บท 45: The One That Got Away
Claire walked into the kitchen to the sight of Phil and Luke laughing. Seeing Claire, Luke controlled his laughter and said, "Hey, Mom. Listen to this card Dad got for Grandpa".
"Hip hip hip hooray. Save the extra hip. You'll need it someday", Phil said, barely managing to hold his laughter.
"You're not giving him that", Claire stated, interrupting their giggling.
"Even after he drinks his first gift?", Phil asked, motioning to the wine bottle in his hand.
"Nope", Claire answered, shaking her head. "Ladies", she called out, capturing the attention of Alex and Haley who were seated on a couch, "Do you remember how exactly one year ago you didn't have a gift for your grandfather and it killed him just a little so I suggested that you interview all of the family for a video tribute?".
"Well, check it and burn", Haley replied, "We did all of that".
"Almost", Alex interrupted.
"We just need to finish the editing", Haley explained, "And you should talk. You haven't even started on your gift yet".
"That's because I changed it yesterday. I came up with a better idea", Claire retorted, interrupted midway by the doorbell ringing. Sighing for a second, she made her way to the door, "Come on girls! Take this seriously! This is for your grandfather's birthday", she shouted, opening the door after she finished.
"Yo", Zephyr greeted.
"Hey Zephyr", Claire welcomed, "What are you here for?".
"I'm the one editing the video", Zephyr answered, stepping inside.
"That's great", Claire said, walking up the stairs. Stopping halfway, she looked down at Zephyr and said, "Tell Matt and Desiree the party starts at 7".
"Will do", Zephyr nodded, making his way into the kitchen. "Hey Alex", Zephyr greeted as he ignored the presence of Phil who swiftly texted the kitchen.
Hearing him, Alex turned around and stopped facing the screen to greet him back. "Hey", Alex said, "You're here early".
"I have to bake the cake for Jay's birthday", Zephyr answered, "So I thought that it would be best if I baked it at your house since your house is closer than mine".
Alex nodded her head, getting up, "Give me a sec to get the laptop and the recording". Running out of the room, Alex rushed up the stairs and came back a minute later with a laptop and camera in her hands. Setting it on the table, she said, "Here we are".
"Thanks", Zephyr muttered, sitting down on the table and connecting the camera to the laptop with a cable.
"I'm going to be honest", Alex commented as she sat next to him, "Some of the interviews didn't turn out so well".
"That's fine", Zephyr waved off her worries. "I'll just edit out the bad parts", Zephyr added, pressing play.
[20 seconds later]
"I could've sworn we had more", Alex complained.
"There's not too much I can do, but I'll try my best. Give me an hour", Zephyr sighed.
"I'm so sorry there's not more", Alex apologised.
"It's fine", Zephyr comforted, "It's not your fault that everyone in your family is really busy all the time".
"I mean", Haley interrupted, "If you really think about it, it is. Alex could've found better times to interview everyone or interviewed again since the first times were all failures"
"You're saying that like you helped", Alex argued, "I had to be the one to record and ask".
"I don't think it's right to point fingers", Zephyr interrupted.
"Unlike you, I have a social life", Haley retorted, ignoring Zephyr's words.
"I have friends", Alex remarked, "And unlike you, I didn't date an idiot".
"That's ... not wrong", Haley admitted, "But don't put all of this blame on me. You could've done more".
"Calm down!", Zephyr shouted, halting their argument, "You can blame each other later. Now, can both of you leave? I need to fix as much of this as I can in an hour".
Haley and Alex nodded their heads and left the room. A few seconds later, Phil walked into the kitchen and looked around, "Hey Zephyr. Have you seen Claire?".
"She's upstairs", Zephyr answered, not looking up from the laptop.
"Thanks", Phil muttered and walked away.
[Time Skip]
"Hello", Zephyr said as he entered the house with a white box in his hand.
"Come in. Come in", Gloria gestured for them to enter, "Matt, Desiree and Bella are already here".
"That's nice", Zephyr muttered, nodding his head.
"Hi Gloria", Alex greeted, following in after Zephyr and receiving a hug from Gloria.
"Hey", Haley muttered as she walked in with her phone in her hand.
"Is Manny here?", Luke asked, looking around.
"No. He's at his friend's house", Gloria answered, "But he'll be here soon".
Shutting the door, she made her way to the kitchen where Zephyr had set down the cake. "Open it", Gloria instructed, "Let me see the cake".
"Sure", Zephyr replied, opening up the box to reveal the beautiful cake that was hidden from the world.
"Ay. It's so gorgeous", Gloria exclaimed in awe.
"Thanks", Zephyr stated, "Now we just need some candles".
"I must have it in one of the drawers", Gloria commented, bending down to open some of the drawers.
While she did this, Stella, the new dog that Jay got, strutted over to them and looked at the cake, jumping slightly with its rear legs. Zephyr kneeled so that he was face-to-face with the dog and said, "No. Bad doggy. Don't touch the cake".
Hearing this, Gloria stood up, "Ay. Stella. Stay away from the cake. Jay will get angry if anything happens to it". Stella whined for a second before walking away. "Sorry about that", Gloria apologised, "Stella likes the smell of sweet things".
Zephyr nodded and then made his way towards Alex and sat down next to her. "What are you doing?", he asked.
Alex shrugged, "I don't know. I'm just watching whatever's on the TV".
"You know. You still haven't beaten my Subway Surfers high score", Zephyr commented, "Are you feeling lucky? You might just beat it today".
"Fine", Alex snapped, "Get your phone out. I guarantee that I'll beat you, once and for all".
[Time Skip]
"I don't think Grandpa's having the best time", Luke remarked, "He keeps going to get more drinks".
"Technically, not every time", Zephyr countered, "One time, he went to check the women's basketball score".
"The Sparks are up by eight if anyone cares", Jay half-heartedly announced as he re-entered the room.
Claire sighed hearing his comment. "Okay, Dad. We all owe you an apology. We were so worried about giving you a great night that we ruined you're day. And we're really sorry that we didn't let you go fishing", Claire explained.
"Sorry Dad", Mitchell, in a sailor outfit, apologised, with everyone doing the same.
Seeing this, Jay took a deep breath. "You know what? I'm acting like a jerk", Jay began, "What am I? 12. So I didn't go fishing. What about it? Am I going to pout about it? I have you guys caring for me and making a big fuss over something as small as a birthday. I'm satisfied with what I have here. I don't need to go fishing in some lake by myself to enjoy my birthday".
Everyone 'aww'ed at his words. "Now, let's go get some cake and presents".
"Yes!", Luke exclaimed, bolting from his seat to the kitchen.
Shaking his head, Jay followed with everyone standing up to follow him. As everyone crowded around Jay, Gloria brought in the tray with the cake and set it on the kitchen counter. The lights were dimmed so that the fire from the candles lit everyone's face. "That's a nice cake", Jay commented.
"Thanks", Zephyr muttered, "I hope you like it".
"Okay. Okay", Gloria interrupted, "Blow out the candles Jay".
Taking a deep breath, Jay blew over the candles, extinguishing their fickle flames. As he did so, everyone clapped and cheered, with Phil being particularly vocal. "Now, the presents", Gloria stated. "First, we do mine", Gloria clapped her hands and placed a wrapped box on the counter.
Jay took the top of the box off and pulled out his present, "And here we have a phone in the shape of a mouth", Jay declared.
"Ah, You're welcome", Gloria thanked, patting his arm, "It's very sexy".
"Wait a sec. Don't tell me. Let me figure this out", Jay said, holding his hand up, "I mentioned a few times that I was thinking of taking up the saxophone and you gave me this. I got it. Is this a sexy phone?".
"Yes!", Gloria exclaimed, "Happy Birthday!".
"What else we go?", Jay asked.
"Here we go", Desiree said, giving Jay a large rectangular box that was gift-wrapped.
Tearing apart the gift paper, he gasped when he saw his present. "A model plane of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. It's great and one of the few that I don't have from the Vietnam War".
"Zephyr told us that you loved aeroplanes and he deduced that you fought in the Vietnam War so we thought this would be a suitable present for you", Matt explained.
"Is that all?", Jay asked with a big smile on his face as he set down the box.
"No!", Alex shouted, "We have our present left".
"Yeah", Luke nodded, "It's in the DVD Player".
"You gotta come and watch it", Haley said, "It only took us a year to make".
"I'm so excited. Let's go Jay", Gloria exclaimed, dragging Jay by his arms.
As everyone settled down in the living room, Luke turned the lights off as Zephyr started playing the video.
The video began by playing some catchy guitar music and then showed some slides of Jay's achievements so far. It then delved into some interviews (that had been edited a lot) where each member of the family said something they like about Jay. It then ended with a compilation of all the family members saying 'We love you Jay'.
"That was really good", Claire commented, surprised by the level of the video.
"It really was", Mitchell and Cam agreed.
"How the hell did you manage to do that in one hour?", Alex whispered into Zephyr's ear.
"Magic", Zephyr whispered back.
"No matter how you did it", Alex retorted, "You're a lifesaver. Thanks so much", she said, giving him a quick hug.
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