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“Oh my God!” Misty exclaimed gleefully when she opened the door. She had barely finished her breakfast, she wasn’t expecting anyone so early. She wasn’t expecting anyone that day, really. Well, fine, she was never expecting anyone, in general. But, especially not Natalie, by surprise, on her birthday, holding a little bouquet of flowers and a gift bag.
“Oh God,” Nat groaned at the exact same time from the other side of the threshold.
“Is this what I think it is?”
“Someone that desperately hoped you wouldn’t be home so they could leave all this on the doorstep and walk away with their conscience clear but also emotionally unscathed?”
“Don’t be silly! Why would I be out so early?” Misty laughed as she stepped to the side and hurried Nat inside the house before she could get away.
Begrudgingly, holding back a groan but not doing anything to disguise her reluctant movements, Natalie entered the very Misty house. “Well, it is your birthday,” she said slowly, “Don’t you have plans?” Though, when she looked at Misty, all dressed up, make-up done nicely, new glass frames on her face, and her smile wavering, Natalie quickly added, “Don’t answer that.”
Misty nodded. Nobody needed to hear out loud that she didn’t have any plans for her birthday, and hadn't had any plans for her birthday for most of her life. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She did have plans or, at the very least, she had a familiar routine. She woke up early, had a luxurious bath, cooked her favorite breakfast, and shared lively conversation with Caligula. After, she would take a brisk walk through her neighborhood, say hello to every neighbor that wasn’t quick enough to avoid her and she would find a way to bring up the fact that it was her birthday. Then, she would visit the cemetery, not because she had anyone important there, but because it was a sure-fire place to find people visiting loved ones on their birthdays and two out of five of them would be sympathetic and willing to talk to Misty once she mentioned it was also her birthday. Before she could get her spirits down thinking about her plans of visiting her job in the afternoon even though it was her free day just to hear her coworker legally obliged to wish her a happy birthday, Misty pulled herself out of her thoughts with a firm little headshake.
“Is that for me?” She asked Natalie, pointing at the bag.
“Well, I didn’t bring it for me,” Natalie replied, though she noticed that some of her usual bite was missing from the remark. She extended her arm, holding the handle of the bag on one finger, and offered it to Misty, who squealed at the sight of just the bag.
“Oh my God! This is so exciting! I love gifts,” Misty said, speaking a mile a minute, taking her time before opening the bag, savoring each second of this thoroughly rare occasion that, until recently, she wouldn’t have even dreamed of. “Don’t you love gifts? Not only there’s an element of surprise and, sure, the reward of getting something for free. But they actually tell you so much about a person, not just of what the gifter thinks of the giftee, but also about the thought process and choices of the person that gets the-”
“Misty open the damn bag, please .”
Okay , Misty mouthed. But she had no time to say or even think about anything else. As soon as she opened the bag, she noticed this was a real gift. Something nice, even. She started to pull her gift out of the bag and when she realized what exactly it was she let the bag fall down to the floor carelessly.
“Is this… Nat… Is this for real?” Misty asked quietly.
“Sorry they didn’t have pastel colors,” Nat said, “I don’t think I would’ve been able to put down my dignity long enough to buy one anyway.”
Misty laughed tearfully, barely listening to what Natalie had just said. “You got me a leather jacket!” she exclaimed, holding the item close to her chest and grinning as widely as her face allowed.
“You get to keep it if you never say-”
“We’re matching!”
Natalie groaned and threw her head back, but she was having a hard time fighting Misty’s infectious joy. “Well go on, try it on,” she said, waving the flowers still in her hand toward Misty.
“On it!” Misty laughed pretty much the entire time as she fumbled out of her cardigan sweater and put on the dark red leather jacket. “Oh! It’s so warm,” she said, fascinated like a little kid on Christmas morning, if not more, “And it’s heavy! No wonder you slouch all the time.”
Natalie frowned at the uncalled-for comment, but Misty just made a cute little shrug that had Natalie sighing in defeat. When did Misty become immune to her silent threats, she wondered? Was it something fading away in her, or was it something about Misty specifically? To clear her mind, instead, she waved the flowers she was still holding again.
“What do I do with these?”
“Oh, can you just put them on the vase on the dining table? I need to find a mirror and see how I look with this jacket on. Maybe change my earring so they match. The flowers are lovely , by the way. They are perfect, Natalie! You have great taste…”
Misty continued talking the entire time as she went up the stairs, lovingly running her hands over her new jacket. She probably continued talking, even if just to herself, as she went to her room and up to the mirror. Natalia stopped listening, really. She didn’t even suspect that Misty went upstairs so Natalie wouldn’t see her cry because of the gift, the flowers, and the simple act of showing up at her doorstep on the morning of her birthday.
Meanwhile, Natalie thought that she wasn’t expecting to be left alone and with a simple task to be carried out. She could’ve easily dropped the flowers on the floor, opened the door, escaped, and come up with a completely unbelievable excuse when Misty inevitably called her phone in the next five minutes.
But , she thought that, after all, it was Misty’s birthday, the least she could do was put the flowers on the damn vase.
But then , when she was there, hastily pulling out the not-so-fresh-anymore flowers that Misty had on her dining table, Natalie thought well, might as well give them fresh water . The flowers weren’t to blame for the two women’s complicated and traumatic history, Misty’s unusual and rarely-flattering personality, and Natalie’s tendencies for isolation and general distaste of most people, something that very much included Misty.
But, just when she had that thought, Natalie realized how smoothly she was moving in Misty’s house. Throwing old flowers into the trash, opening cabinets to pick up a glass, filling it with water on the sink…
Natalie sighed gravely and closed her eyes. Who was she trying to fool? She didn’t hate Misty. At least not anymore, she thought. She wouldn’t have spent a frankly exaggerated amount of money on a nice leather jacket, for someone she didn’t like. She wouldn’t have asked the guy at the flower shop for the perfect flowers for a “very intense and annoying woman, probably a psychopath, but stupidly kind and friendly and intelligent and beautiful and, hey, don’t look at me like that, I did say she’s fucking annoying.” And, most importantly, she wouldn’t have spent weeks hyping herself up and emotionally preparing for spending her entire day with Misty, knowing full well it was unlikely that Misty had any real plans for the special day.
Just then, Misty’s quick steps announced her return to the living room. Natalie shook herself out of her thoughts and went to meet her.
“So? How do I look?” Misty asked her in a sing-song voice. She did a quick little turn, holding her hands out at her sides. Then she faced Natalie, wrapped her arms snuggling around her torso in her new jacket and, right when Natalie was about to speak, Misty interrupted her. “Actually… If you’re just going to say something mean, you can just give me a thumbs up, I would appreciate that.”
Natalie rolled her eyes and twisted her body as she considered her options. She was really tempted to just give the thumbs up.
“You look great, Misty. Really.”
Her words seemed to shock Misty even more than her presence and the gift and the flowers all together.
“Thank you, Nat,” Misty said.
Misty’s voice was soft and vulnerable that Natalie wasn’t sure she’d ever heard before. Scratch that. She was sure she had probably heard it before, just never paid it the attention it deserved. It made her want to kick herself.
“I’m taking a wild guess here and saying the others didn’t want to join you?” Misty asked her next. She fixed her glasses, even though they were perfectly in place and, for the first time, avoided Natalie’s eyes. “I don’t blame them,” Misty added quietly when the silence stretched, but then Natalie immediately scoffed, as loudly as she could.
“Yeah, well I do,” she said, slurring her words a little, figuring them out as she went along, but meaning them wholeheartedly. “They think you’re insane. So what? Of course you are!” In the brief pause between her next words, Natalia winced when she caught Misty’s frown at her choice of words. “What I mean is… As if they weren’t insane! All of us are doing just as bad, if not worse and- You know what? You’re unconventional as fuck, sure, but you get shit done! They would be doing much better if they gave you a chance and let you help them. I know…” Natalia stopped herself in the middle of her outburst to sigh heavily and admit a big truth to herself before confessing it aloud to Misty. “I know at least that I am doing much better because of you, Misty.”
Misty’s doe eyes widened and watered and her bottom lip wavered. Natalie’s shoulder slumped and she grimaced in anticipation.
“You have two options right now,” Misty said with a trembling voice, “You let me cry in front of you and make this super awkward, or you let me give you a hug.”
“Oh God,” Natalie groaned, covered her face with both hands and then ran them through her hair. “What the hell, come here, Misty,” she said, turning her face away with extending one arm toward the other woman, who didn’t waste a single second before throwing herself at Natalie’s body, wrapping her in a fiercely tight hug.
Thank you thank you thankyouthankyou Misty mumbled again and again with her face pressed against Natalie’s familiar black leather jacket. Natalie, against her preconceived notions about herself, chuckled warmly at the display of affection. She held Misty against her body with one arm firmly around her shoulders. She let her other arm hang limply at her side, feeling like it let her keep some semblance of dignity after letting Misty Quigley seize the softest part of her hardened heart by surprise.
“Okay, that’s enough of that, birthday gal,” Natalie grumbled. She awkwardly patted Misty’s head twice and then, as delicately as she could, which wasn’t a lot, started to push her off her body.
“This was really nice of you,” Misty said when she gathered her breathing and wiped away any tears that might have escaped. She paused to delicately push her glasses up her nose and added, “The flowers, this super cool jacket… Thank you for stopping by, really.”
Natalie raised a knowing eyebrow and smirked in advance, looking forward to Misty’s reaction when she said, “Stopping by? What? Are you kicking me out?”
“What- what? ” Misty mumbled, nervously fixed her glass once more, and blinked rapidly as her brain tried to catch up. “Kicking you out… No! Of course not! Gosh, no, just… I mean… You… I assumed you’d totally want to get away from here immediately. But… you don’t? Oh my God, Nat… Natalie…”
“Calm down ,” Natalie chuckled, “It’s be fucking tragic if you gave yourself a heart attack on your birthday.”
Misty laughed and covered her mouth briefly with her hands. Then she asked, with sparkling eyes and an infectious smile, “Does that mean you’re staying? With me? You want to spend my birthday with me?”
Natalie scrunched up her face thoughtfully for a second. She shifted in place and looked around her in search of a miraculous exit sign but she came up empty-handed. She had to accept the truth.
“Actually… yeah? I think I do want to stay,” Natalie said slowly.
Misty opened her mouth to reply but then she closed it again. She thought about it for a second, and her face fell a little when she asked, “Why?”
That simple question was another kick to the stomach for Natalie. It wasn’t like she was desperately interested in diving into this unlikely friendship with Misty Quigley. She wasn’t even all that surprised that Misty’s life had turned out like this but, it wasn’t like she was in a place good enough to judge. In some ways, both of their lives would look like complete failures to other people, but not only Natalie didn’t care what other people thought about them, but she was also ready to admit that they could make each other’s lives significantly better.
“It’s only fair,” Natalie eventually answered, shrugging nonchalantly as if it hadn’t taken an excruciating amount of self-introspection to reach a point in her life where she’d willingly and genuinely seek Misty’s friendship without ulterior motives. “You deserve a friend, and I think I could- I should try to be at least half as good as you’ve been to me.” When Natalie, horrified, noticed Misty’s eyes watering again, she quickly added, “Besides, I’m kind of curious of what a Misty Quigley birthday looks like.”
“Oh! I have so many ideas,” Misty said. Her strong emotions were temporarily placated under the promise of the best birthday she’d had for as long as she could remember. “I’ve just been waiting for this moment,” Misty continued to talk at full speed as she put on her shoes, and grabbed her purse and keys, “You’d be surprised how many fun activities actually require a partner just to sign up! There are improv classes and-”
“ Please promise you’ll be reasonable,” Natalie grumbled, putting on her sunglasses and sliding out the front door following Misty.
“And I’ll accept suggestions,” Misty added with a grin that promised to not lose its shine in the entire day.
Natalie hummed thoughtfully, smoothly stole the car keys from Misty’s hand, and stopped by the front door of the car. She smiled mischievously when she asked, “Did you ever learn how to shoot a gun?”
Misty’s eyes widened again and her mouth opened in genuine shock.
“Best. Birthday. Ever!” Misty exclaimed and eagerly jumped into the passenger seat of her car.