"It's Joe Elliott's birthday today! Isn't that cool? I hope he's having a good time. I wonder what kind of cake he'll have. I wonder if--"

"It's your birthday too, Alex. You should also hope you have a good time. And you should wonder what kind of cake you'll be getting."

After Rhea had sent her home that morning, Alex had gone to the AIC house to see if Charlie was there. She wasn't. In fact, the only person there was Layne. He'd been in the middle of cleaning the apartment, and Alex had immediately volunteered to help. He had declined her offer, but she'd helped anyway, and now they were sitting at the table trying to turn a lighter into a flamethrower.

"I'm getting cake?"

"Well, yeah, it's your birthday."

"So?"

Layne sighed.

The sound of a key being inserted into the lock startled Alex into dropping the lighter as she was putting the metal cage back on it. The door swung open and in walked Charlie and Jo, followed seconds later by Jerry, who seemed to be having a hard time looking past the cases of drinks in his arms. He very slowly walked into the kitchen and put them down next to the fridge, then turned around and almost jumped when he saw Layne and Alex sitting at the table and staring at him.

"Holy shit, you guys look scary. Hey--happy birthday," he said, gracelessly patting Alex's shoulder.

"Thanks," she said, managing to turn a stifled laugh into a smile that was too wide on one side. She turned to look at Charlie and Jo, then back at Jerry. "What's up with all the drinks?"

"They're for me," Layne said. "I'm severely dehydrated."

"Yeah. Yup. He needs them all," Charlie said. She turned to Alex and asked, "are you gonna do anything today? Well, right now?"

"Um, no. Why?"

"Perfect. Come on, I'll explain on the way."

Alex handed the lighter to Layne and stood up, waved goodbye to everyone else there, and walked out with Charlie. "Can you tell me where we're going now?" she asked as they went toward the stairs.

"McDonald's, first of all. The other places are surprises."

"Oh, alright. Sweet."

The first stop was odd; Charlie bought Alex ten nuggets and some fries, but did not let her get a drink. "What if I McChoke?" was a question Charlie had no answer for, but she insisted on waiting until they got to the next stop. She also insisted on covering Alex's eyes while they walked to the next place, though she did agree to give Alex clues as to where they were going. Alex couldn't figure it out and as such was very pleasantly surprised to see that it was her favorite diner--the diner she, Charlie, Stone, and Andy had frequented well into their adulthood.

"Well, check out what the cat went and dragged in!" Donna, the owner of the diner, exclaimed when she caught sight of them. Her brows furrowed and she turned to look at the calendar taped to a nearby cabinet before looking back to Alex and saying, "happy birthday, dear!"

"Thanks, Donna," Alex said with a grin. "It's great to see you. How are you? And good ol' Patch and Stickers?" she asked, referring to Donna's husband and son, respectively.

"We're all doin' just fine. Dally's about to jet off to some fancy university me an' Patch are gonna be paying back until the days we die," Donna joked.

"Aw, Stickers is going to college. Which one?"

"Shoot, I can't even tell ya. I can never remember if it's a California State University or a University of California--the hell's even the difference?"

"Wait, Stickers is going to college in California?" Charlie asked. Donna nodded and Charlie said, "that's awesome!"

"Yeah, me an' Patch are real proud of him. Anyway, what about you two? What's new?"

"Not much," Charlie replied. "I'm just taking Alex out for some birthday surprises."

"That's real cute. So that means my little ole diner made the list of places worthy of hittin' up on such a day?" Donna said.

"Of course the diner makes the list! I mean, how could I let Alex go without one of your famous milkshakes on her birthday?"

"Right, we couldn't have that. Give me a second to wipe the counters down and I'll whip up a couple o' shakes. You two go ahead and sit down at your old table while ya wait." She opened the register and dug a few quarters out to hand to the pair. "Here, take these for the jukebox."

"Thanks!" Alex and Charlie simultaneously said, sounding like children and almost looking the part as they hurried to their favorite table by the big window. "You know what this means," Charlie said as she put a quarter into the little jukebox on the table. The Beatles' I Should Have Known Better began to play as Charlie reached into her pocket for a deck of cards and put them on the table. She slid them over to Alex and said, "here. Deal for whatever you want."

Halfway through their first game (a tense round of poker) Donna came over and set large milkshakes down in front of them. That looks heartbreaking, Alex said when she saw the red cherry nestled in the final spiral of the swirl of whipped cream sat atop the thick shake. She immediately downed almost half of the milkshake, not bothering to react to the freeze it presented. Charlie went for a much calmer approach, instead taking a small sip of her shake while studying her cards. Donna laughed at the two, gave each a little hug, wished Alex a happy birthday again, and went to attend to the family that had just walked in.

The milkshakes were polished off and the games and music ended only a short while later. Alex and Charlie brought their glasses up to the counter and said good-bye to Donna before heading out to the street once more. Charlie led Alex over to the bus station just up the block and sat down on the cold bench. "Special bus" was all she said about it.

And "special bus" indeed. The next bus to pull up was their absolute favorite one of all time--the driver that came by at that time of the day was usually this funny German woman who loved to blast Iron Maiden from the little music player she'd duct-taped to the metal pole right behind her seat. She always had the most interesting things to say and the best stories to tell, and Alex and Charlie enjoyed listening to her as she drove the bus up and down the streets. That time she told them about running down someone who'd tried to stiff her back when she used to be a taxi driver. The tale had Alex and Charlie almost crying of laughter when they stepped off the bus.

Alex immediately recognized the stop--Jack's Records was a two-minute walk from it. And it appeared that was where they were headed, though Charlie wouldn't confirm it even as she steered Alex in that direction and even as she opened the door to that very shop.

"Hey, it's the famous duo, Alex and Charlie! Happy birthday, Alex!" Jack greeted from behind the counter.

"Hey, Jack," Alex and Charlie said at the same time. "Thanks," Alex added.

"C'mere, I got somethin' for ya," Jack said. He turned to face the shelves behind him and scanned them for a moment before pulling a box off of one and placing it on the counter. "Birthday presents."

Alex slowly pulled it over to her side of the counter and opened it. Inside were at least 20 CDs and a few tapes. "Holy--I mean, really? All of these?"

"Yeah, all of 'em. I got some Eagles for you, and some Joe Walsh, and some Beatles, and Van Halen and Van Hagar, and...some more. Happy birthday."

"Thanks, Jack. You're the best."

Jack smiled. "Wait, wait, one last thing." He pulled one of the newer Rolling Stones stickers off the register and put it on the box. "There ya go."

"Ha, that's cute," Charlie said. She reached over to pick the box up and put her free hand on Alex's shoulder. "Well, we gotta go if we wanna make good time. See you later, Jack."

"Yeah, see you," Alex added. "And thanks again."

"Don't mention it. You two take care now!" Jack said as Charlie started pulling Alex out of the shop.

"You too!" Alex and Charlie said together.

"This next one is gonna be the second to last stop," Charlie said once they were outside and walking down the block. "You can probably tell where we're headed."

Alex guessed Joey's bar, and she was right. They walked in and were immediately spotted by Joey. A huge smile appeared on his face and he waved them over with an almost exaggerated gesture of the arm and hand.

"Hello, girls! Alex, old friend, happy birthday!"

"Thank you," Alex said, beaming. "And what's going on here? Is anyone playing tonight?"

"Naw, not tonight. Next Saturday. Here, let me make you something. Don't look 'til I'm done."

Alex laughed and looked away, focusing first on the ceiling, then on the stage. She turned to Charlie and made a little face before shifting her gaze to her hands and holding it there.

"Alright, here you are," Joey said, putting a glass down in front of Alex. "The first drink you ever asked me to make you." He put another on the counter and pushed it over to Charlie. "And the first drink I remember serving you that didn't make you look like you'd just drank bleach."

"Thank you," they both said, and Alex added, "for everything. You're the best bartender I've ever met."

"I better be," Joey said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I gotta see what the lady over there wants. Have fun today, pal."

"Alright, but just for you," Alex joked as Joey walked away.

They finished their drinks off fairly quickly, and then Charlie practically dragged Alex out of the bar. "We're gonna be late," she repeated at least twice. Late for what, she wouldn't say, but Alex figured the next location out in almost no time thanks to the fact that she had walked that very route what felt like millions of times. She pretended to wonder anyway though, and asked Charlie for more clues and tossed out several wrong guesses, then acted shocked when she laid eyes upon their final destination: the AIC house.

What she didn't need to act shocked about was the "SURPRISE!" that rang out at a deafening volume when she and Charlie walked in. She looked around and saw that probably every person she'd ever met was in that place, which was decorated with balloons and streamers and a huge banner that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!!!"

Alex, so excited she thought she might burst, looked around at everyone, then at Charlie, then back at everyone else. "Holy crap! Hi, everyone--so this is--wow!"

"Happy birthday!" Jo said, coming forward and slapping a sticker onto Alex's forehead.

"Thanks, I don't even know what to say, I--thank all of you guys so, so, so much! This is awesome!"

"You deserve it," Charlie said, putting her hand on Alex's shoulder as someone put music on and everyone started moving around.

"Nah, she doesn't," Alex heard Sean say. She turned to see where he was but didn't get to before a sparkly cowboy hat was slammed onto her head and pushed down low enough to cover her eyes. "Happy birthday, loser."

"Says the loser," Alex said, lifting the hat and squinting at her cousin.

"You look like Clint Eastwood. Alright, I'm gonna go get a beer. Have fun, loser."

"I will, loser!" Alex called after him. Then she realized she wanted a beer as well and made her way to the kitchen. She was getting one of the green bottles from the fridge when she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Stone and Jeff standing there.

"We got you some stuff..." Jeff began.

"...but it's all in my car," Stone finished. "And it's kind of a lot. You don't mind waiting until tomorrow, do you? We could bring it up, but it's mostly big stuff and we'd have to load it all back in as soon as we got it out."

"Well, I'll be wondering what it all is for the rest of the day," Alex said, "but I'll wait."

"Sweet. That saves us some trips up the stairs," Stone said, grinning. "You should find Jerry, by the way. He was looking for you."

"Oh, alright. I'll see you guys around, then," Alex said. Stone nodded and Alex went to look for Jerry. He wasn't hard to find; a 6'2" blond guy could never be too difficult to locate anyway, but this time it was especially easy because he was standing right outside of the kitchen. Alex almost bumped into him, in fact, but she stopped herself just in time. She looked up at him and grinned and said a simple "hi."

"Hi," he said back, matching her little smile.

Oh, right. Alex and Jerry were dating. They'd gone out a few times since Jerry had first asked her on a date, and it was going very well. They hadn't told anyone yet, but it wasn't out of a need for secrecy--it was just that neither had thought to bring it up to anyone. That's not a crime, is it?

"Here, I got you something," he said. He took a pack of Marlboros from his back pocket and gave it to Alex. "This is to make up for the cigarette I pretty much hijacked the day after we first met."

Alex laughed and raised her eyebrows. "I'm pretty sure I've bummed more than a few off of you since then."

"Yeah, but these ones are symbolic. Also, this isn't your present, but I haven't wrapped the real one yet. Just pretend these are it for now and I'll get back to you."

"Aw, you didn't have to--"

"What are you gonna do? Refuse it?"

"Maybe I will, dammit," Alex said without a single hint of seriousness in her tone. "Anyway, thanks. I did miss the half of that one cigarette."

"Yeah, sure you did," Jerry replied, his grin growing ever so slightly. Then his eyes jumped to someone behind Alex and he said, "look, Susan Silver's here."

Alex turned and looked around for a second before spotting her. "Hey, that's pretty cool. She's a good manager, right?"

"Yeah, she's great." He looked to the side in thought. "Hm. I'm still not sure why she and Chris broke up."

"They were together?"

"Oh, yeah. For a while, I think."

"Interesting," Alex said. "Say, do you wanna play cards?"

✩✩✩

The party was going great. Nothing seemed able to go wrong, and Alex's heart was so full of joy it felt fit to explode at any moment. Everywhere she looked she saw something she felt immensely grateful to be alive to witness: Jeff and Kim ballroom dancing to the rock on the stereo, Charlie's expression as she watched someone chugging tequila like their life depended on it, Layne watching Charlie, Eddie trying and failing to show Rhea a magic trick, Rhea being impressed anyway, Ben and Matt and Jo having what appeared to be an extremely incoherent argument...

It was all perfect.

"Hey, Alex!" Alex heard Sean call from somewhere to her right. She looked around and spotted her cousin standing by a few other friends in the living room. "Come 'ere!"

Alex stuffed the rest of her mini cupcake into her mouth and tossed the wrapper in the general direction of the trash before heading over. "Yeah?"

"Here--watch, you guys. No one can shotgun a beer like she can."

"Seriously? Right now?" Alex looked at the can of beer Sean had put in her hand and blinked. "Yeah, alright."

People started going home at some point around or past midnight--no one was really keeping track of the time. Everyone inside the apartment migrated to the courtyard, taking up seats in the old lawn chairs and on the taller brick and concrete tree rings. Someone brought out a pack of cards and they lit their cigarettes and bet on games of poker and Michigan until the sun began to peek over the distant horizon like a friend a bit late to the party. It was then that even the hardcore partiers decided it was time to go to bed, and so just as everything was being lit up by the new day, they went inside to sleep. They only did so for about four or five hours, and everyone was awake again by noon. Those who had jobs to be at left and those that didn't stayed to watch TV or eat.

"Yo, I have a question," Jo said, rubbing her eye as she picked a chair up off the kitchen floor and sat in it. "Are Alex and Jerry going out?"

Her question was posed to the two other people in the kitchen--Charlie and McCready--but Alex happened to walk in right after she asked. Jo, Charlie, and McCready all turned to stare at her, and her obvious confusion at their looks was answered with a repetition of the original inquiry.

"Yeah, why?" was her casual reply. That was met with what felt like a whole interview's worth of questions, which was much more than Alex had bargained for when she'd gone into the kitchen for some milk. At some point in the middle of all those questions, Jerry walked in, but the second he realized what was going on he quietly shuffled back out. Not too long later, Alex finally had enough of all that and called it, coming up with the brilliant excuse of needing more lighter fluid and heading out to the store.

✩✩✩

"Wait, so Jerry and Alexandra are going out now?"

"I guess so. You can call her Alex, by the way."

"Alex, right," Susan said. "Hm. You don't seem to be too thrilled about the whole thing."

Chris shrugged, looking straight ahead of him at a nearby tree, his face blank. "No, I am, I mean...I don't know. I guess I kind of liked Alex. It's not like I was ever gonna make a move or anything, but this still feels weird."

"Wait, why wouldn't you have said anything?"

"Well, I--Andy. It wouldn't be right. To me, anyway. I get that we have to move on with life but trying to move on like that would just feel wrong."

"Oh, I understand. It's hard to know what to do in those types of situations, isn't it?"

"Yeah, especially because of my lack of prior experience," Chris replied in a joking but disheartened manner. "I don't know, maybe thinking about it that way is stupid. But it doesn't matter anymore anyway."

"I don't think it's stupid," Susan said in a gentle voice. "I think it kind of speaks to how great a person you are."

Chris scoffed. "Sure. Thanks."

"Hey, I mean it. I'm serious, okay?"

He smiled that time, nodding and turning to look Susan right in the eyes. "Thank you. You're pretty great yourself."

Susan smiled too. "Thanks."

✩✩✩

you know how i sometimes say i don't like how i wrote certain chapters? that was the case with this one. the writing was so...UGLY, i was going to update sooner but i just couldn't publish it. so i went back and edited the living hell out of it, and that's why this took forever (as usual anyway).

also, this book turned a year old on the 11th of November! i honestly can't believe it's been more than a year since i first published it, that's so weird to me 🥴

and happy birthday to eddie vedder, who hardly made an appearance in this chapter so rip to him lmaooo
(jk i love him so much it's sad)

anyway, that's it for now! please remember to stay safe and drink plenty of water, have fun, listen to some good music, be what you wanna be, and stay sober for Layne <3 until next time!