Alexa Hoffman - Outcome

"Mo." Haley grinned, turning my hand so the 3 looked like a curvy M.

"Are you saying I’m a cow?" she chuckled, chewing on her own sandwich.

"Maybe ‘om’?" she asked, sipping from her Coke.

"Yeah, maybe. How did you know?" I asked, turning the 3 the right way.

"Know what?"

"That today was my old day."

"Old? Andi, you’re only 30."

"Yeah, old." She sat back, putting her hand on her hip.

"Excuse me, honey, but I’ve been 30 for nine months."

"Okay, so you’re old and nine months." She glared, I grinned, taking the sandwiches out of their bags, and slowly peeling the edge of the bread up.

"It’s your favorite, though after that it should have been tuna and cyanide." I sniffed. "Eat, woman!" I grinned, and took a bite.

"Thank you." I mumbled around the food. "How did you know?"

"Well, you know about a month back or so when I was being nosey and looking through your wallet?"

"Ah, damn. You know, I had told the lady at the driver’s license place to not put that on there."

"Your old date?"

"That would be the one." She smiled, then reached across the table and squeezed my hand.

"Happy birthday, Andi." I smiled at her, truly touched.

"Thanks."

"Are you free tonight?" I nodded as I finished off the 3. "Good. Come by my place around six. I’m making you dinner."

"Thus, the after work thing?" She grinned, nodding. "I see. Pretty sure I’d accept, huh?"

"Of course."

"Good. Cause I do."

I looked down at myself as I stood on Haley’s front porch. I had decided to look a little nice, wearing khakis and a button up shirt. I reached out my hand, and knocked. Within a few seconds I heard her walking toward the door. I put a smile on my face.

The door opened, but only a crack. Haley stared out at me. I stared back.

"Um, hi?" She smiled, and swung the door open.

"Surprise!" I took a step back, my heart pounding at the chorus of voices that quickly went into a rendition of Happy Birthday, led by Haley. I looked at her, not sure what to do, then looked back into her place, seeing my mother, Clive, Chris and his wife, Kendall standing with the Torrini’s, Samantha.

"What did you do? Okay, I came, I saw, I left," I turned to start walking away when Haley reached out, grabbing the back of my shirt.

"Oh, no you don’t!"

I turned around and was herded into the house, suddenly surrounded by those that meant the most to me. My mom was laughing. I pointed a finger at her.

"You knew about this, didn’t you?" She grinned. "Busy tonight, my ass."

"Happy birthday, sweetie." She grabbed me in a huge hug. I made my rounds, hugging everyone, even a very surprised Samantha.

"Thanks for coming, though you know I’ll get you fired for this." She laughed.

"Dr. Littman, I’d like you to meet my fiancé, Curtis." A good-looking guy was smiling at me, his hand extended to me.

I looked at Dr. Torres.

"Call me Andi, Samantha." She smiled, putting her hand on Curtis’ back.

"Nice to meet you, Curtis." I said. He smiled, wishing me birthday wishes. The next thing I knew, I was being nearly bowled over by a very excited ten-year-old.

"Happy birthday to you, you look like a monkey, and smell like one, too!" I hugged the girl tightly to me.

"Yeah, you should know, you little beast." She giggled, looking up at me with her gap-toothed grin.

The party got going until Haley called everyone to sit at the long table she had brought in from somewhere. It nearly took up her entire living room. I, of course, was sat at the head of the table, and Haley tied a plastic bib around my neck that read Birthday Girl.

I was shocked as she served everyone lobster, and all the fixings. She sat to my left.

"Oh, Haley. You shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble." I felt so guilty. I knew this had to cost her a fortune. She smiled, patting my arm.

"You’re worth it. Besides, how many times does your best friend turn 30?"

I just smiled at her. Yeah, life was good.

We all got a good laugh as the cake was served. It was chocolate with gray icing, a large candy tombstone sticking out of the top with Over the Hill written on it with black icing.

"You are going to die, you know." I told Haley as she lit all 30 candles she’d put in it.

"Sure. We all will someday." She smiled sweetly, then once again, led everyone in Happy Birthday.

"I can’t thank you enough for this, Haley." I told her as we stood together, eating cake. She looked at me for a moment, then smiled.

"You’re very welcome, Andi. You are worth all this. I know you; did you have any plans for tonight?"

"Hell no."

"See that? I could not stand by and let you just let your 30th birthday slip by. Any birthday, for that matter."

"Thanks. This is, by far, the best birthday I’ve ever had."

"Aw," Her face crumbled, and it looked like she’d cry. "Thanks."

"Gift time!" someone yelled, which of course got everyone into a ruckus. I looked at Haley again, and she grinned, that little mischievous look that got me worried.

I got lots of wonderful gifts, gag and real. One of the best was from my daughter. I opened up the red and blue Koosh ball that she was obviously so proud of.

"Since it’s your favorite toy," she said, a huge smile plastered on her face. Everyone just thought it was adorable, but I could hear the evil chuckle coming from Haley.

"Thank you, honey." I knelt down, taking the girl into my arms, and squeezing her tight.

"This is from me, Andi." I looked up to see Haley handing me a wrapped gift, shaped awfully funny. I took it, and tore into it, staring blankly at a stainless steep potato masher. I looked at her, confused, when it all came back to me. I gave her a crooked grin.

"Gee, thanks."

"Well, I figured after all this time, you might need a new, sturdier model."

"But Andi doesn’t cook," Kendall chimed in, obvious confusion on her face. Oh, boy. How to explain this one.

"Well, I love mashed potatoes, hon."

"Oh."

It took a while, but finally everyone filed out, leaving me with hugs and best wishes for a good new year. The place seemed so quiet and empty now.

"Wow. Some party, huh?" Haley said, picking up some trash off the floor. I began to help her clean up.

"Yeah. I still cannot believe you did that, Haley Corregan."

"What’s not to believe? Oh, hang on." She hurried to her office, coming out with a wrapped box, small, maybe six inches high by four inches wide. "Here. This is my real gift to you."

"Oh, Haley, no. This was enough." I said, indicating the party decorations, and what was left of dinner and cake. She smiled, saying nothing. Just holding the gift out to me. With a sigh of guilt, I took it, bringing it up to my ear to shake it.

"No! Don’t do that."

"Oh, okay." Carefully peeling the wrapping paper off, I saw the edge of something hard and clear, plastic. I tore a main section of paper off, and sucked in a breath.

"Suki,"

Quickly, but carefully, shredding the rest of the paper, I stared in disbelief at the Beanie Baby that had been so beloved to me before my ex’s dog had torn it to pieces. I looked up at an expectant Haley. "How did you, where did you find this?"

"Oh, a website or three billion." She smiled, I stared in awe. He was tucked safely inside a hard plastic keepsake box, the top part of it able to lift off when two small latches were unsnapped on the bottom. "You like him?" I nodded dumbly.

"God, yes. This is way too much. My god." I set the box on the table, and rushed her with a huge hug, knocking the wind out of her.

"Whoa. Guess you do like it." I smiled as I hugged her tight.

"Thank you," I whispered in her ear.

"You’re welcome," she whispered back.

It was Saturday night, and Haley’s turn to feed me. We had started having dinner at our houses Saturday nights, switching every other week. I held my gifts under my arm; a bottle of white, a homemade pumpkin cheesecake in honor of Thanksgiving, coming up in just over two weeks, plus a bouquet of her favorite flowers- African violets.

As I headed up the walkway to Haley’s townhouse, I sniffed the air, loving the smell of fireplaces and wood-burning stoves. The air was frigid, but the snow had yet to start falling, which was odd for us this time of year.

I balanced all my goodies, and raised my hand to knock when I stopped, brows drawn as I listened; a smile spread across my lips when I realized that what I was hearing was piano music. Haley was playing. I missed hearing her play.

With a contented sigh, I knocked. The music stopped suddenly, and I heard footsteps coming to the door, when suddenly it was opened.

"Hi." Haley met me with a huge grin, I smiled back.

"Howdy. These are for you." I held out the flowers to her, and Haley put a hand to her chest.

"Oh, Andi. Thank you. God, you are so sweet." She headed back into the house, which was filled with delicious odors, and I followed, happily. I set the wine and dessert on the breakfast bar, then headed to the piano to see what the music was that Haley had been playing.

There was sheet music open on it.

"What’s this?" I asked, leaning in to read the title, written in pencil, as the whole thing was. "Outcome. Hmm."

"Oh, uh, it’s just something I’ve been working on."