Generation One - Chapter Nine

With a sigh I looked down on my phone. I had been half excited, half dreading this day, and now that it was here I wasn't sure how to celebrate it. Should I only invite Max, so we could get to know each other better? Or should I only invite my closest friends?

It was my birthday, and I felt old.

In the end I decided to invite all my friends. Well, almost all of my friends. I could hardly invite Don, Buck and Max. I may have been half-dreading this day, but I still wanted the party to be fantastic. And that was definitely not going to happen if a jealousy fight broke out.

Rhoda seemed to be back to her old, grumpy self. She was the first one to arrive, and the first one to go after she had barely set foot into my house.

Which meant that I was left with a bunch of men. A few of my guests had brought a friend along, which meant that I had no idea who some of these guys were.

More people than I had at first expected turned up because of it. Soon my house was full, and I started things by greeting everyone in turn.

My friends introduced me to their plus ones, and while none of those seemed overly alluring to me I was excited to see Max again. One of my co-workers also seemed nice, and I decided to keep him in mind.

I had just finished greeting everyone when the first guys dared me to blow out my candles. Bloody bastards, they knew damn well I wasn't completely ready!

But, well, I wasn't one to turn down a dare. I made a quick wish, and blew out my candles. The guys were cheering and clapping behind me, and even I had to admit that being 35 didn't feel too bad.

I was just sitting down with a big slice of cake, when one of the plus-ones ruined everything.

I didn't even know what his name was, but he died during my party. Right after I had blown out my candles. Pretty sure all the attention should have been on me in that moment!

I could hear my guests mourn and cry behind me, but felt mostly unfazed by it. It was very annoying of him to die during my party, but I wasn't going to let him ruin the day for me as well.

Eventually, after I had finished my piece of cake and rinsed the plate, I thought that I might seem rude by not joining the crying and mysery. None of my guests looked overly happy, but some at least had the decency to have some cake once they were done being upset.

Of course, they all left pretty soon after that incident.

Which left me all by myself. I was a little upset about how things had gone, so I had some more cake to cheer myself up. Afterwards, I felt disgustingly stuffed, so I went outside for a bit of fresh air.

This had definitely not been the great birthday party I had hoped for.

I noticed all the soggy papers lying scattered around my porch, and had the sudden urge to start cleaning. One by one, I threw all of them out, which somehow helped me calm down a little.

It also made me feel tired, so I went to bed hoping that everything would magically be better in the morning.

Apparently, someone dying during my birthday wasn't enough, because I was robbed as well. Again.

By the same thief. Who stole my washing machine. Again.

Maybe it was time I invested in a burglar alarm?

This was without a doubt the worst birthday I'd ever had.

And as if that wasn't enough, the annoying sound of my ringing phone woke me up the next day. I was offered the opportunity to increase my fitness, so I took it. There was no cash reward involved, but I really needed to up my game.

To make matters even worse, I invited Max over for a chat. He left before I had a chance to invite him inside.

Something clearly wasn't going right for me lately.

The next day I was just preparing myself for the big game, when Taylor rang me up.

"Hey, Kate, you wanna come over?" I knew that, if I went, I wouldn't be able to stay for long. However, he was a really nice guy, and I was definitely interested in him.

"Sure, I'll come over right away!"

As it turned out, Tyler was busy when I got there. He was home, but he seemed occupied with other things, so I went around the back only to find out that he had a wife. She wasn't overwhelmingly gorgeous, but she wasn't looking bad, either.

She invited me inside, and I was just going to find Taylor when I realised the time. I had to get to work.

I made a quick mental note that I had to come back soon. So he was married, huh?

I liked a challenge.
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Wishes Fulfilled

Kate: Talk to Dallas
          Clean Sink