Wondering Minds

Chapter 14

"Luna! Come on! The guest will be here any second."

I came out of my room with a long pink birthday dress. Mom rushed over to me to fix my dress and add a sparkling pink crown on top of my head.

The kitchen and the living room were filled with balloons and the number nineteen was plastered on the wall. The kitchen table was decorated with glitter and empty paper plates.

We heard a knock at the door as Mom rushed to open the door. "Hi! It's nice to see you!"

I walked to the door to see who it was. I looked to see it was my Aunt Claire and my eleven-year-old cousin Austin. "Luna!" Austin yells running towards me. I gave him a big warm hug, "I missed you so much."

"I want you to be my babysitter again," Austin says.

"I wish I could...If you didn't live so far away." Austin stuck out his bottom lip, "Okay..." He says sadly.

"Oh my gosh! You've grown so much!" Aunt Claire says excitedly.

"I can't believe you're nineteen!" She hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe. She lets me go to take a good look at me.

Another knock on the door could be heard as Mom opened the door. I saw my Dad appear through the door with birthday gifts. He said hi to my Mom then came over to me, "Happy birthday baby girl."

He kissed me on the cheek and put my gifts on the table.

"Hi!" My Mom yells.

I turned around to see Braden and his Mom, "Where's the birthday girl?" Braden's Mom asks. Mom pointed to me and she walked over.

"Oh...no..." I thought to myself as she approached me. She had the biggest grin on her face, "You look so pretty!" She checks my dress out by going around.

"Thanks..."

Braden walks over with a serious look. "Can we talk for a second before the party starts?" I looked around at all the people. "Okay."

"Wait, where are y'all going?" Braden's Mom asks.

"Mom, we're just going to go talk."

His Mom walked away skeptical. Braden grabbed my hand and guided me to my room. I shut the door behind me as Braden looked me in my eyes.

I could see scratches and bruises on his face from the fight.

"I'm sorry about what happened at the party yesterday, I feel so bad... I let the anger get the best of me. You didn't deserve what happened."

I stared at him for a few seconds, "Like I said over the phone... I forgive you, it's not a big deal. Let's just get passed this and move on." I said ready to get back to the party.

He smiled a little, "Okay, and about the truth or dare game..."

I butted in before he could say another word. "We can talk about it later... Let's get back before they think we're doing something."

He nodded and I opened the door to people mingling. "There she is!" My Mom shouts happily. She set the food on the table, "Go sit in your birthday seat at the table."

I faked a smile at everyone as I sat down. "Okay, now everyone else can have a seat." Austin rushed to the seat next to mine.

Braden sat on the other side of me. "Who's that?" Austin says pointing at Braden.

"Oh... This is my friend Braden." Austin smiled at Braden, "Do you like superheroes?"

"Yes! Spider-Man is my favorite." Braden says making Austin cheerful. Mom came out with a plate of food and sat it right in front of me.

The plate had backed chicken, cornbread, green beans, and a small salad on the side.

My Aunt comes out with more plates for the guests. Once everyone got their plates, we dug in, enjoying every bite.

"This food is delicious Ms. Jenkins," Braden says.

"Thank you, Braden." Mom smiled.

My Dad looked over at Braden, "Wait? That's Braden... The troublemaker."

"Dad... Please don't start." I said chewing on food.

He ignored me, "Why is he even here?"

Mom rolled her eyes, "You always got something to say... I invited him and his Mom." My Dad looked over to Braden's Mom, "Did you know that your son is the one that got my daughter suspended from school?"

I could hear Braden swallow hard with nervousness. "What are you talking about?" Braden's Mom says.

"Luna couldn't pass a drug test at school, because your son and my daughter were smoking weed!"

Her mouth dropped as she gave Braden the death stare. "Braden is this true..."

Before he could answer, there was a loud knock at the door. Mom rushes to open the door, "I'm so glad you could make it!"

"I'm sorry I'm late, I had a patient." Nathan stepped through the door with gifts.

"This is Nathan, Luna's doctor," Mom says.

My eyes widened as water flew from my mouth.

"Ewww," Austin says disgusted as he wipes the water off of him.

Braden looked at me, "Your doctor?" I could see the hurt in his eyes, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Nathan hugged his stepmother and sat down next to her. "I didn't know you were Luna's doctor." Braden's Mom says.

"May I be excused... I need some fresh air." I got up quickly almost knocking things over. I headed outside and sat down on the porch step in a panic.

"Breathe...Breathe..." I whispered to myself. I calmed myself down as Braden appeared outside with me. He sat down on the porch step next to me.

"So, you knew Nathan this whole time," Braden says with a straight face. I sighed and looked down, "Yeah..."

"But... Why lie?"

"Because... Who wants to say that you hang out with your doctor." I said.

"I'm your friend you could've told me... He's my stepbrother for crying out loud. I'm starting to think there's more going on here."

My Aunt Claire joined us outside, "Is everything okay?"

I didn't say anything as she sat down on the other side of me.

"Yeah, we were just talking," Braden says.

"About what?"

I looked down as tears started to fall, "I'm a bad friend just like how I was a bad friend to Emma."

Braden grabbed me and hugged me, "You're not a bad friend, you'll never be a bad friend to me."

My Aunt hugged me too, "Let's get back inside."

We walked inside and everyone stared at me. I sat down shaking a little. "Are you okay?" Mom asks.

I cleared my throat, "Yeah... I just needed some air."

We all finished our food in silence until my Mom broke it, "Anybody wants some cake?"

"Me!" Austin yells. Mom and Aunt Claire headed to the kitchen to get the cake. I looked up to see Nathan staring at me.

I gave him a quick smile then looked away.

Mom and Aunt Claire came around the corner singing Happy Birthday while carrying the cake to the table.

Everybody else joined in the singing as I sat there smiling.

When they finished they all clapped and cheered. "Blow out your candles!"

I stood up and blew out my candles. Everybody clapped in cheered again. I sat back down as my Mom cut the cake. Braden leaned over, "Why's your Dad looking at me like that?"

When I looked over to my Dad I saw him giving Braden the death stare. "Just ignore him," I whispered to Braden.

Soon the party was over and people were leaving. I turned to see Braden talking with his Mom. "Where did you get the weed from?"

"A friend..." Braden says.

"What friend? You know what... we'll finish this conversation at home."

She walked off to go talk with my Mom and Braden stood there in his phone.

Austin runs up to me, "Could you walk me to the car?" He says smiling.

"Of course," I smiled and walked Austin to the car, where Aunt Claire was putting stuff in the trunk.

Austin gives me a big hug and then gets in the car.

"Thanks for walking Austin to the car." Aunt Claire says.

"You're welcome." I walked up to her and hugged her.

"If you ever need me, remember I'm only a call away."

I nodded and watched her get in the car.

"Hey."

I turned around to see Nathan holding a gift. "Hey," I said smiling. He holds out the gift in front of me, "I got something special for you."

I take the gift, "Why didn't you give me this gift at the party?"

"Because... of Braden, I didn't want him to get jealous and start swinging on me."

I opened the gift and pulled out roses and a card. "Aw!" I took my time to smell the roses and then I opened the card.

"Thanks for being an amazing person. You taught me a lot in just a few weeks and I'm grateful for that. Happy Birthday!" I started to tear up as I hugged him.

"Thank you for being the best doctor and friend," I said.

I saw my dad approaching me so I immediately pushed Nathan away. "Hey, baby girl." My Dad says.

"Hey."

"This must be your doctor," Dad says looking at Nathan.

"Yes sir, I'm Nathan Ford." Nathan held out his hand and they shook hands. "Luna needs to start hanging out with you instead of Braden." My Dad does a husky loud laugh.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Nathan."

"It was nice meeting you too Mr. Jenkins," Nathan says with a smile.

My Dad hugged me and then walked away. Nathan stared at me while biting his bottom lip, "I really want to kiss you right now."

I looked around to see my Dad leaving and then Braden and his Mom walking to the car.

"So... you want to kiss me in front of Braden and your stepmom, and risk Braden coming over here and beating you up."

Nathan looked over at them, "Well... First, Braden can't beat my ass because I'll surely beat him up and second... I'll like to take that risk." He leaned in close but I took a step back, "But, I'm not ready to take that risk." I smirked.

"Thank you for the flowers and the card," I said smiling.

"You're welcome, beautiful," Nathan whispered. I walked away, unable to control my smile.