Chapter 1

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Allie! Happy birthday to you! May God bless y-

"Aaah!"

I woke up with a jolt, banging my head with my table lamp in the process. Still disoriented, it took a minute for me to realize three things:

One: I was still in my desk and had fallen asleep with my laptop open. It was showing little cute bubbles as screensaver while my neck was bent awkwardly towards my left shoulder. I winced in pain as I heard a distinct crack of my bones when I tried to move my neck.

Two: It was already 12:04 am- the fact I surmised when I looked at my phone.

Three: Well, I realized this at the same time I found out about my realization number two, but this was what made me running around my room, cursing mentally. The reason was: When I looked at my phone to check the time, I saw- or rather, heard- that my special alarm tune was still ringing and that made me realize that... shoot! It was Allie's birthday today and I'd already wasted 4 minutes talking to myself! Such a great friend you are, Eves.

I bolted from my desk and hurriedly dialed Allie's number. Allie, or Allison Rivers had been my best friend since college. The only person who knew everything about me and whom I trusted more than anyone.

She was an expert painter and had her own art gallery now. We'd met each other on our sophomore year in college while I was not at my best and had thick walls surrounding me. But she was able to get past them and truly saw me for me, accepting me without judgments. We'd come a long way since then. I still had walls around me but Allie had made a door for herself to let her in.

"Eves! It's... 12:07 for heaven's sake! Why are y-"

"Happy birthday Allie!" I shouted over the phone, immediately cringing when I remembered that it was midnight. My voice must be echoing through her phone and around her room like creepy echoes you hear in creepy horror movies.

"What birthd-..." Allie started to say but stopped abruptly. I heard a rustling of sheets followed by a click meaning she must have turned on the lights.

The line was silent for a while and just when I thought she’d hung up on me, her soft voice reached my ears, "It's my birthday today! I didn't even remember! …And neither did Mike..."

Mike had been her boyfriend since three years. We'd met him at our graduation 4 years ago when he was there for his brother Jake. Allie and Mike had flirted around incessantly the whole time. They kept in touch even after graduation and a year later, they were official.

Jake was one of our good friends. He was charming, humorous and humble. He was someone who’d always have our backs, ready to help whenever required. In other words, Jake was a perfect gentleman. Too bad I couldn't say the same about his older brother.

Mike on the other hand, was the definition of a typical bad boy. Dark black hair, dark eyes, piercing over his ears and eyebrows, lip rings, bike rider... well, you could say he was a stereotypical bad boy you read about in cheesy romances. Yes, the one whom the innocent goody-two-shoes falls in love with and eventually tames him while the reformed bad boy saves her from the big bad world. Except that it was not the case here because one, Allie was neither innocent nor a goody-two-shoes. She was as wild as one could be, and didn’t need a hero to rescue her. Secondly, Mike was not someone who could be tamed easily. Since Allie hadn’t been able to bend his reckless way even a little, I doubted anyone else could.

Allie was the opposite of me in every way. She was rather short, about 5.2" as compared to my 5.10" but her other features more than made up for it. She had a lovely chestnut brown hair and gray eyes that I envied more than anything.

While her eyes were the ones anyone could lose themselves in and not want to come out of, I had plain boring chocolate brown eyes and Auburn hair that made me look like a packet of Snickers. She was loud and outgoing as compared to my quiet and reserved self that sometimes made me wonder how we even got so close. But her nature only made me love her more because I knew that while she liked to sound carefree, she could never hurt a soul or shy away from her responsibilities. Her successful art gallery proved the fact for anyone who thought the contrary. Allie was the one any guy would feel lucky to call as his girl and I could say with certainty that every other person thought the same. Everyone except her boyfriend.

I never liked Mike all that much. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was that made me wary around him, as if he wasn’t what he seemed, or there was something sinister lurking behind his eyes. I could feel it every time our eyes clashed but it would be gone before I could think more about it. I tried warn Allie about this but she fell for him anyway and silenced me saying I was just being paranoid. Surprisingly, Mike had yet to do anything wrong and they had lasted 3 whole years so maybe I’d misjudged him.

"Hello! Eves!" Allie's high pitched voice snapped me back to reality and I belatedly noticed that I'd zoned out through her entire rambling. "Are you even there? You'd better not fallen asleep while I'm wallowing alone because my boyfriend of three years did not remember my birthday. Eves! Can you hear m-"

"Geez woman!" I exclaimed, pulling my phone a good distance away from her. When infuriated, her voice could penetrate deeper than X-rays. And I wasn’t quite ready yet to sacrifice my ears for that experiment.

"Maybe he is just busy and forgot it. It’s not like you remembered it and it's your birthday. Don't worry!" I tried my best to soothe her and calm down her hysterics.

Okay, I could understand that she must be upset her boyfriend didn't remember her birthday but to be honest, I hadn't expect anything else from him. Mike was the worst boyfriend on the planet. He always took Allie for granted but she still doted over him like a school-girl with her celebrity crush. I just hoped for his sake that he wouldn’t break her already fragile heart because if he ever did that, I'd make him pay till he was neck-deep in debt.

Allie started rambling again, "Maybe he doesn't care. Oh My God Eves! What if he doesn't love me anymore? I'm sure he's after hot, tall babes and there are plenty of them in San Diego. Ones who are not some useless painters. Eves! What am I gonna do if he leaves me for them?! Oh God! He's not going to leave me, right? Say something Eves!"

I sighed. Allie was every bit of a confident, outspoken person when we were in college. She didn’t give a second’s thought as to what others thought of her. But her relationship with Mike had made her insecure and self-conscious about her looks, her work and everything she loved. I really hated Mike for that and wished that she’d realize this soon as well.

Right now, he was in San Diego doing God knows what. Mike was a guitarist of some band and was almost always busy with his gigs all around the world. He'd moved in with Allie but it was as if he didn't have a home anymore with the frequency of his travels. I knew it was killing Allie slowly that he was never around but she still hadn’t complained a word to him.

"Allison Avery Rivers! You listen to me and listen very carefully 'cause I'm sick and tired of saying this to you countless of times. This is the last time I'm ever saying this so better stick it to your thick skull! You're beautiful, Als. Any guy would feel blessed to die for you.

And your work is amazing Allie! I'm not saying it just because I'm your friend but because I've seen your works. I know you and you are amazing! So, don't you ever think about not being enough for him. He could rot in hell with gazillions of flies around himself if he ever thinks that.

Which I'm sure he doesn't since you've lasted three long years which is something. You said he's in San Diego right? I'm sure it’s just the time zones creating problems." I took a deep breath after finishing my speech, rubbing my temples as sleep was wearing me down. The line was again silent for a while until I heard her soft whisper.

"Yeah, you're right Eves. I think that must be it. Oh! I'm so sorry for this Eves! You, my best friend are calling in the middle of the night sacrificing her sleep just to wish me but here I am, wallowing about my boyfriend who is not even here! I'm so sorry!"

I laughed, "It's okay Als, don't worry about it. You know I'd do anything for you."

I said honestly.

I could hear her smile as she spoke, "I know that Eves. Which is why I'm so lucky to have a best friend like you. And to celebrate my birthday we're going to Red Diamonds

tonight, okay? We'll party so hard we won’t able to stand straight tomorrow! Alright, I'll leave you to get your beauty sleep. God knows you get cranky if you don't get enough of it. I don't want any of your employees fired today."

I chuckled. I was glad Allie was back to her own self. “I do not fire my employees that fast! But you're right. I do need my sleep. I’ve got a meeting today and it's already quarter past one. See you tonight! Once again, wish you the happiest birthday Allie! Love you!"

We hung up after a quick goodnight and I went through the contents for today's meeting. Thankfully I only had the last slide left to prepare so I quickly finished it and gave it a quick review checking for errors. Satisfied with my work, I decided to get some sleep because Allie was right. I did get cranky if I was sleep deprived and I didn't want to be in that state for the meeting and later for Allie's birthday party.

It was going to be a long day.