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We’re in the car after dinner and Maeve cannot stop admiring her birthday present: a necklace with a little tree of life on it.
“You like it?” I grin across to her and she sighs happily.
“It’s perfect,” she says. “How did you know I like silver? Everyone always gets me gold.”
I shake my head. “Nah, because you have that little ring you wear all the time and that one is silver.”
She smiles at me, surprised. “You remembered that?”
“Of course,” I tell her.
We’re only a few miles out from her house now. I have to pray that I’ve given them enough time to get everything ready. I prolonged dessert to make sure that everyone would have plenty of time to set everything up. I probably shouldn’t have been so panicked, it was left in Bronwyn’s hands after all, and there’s no one on this planet who can organise like she can. But it’s the first birthday Maeve has had since we started dating, and everything needs to be perfect.
“Are you cold?” I ask her. “I can give you my jacket.”
“No, I’m—Holy shit!” she interrupts herself as a loud pop bursts through the air. “What was that?”
I can feel the car start to skid improperly beneath me and pull to a shuddering stop. Maeve and I share concerned glances before I get out of the car.
To my dismay, the problem is immediately evident. A large nail sticking out of the now rapidly deflating front wheel.
“That’s not good,” she notes mildly.
“Fuck,” I say, succinctly.
She glances down the road, but there are no other cars. “I guess we’ll just have to change it?” she offers.
“I don’t have a spare tyre,” I say, through gritted teeth.
Maeve frowns at me. “How do you not have a spare tyre?”
“Well,” I say, standing up from where I was examining the wheel. “I had one, and then I used it, and now it looks like this.”
She frowns at the gash in the wheel. “I thought you were supposed to replace spare tyres after you used them.”
I sigh. “That’s because you are.”
I kick a little at the dirt on the side of the road, watching it fly off into the air.
“It doesn’t matter,” she says, trying to comfort me. “We can just wait for a tow truck.”
“It does matter, Maeve,” I tell her. “It’s your birthday! And everyone is waiting back home to surprise you, and we’re supposed to be there by now!”
She pauses, blinks at me, then says, “You organised a party for me?”
“Ugh,” I groan. “And now I’ve just ruined your surprise.”
She opens her mouth to interject, but I’m on a roll now.
“I’m sorry,” I get out in a rush. “This is not how I wanted your day to be. I planned this whole big thing and now I’ve ruined it. I’m so sorry.”
Maeve folds herself in half, and I freeze, concerned that she’s had a sudden stomach pain. That would be the perfect way to cap off tonight.
“Are you okay?” I ask her, putting my hand on her trembling back. “Are you laughing?” I straighten up, staring at her indignantly. “I’m trying to apologise for ruining your birthday and you’re laughing!”
She cackles loudly, trying to stand upright. “No, I’m sorry,” she manages to say through her laughter before she breaks out into giggles again. “Just give me a second here.”
“Unbelievable,” I tell her, but despite myself, I’m beginning to laugh too.
She lays a hand on my arm to try and stabilise herself, but her laughter is so intense that she can’t straighten her back. “Oh my god, it hurts,” she wheezes. “Sorry, oh god!”
Eventually she manages to stand, her smile so bright and infectious that it cools the simmering irritation in the back of my mind like a wave of fresh water.
“Luis,” she says, through such a great big smile that her words are almost a giggle. “You are the best boyfriend in the world.”
I glance between her and my burst tyre. “You’re late to your own party because of me.”
“A party which you organised,” she points out. “After taking me out to my favourite dinner spot, and buying me the most gorgeous present in the world.” Her hand reaches up to touch the delicate chain around her neck, and I smile despite myself. “Who cares if it got a little messed up? It wouldn’t be us if everything got to go smoothly.”
Now that makes me laugh.
“Very true,” I admit reluctantly, and she steps over to me, her dress swishing around her ankles at the movement. I pull her in by her waist, dipping her dramatically until her hair flies out behind her and she laughs as I capture her lips in a soft kiss.
Her hand slides up my jaw to tangle into my hair, and I lose myself in the momentum of it for a moment before she pulls back to breathe.
“So,” she says, voice light. “Should we call a tow truck or are we going to sit here all night?” She perches herself on the hood as if she would be quite alright with spending the entire night here.
“No,” I tell her. “I’ll call Cooper, he always keeps a few spares.”
“That’s because Cooper is responsible,” she teases, and upon my glare, she playfully bites down her smile. “Sorry.”
I roll my eyes at her, dialling Cooper’s number.
“Hey man!” He’s enthusiastic when he answers. “Where are you? We’re all here.”
I sigh. “I got a flat, and I don’t have my spare tyre.”
I can almost hear his frown. “You know, Manny would kill you for the way you treat your car.”
I huff out a laugh. “Don’t I know it. Anyway, any chance you would be able to come and help us out here?”
“Where are you? We’re on our way.”
I don’t question the ‘we’. Where Cooper goes, Kris follows.
“Thank you.”
I drop down on the hood next to Maeve and she immediately curls into me. She places a kiss on my jaw, poking her finger into my cheek.
“Smile,” she instructs. “It’s my birthday, you have to do what I say.”
Her words inspire a real kind of grin, and I shake out my hair to get rid of the last lingering remnants of annoyance I feel.
We’re silent for a moment, before Maeve stretches backward, eyes up on the emerging stars.
I follow her lead, and we watch the constellations for a moment, drinking in the companionable silence.
“This is it,” she says, her head rolling over on the hood to look at me. It pins her hair underneath her like a wave. “The perfect birthday.”
“We’re abandoned on a car that can’t go anywhere missing out on your party,” I point out flatly.
“No,” she corrects, entwining our hands together. “We’re abandoned on a car that can’t go anywhere, missing out on my party, together . Perfect.”
I laugh. “When did you become Little Miss Optimism, huh?”
She shrugs. “I guess you’re wearing off on me.”
“Hey lovebirds,” Cooper’s voice calls, amused. “You wanna help change this tyre, or are you just gonna sit there?”
“I’m not helping,” Maeve says automatically, and I laugh as I ease myself off the hood. She watches after me with bright amber eyes, and I smile softly at her until Cooper cuffs me over the back of the head.
”We do not have all day,” he points out, and I laugh out an apology as Kris grabs the tyre from the back of Cooper’s car.
It’s a pretty easy process between the three of us, with Maeve watching on in amusement as we squabble over the best way to change it.
She stops laughing pretty quickly though, especially once Kris threatens her dress with the grease all over our hands.
“I don’t care,” she says. “But if there’s a party, then that means Bronwyn is there. And Bronwyn would kill me.”
It’s a legitimate fear, to be fair.
It doesn’t take much longer before we’re on the road again, and it’s only a five minute drive to her house.
“Unbelievable,” I mutter once we pull up. “We were so close.”
She laughs, tossing her hair over her ear. “Again, Luis, when have we ever been lucky?”
I smile, reaching out for her. “I feel pretty lucky right now.”
She leans away from me. “Well you shouldn’t, Grease Lightning.”
I roll my eyes good-naturedly. “I’ll wash them.”
“You’ll scrub them,” she corrects.
”Hey,” I tell her, before she opens the car door. “At least try to act surprised, yeah?”
”Obviously,” she says.
We head into the house, and the occupants jump out screaming “SURPRISE!” as they blow off party poppers. It sends a rainbow of confetti flurrying down on us, sticking to Maeve’s black dress until it’s closer to polka dots then anything else.
“Oh my god!” Maeve cries out, entirely too enthused. “This is such a shock!”
“You told her,” Bronwyn says accusingly, pointing a finger at me. There’s a bit of silly string in her hair and it diminishes her level of threat a significant amount.
“You’re a terrible liar,” I tell Maeve and she shrugs apologetically.
“I tried,” she says, patting my jaw. “Now, please go wash your hands so I can kiss and thank you properly.”
I grin, brushing past a none too pleased Nate, who looks tortured at the idea of Maeve even kissing me, as she’s steered into an excited embrace by Phoebe.
“Here,” Cooper says as I approach the kitchen, holding out some soap. “It comes off fairly easily with this stuff.”
I nod, beginning to wash my hands throughly in the sink as he looks out through the archway to where Maeve is reluctantly being pulled in by Phoebe to dance to the start of some Taylor Swift song.
“You put on quite a party,” he says, and I shrug.
“It’s more Bronwyn than me.”
He turns to me, suddenly serious. “That’s not true,” he says. “You’re really good for her.”
He’s saying a lot more than he actually is. It’s an apology, a compliment, regret and relief and happiness all rolled up into one.
I pay him on the shoulder with a still-wet hand and he laughs.
“Thanks dude,” I tell him sincerely.
He smiles back at me, and Maeve calls my name from the living room.
“Luis!” The grin on her face is bright as sunshine. She’s holding up a tequila shot, looking devious. “I need you!”
“Go get your girl,” Cooper teases, and I grin back at him before making my way through the archway.
She wraps an arm around me, handing me one shot glass as her nervous hands tremble around the other.
“Cheers,” she says, her voice suddenly a little intense as her eyes flutter up to mine.
“Cheers,” I repeat, clinking our glasses together and throwing back the drink, letting the burning liquid slide down my throat.
She splutters as she does the same, and I laugh curling my arm to bring her closer to my chest.
“Alright?” I ask.
“Better than ever,” she promises, with a grin that couldn’t mean anything else.