Even the Score(47)

“Good morning, Ellie!” I said cheerfully as I stepped out of the elevator.

Not looking up from her computer, she offered me a small wave. “Morning.”

Confused, I stopped and stared at her, wondering why she wasn’t her typical bubbly self. “You okay?”

“Fine,” she said quickly, then went back to her work.

“Okay.” I shrugged and headed to my office, surprised to find the door shut. I always propped it open when I left work at the end of each night. For a split second, I thought about turning back to ask Ellie if anyone had been in there but decided not to.

I turned the knob, took one step into my office, and gasped. Streamers hung from corner to corner, confetti covered the floor, and at least thirty yellow balloons crowded the room.

“Happy birthday!” Ellie yelled, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and squeezing tight.

“Oh my God, Ellie. I can’t believe you did this.” I set my bag on the ground and turned to give her a real hug, which was hard to do because she wouldn’t stop jumping up and down.

“I came in so early just to blow those balloons up. Not gonna lie, I’m a little light-headed.”

I laughed into her shoulder, quickly blinking back tears. No one had ever made a big deal out of my birthday, and I’d always told myself it didn’t matter, but now that someone had, it was amazing. Ellie was amazing.

“My turn! I want in on this hug!” Ethan called out as he jogged over from his office and threw his arms around both of us. “Happy birthday, Dani.”

“Thanks, Ethan.” I reached up and squeezed his forearm. “Okay, you can let go now.”

“Wait. Just a few more minutes,” Ethan said, closing his eyes as he rested his head on Ellie’s back.

“Ethan!” Ellie and I both squealed, wiggling out of his grasp. He took a step back, stuck his bottom lip out, and sulked all the way back to his office.

I bent down and picked my bag up off the floor. “I wondered why you were being so weird to me this morning, you brat,” I said to Ellie as I made my way into my office, kicking balloons in the air as I went.

She brushed confetti off the chair and sat down. “I couldn’t look at you. It was so hard to ignore you, but I knew if we made eye contact, I would’ve caved, and I wanted you to be surprised. Were you surprised?”

I pushed a couple of balloons off my desk and looked over at her. “Are you kidding me? I was totally surprised. You’re the best, Ellie. Thank you so much.”

“You’re not gonna be thanking me next week when you’re still cleaning up confetti.” She covered her mouth, trying to hide her giggle, but her smiling blue eyes gave it away.

“No shit,” I agreed, sighing as I stared at the little silver and blue scraps all over the floor. “But I love you for it, so you’re forgiven.”

“Whoa.” Andy’s eyes bulged and his mouth dropped as he pushed the door open. “What’s going on in here?”

“It’s Danicka’s birthday!” Ellie sang cheerfully.

His eyes flew to mine, the corners crinkling slightly as he stared straight at me. “It is? I had no idea.”

“That’s okay, why would you?” I answered, feeling shy under his stare. I cleared my throat. “Actually, I had no idea Ellie knew, either.”

Ellie lifted her hands in the air, palms up, and grinned proudly. “What can I say, my stalker capabilities know no bounds—” She stopped suddenly and closed her eyes, cringing. “I’m sorry, Dani. Bad choice of words.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I waved her off. “It’s been over a week now. Hopefully the creep got bored and moved on to something more exciting,” I said, as upbeat as I could. My gaze slipped to Andy, and I gave him a quick wink.

“Yeah, well, let’s stay in for lunch for a while yet, okay? I don’t want you two out there alone, egging him on.” Andy sighed heavily.

“Does that mean you’re joining us tonight?” Ellie asked Andy, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

“Tonight?” I exclaimed, turning my attention toward Ellie.

She rolled her eyes as she stood, staring back at me. “Oh come on. It’s Friday and it’s your birthday. Did you really think we weren’t going to go out after work?”

I started to argue, “Wait. No. I have—”

Ellie held her hand up, stopping me. “Lies.” She shook her head. “You have nothing to do.”

“No, seriously. I—”

“Come on,” Andy interrupted with an adorable little smirk, his blue eyes sparkling. “First round is on me.”