THE SMELL OF APPLES

By the time I got downstairs, the party was starting to swing, Savy and her family had just arrived and it was "Good Evening Alpha and Luna!" and "Yo, Princess!" all around once they appeared.

I ran over to Savy who brightened immediately when she saw me, "Oh, Lizzy! You're gorgeous!"

I hugged my BFF.

"Lizzy, happy birthday!" Luna gave me a quick hug and an envelope which I was sure contained shopping money, "Where is the birthday boy?"

"Good evening Luna." Ben appeared as if by magic by my side. Ben was always in angel mode in front of our Luna.

"Happy birthday, Ben. This is from the Alpha and me." Luna said handing him an identical envelope.

"Thank you Alpha and Luna." Ben bowed politely. I bowed my thanks politely with him.

Sam appeared with her usual grin, "Happy Birthday Lizzy!" She gave me a small box, "Savy helped me pick it."

"Thanks." I said.

She gave Ben a dark blue folder, "Bell helped me pick your gift."

"Is it work?" Ben smirked.

Luna Bell, Sam's mate smirked back, "Enough to keep you up all night."

Ben chuckled at that.

After Dad called them over to one of the outdoor benches, Mum mindlinked me, "Better keep those in your room."

So I went back upstairs.

I put the small packages into my dresser drawer. I meant to quickly put them away and return to Savy and the party, but then I realised my window was open. Opps. I quickly went over to shut it.

I could see the whole party from here. The food cooking on the grills. The people mingling, chatting, eating chips and nuts and drinking the apple cider Dad made in our basement now - it's part of this "early retirement scheme" - don't ask. It's pretty good cider though, and it uses up the apples growing behind our house.

And then I saw Jonah's truck turn into the packhouse parking. I waited, I'm not sure why, I just stood there and watched for his dark head to re-emerge again after parking his truck. He walked over, crossing the packhouse driveway and then the road.

"Yo, Gamma!" Some of the guys called out.

"Oh~ it's Jonah!" I think it was Carlie who squealed out, "Jonah, I love you. If you get rejected, I will accept you!"

"No thanks." Jonah shook his head quickly.

At least I think he said no thanks. Unlike Carlie, he wasn't loud enough for me to hear.

I'm not sure why I cared about what he would say. Maybe because his reaction was always highly amusing when girls try to pick him up. I was quite sure that's why Carlie did it, anyway.

She had said, "He's so sexy when he says no."

I remembered laughing my head off last year when she made that confession. It was a lot less funny today. Maybe the joke just got old.

I reached up to shut the windows. Maybe it was my movement, but Jonah suddenly looked up at me. I quickly drew the curtains and moved away. My heart pounding. What the heck.

For some reason, I decided to avoid Jonah for the rest of the event. The idiot just confused me too much.

So I spent the rest of the night sipping apple cider under the apple trees with Savy and the girls. The lanterns glowed above us, the cider tasted delicious, there was just the yummiest BBQ cuts. I think Ki had supervised the preparation the day before. I had never eaten such high class BBQ in my life.

The steak was marinated in sake and served in perfectly cut cubes. The bacon was wrapped around asparagus.

Maybe it was all the cider, but amist the laughter and glowing lanterns, and conversation, I started to smell apples, the crisp, tart, and sweet type. I took a deep breath. It smelled good.

"Cake in five minutes!" Dad announced. Was it midnight already? I checked my watch. Almost. Mum and Laura was setting the cake table. The decorations were amazing! Half the table was white, the other half was black. I think they were going for the Angel and Devil theme. Hahaha. Even the three tiered cake was decorated half and half.

Everyone was laughing about it.

"I'm the angel." Ben decided to clarify to much laughter.

But just to prove his point, he stood on the white side, positioning me on the dark side. I didn't protest. The dark side was dark chocolate cake.

Everyone sang happy birthday. Being surrounded by family and friends, and all the smell of apples made my heart feel so full, I felt my eyes wet with tears.

I was just so thankful and loved in that moment, I never wanted to forget it.

Ben squeeze my shoulder and growled in my ear, "I'm gonna make like Cinderella and disappear now. Happy birthday, Lizzy."

And then he stepped back into the shadows. He was serious about avoiding meeting his mate.

Perhaps the way my own mate was avoiding me. The thought made me a bit sad. But oh well, two can play this game.

I continued in the party, getting hugs and distributing cakes.

"Lizzy! Lizzy! There you are!" Mum and Laura ran over to me.

"Can you help bring cake to the kitchen for Jonah?" Mum asked.

I gave her a look.

"Yes, he doesn't want to come out." Laura said.

Okay... Seriously? They were still at it?

"Okay, okay." It was just cake.

I took a nice big slice of chocolate cake because I knew Jonah prefered chocolate to vanilla.

"Yes, go, go, my dear." Laura gave me a gentle push towards the house.

I nodded.

I guess the only way to prove that Jonah wasn't my mate was to do this for Mum and Laura.

They followed behind me in silent excitement. I sighed.

I didn't like the idea of disappointing them, but Jonah already had a mate, one he was crazy stupid about. One who wasn't me.

And the thought of that upsetted me just a little, okay, just a lot. Why was I upset? Maybe it was the euphoria from the cake cutting. Maybe I was just confused by Jonah's idiocy. Maybe it was nothing to do with that idiot and I just wasn't as ready to meet my mate as I thought.

I opened the door to our kitchen. The smell of apples, I breathed it in.

{Mate}

I blinked.

It was just Jonah doing the dishes again.

He spun around at my entrance looking completely shocked, "Uh, hi. Happy Birthday."

He wiped his wet hands on his jeans.

He was wearing a white shirt tonight, his leather jacket slung across the back of a dining chair.

I offered him the cake, "Thanks. I brought you cake."

"Uh. Yeah. Thanks." Jonah managed but he made no move to take the cake. It was super awkward.

Our mums were holding up handphones from the kitchen door to take photos like amateur paparazzi. They really weren't helping matters.

But the awkward part was how Jonah and I continued to just stand there at least a metre apart. I could smell the scent of apples. I even knew his breath smelled like apples too.

OMG. My mate was an idiot.