Never Forget A Birthday

A thin sliver of light cut through a small gap in the curtains, and slowly worked it's way up the bed. The rooms two occupants lay fast asleep, wrapped cosily in a duvet, with a low rumbling snore coming out of the covers on the side nearest the door. An arm - undeniably male given the light covering of hair - struck out into no-mans-land, hanging over the end of the bed and allowing a hand to barely brush the floor.

Next to him, a second figure rolled over, and momentarily tried to waft away the beam of light with a futile, sleepy gesture. Nearest the window in the otherwise dark room, the second occupant was currently the sole focus of the early morning sun. As the light finally reached the top of the bed, a woman's face flinched at the unwelcome intrusion.

With a groan, the woman was slowly and unwillingly dragged from whatever dreams she'd been enjoying, and rudely forced back into the real world. A real world that tasted like a hangover, and was apparently illuminated by an offensively bright light.

"Mitchell." she mumbled, sleepily. "Mitchell..."

There was no response from her partner though, except for another snore in the never-ending symphony that had peppered the night.

After a few minutes of futilely battling the oncoming morning, a burst of red hair grudgingly untangled itself from the duvet. With a final groan, the woman hauled herself out of bed, and breathed in deeply. She was tall and relatively thin, but with a nice round ass that many a man had appreciated from afar.

Staring accusingly at the gap in the curtains, she slowly got to her feet and made her way slowly out of the room. She needed some water before she fixed the curtains and would crawl back under the covers.

Reaching the kitchen, she grabbed a cup and yawned as she turned on the tap. Away from the bedroom, away from the snoring, the house was perfectly quiet. The light tinkling of the water hitting the bottom of the glass, combined with the after-effects of far too much wine having left the bottom of her glass the night before, sounded far too loud for a Saturday morning.

However, if the sound of the water was enough to make her regret her choice of drinks last night, the sudden piercing shriek of the phone was enough to make her regret her life.

Staggering over to the phone, Tanya fumbled at the handheld before finally locating the answer button.

"H... hello?" Tanya said, blearily.

"Hi, is Mitchell there?" Tanya's mind was kicked out of neutral by the sound of her boyfriend's mother. Shaking her head, and squinting at a nearby clock, Sara tried to wake herself up so as not to betray the fact that she was still more than slightly hungover.

"Umm... no... no, Mitchell's still in bed." What the hell was she ringing at this hour for? Of course, the woman lived on the other side of the country, and was prone to forgetting that timezones were a thing that actually existed in other people's lives.

"Oh, okay..." the woman sounded disappointed, and Tanya was lost for words for a moment.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Tanya finally broke and volunteered "Shall I... get him to call you back?"

The strain of the conversation was already beginning to show in her voice. This was most certainly not fair, she reflected, in between the headache and her vague attempts at focussing on this conversation. On the one hand, she was conscious of trying to be on her boyfriend's mother's good side. On the other hand, this was cutting into some valuable and absolutely necessary Saturday morning sleeping time.

"Oh, oh no. It's fine." Mitchell's mother said, with an audible sniff, "I'll call back later. I'm sure the two of you have plenty planned for today, and I can wish him a happy birthday later on."

"Fine. fine. I'll tell him you called." Tanya replied, and hurriedly finished this odd little conversation so she could hang up and get back to nursing her hang over.

As she stumbled back to the bedroom, glass of water protectively clutched to her chest, part of Tanya's mind began to replay the conversation in her mind. There was something she'd missed. Something that she sensed was somehow important.

What had she said? That she'd call back later to wish him a happy birthday.

Tanya stopped, mid-corridor, and her eyes opened wide.

Mitchell's mother would wish him a happy birthday...

"Oh shit." Tanya said, quietly. It was Saturday, June 20th. It was Mitchell's birthday.

*********

As Mitchell woke up to the world half an hour later, one year older than when he'd gone to bed, he woke to a vision of Tanya staring at him from the end of the bed. There was something oddly disconcerting about waking up like that, and Mitchell let rip with a startled snort of surprise.

"Hey sweetheart!" said Tanya, with an exaggerated enthusiasm that would have instantly triggered the suspicions of a more alert man.

"Umm... hey?" Mitchell said, rubbing his eyes, and peering at the clock.

"So... ahh... Happy birthday!" Tanya said, happily, a manic look in her eyes. "Haha! I bet you thought I'd forgot!" Tanya paused for a moment, before reluctantly adding "Again."

Remembering birthdays was not one of Tanya's strengths. A curvy ass and long legs were what her past boyfriends would remember her for, and most certainly not for her attention to small details like someone's birthday, or her ability to buy an appropriate present.

Mitchell raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"You remembered?" he said, doubt evident in his tone.

"Of course sweetheart!" Tanya said, immediately, and attempted to sound insulted that her boyfriend would think she'd forget. Again. For the third time in a row.

"You... you got me a present?" Mitchell said, both eyebrows now raised in surprise.

"Yes..." Tanya said, slowly and carefully. "Yes, ah... yes of course I did!"

Jumping to her feet from where she'd been sitting at the foot of her bed, Tanya flung her arms open wide and grinned.

"I'm your present, honey!"

Mitchell regained full alertness in less than a fifth of a second at that announcement.

"Yes," Tanya said, business-like, "today I'm going to do anything you want. I'm going to cook for you, clean the house, bring you a beer while you watch sports... anything you want!"

Mitchell just lay there for a few moments, and stared long and hard at Tanya. After about ten seconds of this, Tanya began to feel increasingly silly with her arms wide open and a grin plastered on her face. The facade was beginning to breakdown when Mitchell made his next move.

"Anything?' he said, carefully.

"Anything." Tanya promised, with a beguiling innocence.

"Hmm..." Mitchell said. "Could we go shopping?"

Tanya blinked at that uncomprehendingly for a second or two. Mitchell was not one of life's natural shoppers, and to hear him _want_ to go shopping was a little on the unusual side.

"Sure?" Tanya said, more as a question as to why, than any statement of intent.

"Great." Mitchell said, in a slow and measured tone. The beginning of an idea for the best birthday ever was dancing at the front of his mind, and he had to pinch himself to ensure he wasn't still dreaming.

Of course Tanya had forgot, he thought. The old "I'm your present!" excuse had done the rounds ever since Ugg the Caveman had first forgotten to buy Mrs Ugg the rock she'd told him she'd wanted for their wedding anniversary, and poor old Ugg had desperately tried to avoid being fed to the sabre tooth tigers.

Third time in a row as well, Mitchell mused. Still, he thought, perhaps Tanya's latest transgression was just an opportunity for a little fun. And a lesson on the side.

Mitchell smiled broadly, the headache from last night's excesses temporarily subdued.

"I love you Tanya." he said happily, and his eyes twinkled at the visibly relieved look on his girlfriend's face.

"How about we leave in an hour for the mall? Hell..." Mitchell said, feeling generous, "I'll think I'll even get something for you while we're there!"

Tanya clapped her hands delightedly. She was too busy patting herself on the back at handling this latest failure of memory to notice that Mitchell had an unusually eager look on his face.

********

As Mitchell and Tanya strolled through the mall, the buffeting stream of shoppers carried them on towards one of the major department stores at the far end.

Tanya was curious as to what Mitchell was looking for, but he'd been unnaturally quiet on the Mitcheller.

"So what are you after, Mitchell?" Tanya asked again, trying to sound like it was an off-hand, care-free remark.

Mitchell turned to her and smiled warmly. With a wink, he pointed ahead to where the entrance of a Macy's store had hovered into view.

"Oh, just one or two things, gorgeous."

Letting go of Tanya's hand, he draped an arm over her shoulder.

"But before we get on to that, I thought - well, since you're my birthday present, that we should find the appropriate wrapping for you!"

Tanya looked up at Mitchell with a confused expression on her face. All around them, people disappeared into and out of shops, and a thousand conversations created a low constant murmur throughout the entire mall. All that Toni could focus on though was what Mitchell had just said. Or, perhaps more importantly, whatever the hell Mitchell was trying to say.

"Umm." was all Tanya could string together in response.

Mitchell gave her a playful squeeze on the shoulders, and gave her a mischievous look.

"Well, you know, it _is_ my birthday. And I was hoping to, well, 'unwrap' my present later on."

Tanya rolled her eyes at that, but nevertheless also smirked at that suggestion. So, sexy lingerie it was then. Well, it was his birthday after all, and she could hardly claim to have come up with any better ideas herself.

Allowing herself to be guided ever onwards, she did nevertheless wonder why Mitchell had chosen Macy's of all places to go. They must have passed a Victoria Secret's somewhere along the way, and there would be a number of other shops that could serve a sexier range of outfits that Macy's. Still, best not to openly question a guy on his birthday, especially when he's probably only half-buying the idea that you actually remembered it in the first place.

Mitchell was in a very good mood as the two of them sauntered into the shop, and he made an immediate bee-line for the girl's clothing section.

"Hey, Mitchell." Tanya said, adding an edge of seduction to her voice. "The lingerie is over here."

"Yes." Mitchell said, acknowledging the signage without letting it change his course. "Yes, it is. We're going somewhere slightly different."

Tanya stopped in her tracks and another look of confusion wrinkled her nose.

"What do you mean?" she said.

Mitchell stopped too and turned to face his red-headed girlfriend.

"Well," he said, "they say when you get older, you sometimes regress back to a second childhood."

"Mitchell, you're, like, 24. You're not that old."

"25." Mitchell interjected, correcting her, and causing a slightly flush in Tanya's cheeks.

"Yeah, yeah, like I said. You're 25."

"True." Mitchell replied. "So the good news is that I won't be the one regressing."

Tanya had no answer to that, or in fact any clue as to what Mitchell meant by his odd comment. Instead, she didn't resist as Mitchell took her hand again and pulled her gently towards a section of clothing clearly targeted at women younger than her own twenty three years.

Tanya stood there in between racks of clothing for what looked like very young teenagers, acutely aware that her boyfriend was rifling though items probably ten years too young for her.

"Mitchell?" Tanya whispered, trying not to call too much attention to themselves in an otherwise busy store. Already, one or two older women - presumably shopping for daughters - were casting a few strange looks their way.

"Mitchell!" Tanya whispered again, more urgency in her voice now.

"Hmm?" Mitchell said, looking up briefly from where he was crouched down, inspecting a row of what looked like girl's panties.

"What exactly are you looking for?!" Tanya said, indicating with her body language that whatever it was, he better find it shortly so they could retreat to somewhere more appropriate.

"Oh, relax." Mitchell said. "What's everyone going to think? That I'm buying you some girly, cartoony panties and crop top for you to wear?" Mitchell smiled at that.

"Yeah. Yeah. Haha. Nobody would seriously think that I suppose!" Tanya laughed, nervously. However, there was something about Mitchell's eyes that were undermining her attempt to treat that as a joke.

Mitchell broke eye contact for a moment, and then seemed to be looking around for something else. He stood up, bringing an item with him that Tanya couldn't immediately see.

"Sweetheart." Mitchell said, "any idea where the changing rooms are around here?"

"W... Why?" Tanya said.

"Found your wrapping paper for my birthday present." Mitchell grinned. With a triumphant reveal, Mitchell displayed a pair of obscenely pink panties in front of Tanya's transfixed eyes.

It wasn't just the pinkness of the panties that shocked Tanya. She wasn't much of a pink person really, and while she liked to think she dressed fashionably, her tastes ran more towards simple and elegant. Pink didn't often fit into that equation.

But it wasn't just the pinkness. The panties - clearly designed for someone to whom high school was in their future rather than their past - proudly portrayed what Tanya could only guess was a My Little Pony.

A couple of gaudy stars sparkled around the pony on the crotch, and Mitchell obligingly turned the panties around to reveal the awful truth. The phrase "Friendship is Magic!" was printed in a large, cartoonish font across the cheeks of the panties, and the frill on the panties was certainly not something you'd find in Tanya's drawers back home.

Tanya looked up at Mitchell, disbelievingly. "Are you serious?" she said.

Mitchell gave her a slightly hurt look. "It _is_ my birthday, babe!"

Tanya pouted for a moment, and then gave up and snatched the panties off Mitchell. Even allowing for the fact that Mitchell had deliberately chosen a larger size, and even allowing for the general obesity problem sweeping the next generation, the "large" panties still looked like they'd be a very, very snug fit on Tanya's curvy backside.

Still, she reasoned, if it's only Mitchell who'll see her in these, where could the harm be?

Cautiously, she took a couple of steps towards the changing rooms. She'd only moved a few meters when Mitchell suddenly called after her. Twirling around, Tanya was half expecting to see Mitchell break out into laughter at what was clearly a joke.

Mitchell wasn't laughing though. He was holding up another item. A crop top. Just as pink. Just as small. Just as embarrassing.

"Don't want those sexy boobs of yours to feel neglected!" Mitchell said, with an evil glint.

"Mitchell, this will barely fit over me!" Even allowing for the fact that Tanya's b-cup breasts weren't the largest to ever grace a woman's chest, she could already tell that this top would look ridiculously tight and stretched on her. As she turned it over in her hands, the unmistakable look of unicorns and rainbows glared up at her.

She made a face at the indignity of having to wear this, but one look at Mitchell told her that this was what he really wanted. With a sigh, she gave up any thoughts of protesting, and marched on towards the changing rooms. Behind her, she could hear Mitchell's footsteps following.

********

"Come on out sweetheart!" Mitchell called, jovially. He leaned casually against the side of the wall nearest to the changing room door, and playfully tapped on the door. Behind the door, Tanya coughed nervously, and there was an edge of pleading in her tone when she finally replied.

"Mitchell, do I have to come out there in this?!"

Mitchell smiled broadly, and an merciless look momentarily clouded his eyes.

"Don't worry Tanya, there's no-one else around at the moment." Mitchell winked conspiratorially at an older gentleman who'd just walked into the changing rooms with a couple of dress shirts in his hands. At the sound of Tanya's pleading, the gentleman looked up with interest, and stood stock-still.

The changing room door remained steadfastly shut for a couple of more seconds, before the tiniest of creaks heralded a slow yet inevitable opening. The door edged open by a couple of inches, and a nervous face peeked around the corner. Tanya was clearly checking out the area outside, but unfortunately for her the angle didn't allow her to notice the older gentleman.

She opened the door a couple of more inches, and made eye contact with Mitchell. There was no mistaking the message in her eyes, just as there was no disputing the reply in his. The silent conversation went along the lines of: "this is embarrassing!", with the simple response of "this is my birthday!".

Acknowledging the futility of fighting this any further, Tanya opened the door fully, and slinked out of the changing cubicle.

Mitchell stood back and applauded. Stripped of the clothing that she'd worn to the store, Tanya now only wore the pink My Little Pony panties and the crop top. The crop top itself exposed far too much of Tanya's stomach for her own liking. Her tall frame meant that the crop top only reached a couple of inches below the lowest edge of her breasts.

Tanya was noticeably hunched over in embarrassment at her predicament, and she kept one hand tugging at the tightly stretched material, trying to pull the top down even half an inch more. Her other hand was strategically positioned in front of her crotch, covering most of the Pony but unable to block the sight of a sparkling rainbow that seemed to be erupting from the cartoonish beast.

Her eyes looked straight at Mitchell, and he could see that his lesson about forgetting to buy a proper present had begun to settle in. Still, the day is young, Mitchell thought to himself, and there was still a few more opportunities to reinforce this learning experience.

With his girlfriend's face as red as her hair, he made the universal gesture for a twirl. He took one step to the side as he did, and guided Tanya more into the centre of the changing rooms. As he did, he positioned himself between Tanya and the cubicle where her other clothes and her handbag lay.

Eager to get this over with, Tanya quickly begun to spin. A few turns would do it, she reasoned, and then she could forget about this until tonight, when at least they'd be alone.

It was on her second twirl that Tanya realised that they weren't alone even now. With a startled cry, Tanya finally noticed the older gentleman, who responded by promptly dropping the clothes he'd been carrying. His jaw followed suit, and he stared open-mouthed at the beautiful figure of Tanya in her pink, girly attire. Tanya's hands flew over her body, seeking new places to cover while always leaving somewhere exposed. After a few shrieks, she finally unfroze from where she'd been standing, and dashed for the safety of the cubicle.

A cubicle that had - while she'd been the object of this older man's gawking - mysteriously been closed. Mitchell had disappeared too, and while Tanya's mind raced with the full impact of her current predicament, she came to the horrified realisation that Mitchell had locked himself inside the cubicle. With her clothes. With her handbag, her phone, her house keys... with everything other than these humiliating clothes that he'd left her in.

Tanya banged on the door. "Let me in!" she pleaded. The world slowed down to a trickle, and she was painfully aware of the other man's constant appraisal of her.

Knocking on the cubicle door again, she called out to her boyfriend to let her back in. Unhelpfully, the only thing she could get out of Mitchell was a promise to come back out in a minute. A minute! As the seconds crawled by, that minute would seem like an hour.