birthday girl

"it's my birthday." 

the words are sudden, surprising. the man looks up from the girl's knee, which he has been dabbing with a cotton ball soaked with bactine. he blinks.

"what?" he says, thoroughly confused as he presses the cotton ball on the purplish bruise for far too long. the girl makes a little hissing noise and he removes it. "sorry. it's your birthday?" 

she nods, dark hair falling over her face as she pulls her legs up to her chest, "yeah."

"oh. why didn't you tell me?" the man asks, shoulders slacked a little as the two sit on the dingy, coffee colored couch that he's had for far too long.

"I forgot," the girl shrugs, which isn't actually true. she just didn't know how to bring it up. 

"well, happy birthday," the man says, the corners of his lips turning up in a crooked smile. the girl smiles back, a softer one. 

he finishes cleaning the cut on her knee and then they watch a movie (a not very good one, because the girl falls asleep). then, he makes the two of them dinner (which consists of him heating up day-old pizza in the microwave). over the greasy, heart attack inducing slices, the man looks up at her, resting his head on his palm.

"would you like to go somewhere? since it's your birthday?" he asks, eyes gentle as he looks at her. she peers up at him, eyes darting from him to her piece of cheesy pizza.

"I don't know," she says, unsure of what to do. 

"we could go get some dessert to celebrate the occasion," the man suggests, wiping the grease from his mouth. the girl perks up at his words.

"like a party?" she replies, voice excited but still small. "I've never had a birthday party before." 

"well- a party that's just us. how does that sound?" he smiles, and the girl nods, still a little hesitantly.

they finish their meal and they walk down the sidewalk to the local diner. the air is warm and sticky, summer flies buzzing in the orange sky. 

they arrive at the diner, sitting down in a little booth that feels far too small. the red leather of the seat sticks to the back of the girl's legs, and she watches as the man whispers something to the waitress, who then smiles at the girl and disappears into the kitchen. a few moments pass, and she returns with a seemingly enormous slice of chocolate cake. the girl's brown eyes widen as she marvels at it, smiling at the one, tiny rainbow colored candle that sits amidst the thick frosting. she has never seen a slice of cake so huge before, nor so delicious looking.

the man smirks at her, gesturing for her to take a bite. she smiles up at him, taking her fork and plunging it into the sugary dessert, placing the bite sized portion in her mouth.

the man orders a beer and the two sit in silence as she eats her cake. he notices that she's crying - big, wet tears dribbling down her face and onto the plate on which the cake sits - but he doesn't comment on it. he simply waits until she finishes, and when she does, she wipes the tears from her eyes and frosting from her mouth and nods at him, signaling that she's ready to leave. he pays for the beer and the cake and they exit the diner, standing outside for a moment in the dying summer sunset.

"how old are you now?" he asks, voice cutting through the silence like a knife. the girl turns to him and smiles softly.

"twenty," she says gently. "but I don't think I'm actually twenty yet. I don't remember what time I was born." 

the man smiles, wrapping his arm around her roughly, tousling her hair, listening to her laugh. 

"it's good enough," he chuckles, the side of his face pressed into the top of her head.

the girl grins up at him. "this is the best party I could've ever asked for. thank you."

the man shrugs, smiling in return. "anything for the birthday girl."