7

The clock strikes 12 and almost instantly my phone starts blowing up. It's the 8th of August meaning it's my birthday! I'm officially 22 woohoo! As a kid, I always used to be exhilarated about my birthday as I feel all kids are but the older I get I just dread it, I feel like I always expect too much (as I do with everything really) and end up feeling like shit the rest of the week. But this year, I promised myself that I am not going to do that. It's just a normal day Maria, no one cares. You can't be disappointed if you don't have any expectations to begin with.

I was about to start responding to some of the texts I was getting but then I hear my doorbell ringing. I know who it is and what is going to be yet still, a huge smile appears on my face as I set my phone on the couch and walk towards the front door.

I open it and as expected, I was greeted by two of my favorite people in the world. "Happy Birthday!!" Allan and Jay squeal in unison making me laugh. Jay had a chocolate cake in his hand while Allan was holding a card, some balloons, and a teddy bear.

I pout, "guys" I say, my eyes watering. This was a tradition we had for each of our birthdays yet everytime even though I know it's coming I end up bawling. Why am I so bloody emotional?

"Aww no waterworks please M," Jay says as they both embrace me in a hug.

"I just love you guys so much" I sniffle as we pull away from the hug and Allan closes the door, "Only today though" I add and the boys laugh.

We take a seat on the couch and I grab the card opening it to read it when I hear my phone in the background, Jay picks it up and a huge grin appears on his lips, "If it isn't Mr. Hottie" He turns it around and it shows that it's Karter and a smile appears on my lips.

"Go ahead take it, it's fine" Allan smiles at me and I look over at Jay who nods. I grab my phone and head to the other room, "be quick though" I hear Jay shout as I step inside one of the guest rooms and close the door behind me.

"Hello?" I put the phone to my ear.

"Happy Birthday Gorgeous girl" Karter's raspy voice rings back.

A wide smile appears on my lips almost instantly, "why thank you"

"I was going to call you 3 hours ago but I wanted to do it when it's 12 for you," Karter says, he sounds exhausted. He's usually not up this late.

"Thank you Kar"

"I miss you, wish I could be there with you especially today," Karter says.

It's been 2 months since I first met Karter, he lives in New York so I haven't really seen him but we talk all the time and I think what we have might have something real, he's the first guy I've ever liked who's a genuinely good guy.

....

I felt myself waking up at around 7 am because Jay was snoring right in my ear. I try to close my eyes but I can't fall asleep. I give up and grab my phone slowly getting off the bed, Allan was sleeping on Jay's left. Yes, we all slept on one bed like a bunch of little kids even though my house has 4 guest bedrooms we always end up doing this whenever we're spending the night. We have issues, it's fine.

Fun fact, I actually share a birthday with my older brother Baris, he's 8 years older than I am. I have another brother, Demir he's annoying and younger than me making me the middle child.

Baris lives in London with his wife Aaliyah and their beautiful 4-year-old daughter Summer. He works as an accountant. I dial his number on my phone and press it to my ear. After 2 rings he picks up.

"I was just about to call you," Baris says.

"Well, I beat you to it, Happy Birthday!" I say cheerfully.

"Thank you, Happy Birthday to you too!"

"The big 30, must be exciting grandpa" I joke.

"Just wait till you get to your 30's, I'm honestly happier than ever"

I smile, my relationship with my family is messy and complicated but Baris has always had my back. Sure like all siblings we have our ups and downs, he helped me a ton growing up without realizing it, if it weren't for him I'm not sure I'd be alive right now.

Baris and I spoke for over an hour, we ended up facetiming, I spoke to Aaliyah for a bit who I love so dearly, she's like the sister I never had, and then with Summer. I miss her so much, sometimes I want to move to London just so I could be closer to my niece.

After our call ended, I responded to texts from my friends, then went on Instagram and was bombarded with tags and mentions. Some from friends and mostly from my fans. I start tearing up as I go through the edits and videos they've made for me, I like and comment on as many as I can. What the fuck? I love them so much. 20 minutes later and I was having a full-on sob fest. What did I do to deserve them? I leave Instagram for a minute to check my messages but still none from my family. I have a private Facebook account I made back in middle school and decided to reply to some of the posts old friends and some cousins had put up.

As I was scrolling I saw a birthday post for Baris put up 2 hours ago by my mother. My stomach tightens, she hasn't called or texted me. Maybe she thinks it's too early for me to call. I shrug off the disconsolate feeling. I'm pretty sure my dad forgot about both of our birthdays, I laugh to myself. My dad is a good guy, he really is, he's just not the super sentimental type. Growing up he'd always tell us not to celebrate his birthday as there was really no point so when it comes to birthdays or anniversaries or anything my mom was always the one reminding him. My mood switches and I put my phone down and walk back upstairs.

....

It's 7 pm, I was getting ready to go out to dinner with a few of my closest friends. They consist of Jay and Allan of course, Gemma, Justin, Aysha, Ryan, Olivia, Martin, and Sebastian. These are basically the only real friends I have missing my best friend Taylor who lives in Australia and a few of my friends from back home. I've made plenty of friends in this industry and I'm pretty connected with most of them but I'm just not close to anyone, it's very hard for me to open up and trust people but I'm so happy and blessed with the people in my life.

I went all out for my appearance tonight, I put on a red strappy satin cowl neck midi dress, that hugged my body in all the right places. Red is not my favorite color but it just looks so good on me I had to. I pair it with silver heels, my makeup was light yet elegant with red lipstick of course. I curled my hair and put on a pair of dangly earrings. I check myself out in the mirror, smiling in approval at how I look before heading out of the house.

In the car, I take out my phone to see still no text or call from my parents. Or anyone from my family really, they all hate me-it's a long story. Did my parents forget two of their children were born on this day? I feel my eyes beginning to water as I try to push back the tears not wanting to ruin my makeup. Suddenly, I get a notification on Instagram it read, Demir_Reed has tagged you in an Instagram post, and seconds later I get 2 voice notes from him. It was my younger brother. I quickly open Instagram and tears started welling in my eyes yet again, he had made a post for Baris and me using the sweetest words. He's usually never sentimental, he gets that from our dad.

"To the most phenomenal girl, I get to call my sister", "To the woman who raised me and taught me everything I know" etc. I was sniffling in the back of the car, smiling to myself.

I then clicked on the voice notes and they were more informal, "Sorry sorry, I'm late I know. I'm the worse but you're worse-er. Happy birthday, you're the greatest sister I could ever ask for. I love you." with the other one, "Happy birthday loser!! Hope you're not out doing Haram things because I will tell on you" I laugh.

....

My night was great, we had dinner at a beautiful restaurant, had the most decadent chocolate cake plus so many desserts. Then ended up going to this retro club downtown for dancing. I was exhausted, I spent the night with my favorite people and I just was absolutely living it up.

"Goodnight b-day girl," Sebastian says dropping me at my gate.

"It's" I check my phone, "2, I'm no longer the birthday girl" I pout.

Sebastian laughs moving towards me and giving me a hug, "Thanks for tonight" I smile at him.

"Of course" he kisses me on the cheek and moves to the back and takes out all the gift bags for me and hands them to me.

I smile and wave as he drives away from me. What a fun night. I was staring at the ground smiling to myself and swaying my hips back and forth humming Let's groove by Earth, Wind and Fire since they kept playing it at the club tonight.

"Hello" I hear someone say, I look up and stop in my tracks as I'm greeted with a familiar face and a huge smile appears on my face.