Birthday Bummer

(*Note: There's been two posts, make sure to read the one below this one first or you might be really confused*)

I woke up the morning of my birthday with a clear mind and looking forward to my dinner party. I got flowers from Sean delivered to my apartment and put them in a crystal vase before I left for work. They were gorgeous! The bouquet had purple violets and roses with two purple orchids in the center and yellow sprigs of accents flowers. I’ve never gotten such beautiful flowers before and I was touched that Sean did this. I had a feeling he put a lot of effort into picking just the right arrangement and flowers. I was planning on using them for the centerpiece for dinner.

Steve, Suzy, and Dina organized a small birthday party (cupcakes and a card signed by everyone) at work and let me know they were all looking forward to my party later that night. I was so excited but work seemed to take forever and by the time I left to meet Sean outside I was bursting at the seams.

“Hey birthday girl!” Sean was leaning on the side of my building when I came out of the front doors.

His hair was windswept and he was wearing a pair of dark jeans, his Chucks, and a heavy gray sweater over a white t-shirt.

“Hey, you. I got the flowers. They’re beautiful. Thank you.” I gave Sean a passionate kiss and a hug before we set off for the grocery store.

I spent about 30 minutes shopping for all of the things I would need for the dinner while Sean picked up the cake and made sure I couldn’t see it by covering it with his jacket. I felt happier than I have in awhile and Sean was giggling with me and flirting. It was nice. He even bought me an obnoxious birthday balloon when we went to check out.

We were still laughing and flirting when I opened the door to my apartment, carrying heavy bags of groceries. Sean went to go put the bags of groceries in the kitchen as I went to tie the balloon onto a chair back. I stepped on something in the hallway though and stopped midway.

“Sean?”

“Yeah?”

“Is Murphy in the kitchen with you?”

“No, why?”

I released the balloon so it bumped up against the ceiling and walked into the kitchen.

“The flowers you sent me were knocked off of the table I left them on. I’m worried that Murphy knocked it over and hurt himself…he usually greets me when I come through the door…”

“He’s probably sleeping or something; do you want me to grab a dustpan?”

“Yeah,” I said looking around.

Sean handed me a dust pan but then pulled me to him and we started making out in my kitchen. He had me up on one of my counters when I suddenly opened my eyes and screamed. There was a dark figure coming out of my bedroom towards us. Sean spun around and grabbed a knife from a wood block next to me. The figure stopped in my hallway like it was deciding where to go and suddenly ran out my front door and away. Sean tried to run after whoever it was but they lost him. He came back out of breath and told me to call the police.

My hands were shaking and I was struggling not to go into hysterics.

“S-Sean…M-Murphy…find him.” I squeaked out while I dialed the phone.

I reported the break-in and the dispatcher told me she would send some police officers over to the apartment as soon as possible. When I got off the phone Sean came around the corner holding Murphy.

“He was under the couch, shaking. I think he was scared of whoever was here.”

He handed him to me and then held me. As we were standing in the kitchen waiting for the police, Zoey walked through my open front door.

“Hey, guys…what’s going on?” She looked around bewildered.

“Someone broke into Faith’s apartment. We just called the police.”

“Oh my God! Faith do you want me to call everyone and tell them not to come?”

I nodded and gave her the list of people who were supposed to come and their phone numbers. She stepped into the hall and started calling people. Within a few minutes two police officers were looking through my apartment while another one was talking to Sean and I about what happened. We had just finished telling them everything when Zoey came in to stand next to me. The officer was writing everything down and then started asking me questions.

“Have you ever received any odd gifts from a stranger or a secret admirer? Any unexplained notes?”

“No…nothing like that…well, my ex-boyfriend Kevin sent me some morbid stuff after we broke up. We didn’t end on good terms but I haven’t seen anything like that since I got my new job.”

“What!?” Sean recoiled away from me in shock. I realized that I had never told him about the strange bereavement card or the flowers that Kevin claimed weren’t from him and I downplayed how crazy Kevin went around the time I quit.

“Sean, it’s not like that, he wouldn’t admit to sending the stuff but he was just playing with my head.”

“What did he send you?” The officer asked cutting Sean off and leaving him to stew in his shock and anger.

“A bereavement card that said, ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ when we broke up and a bouquet of flowers when we were together. It didn’t have a note.”

“Has your ex-boyfriend been in contact with you since you quit your job?”

“No.”

“But he knows where you live?”

“Yes.”

“You said you ended on bad terms, can you tell me what that means?”

“I found out he was lying to me about being involved with someone else. We worked together and he wasn’t handling it professionally at work. When I decided to quit and turn in my resignation to him he tried to grope me and take my shirt off.”

“Did you press charges?”

“No, I just wanted to leave everything behind. He was drunk when it happened and I loved my old newspaper company, just not him being my boss. I didn’t want to cause them any extra legal troubles.”

“Is there anyone else who might want to hurt you or break into your apartment?”

There was a beat of silence and I looked at Sean.

“Ma’am?”

“Who, Faith?” Sean urged.

“Gerry. That’s my boyfriend’s tour manager. He came over about a week ago and tried to scare me into breaking up with Sean. He grabbed my arm and tried to restrain me when I refused but my cat attacked him. He told me that I’m the reason he was going to lose his job and that he couldn’t let that happen; that I needed to be put in my place and that I was controlling Sean’s life so I could be the band’s tour manager. He was not in the right mind and was clearly upset. That’s why I didn’t tell you Sean. I was going to; I was just waiting for the right time.”

“How could you not tell me this!?” Sean was yelling and bright red.

“Sean! Now isn’t the time, okay?” Zoey cut in and gave Sean a warning stare, “She has more important things to focus on right now, don’t you think?”

Sean crossed his arms and looked away, it was pretty obvious that he was incredibly pissed at me and that I was in some serious trouble later. The officer was eyeing both of us and then saw the black and purple bruise on my arm and looked at Sean.

“It wasn’t him, it was Gerry.” I said acidly.

“Do you want to press charges against Gerry?”

“No.”

Sean squirmed next to me and Zoey shifted uncomfortably.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. He wasn’t in his right mind. He was upset.”

“How did he find your address?”

“He told me he followed Sean after work one night and then came back the next day.”

Sean moved almost like he’d been electrocuted but didn’t say anything.

“Okay, I’m going to ask you to do a walkthrough of your apartment to see if anything was stolen.”

I followed the officer and looked all over my apartment but the only thing that was missing was my toothbrush and the only thing that was damaged was the vase Sean’s flowers had been in. I figured Murphy got up and knocked the flowers over, possibly trying to get away from whoever had been here and he’s knocked my toothbrush on the floor before so I figured he did it again and it was hiding under a shelf or something but I was too shook up to really look for it.

After a few hours, the police left and I was alone with Sean and Zoey. I had been struggling to keep myself composed since I saw the dark figure moving towards me and the emotional exhaustion was starting to take its toll. I walked back to the kitchen after closing the door behind the police and caught Sean and Zoey whispering to each other. They stopped as soon as they saw me.

“I don’t really feel comfortable staying here…” I said, my voice was hoarse.

“I’ll take you and Murphy to my place, Zoey already offered to drive us. You should go pack a bag; I’m going to run to the store to buy a disposable cat box and I should be back in 20 minutes, okay?”

Zoey threw Sean her keys before he hugged me and left. She then started collecting various things for Murphy: his food dish, his small cat bed, a bag of food, two or three toys, and the security blanket he’s had since he was at the adoption shelter. I started packing a bag and realized about halfway through that I had no idea how long it would take for me to want to come back to my apartment so I packed enough clothes for a week and hoped I was over-packing. I threw a bag of toiletries together and added it to my suitcase when Sean walked through the door.

The ride to Sean’s apartment was silent except for the moments where Murphy meowed out of nervousness (he tends to associate the car with the vet so I don’t blame him) and the noise of the city. Neither of us said a word until Zoey dropped us off. She helped us carry everything upstairs and I went to see her off while Sean set up the cat box for Murphy.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“I think so,” I said with an air of detachment.

“I didn’t mean about this, I meant about you and Sean. He seems really pissed, Faith.”

“I’m in a lot of trouble,” I conceded, “but I think we’ll be able to work through this. I mean, he didn’t need to offer his apartment to me, he knew you could have easily taken me in. It will be unpleasant but I…I have to believe things will be okay right now because I don’t know if I can handle losing Sean right after losing Elise and now this…I should have told him as soon as it happened. Why am I so stupid?” I asked, sighing, and leaning against her car to look up at Sean’s apartment.

“You’re not stupid,” she said hugging me, “You were afraid. When we’re scared we don’t think clearly.” She smiled warmly which caused a feeling embarrassment to start creeping over me.

“Why did you show up so early, Zoey?” I asked changing the subject.

“I thought you’d want some help setting up for the party.” She said.

She looked at her watch and then looked at me.

“How long are you going to avoid going up there?” She asked with a smirk.

“I don’t know. I don’t really want to. I’m exhausted, it’s amazing how drained a person can feel after being terrified. This is the second time this week I’ve felt that way, too. At least I don’t have to expend the energy hiding everything anymore.”

“Hey,” she said looking at me, “I’ll go get your stuff and load it up in the car right now if you want me to. I have that extra guest room.”

“No,” I said sighing and committing myself to talking to Sean, “He deserves an explanation. I can’t hide from this forever, especially now that it seems Gerry really is unstable enough to hurt me.”

“Okay, well, if things get to be too much you can call me and I’ll be here in 15 minutes.”

“I will.”

“I mean it, Faith,” She said holding my shoulders, “no matter how late it is.”

Zoey gave me one more hug before getting in her car and leaving. I took a few moments before going upstairs to face Sean. He was sitting at his dining room table with two glasses of hot chocolate; Murphy was sitting next to him on the tabletop flicking his tail.

“Hi.” I said meekly closing the door behind me.

“Hi. I thought you might want something to eat so I’m toasting an Italian sub for us in the oven.”

I realized how hungry I was as soon as the smell from the kitchen hit me and I thanked Sean before I sat down at the table across from him. Murphy meowed and walked over to sit near me as I took a sip from my cup.

“I was going to tell you.” I said looking at my cup.

“But you didn’t. At least not until you were forced to.” He got up and went to the kitchen before I could respond.

I sat there and stroked Murphy until Sean came back and set down a plate in front of me with half a sandwich and some apple slices on it.

“I just wanted some time to try and figure out the best way to tell you. I wanted to get all of my thoughts about what happened in order because I knew you’d be upset and one of us needed to keep a straight head after you’d been told.”

“Faith, this isn’t the first time you’ve lied to me by omission. How can you expect me to trust you when you do things like this?”

“Sean, the stuff with Kevin was in the past, I told you I didn’t think it was relevant. I didn’t know how concerned you were about it which is why I didn’t think to tell you.”

“But then I told you how much it concerned me and you still omitted stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Like the fact that he sent you those creepy things. A bereavement card? Really?”

“I didn’t purposefully omit those things, Sean, I honestly forgot all about it until the police officer asked me about weird gifts.” My voice was tight with emotion but I tried to control it. I knew if I let myself succumb to the trauma of what we had just dealt with surface I wouldn’t be able to stop it.

Sean sighed and we ate in silence. When we were both finished he got up and took our plates to head towards the kitchen.

Over his shoulder he said, “I’m going to sleep on the couch tonight.”

I sat at the table for a few moments letting that decision sink in before heading into the kitchen.

“Sean, this is your apartment, I’ll sleep on the couch. Plus, you can’t sleep with light streaming through the windows.”

“No. Just go to bed, Faith.”

I stood in the kitchen doorway a little hurt by what he was saying before I decided to just give up and let Sean be a martyr on the couch. After putting on an oversized t-shirt and crawling into bed I sat in the middle of it with my chin on my knees. Sean came in holding something after a few minutes of me sitting there unable to turn off my mind.

“Here,” He said handing me a small box.

“What is this?” I asked looking at the box with confusion.

“It’s your birthday present. I was going to give it to you tomorrow but I think it’s safe to say that our special date isn’t going to be happening so soon.”

I took the box and opened it and then looked at Sean.

“It’s really sweet, Sean. I love it.” He had given me a silver necklace with a crystal music note on it.

“I love you, too,” I added when I realized he wouldn’t look at me, “Sean, please.”

I reached for his hand but he moved away before we connected and headed into the bedroom’s private bathroom. He came back out and sat down next to me.

“I also got you this.” He said handing me something inside a plastic CVS bag.

I opened it and looked at Sean before I enthusiastically hugged him. It was a blue toothbrush with a small red ribbon tied around the neck. It happened all at once: the hug, my crying, and then my sobbing. The emotion that I had been trying to hold back for hours had finally been allowed to surface and Sean just held me. He didn’t have to say anything, I knew things would be okay, eventually.