Birthday Girl Ch. 08

Hey Guys,

I know it's been a while, and I apologize but things have been crazy hectic.

A heartfelt gratitude to all the votes and comments, it's the reason I'm continuing this story, y'all convinced me. I was just going to leave the story where it was for the time being, but after all the comments and messages I knew I couldn't.

Thanks for the heads up on the 'Brian' vs. 'Brain' fiasco; I would have never caught that one by myself.

I will be the first to admit I have done absolutely no research on this story so if there are any inconsistencies or inaccuracies, it's all on me. Typo and grammatical errors are my fault too.

The stunts in this story are performed by professionals in a controlled environment and should not be attempted at home.

Just kidding, go ahead and blow your rectum out for all I care.

I know I've ended this one with a bit of a cliff hanger but I'm already working on the next chapter so hopefully it should be up soon.

Please vote after you finish, I'd appreciate if you leave a comment, and of course most important of all, don't forget to Enjoy!

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Melissa stood before me with tears balancing in her eyes. You know the ones, where they gather on the bottom eyelid, glistening in the light, and you just wait for them to spill over but they somehow manage to stay contained.

Shit, what have I done now? Was my first thought.

I quickly rewound the hard drive in my head and sorted through the last few days to try and see whether I had done anything stupid that would upset her. Let me correct that, I tried to check whether I had done anything more stupid than normal, since I was basically a walking disaster most of the time.

"Liss? Are you alright? What happened?" I asked to buy time as I approached her cautiously.

She had called me over to her place, sounding frantic on the phone, and I had left work and rushed over like a bat shot out of hell. I just told my boss I was going on a site inspection and skedaddled. This was the first time I had been to her house since our dinner together when she'd left me with a massive case of the blue balls. We were standing in the middle of her living room and I was still sub-consciously wary of all the glass and crystal pieces that decorated the area. For me it was like walking through a mine field.

She was still looking at me with those soulful eyes brimming with tears and I was now starting to get concerned. My brain was on overdrive, trying to find the cause of her distress because I was totally convinced it had something to do with me. Was it because I hadn't called to wish her goodnight yesterday? Or was it because I'd dropped and broken her phone last week? Or maybe it was because I said her auntie Muriel looked like a witch. Which is why I'd dropped the phone in the first place, her picture scared the shit out of me. Yes, that must be it, you don't go around calling people's aunts old hags.

"Mel, please, say something," I put my hands on her shoulders and searched her eyes for some kind of clue.

"Brian, I..." she started, then stopped.

"Is it because of your phone? I'm really sorry Mel, I shouldn't have called your aunt a scarecrow,"

She looked confused for a second, "What? No, it's not about that." She thought for a moment, "Wait, when did you call her a scarecrow?"

"Let's focus on you for now," I evaded quickly, "what's wrong? Talk to me,"

She shook her head and continued, "Brian, its Jenna..."

I should have known.

"What did she do now? I can tell you right now it's all lies, I never said anything and I deny all allegations."

"It's not about you silly,"

"Oh... then what?"

Now I was really curious, what could Jenna have possibly said to bring Lissy close to tears?

"She asked me to be her Maid of Honor at the wedding," she said softly, as if she didn't believe it herself yet.

"Uhmm..." I stalled because I was totally confused and at a loss of what to do. This was a good thing right? "Are you ok with that? I mean with being her maid of honor?"

"Yes!" she nodded, "It's just that I wasn't expecting it. I've never been one you know? Amber and Kelly were each other's maid of honor so I was left out," she said, referring to her older sisters, "it's a very big responsibility."

It looked like this meant a lot to her. Women were funny. I was obviously Nick's best man but our conversation had happened while playing Rally on PS4 and had gone something like

-Dude, you're my best man,

-What's in it for me?

-21 year premium aged scotch

-I'm not that cheap. Hey get your piece of shit car out of the way.

-You also get to plan my Stag and give a speech about me at the wedding.

-Deal.

It was a bigger deal for Lissy so I had to treat this delicately, no wrong moves or insensitive jokes here.

"I don't know why she picked me," she was saying, "we've only known each other for a couple of months. I mean, I don't even know if I'll be able to do a good job."

Aha! Now we had reached the crux of the problem. She was nervous that she'd not live up to expectations. Fortunately I was a veteran in that department and I knew every argument and every version of self doubt from years of experience, and how to handle them as well. Besides, it was much easier to give advice as opposed to following it.

"Jenna is an only child so she has no sisters she can ask Mel, and she doesn't have that many female friends, it's usually been us guys she hangs around with. Sure there are acquaintances but since I've known her, you're the only one who has gotten so close to her, and she really likes you. You're perfect for the job."

"But what if-"

"What if nothing. I know you and you're going to do a bang up job. Just be your confident, self-assured self and it'll be a breeze, and if you have any doubts, I'm always here. You have nothing to worry about Liss, just lock her up make sure she doesn't run away, that's all."

That got a smile out of her. She looked down then and I knew she had something more to say. She looked back up at me,

"Brian, you don't mind do you?"

I was honestly touched that she considered my feelings. I really didn't know how I'd gotten so lucky with her.

"Mind that you're stealing my friends? Nah, not at all," I shrugged, "they don't like me anyways since you came along."

"Brian I would never-" she saw my teasing smile and stopped.

"Jerk," she punched my shoulder and hugged me tightly.

Her hands travelled down my back and she grabbed my ass, pulling me into her. Over the past month, since we'd gotten back from the trip, I'd found out that she could be quite aggressive when she wanted to be. In fact, she initiated the fooling around way more than I did. I'd have to do something about that or my man-card was in danger of being revoked.

"Mel, your parents?"

"Gone until tonight,"

"If I remember correctly, we haven't christened your bed yet," I said, wriggling my eyebrows at her, "actually, come to think of it, I haven't even seen your bedroom yet."

"I don't usually take guys who call my aunt a scarecrow up to my room," she said playfully.

"But... but you saw the hat. It had a crow on it!"

She laughed, "For the last time, it wasn't a crow. That's the design of the hat. It's old-fashioned."

"Looked like a crow to me..." I muttered.

"Aren't you expected back at work?"

I looked at my watch. It was already 3:30p.m

"I'm sure they'll live without me for one afternoon,"

"I'm sorry I called you over like that," she looked sheepish, "it was kind of selfish of me."

"You see now, you'll just have to find some way to make it up to me," I said, "I mean what you did was pretty horrendous, I could get fired. I hope you have something good up your sleeve to appease me."

"Come on then, oh great one," she took my hand and led me up the stairs, "I think I know of a way to make it up to you."

There were huge pictures of the whole family on the staircase wall, then some of the sisters alone, and a few of her parents by themselves. All three sisters were attractive but I found Lissy to be the prettiest. Some may say my opinion is biased and to them I say, up yours. Her mom was also very good looking which explained why the daughters were so comely and her dad looked like a retired military officer. I'd never met him but it looked like he was judging me even through the pictures. I imagined his eyes following us up the stairs, as if he knew exactly what I was going to do with his daughter, and it sent chills up my spine. I had to look away.

"Why do you still live with your parents again?" I asked Lissy's butt in front of me.

She looked back at me and saw me avoiding the pictures and smiled,

"It's closer to the hospital, my parents aren't ready for an empty nest yet and my dad is fiercely over-protective of me."

"Exactly how over-protective are we talking?" I asked nervously. I had a vision of a staring down the barrel of a shotgun, with her dad holding the trigger.

"Don't worry," she took my arm as we reached the landing, "he acts all mean but he wouldn't hurt a fly."

Easy for her to say, she wasn't the one banging her father's most precious daughter. She led me to the room at the end of the hallway on the right. It was a typical girl's room. Frilly, clean and way too colorful. It was like a bomb had gone off in a paint factory. There was a queen size bed on one corner with orange covers, a work table on the opposite which had a couple big brown envelopes lying on it, and a few bean bags strewn about. On second glance I noticed the bean bags had several Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Goofy on them. Purple curtains and a green rug on the floor completed the kaleidoscope.

Various stuffed animals were placed around the room, a few even on her bed.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Did you kidnap a rainbow or something?" I kidded.

"It's a girl's room ok?" she said, dragging me in, "It's not supposed to be black and white."

"Are these the prizes you said you'd won in archery?" I asked, pointing at the stuffed animals.

"Yup. And I hope you've not thrown away the unicorn I won for you,"

"It's never left my house," I said, not meeting her eyes.

Technically that was correct. It was buried under my bed wrapped in old rags where no one would ever find it. It was still within the house though so... Hooray for loopholes!

On a small table next to her bed there was a small stereo and a small six by six photo frame with a picture of her and someone. She went and started fiddling with the stereo and, being the restless dog that I am, I started exploring her room. Next to the work table there was a full length mirror and I spent a minute posing in funny positions and making faces in it before I noticed what was on her desk. I picked up one of the brown envelopes lying on it and pulled out an X-ray image from it. Cool.

Holding it up to the window it showed the usual black and white skeleton of human bones. This one seemed to show the pelvic region of someone, evident from the outline of the hips and the tops of the thigh bones. It was all pretty normal and standard except for one small detail that left me utterly baffled.

"Liss...?"

"Hmmm?" she responded, not looking up from the stereo.

"What's this?" I held up the X-ray.

"What's what?" she was still connecting the new iPhone I got her to the stereo.

"This..." I waved the X-ray around and it made that flappy noise.

She looked up at what I was holding.

"Brian!" she came over and tried to snatch it away from me but I was too quick.

"That's confidential Brian, I can't show it to anyone, please give it back," She had me backed up against the desk and kept trying to grab the image but I kept it out of her reach.

"I'll give it back, right after you explain what the hell this is,"

I pointed at the image where, right in the middle of the frame, there was what seemed to be the undeniable shape of a bottle. A bottle with a slender neck that gradually expanded as it continued down the length of the bottle. Looked like a beer bottle.

"Why is there a beer bottle in the X-ray image of someone's pelvic region?"

She had stopped attempting to take the X-ray from me and was now standing with her arms crossed and a slightly pissed expression on her face.

"C'mon Mel, you can't be mad at me. Who wouldn't be curious after seeing this?" I shook the X-ray for emphasis.

She sucked her teeth for a few moments then replied,

"It's for a patient that had a... an accident. That's all I'm telling you." She reached for it again and I let her have it this time.

I followed her as she went to replace it in its envelope.

"An accident? What do you mean an accident? Did the patient swallow a bottle by mistake? How the hell does that even happen? Did he walk into a wall while drinking from it?"

"It wasn't swallowed," she said tightly.

"How else would it get there?"

I know I was playing dumb but it was so much fun making her uncomfortable.

"Brian please, just let it go, I can't talk about it ok?"

"I'm not asking for the patient's name and social security number. I just want to know what happened, so that, you know, I don't ever get myself in such a situation. Prevention is better than cure."

She turned around to face me and narrowed her eyes, staring at me while shaking her head,

"You're so full of shit,"

That made me laugh.

"Ok, you got me. But you have to admit, anyone will be interested to know what happened there."

"Alright! This patient came in yesterday and he had a beer bottle stuck in his... you know,"

"Belly button?"

I knew I was pushing it but I couldn't help it. I loved watching her squirm.

"Brian I will hit you so hard right now,"

I chuckled and decided to let her off the hook,

"You really get cases like this? I mean, there are actually people who do this?"

"You have no idea. A bottle is the most common item we get and frankly the easiest to extract. There are others..." She shuddered thinking about it.

"There are others...?" I urged her to continue, and glanced at the second envelope that was lying on the table.

She saw what I was looking at.

"If you even think about it I will break your fingers,"

"Then tell me, what others?"

She sighed, "There was a woman that was brought in with a... a fork,"

My face contorted. OK, that shocked even me.

"One came in with nail clippers, another with a mobile phone."

"You're kidding right?"

The look she gave me indicated she most definitely wasn't.

"But how...why...who?" I couldn't believe it.

"There are some pretty crazy people out there," she said, leading me to the bed, "which is why I try to leave my work life out of my personal life as much as I can. There are things which you can't un-see Brian."

We sat on her bed and she looked down at her hands.

"They bring in people from accidents and it's horrific. This week we had a five year old boy who was hit by a car. Fractured ribs, broken limbs. He was so small lying there as we took the X-rays..."

Now I was feeling like total shit. What the hell was wrong with me? Did everything have to be a game or a joke for me? I pulled Melissa to me and embraced her tightly, resting my chin on her head.

"I'm so sorry Liss, I shouldn't have gone through your stuff like that. Shit, I didn't know,"

She held me tight as well, showing no signs of letting go.

"It's ok, you couldn't have known, I don't exactly go around talking about it. Actually, you're the first person I've spoken to about it. You know, the reason I took radiology is because I can't stand the sight of blood."

I remembered how freaked she was at the small cut on my forehead the night of the accident and it made sense now.

"Do you like faint and stuff?"

"Not really, but I start freaking out and getting anxiety attacks. My parents don't know it's the reason I didn't want to become a doctor. I even avoid the ER in the hospital as much as I can."

"Do you like what you do?"

"Yeah. There are good days and bad days but the bad ones are spaced much further apart."

"Liss, I swear I'll never do anything like that again,"

She gave a small laugh at that.

"What?"

"If you can manage to behave yourself for more than a day I'll shave my head bold and dance around on the streets,"

"Shall I get the razor?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

She laughed then grew quiet for a while, "Brian, I'm sorry for unloading on you like that, I never talk about it with anyone."

I pulled away to look at her,

"You shouldn't bottle stuff like that up,"

I really wanted to snigger at the 'bottle' part but kept my cool.

"I know, but it kind of ruined the mood, didn't it?"

"I could care less about the mood, I care about you. And if you can't talk to me, who can you talk to?"

"So now you're my personal shrink?"

I pretended to pull on a pipe and go through some imaginary notes, "Yes, yes, it's quite obvious. You clearly have some unresolved daddy issues here..." I said in a deep smooth voice, crossing one leg over the other.

That got a genuine laugh out of her and she smacked me on my arm.

"Don't let this get to your head" she said, smiling and giving me a peck on the lips, "but you're actually the easiest person I've found to talk to. I've honestly never opened up like that to anyone about my work before. You're bad for me," she poked me in the chest playfully.

"It must be the trusting face I've got," I gave her googly eyes and hung my tongue out like a panting dog.

She giggled then pounced on me, flattening me on the bed and straddling me,

"I had a surprise planned for you, but now I'm not so sure I should go through with it,"

Playful Liss was back.

"Oh really?" I reached for her, "Maybe I can convince you otherwise,"

She caught my hands before I could reach her and pinned them on the bed above me. It wasn't forceful, I could have gotten free if I'd wanted, but I let her have her way.

"You've been too naughty today," she said, bringing her face close to mine, "you need to be punished."

I raised my face forward and caught her lower lip between my teeth and dragged her back with me. Instead of pulling away she surprised me by coming forward and forcefully mashing her lips on mine, giving me a hard rough kiss that I was totally not expecting.

She pulled away after a minute or so, against my wishes. I looked down at her plump red lips and tried to capture them again but she moved too fast for me.

"Tsk tsk tsk," she clicked her tongue while shaking her head, "No more touching for you."

"What?"

"Here are the rules stud," she tossed her hair back with a jerk of her head and looked at me with an evil glint in her eye, "You get to look, but no touching, understand?"

"What do you-"

"Do you understand?" she asked, more forcefully.

"Yes," I said, though I had no clue what was going on.

"Good," she smiled sweetly and got off me.

I propped myself up on my elbows to see what she was up to. She fiddled with her stereo again and soft melodic music started playing in the room. I looked around and saw small speakers installed on all corners on the room, giving a nice surround effect.

She sashayed and stood in front of me with her hands on her hips.

"If you touch me, I stop what I'm doing immediately, capiche?"

"Si," I nodded, picturing her in a pinstriped suit, a cigar hanging from her lips and a Tommy gun in her hands. By far the prettiest looking gangster I'd ever imagined.

She gracefully took a few steps back and stood, just looking at me. Subtly I saw she started swaying with the melody, her hips moving first. Soon her torso followed her hips and a roll of the shoulders completed the movement.