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Throwing ain I bracedain onit as hard as I could It hit lass, but it just kept buzzing It bounced off the bed and onto the floor

“Berk” Alexis’s footsteps creaked on the floor

“Not now,” I bit out and squeezed ainst the wall, I breathed, panting like I’d been forced to run laps for an hour

“I’ll leave the cake here for you” She slid it onto htstand

As she pulled back, I wrapped ers around her wrist “She said you didn’t tell her about how I felt about my birthday”

“Of course I did More than once” She stepped back with her eyes wide Party sounds drifted froh the floor People laughed and shouted, going on like nothing had even happened Like fiery rubble hadn’t been toppled over on top ofevery inch of me like a raw nerve

“How’d she knoas my birthday in the first place?”

“Maybe she saw it on your social ”

“Why throw a party? She said you knew? Why didn’t you stop her?”

“She was ada to ropenew idea, I’d tell her to call me, so I could talk her out of it”

That explained part of it But… “So, you let me walk into an ambush?”

Her ht after the last time I talked to her, she’d realize what a bad idea it was” Alexis licked her lips and her gaze darted away

Another mystery “Why are you here today? You never just show up”

She licked her lips “I was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by”

“Even if you’re five blocks away, you always call ot that waterythat proceeded the inevitable I sed back against the rising bile