Happy Birthday, dear Chloe.
Happy Birthday to you!
My mother’s voice rang out from my phone. I jolted out of bed, disoriented, heart jackhammering in my chest.
I snatched my phone but couldn’t bring myself to turn off the alarm. I’d completely forgotten she’d recorded herself singing and then set it as the alarm on my phone—8:43 AM on June 28th.The exact time and date of my eighteenth birthday.
My mother continued to sing. I never thought I’d hear her voice again, and now here it was, serenading me. I wiped tears from my face and sniffled, realizing for the first time that Trent wasn’t in bed next to me.
Clutching my phone to my chest, I leaned back, letting the alarm play until it eventually shut itself off. The silence was deafening. My heart broke completely, leaving me exhausted and unwilling to get out of bed. I crawled beneath the covers and yanked them over my head.
I was officially eighteen.
I should be with my friends, celebrating. I should be excited. But I wasn’t. I was empty, numb. The day couldn’t get over fast enough. If I were lucky, everyone would leave me alone so I could hide out in bed.
“Wake up, Chloe.” Whitney burst into my room, her voice too enthusiastic. “We’ve got a lot to do today.”
“Go away,” I grumbled.
She ripped the blankets off me and tsked. “It’s your birthday. Get up.”
“How do you know it’s my birthday?” I narrowed my eyes.
“Trent told me.” She smiled. “Now, get up. I mean it. The dresses will be here soon.”
“Dresses?”
What on earth was she talking about? I reached for the blankets, but Whitney snatched them away before I could get my hands on them.
“Yes. Trent is planning something special for you, and naturally, I agreed to help.” She bounced around the room, opening every curtain to let the sunlight filter in.
I covered my eyes and groaned in protest.
Of course, Trent would want to do something. I wasn’t even sure how he knew today was my birthday, but if it was important to him, I’d play along. It was the least I could for everything he’d done for me, for his unwavering support as I tried to make a decision.
“Fine.” I sat up, set my phone on the nightstand, and got out of bed. “What do you want me to do?”
Whitney clapped and squealed with delight. “Shower.”
I rolled my eyes and trudged to the bathroom. I showered and wrapped my hair up in a towel.
When I returned, Whitney stood in the middle of my room, surrounded by at least a dozen rolling racks of formal dresses. Long ones. Short ones. A rainbow of colors in a plethora of fabrics—most of them sequined. I raised a brow, waiting for her to explain.
“You get to pick one,” she said, her eyes alight with glee. “So do I.”
Despite my sour mood, a smile split my face. “Seriously?”
She nodded and bit on her bottom lip, her excitement barely contained. I allowed her enthusiasm to rub off on me, and I squealed.
I’d never gotten the chance to go formal dress shopping—ever—and to now have the ability to choose any dress I wanted? I had no idea what Trent was planning, but it was going to be awesome. I hopped around, letting my excitement get the better of me.
Soon, Whitney joined me, and we were jumping around the room like a couple of normal teenage girls.
“Okay, you have to try on all of them,” she said.
I laughed. “That’s going to take all day.”
“Good thing we have all day then, huh?” She walked to one of the racks, pulled down a simple black dress, and held it out to me. “Start with this one.”
I took it and held it up to my body. “Where is Trent anyway?”
“Busy.” Whitney shooed me toward the makeshift fitting room she’d set up. “Now, go try it on.”
We spent the next several hours trying on dresses. Of course, Whitney was much faster than I was, and she’d finished going through all her selections in the time it took me to get through a single rack.
She’d settled on a silk, lavender floor length gown with spaghetti straps. She looked absolutely stunning, even without her hair and makeup done.
We’d taken a quick break to eat lunch, which she’d gone downstairs to retrieve, insisting I wasn’t allowed to be down there until later.
“What about this one?” I stepped into the center of the room and spun around.
“Oh, my God, Chloe. That’s the one.” She clapped. “Trent is going to love it.”
I grinned and looked down at myself. The dress was royal blue and strapless. The fitted top was sequined in the front and lace in the back, and a silver band wrapped around the waist. The bottom was silky with a slit up the right leg, stopping just below my thigh. It fit perfectly.
“Yeah?” I asked, chewing nervously on the inside of my cheek.
“Yes,” she said firmly, nodding.
I grinned. “Okay, this is the one, then. Now what?”
“Hair and makeup.” She went to the door, opened it, and ushered in a group of people.
Were they human or vampire? I had no idea, and I wasn’t about to ask. And thankfully, Whitney wasn’t in my head, so she didn’t answer. The people busied themselves setting up tables and mirrors, spreading out various cosmetics and hair styling products.
I watched in amazement. It was like I was royalty or something. If only my mother could see me now. She’d probably roll her eyes and mumble about being pretentious, but secretly, she’d be as excited as I was.
For the next two hours, I sat in a chair as two strangers applied my makeup and twisted my hair into an updo that was worthy of the red carpet.
“Wow,” I whispered, staring at my reflection.
“You’re beautiful, Chloe.” Whitney stood behind me, her look complete with fat curls cascading around her shoulders and shimmery purple eyeshadow. A silver necklace with matching earrings complimented her dress.
“So are you,” I said, standing. Then I hugged her. “I have no
