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The presents were piled up in one corner, while a blue-frosted birthday cake waited nearby. Elizabeth had told Andrew he could invite all his friends over—brave words, considering what had happened at one of Karen’s birthdays a few years ago—but he’d refused. They’d compromised on the situation by throwing a real party and inviting Mom and Seth and all the siblings instead of his classmates.
Emily had insisted upon hanging streamers, blue and white ones, from every possible corner and around all door frames. The whole party seemed to mean a lot more to her and Elizabeth, so he’d let the two of them go to town.
No one seemed to notice that everyone was talking about the party except the birthday boy—if Andrew even wanted to call himself that.
The doorbell rang for about half an hour straight, each guest showing up one at a time. Mom had come first, loaded down with trays, then Kristy, who was always early to events like this, even when she had to take the train in from New York. She’d plowed through the door like a woman with a mission. “Happy birthday, Andrew!” She enveloped him in a brief hug, then walked off before he could thank her. “Mom, what do you need me to do?”
Elizabeth put Kristy to work on the finishing touches for the food. “Andrew, honey, I need you to stay by the door and greet everyone as they come in. Emily, take their coats and direct them on where to put their gifts, okay?” She strode off into a whirlwind of activity in the kitchen, where the adults had gathered.
Andrew had become convinced that, on some cosmic level, he and Emily had been switched before birth and that he was the one who wasn’t biologically related to the rest of his relatives. Nurture had been much stronger than nature with his younger sister, who resembled Karen and Kristy much more than he did. When the doorbell rang next, she bypassed him and let Sam in. “Good to see you! Let me take your coat and then I’ll show you where we’re putting the presents…” Emily led Sam away, leaving Andrew bewildered next to the still-open door.
When the same scene played out when Charlie arrived a minute later, Andrew retreated to his room, waiting for someone to notice. The hubbub grew and still no one sought him out, so he crept to the top of the stairs, where he could better hear the discussion without being seen. Between the screams—Karen must have arrived—he overheard a question that made him feel better, although the answer gave him grief. “Where’s Andrew?”
“Oh, you know him. Too many people; too overwhelming. We’ll probably have to drag him back out of his bedroom when it’s time to open gifts. He’s always hated to be the center of attention, and it’s just gotten worse as he’s gotten older. Say, Sam, did you want a beer? I think Charlie brought some with him.”
Andrew didn’t hear any more as Dad and Sam walked past, because he was too busy digging his fingernails into his palms. The tone of voice Dad had used was the same Elizabeth had used when Andrew had told her he didn’t want to invite any friends. “That’s okay, honey.” She didn’t even turn around from the bills she was paying at her desk. “Maybe next year.”
Andrew opened his closet and dug around until he found a huge shopping bag back behind his shoe rack, where Elizabeth and Nannie never cleaned. “I’ll show them. They don’t know anything about me—I’m not some loser who can't muster up any friends for a real party.” He hauled it out onto his bed. "My friends just see a whole different side of me."
The bag was stuffed to the brim, with an old jacket layered on top for protection. Andrew pulled the jacket off and set it aside, digging through his most precious possessions, ones that he’d been hiding from the rest of the family. By the time Karen banged on their door, Andrew—rather, Andy—was ready for her. “Andrew! Cake! Ice cream! Let’s move!”
Andy waited until Karen thundered back to the living room, her tread as high pressure as her voice, before they left their room. All the family members had gathered around the table, with an open seat at the head. Andy had seen this many times in their sixteen years: Nannie would whisk the cake in, lit up like the city, and everyone would sing to the birthday boy.
Except, Andy wasn’t the birthday boy.
Andy couldn’t be sure who gasped—the sound seemed to come from all around them, and it might have been more than one family member. No one started singing. “Clever idea. I give you ten out of ten for style.”
Kristy elbowed Sam in the ribs and slapped her hand over his mouth in an effort to shut him up. A moment later, she withdrew it, disgusted. “Gross! Quit licking me.”
“Next time, cup your hand so I can’t reach it. You should have learned that by now.”
Dad held up a hand, silencing the two of them. “Andrew…? Is everything okay?”
“Andy. I’m Andy.”
Dad glanced nervously at Elizabeth, and then Mom and Seth. “Okay. Andy. Is there a reason you decided to come to your birthday party dressed like…”
“Like a girl?” Andy smoothed their skirt. They were still getting the hang of applying mascara, and a glob at the end of their eyelashes blocked their vision in one eye. “I wear this skirt to school sometimes—when I’m feeling feminine.”
The table fell silent again, though just for a second. Andy started to sweat, and their hands trembled. Just as they thought they’d need to bolt from the room, David Michael saved the day. “Oh, are you…I don’t know what term you use, but my friend at college likes non-binary. Her girlfriend uses genderqueer…”
That simple statement broke the tension at the table, and multiple people started talking at once. Seth turned to Mom. “I’ve heard of that before.”
“The Gay-Straight Alliance when I was in college was working on how to make the dorms more trans and gender-fluid friendly.”
“This's cool. Sometimes we have a little brother, and sometimes a little sister.”
“Yeah, best of both worlds!”
“Pronouns! Aren’t we supposed to ask what pronouns to use?”
Karen gave her younger sibling a huge hug. “I’m going to need to give you a makeover—or at least lessons on how to apply eye makeup. Your mascara, and that green eye shadow…you’d look so much better with a subtler tone.”
Not to be left out, Emily appeared on Andy’s other side and gripped them around their waist. Andy realized that the candles had burned down almost to the cake and puffed them all out with a single breath. Emily gave a final squeeze. “Andy? Did you make a wish?”
“I didn’t have to. My wish already came true.”