Page 24 of Pitcher Us
“Auntie Cals! Merry Christmas-Birthday!” Stevie giggles as she takes the phone from Wyla. Her blonde hair is pulled up in her favorite “fun buns” with some red bows pinned in.
“Thank you, Stevie Bug. I sure do miss you.” Sometimes FaceTiming these two bums me out a little. It reminds me how much I miss having their close friendship. There was never adull moment with Wyla and Stevie, and here I only really have Adam…and Will, oddly enough.
“We miss you too.” Wyla forces Stevie to share the screen so I can see her too. “We’re about to head over to my parents for Christmas lunch. What are your big birthday plans?”
“Oh, it’s going to be a real rager. I rotted in bed all morning, and now I’m going to rot on my couch until Adam comes over. He's supposed to be bringing whatever takeout that’s open on Christmas, and I’m going to see how many Hallmark movies I can get him to watch before he loses his mind.”
“Oh, my girl, please calm down.” Wyla laughs.
“Hey, not everyone knows how to party like Wyla Bennett.”
Wyla scrunches her nose. “I haven’t partied in a long time, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, it was…what? How old are you again, Stevie Bug?”
“Four!” Stevie yells. “Almost five.” She smiles so proudly.
Wyla shakes her head. “Then add nine months before that and then you’ve got the last time I partied. Maybe you're right. Stay home.”
“Hey!” I can hear Jett yell off screen. “Best night of my life. Go have a one-night stand, Cals.”
Rolling my eyes, I take a sip of my tea.
Stevie looks up at Wyla so sweetly. “Mommy, what’s a one-night stand?”
And now I’m choking on my tea, trying to fight off the laughter.
“Jett! Look what you did!” Wyla sighs.
I’m about to make a smart-ass remark when my door swings open and Adam bursts in.
“Happy birthday!” With that loud announcement and the pop of a confetti tube, I scream and nearly spill my tea on the carpet.
As the confetti falls, Adam reaches for another tube. “Adam, don’t?—”
The loud pop cuts me off as my room is blasted with more confetti. “Get up. We’ve got to leave in thirty minutes.”
Shaking the tiny pieces of paper out of my hair, Stevie’s little voice comes through the speaker with so much concern in her tone. “Auntie Cals, are you okay?”
“Yes, Stevie, I’m fine. Adam was just being insane! And making a mess in my new apartment.” With the confetti now in my mug, I cut him some major side eye, but he shrugs me off.
“It’s Christmas and your birthday. Did you seriously think I wasn’t going to do something special? Also, because it’s your birthday, I’m not going to make a comment on the fact that I got in here because your door was unlockedagain.”
Rolling my eyes, I flip him my middle finger out of the camera frame so Stevie can’t see.
“Hey, Stevie, Auntie Cals gave me a silent bad word.” Adam squats behind me, leaning on the back of my couch.
“You deserved it,” Stevie says very matter of fact. That’s my girl.
“Rude,” Adam mumbles while I laugh at her sass.
Wyla rests her head on Stevie’s. “Alright, little miss. Tell Auntie Cals ‘happy birthday one more time then let’s let her get to her partying.”
Stevie gives me a big, toothy grin. “Happy birthday, Auntie Cals! Oh, and Merry Christmas!”
Wyla takes her phone back. “Happy birthday, babes. We love you.”
No tears on your first actual birthday, Callie.
