I liked selfies as much as I liked a root canal but this time was an exception. This room was special, for more than one reason, and it wouldn't hurt to have a memory of us together here.

"Fire away," I said, smiling.

One turned to a few, which turned to quite a few, as she insisted on getting various angles plus one out on the balcony as well. I grumbled but in all honesty I didn't mind, these were moments I'd want to remember for a long long time to come.

There was a hoot from downstairs and I quickly grabbed my bag and we headed down to find the rest already piled up in the van. There wasn't a single person who didn't glance wistfully back at the cabin before we were swallowed by the forest, getting one last look at it before it disappeared from view. Melissa sighed and eased into me, staring out the van without really seeing anything, lost in her own thoughts.

The driver took the more scenic route, and we took almost an hour to get back to the registration office and the parking lot where the car was waiting for us. I took the first shift driving back, since I hadn't driven on the way over, and Melissa joined me up front. Bill and Sally got the middle and the newly engaged Nick and Jenna settled in the back. We met with the rangers and Officer Jeremy one last time and thanked them for everything before we set off on the journey back home.

If I thought things were going to naughty in the back seat between the two love-birds, I was dead wrong. They passed out within the first half an hour, Jenna drooling on Nicks shoulder and Nick resting his head on top of hers. I couldn't blame them though. Nick hadn't slept properly for two nights now, the first one because of worrying and second one because of... well, do I really need to explain that one?

Sally had curled up with her head on Bills lap and was fast asleep while Bill kept staring out the window as he absently stroked her hair. He nodded off briefly along the way as well. Melissa held my hand as I drove and lasted for about an hour before she too drifted off, resting her head on the window, her hand loosely entwined in mine.

Great, everyone had left me alone. Not that I minded though, it gave me time to reflect over the weekend, rewinding it back piece by piece and not being able to stop smiling as I thought of some of the highlights. I made sure I drove smoothly and avoided sudden movements so that I wouldn't wake anyone, especially the cute one sitting next to me. I looked over at her frequently, and every time I tried to gently extract my hand from, hers she would tighten her grip subconsciously, not letting me go.

Have you ever noticed that the return journey somehow always seems longer than when you were going? Or is it just me? You can be going the same route, with the same speed and still I felt the return time was always longer. It was around four in the afternoon when I finally pulled into Nick's driveway. People started stirring after I switched off the engine, looking like zombies. On the contrary, I was feeling as fresh as a daisy.

Jenna kissed and hugged everyone and went straight inside, no doubt straight to bed. Nick and I pulled out our bags and I dumped mine unceremoniously in my car. Bill shook hands with us and Sally gave us a hug before they climbed into the front seats.

"Hey," I said as I got to Melissa, "I can drop home you if you want."

"Thanks for the offer," she said as we hugged, "but Sally lives just down the street from me so Bill's going to drop her anyway."

"I hope you had a good time," I said as we broke away.

"The best," she gave me a peck and climbed into the car, "call me tomorrow, I'm going to sleep like a log today."

She waved as the car pulled away.

"You've got it bad dude," Nick said, when I kept watching the car going down the street.

"What was your first clue?" I turned around to him.

"By the way," I held my hand out to him, "Congratulations, bitch. I don't think I got a chance to say it back there."

"Thanks, ass-wipe," he shook my hand, "but don't think you're done yet. We still have a wedding to get through."

I scoffed, "Yeah. You're on your own for that one man, I'm done. I'm outta the game now, retired. I'm getting too old for this shit."

He just snorted, "If it helps you sleep at night."

He started walking to the house, "Sunday?"

"You bet. But I'll have to bring a guest, she's kinda picking the movie for me."

He just smiled and shook his head as he entered the house, "Whipped already."

"Screw you!" I shouted as he shut the door. Asshole.

I drove home a lot slower than the trip I'd made on Friday morning. For once everything had gone according to plan. It was still getting used to the fact that Nick and Jenna were officially engaged to be married and that we'd pulled off a ridiculously obtuse plan of proposing to her. Add to that me and Melissa were getting closer than I'd ever thought possible and I was one happy camper.

Of course nothing good lasts forever and I had little idea of how grandly I was going to screw up in the near future. Things had been going absolutely perfect until now and I wanted to keep it that way but as they say, Man plans and the Gods laugh. Never in my dreams would I have conjured up a cock up of this proportion where I would drive Melissa... Hold up, I'm getting a little ahead of myself aren't I?

That folks, is a story for another time, right now I was as happy as a pig in truckloads of shit. I was rolling and wallowing around in it without abandon because, let's face it, why wouldn't I? I gotten laid, twice, my best friends were engaged and the future prospects with the girl of my dreams were looking positively stratospheric.

I don't think I've said it for a while... or perhaps I have, but I'll say it again...

Life is good.