December 2, 1988

I arrived at work and was immediately spooked when Doug rushed up to me and wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug. He spun me around while shouting "happy birthday," in my ear.

"Who's birthday is it?" I joked. I giggled in the air and then said, "thanks."

He finally let me down and escorted me to my desk. There was a silver Happy Birthday balloon hovering above my desk, but grounded by the end of the ribbon that was wrapped around a cute little desk plant. Leaning against the plant, was a card with my name written on the crisp white envelope in cursive.

I couldn't fight my smile as I put my hands over my heart at this sweet gesture. This is one of the kindest things anyone has ever done for me. I almost wanted to cry.

I gushed, "thanks, guys. You really didn't have to."

"The plant was my idea," Judy beamed.

"Thanks Jude." I smiled. "I love it. Thank you all."

"Ioki made cupcakes," Doug said.

"You didn't," I nearly gasped.

"I did." Ioki smiled proudly. "Your favorite! Chocolate."

I skipped over to him and gave him a hug. My hair was bouncing on my back from curling it this morning, and I was in a very happy mood. I noticed the box of cupcakes along the back table and I helped myself to one. Even Fuller popped out to wish me a happy birthday and handed me a card with some cash inside.

Tom came through the chapel doors and immediately spotted the cupcakes. He grabbed one and started peeling off the wrapper. He took a bite and asked, "what's the occasion?"

"It's Mickey's 21st!" Doug said excitedly.

Tom froze with chocolate frosting smudged on the tip of his nose. "That was today? Oh, God. I completely forgot."

"I don't think I've mentioned my actual birthday date in months. I'm surprised that these goons remembered it," I said with a slight chuckle.

"We would never forget," Doug said and playfully nudged me with his shoulder.

"Gee, Mick, I'm so sorry. I forgot," Tom said. He looked so guilty.

"Except for the newbie," Doug teased.

"Dude, it's no big deal," I chuckled and waved it off. I really didn't care. I would have been content just having a normal day, but it made me feel very warm and appreciative that my team remembered. I felt special.

"What are your plans for tonight?" Judy asked me.

"I think there's a rerun of Night Court on tonight then I'll probably get an early start to my sleep," I said honestly. I inhaled my cupcake and threw the wrapper away.

"On your 21st birthday?!" Doug was appalled, "but it's Friday! I would have killed for my 21st birthday to land on a Friday."

"You and I are two very different people," I pointed out and settled into my chair.

Tom spoke up, "to make up for my ignorance, my birthday gift to you is dinner."

"You don't have to," I said and leaned back in my chair.

"Nope. It's your gift, you can't take it back," he said, "dinner tonight. Me and you. Where do you want to go?"

"I'll see what I'm feeling later," I said with a sympathetic smile.

Tom was satisfied with my answer, and everyone started to disperse with work. I thought maybe Tom would have forgotten, but he kept asking me throughout the day where I wanted to go eat.

After my bust for the day, I went home and got ready for dinner. I did not feel like getting dressed up, so I decided to wear a v-neck knitted cardigan with thin stripes of blue, green, yellow, red, and white with a pair of high waisted denim jeans. I was putting a gold necklace on when I heard a knock at the door. I walked over and opened it, and Tom leaned against the doorframe with a smile and he gave me a small, "hi."

"Hi," I said back and let him in. "I'll be ready in a minute, come in."

I walked to the couch where I had left my shoes and sat down. I started to put my black converse on and asked him, "where do you want to go?"

"I was going to say the same to you," he said, "it's your birthday. Where do you want to go?"

"I'm not really that hungry," I said honestly, "I had a big lunch. Courtesy of Fuller."

"Why don't we go get dessert?" He suggested, "we could walk around town. Just me and you."

"That actually sounds like fun," I said.

"I hope so." He grinned sweetly.

I reached over to grab my purse but Tom shook his head. He held his hand up at me and said, "it's on me tonight."

"Are you sure?" I asked, slowly bringing my purse to my chest.

He looked at me deadpan. "It's your birthday. You're not paying."

I squinted my eyes at him as if I was challenging his command. It was almost as if we were in the Wild West, nearing a dual. His eyes narrowed with mine, and I could almost hear the cowboy ballad and the rustle of a tumbleweed rolling in the draft of my living room.

"Put it down," he demanded.

"Fine," I chuckled.

He gingerly took my purse from my hand and tossed it onto my couch. I smiled as we walked out of my apartment building and out to his car. He opened the door for me and he bowed while he made a big grand gesture with his hand to welcome me to his car like I was a princess getting escorted to her carriage.

I love driving with Tom. I don't know what it is, but I love it when he has to back out of a parking spot and he puts his hand against the back of my headrest. Or when he is parallel parking. There is just something about that action that is so attractive to me.

Tom drove us to a spot down town, where he parallel parked. We began to walk along the sidewalk, but then Tom dramatically stopped.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He humorously lifted up both of his hands to show that they were empty, but reached into his coat pocket and whipped out a little bouquet of flowers.

I started laughing and I took the flowers from him. I gave them a light sniff and said during my laugh, "oh my god, thank you. They're gorgeous."

We ended up walking back to the car to set the flowers in there so I didn't have to carry them throughout our entire evening. Turning back, Tom flung his arm over my shoulders and we waltzed down the street. He made sure that he walked on the side closest to the road. We stopped to let a car pass and we kept walking to an ice cream parlor that was on the strip.

We got ice cream cones and tried to cross the street again. I tried to jokingly walk in front of a car but Tom laughed and pulled me back. He extended his arms wide to the car as it passed us, and I laughed at him.

Tom was so much fun outside of work. He almost turned into a completely different person. He was fun, extroverted, and hilarious. We got along at work, but even I felt like a different person with him outside of work. I loved both Work Tom, and Nonwork Tom.

We finished the night goofing around in a nearby parking lot, dancing to music that played from a nearby restaurant, spinning around and just being free-spirited. He made me feel like we were the only two people in the world.

The end of the evening came too quickly. We were soon back in the car. The radio station was playing softly, and the sun was starting to go down.

A couple minutes into the drive, Tom cleared his throat and asked, "can you reach my jacket back there for me?"

I twisted my torso a bit to grope behind the seat to try to feel fabric. I was expecting to either grab his leather jacket or his black wool coat, but instead I heard something crinkle and I felt paper. My eyes shot to Tom with a puzzled expression, but he kept his focus on the road with a smirk rising his lips.

I gripped the object and brought it forward and onto my lap. It was a bag with a cute pattern of lots of different colored cartoon candles on it, along with spiraled ribbons on the handles and a tag that had my name written on it. All I could ask was, "what's this?"

Tom chuckled before he answered, "it's for you. You didn't think I actually forgot your birthday, did you? Go on, open it."

My smile broadened as I plucked out the tissue paper and let it fall to my feet. I grabbed something rectangular and hard, so I pulled it out and saw my name written on the case of a cassette tape.

"I made a tape of songs I know you like that make me think of you. They're your favorites. I know your car has a cassette player so I thought you'd like it." He shrugged like it wasn't that big of a deal.

"This is the sweetest thing ever," I exclaimed. I couldn't wait to play it. "Thank you."

"You're not done, there's more."

"There's more?" I asked as I placed the tape on my leg and dug back into the bag. I moved some more of the colorful tissue paper and grabbed a book. It was a paper book copy of The Shining. It's one of my favorite films, and I had been dying to read the book.

Tom beat me to his explanation before I could ask anything, "I remembered you mentioned that you always wanted to read this book."

I chuckled in disbelief. I didn't even remember telling him about that. The fact that he remembered these tiny details about me really warmed my heart so much I wanted to cry. I grinned from ear to ear as I reached in and lifted up a picture frame out of the bag. The photograph was of us, one I totally forgot existed. It's of us at the chapel, and we are both sitting in our chairs. My feet are kicked up on his lap, and we are both smiling at the camera. I beamed up at Tom and said, "oh my god, I love it."

"You do?" He smiled. "Check the back."

"What?" I asked.

He laughed, "check the back, Michelle."

My heart skipped when he said my full name. I set the bag down at my feet and placed the face of the frame on my lap. I ran my fingers back through my brown hair before I opened the back and slipped the picture out, where on the back Tom wrote a little note in cursive. It said, "you have such a beautiful soul and never fail to make me laugh. Happiest 21st birthday to you. Love, Tom"

"I didn't know you could be so thoughtful," I joked so I wouldn't cry. I usually don't cry tears of happiness, but I was so close.

"Only occasionally," he joked.

The last thing I pulled out was a gorgeous black knit scarf.

"Did you knit this?" I asked thoughtfully. The fabric was thick and soft and oh-so warm. It was nice and long, absolutely perfect for the cold winter of Metropolis.

Tom shook his head. "No, but my mom does. I mentioned to her that you had never owned a scarf. She was frankly appalled and decided that you needed one."

"Your mom knows who I am?" I asked.

"Of course. I talk about you all the time."

"That is literally the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. Thank you." I leaned over to give him a quick peck on the cheek. I turned my attention to placing my new treasures back in the bag, but I saw him look at me out of the corner of my eye. He was blushing. He remembered things about me that I don't even remember telling him. He's my best friend, I love him.

I remember when I first met Tom, I did not want anything to do with him. I thought he was going to leave like everyone else did. I never would have expected him to be such a big part of my life. I've created emotional barriers to protect myself from potentially getting hurt, but I've let Tom in.

I felt drained, but in a good way. In the car, I rested my head against Tom's shoulder as he drove me home.

He asked me, "how was your birthday?"

"It was great," I said honestly, "one for the books."

"Good. I'm glad I was able to make it memorable for you."

I mumbled to him, "thank you for being my best friend, Tom."

I heard him say something back, but I was too exhausted to listen to him. I ended up drifting off as we bounced down the road.