9

“AJ, don’t order cake…” Emma told me in something very close to a whine. I ignored her and kept talking to the woman on the other end of the phone line.

“Well it’s for a birthday, but it doesn’t have to be an actual birthday cake… Hell, I don’t even care if it’s a whole cake. One slice would do. But it has to be good, and I need a candle.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that we have chocolate cake on the menu tonight, sir. I can send up a piece of that. The candle might be harder to find, but I think there must be one around here somewhere.”

“That’s cool…” I said with a smile. “I appreciate all of your help…”

“I’ll have it sent up soon, sir. Is there anything else?”

“Nope, that’s it… thank you…” I hung up the phone and looked at Emma who looked like she was verging somewhere between wanting to smile, and wanting to yell at me. “Too late, I already did it. I’m sorry, but you just can’t spend your birthday like this. Not when you’re hanging out with me at least.” I half expected her to get up and tell me that she wasn’t going to hang out with me then, but she didn’t. “Are you giving me the silent treatment now?” She didn’t answer but I caught sight of her mouth curving into a slight smile before she forced it away and looked at the television again. “You can give me the silent treatment, it’s cool… I’m a stubborn son of a bitch, I admit that freely. You’ll figure that out pretty quick if you allow yourself to spend any amount of time with me. But, it’s only because I care…”

I looked at the television and for several minutes we sat in silence looking at a really weird cartoon. “What the hell is this?” Emma finally asked with a slight chuckle.

“I have no idea, but it’s weird…” I laughed and tossed her the remote. “Birthday Girl gets control of the remote for the rest of the night…”

She shot me a look but took the remote and started flipping channels. As the television flickered from one channel to the next she smiled, “I hide the remote from Skinner most of the time. I don’t think that in the six months I’ve known him that he’s ever watched a television show or movie from start to finish. If the remote is in his hand, he has to flip channels and then he’ll forget what he was originally watching and will start watching something else. It’s so annoying.”

“I used to be like that…” I said and put more focus on looking at Emma than watching the channels pass by. Before I’d gone through rehab and I was messed up on drugs and shit, I couldn’t sit still for the life of me. Sure, I’m still an anxious and bouncy person, but back then I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I don’t miss that at all.

“What made you stop?”

“Rehab and lots of therapy…” I said with a chuckle.

She smiled and nodded, “Works wonders…”

“You ever been?” I was curious, something about her response made me think that maybe she’d been down that road.

“Not really… kind of. My… well, someone I knew went through rehab, and I was there while it was happening, so I feel like I went through it too. But, I’ve been on the couch before… not in a long time, but I’ve been through it.”

I nodded, “Therapy is a damn good thing…”

She nodded, “It can be…”

I smiled and decided not to press the matter anymore. The last thing anyone needed on their birthday was to talk about therapists and rehab. When I noticed that she’d finally chosen a station to land on and put the remote down on the couch between us, I looked at the television and smiled.

Hot damn, Trading Spaces.