Silence passed between us, and she sighed, dropping the topic.
We had recovered from the weird air around us, and I was driving us back to the compound after she had pushed us to go to the cinema to see a movie about people who were robots. I had wondered briefly why she didn’t want us to go back just yet. I was not really tired, but I was burnt out from being around people and things I did not want to see.
I honestly would have preferred a little quiet evening with her. Still, I indulged her because she seemed to love going places with me, mainly because I was a novice to most normal things people do, and according to her, she gets a certain kind of high from being the one to introduce me to new things.
Right now, she was on her phone, looking quite relaxed, though her eyes were focused as she texted whoever she was texting.
I took one of my hands from the wheel, placing it on her thigh. “Everything all right?”
Her head snapped up to mine, wide eyes telling me everything was not all right. “Yeah!” she said almost too cheerfully. “I mean, no… not really… could you, um—drive a little faster? I really need to pee.”
I eyed her. “Indeed?”
“Yup… we finished a whole bottle of wine, so… yeah.”
I nodded, keeping my hand on her thigh as I stepped on the gas, eyes back on the road as the car sped under a small bridge, and I didn’t take care passing other cars, pressing my foot deeper on the gas as the car accelerated.
“Uh, Elio…” Zahra’s voice was shaky as she inched back in her seat. “When I said fast, I didn’t mean—”
The car went a bit off course, and a sharp squeal left her mouth as I took my hand from her thigh and tried to steady the vehicle again; we emerged from under the bridge, passing cars that were veering away from us like we were about to cause a fatal accident.
“I think I’m gonna puke,” she squeaked out.
“Remember, the car is a rental.”
“You’re a terrible driver, and your license should be revoked.”
“Hm. I suppose I would be worried about it being revoked if I had one.”
She paused, then, “Oh God.”
In under twenty minutes, we arrived back at the compound. I flexed my shoulders, mentally preparing myself to ask her if she would be willing to give me a shoulder massage. I still felt body pains due to the fall earlier today.
Stepping into the house with her, I didn’t consider the darkness around the space too concerning. It was all the different smells of perfumes, drinks, and food—the lights suddenly came on, and different voices yelled “SURPRISE!” before music blasted from speakers, and my eyes took in the people in my home.
All of Street, Casmiro, a few of my associates that lived not too far from the compound, strangers that I was supposed to know—and the lights—God, the lights were too bright, and I didn’t even register half of what was going on—people were walking up to me wishing me a happy birthday, voices wereeverywhere, strange, disturbing music—I think I was sweating, and my pulse was—
“Happy birthday, boss,” Casmiro said with a shoulder pat. “I feel bad that I always thought it was December third, and I always wished you well on that day, and you never once corrected me—but I don’t blame you; I should have known.”
His voice was light and a little slow, and something told me the drink in his grip wasn’t the first one he was having of the night. He raised a glass to Zahra, then walked away, allowing more people to approach me.
Everything happened in a blur, and I was forced to talk to different people all night long… drinks were passed around, people were invading spaces they should not invade.
I received so many gifts from everyone, including soldiers who dropped by for only a second.
Words from here and there told me Street had planned the whole thing.
Zahra had been away from me most of the time, and Elia was the one who kept me company even if I supplied one-word answers because my entire being was too tense to deliver more than that.
Elia had told me he just realized why I’d stayed extra hours with him on this particular day, and he told me I should have told him… To be honest, I could not comprehend the answer I gave him then.
I was having an out-of-body experience—emotions flickering between angry, sad, happy, bad, and angry and sad and happy and bad.
I was forced to eat the cake, even if it tasted good, and I think I told them so; I still wasn’t feeling my mind working properly.
It took almost three hours into the night before I decided I wanted to head to bed. People were already leaving, and just a few close people remained.
Zahra followed me. We showered together; I kissed her, lifted her, and pressed her back against the shower wall. I was inside her, lost in her; my mind was my own again; she was real, and this was real, and everything that had happened today was real.
