CHAPTER 14 : Surprise Birthday Party

Luna was still in deep slumber, while on the contrary, Clell was bombarded with paper works in their companies. Managing a lot of companies at once can be so hectic. He kept checking on the clock mounted on the wall adjacent to his desk, wishing for the day to end and to finally spend time with the girl he loves.
A few signatures there and emails here, the clock, at long last, hit five and it’s time to call it a day in the office. Clell scooped his phone from his pocket and texted Luna.
“Hi, missy! I hope you’re ready.”
“Hi, yes, ready when you are. I’ll see you at the theater or I’ll just wait at the apartment?”
“I’ll pick you up, of course. See you, beautiful!”
After an hour, Clell finally drove to Luna’s apartment to pick her up. Before leaving he received a text from Luna to just go inside her apartment for Alicia also wanted to meet him, along with her door number.
When he arrived, Alicia and him gave glances towards each other, as if talking about their plans for the surprise party through their eyes.
“Hey, I am Alicia, by the way. Uhmm. Luna’s best friend.” Alicia greeted, extending her hands for a handshake.
“Hi, I am Clell. Nice to finally meet you.” Clell greeted back, smiling at her. They made sure Luna heard their exchange of words for her not to suspect anything.
“Have a seat, she’s still changing.” Alicia said, while mouthing to him that she’ll text him the details about her plans later and Clell nodded in return.
Right on cue, Luna went out from her bedroom, wearing a casual floral dress—hugging her body just until her waist. The skirt just short enough to reveal her legs and she paired it with white chucks. She wore less make up—only enough to highlight the features of her beautiful face—this time.
“Let’s go.” She said, smiling at Clell. Clell was mesmerized and stunned by her that he didn’t respond for a few seconds.
“Uhh. Hey?”
“Ohhh, sorry, you look beautiful.” was Clell’s compliment, while reaching out to hold Luna’s hand and escort her to the door.
“Have fun you two.” Alicia shouted from behind.
When they went down to his car, Clell—the gentleman that he was—opened the door for Luna, and she was greeted with a bouquet of flowers charily placed on the car seat.
“Thank you!” she exclaimed, her hands gently touching the petals of the white rose.
“Anything to make you happy.” He responded, moving closer to her as if he was going to kiss her. Luna gulped while trying to make herself comfortable on the car seat with the bouquet on her lap. She was preparing herself and actually thought he would kiss her, only to get disappointed, when Clell proceeded to put on her seatbelt instead.
They talked about some random stuff as they drove to the movie theatre and proceeded to order their food when they arrived.
“One large popcorn, please.” Clell ordered.
The employee leaned in a bit closer to Clell, batting her eyelashes as if something got into her eyes. “Anything else, Sir?” She asked flirtatiously which made Luna’s nostrils flare.
“And some nachos, please” Luna butted in, locking her arms to Clell’s and smiling at the girl in front of them.
“And your drink, Sir?” the employee asked Clell again, ignoring Luna.
“Iced tea.” Luna replied.
Clueless about the tension between two girls, Clell happily reached out for Luna’s hand and locked it with his as well.
Clell’s gesture gave Luna a sense of victory. She smirked at the girl, trying to show off their hands.
“Are you okay?” Clell suddenly asked.
“Huh? Ah, yes.” Luna responded, still looking at the employee attending their orders and giving Clell’s hand a gentle squeeze at the same time.
“How much does our order cost?”
“10 dollars all in all, sir.” The girl answered, but she was not smiling anymore.
“Thank you!”
“Enjoy the movie.”
Clell and Luna opted to watch a horror movie instead of a romantic one. It was actually Luna’s idea to watch one, she told Clell that she’s not a scaredy cat unlike other girls. However, every time there was a jump scare scene, she would cover her eyes with her purse. And beside her was Clell, always looking at her and smiling at her cuteness. All in all, their date went perfectly. It was an opportunity to get to know each other a bit more.
Their night finally ended, but Luna was still in Cloud 9 when she entered her apartment, she was too happy that she’s skipping towards her bedroom.
The week went out like a blur as everyone was so busy preparing for Luna’s surprise party and also trying not to get caught by her. Although, she kind of felt that something was up when she noticed that Ciro and Alicia kept having lunch together.
It’s finally Friday and it’s also Luna’s birthday. Like what they’ve planned, Ciro invited Luna for a walk and a date after their work, asking her to help him find a costume. Luna was confused at first as for what the costume was for, Ciro told Luna that it’s for a party that he will attend.
“Who?”
“Someone really special.”
Ciro’s answer made Luna curious and a tad bit jealous. Although she had admitted to herself that she’s falling for Clell, she couldn’t deny the fact that she had been crushing on Ciro before Clell into her life. She tried to stop herself from asking who it was, but she did it otherwise.
However, the mysterious man that he was, Ciro just smiled at Luna, patted her head and was quick to divert the topic to Luna.
“You seemed happy.” Ciro said.
“What?”
“I’ve never seen you this happy before.”
“Really?”
“Yes, whatever or whoever’s making you this happy, I am thankful. I’ve always seen the sadness in your eyes and how scarred you are. Seems like you’re afraid to let people in.” He stated.
“I don’t know how you do it, but it seems like you’ve known me since forever.”
Ciro just shrugged and told her, “Who knows, maybe I can read people.”
“Hmmm, if you say it like that, I am urged to believe it’s true.” Luna said and he just gave her a faint laugh in return. A few minutes of walking and catching with each other, they’ve finally arrived at the mall.
“What do you think fits me?”
“Hmmm. With your pale skin, beautiful and calm features, you can really pass as a vampire.”
“Vampire it is.” He agreed, squinting his eyes as he smiled.
The mall was quite crowded, maybe because it was Friday and some people didn’t have to work on the weekends. Crowds were not Ciro’s favorite, so they didn’t stay long in there. After picking and buying his costume, he asked Luna if he could send her home in which Luna agreed. So, they walked again towards her apartment, talking about random stuff. Luna was happy, in fact, she admitted to herself that she missed Ciro—she missed having deep conversations and even just talking about random stuff with him. She missed their closeness.
When they arrived at her doorstep, Luna asked Ciro to stay in for a while because it’s her birthday and that she told Alicia to buy food and a cake for her in which he gladly accepted.
The moment they went in, Alicia turned on the lights while everyone shouted—SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LUNA!—and popped some confetti.
Clell then proceeded to hug Luna and kissed her on her cheeks as he gave his presents to her. Clell’s sudden and bold actions made Ciro awkward and uncomfortable as he was still standing beside Luna when Clell did that, he decided to stepped back a little, giving the two space and just looked at them, and just went to the restroom to change into his costume that Luna picked for him.
He was standing in the corner, holding his wine glass, observing everyone having fun when Luna caught him.
“What?” she asked.
“Yeah. It’s for your birthday party. Do you like it?”
“Of course, I do. I was the one who picked it for you.” And they both laugh in unison. Clell, on the other hand, saw them laughing from the side of his eyes, which made him impulsively went and got in between Luna and Ciro.
“Hi, beautiful.” Clell interrupted.
“Hi, Clell. This is Ciro, my officemate and friend. Ciro this is Clell.”
“You must be the guy that made her heart so happy. I’ll give you both some time and space. Nice to meet you, Clell.”
“Nice to meet you, too.”
With Ciro out of the picture, Clell invited Luna to dance. The were having fun jamming and grooving to the beat, but the moment they locked eyes, the song also changed into a slow pop love song. They felt awkward for a brief moment, but Clell suddenly reached out for her hands and placed it on his shoulders while he gently grabbed her waist—closing the distance between them.
Caught in the moment, other guests were slowly fading away from their eyes as they focused more on each other. And they danced—they danced to the beat of their hearts, throbbing in harmony.