Divine (7 page)

I rolled onto my back
and thought about the next day being my birthday. My dad had my
special day all planned out, and I was actually looking forward to
going out into the city with him and my mom.

My stomach growled
lightly, alerting me to my hunger. I was so tired from almost
teleporting that I decided on skipping dinner and going to bed early.
Besides, the sooner I fell asleep, the sooner I would wake up as a
seventeen-year-old.

I closed my eyes and
quickly fell asleep, still dressed in my black pants and lacy red
blouse.

* * *

A soft knock gently
stirred me from my sleep. I lazily turned toward my clock and noted
that it was seven in the morning.

“
Come in,”
I said, my voice low and groggy from just waking.

“
Happy Birthday
to you,” my parents sang out in unison as they gently pushed my
door open.

I sat up in my bed and
stared at their animated cheerfulness. I couldn’t help but
laugh: they had made birthday hats out of rolled up printer paper and
tape. They didn’t even have rubber bands attached to them to
hold them on, they were just balancing carefully on top of their
heads.

My mom was holding an
oversized plate of chocolate frosted cupcakes, each one having its
own lit candle, and she stuck them out in front of me when they
reached the end of the song. “Make a wish!” she insisted.

It didn't take me long
to decide on my wish. I closed my eyes and pictured Jonah's face as I
blew out the dancing flames.

“
Good job, you
blew out all seventeen,” my dad said with praise.

My mom's spirited face
melted into a slight frown. “Sorry its not a real cake. I think
I lost the cake pan when we moved because I just can't find it.”

“
No, Mom, its
great. I actually like this idea better.” I grabbed a single
cupcake off of the plate and pulled out the extinguished candle.

“
You don’t
have to eat it now if its too early for sugar,” my dad added.

“
Its okay, I can
handle it,” I joked with a smile as I unwrapped the paper and
bit in to the chocolatey deliciousness. I could tell right away that
my dad had made them, because they were moist and perfectly
concocted.

He waited for me to
swallow my first bite before chiming in, “Pretty good, huh?”

“
Yeah, they're
great. You really did a good job, Dad.”

His posture stiffened;
he took pride in his cooking ability. He was no Divine, but his
culinary magic was close to being that of a super ability.

“
Are you excited
for tonight?” my mom asked, still grasping the plate of
cupcakes in her hands.

“
Absolutely . . .
It’s going to be really fun.” I scooted off the edge of
my bed and stood up next to them. “Let me know what time we're
leaving so I can make sure that I'm ready on time; I want to get
really fixed up for the occasion.”

“
Okay, honey,”
my mom said with a smile. “We'll leave so you can get ready.
Have a good day at work.”

“
I will.”

“
Happy Birthday,”
they said almost in unison as they left the room and quietly trotted
downstairs.

* * *

When I got to work I
found myself groggily knocking on the locked front door once again.
This time it was Kevin who came to the rescue.

“
Hi,” he
said in a chipper tone as he held the door open for me. “Fox
wants to see you in the kitchen.”

“
Really?” I
asked, surprised by the news. I felt my stomach churn and wondered if
I had done something wrong the previous day that he needed to address
with me.

Kevin stayed behind as
I walked back to the kitchen and hesitantly pushed open the black
swinging door. The lights were off, so I knew he wasn't in there
anymore.

He must be in his
office.

I was getting ready to
leave when my eyes were awakened by the unexpected flash of bright
lights turning on. “Surprise!” three voices shouted
across the room.

I jumped with
bewilderment and looked toward the source of the shouts. Brittany,
Fox, and another man whom I didn't recognize stood next to a metal
table that held a candle engrossed pie.

“
Oh man, you
scared me!” I panted; that surprise definitely woke me up.

“
Happy Birthday,”
Kevin said as he walked in behind me and joined the group next to the
pie.

Fox grabbed a knife off
of the cooking line. “I hope you like cherry. We don't serve
cake here, so we had to improvise.”

The stranger shot him
an irritated look. “If you would have told me that the new girl
was having a birthday I would have thrown one together.”

That must be Steve.

“
Hi, I'm Steve,”
the man said to me, confirming my suspicion. He raised his ebony hand
up in a small wave and then put both hands into the pockets of his
black, slack-like pants.

“
Hi,
I'm Summer. And the pie is perfect; I love cherry.” Even though
I liked cherry pie a lot, the thought of
another
dessert
so early in the morning made my stomach churn. However, since they
had made the gesture, I really wanted to show them my appreciation. I
walked up to the metal table and grabbed a small white plate,
catching a smile from Fox as he stuck the knife underneath a slice
and lifted it out of the tin. “Thank you,” I said as he
carefully slid it onto my plate.

“
You're welcome.”

Jeez, Fox. You're no
Jonah, but you do look incredible today . . .

Kevin put a plate in
front of Fox and waited for him to plop on a slice. He then turned
and gave the plate to Brittany who, to my surprise, seemed to be
blushing at the gesture.

Once the pie was served
and eaten we all went back to work. Brittany showed me some more
things that I needed to learn, but I pretty much had the job down
already. I spent the rest of the day keeping myself busy so the time
would pass more quickly and I could go out to dinner with my parents.

That night we
celebrated my birthday at a fancy, dim-lit restaurant called The
Shoreline. It sat close to the beach and had glass windows for walls
so you could see the amazing view of the ocean. Everything on the
menu was
at least
thirty dollars, but my dad didn't mind the
cost; he told us to go crazy and order whatever our hearts desired. I
think he wasn’t just celebrating my birthday, he was also
celebrating our new life in San Francisco.

When we got home I went
straight to bed. Before drifting off to sleep I nestled my head
comfortably on my pillow and thought about how much my life seemed to
be getting better as the days passed.

Five months had passed
since the day I saw Jonah at the auto shop, and it was now the end of
December. I wanted to go back and see him so badly, but I couldn't
muster up the guts to go in there without my mom's car having a
legitimate problem. Even though I still thought about him all the
time, I pretty much had given up on the idea of something happening
between us.

I did have something
positive happen in my life, though. I had worked really hard at my
homeschooling and was able to graduate early. That freed up more of
my time, so I decided to throw myself into my job and work more
hours; I wanted to buy a car of my own so I didn't have to depend on
my parents so much.

I grew close with the
people at work; Brittany became my best friend. It started with us
hanging out after work and eventually we just ended up going
everywhere with each other.

Brittany also
introduced me to a whole other group of friends since she went to
public school. We would all get together on Friday nights and attend
their school's football games, laughing and rooting for the home
team. I was moderately popular among her friends, mostly because I
was the same age as them but had already graduated.

I also got to know
Steve much better. We weren't close in a romantic way; it was more of
a big brother, little sister friendship. I would ask him hypothetical
relationship questions and felt like I could confide some of my
thoughts in him.

Speaking of
relationships, I was still single. I had a few guys ask for my number
at work, but I secretly compared them all to Jonah and felt that they
just didn't measure up. Silly, I know, but my mom always taught me
not to settle.

But then one day my
life changed . . . again. It happened to be one of those days where I
went into work in a gloomy disposition. The drizzly weather changed
my mood into a quiet depression; I really missed the sunshine. I
wanted to call in sick, but it was my last day before having two days
off, so I dragged myself out of bed and made myself go.

Fox gave me a key to
the front door after I proved myself to be an upstanding employee, so
I didn't have to wait outside in the rain for someone to open it.

When I walked inside
Fox was sitting at a table drinking coffee with his new bimbo of a
girlfriend. Her name was Sarah, and she was ultra tan, ultra blonde,
and ultra dumb. Fox hired her to fill in at the counter when Brittany
was gone, and Brittany was on vacation with her family that week.

I waved in their
direction and went back to the kitchen to find Steve. When I pushed
through the door I found him happily chopping at a pile of bright-red
tomatoes.

“
Hi Steve,”
I grumbled as I tossed my purse on the floor in the corner of the
room. My nose picked up the inviting aroma of freshly-brewed coffee
and I went over to the glass pot to eagerly pour myself some of the
warm brew.

Steve looked up from
the cutting board. “You don't look so good today, everything
alright?”

I looked down into my
cup of black coffee. “Yeah, I'm okay. I just don’t like
the weather, that’s all.” I let out a heavy sigh and made
my way over to the fridge for some coffee creamer.

“
I'm sorry,”
he consoled me gently. “Give it more time; you'll adjust.”

I let out another heavy
sigh and poured the milky creamer into the darkness of my coffee,
watching as the two colors swirled together in a whimsical pattern.

Steve's right, I
need to give it more time. There will be plenty more sunny days in my
future to look forward to . . .
I hope.

Thankfully by the time
my lunch break rolled around I was feeling better; I think the
comfort of the warm coffee and good friends pushed me out of my ugly
mood. Fox wanted me to take my break a little earlier than usual so I
could help with the lunch rush, so I scarfed down a sandwich while I
sat in the kitchen, mentally going over how much money I had saved up
for a new car.

The loud ring of the
silver bell, followed by Steve's bellow, “Order up,”
alerted me that a customer's food was ready.

“
I got it,”
I said, popping the last bite of my turkey sandwich into my mouth.

“
Is your break
over yet?” Steve asked.

I looked up at the
clock on the wall and nodded. “Just about.” I washed my
hands and picked up the two plates that went with the order.

“
Hold on a sec,”
Steve stopped me, “I forgot the side of pickles.”

I pushed my back
against the door and stood in the doorway while I waited patiently
for him to bring them over. It gave me a second or two to watch
Sarah, who was in the middle of taking an order at the counter. She
seemed to be concentrating hard at the task, slowly writing down the
customers request on a small pad of paper, making sure to put a curly
tail on any letter that could handle it. When she was done she tore
it off and walked it to the square opening in the kitchen wall next
to where I was standing.

“
Here you go
Steve,” she bubbled, sticking the paper on the metal order
wheel. Steve turned the wheel and moved the paper in front of him. I
stifled a laugh as I saw him roll his eyes at the loopy handwriting.

“
Here you go,
Summer,” he said a moment later from around the corner of the
door, sticking the side of pickles on one of the plates.