[ 9 ] 2014

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"Oh God. Please guys, I'm feeling the second hand embarrassment."

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The next morning Harley Quinn was woken up by her parents barging into her bedroom unannounced, with embarrassingly loud children's birthday music and a big birthday cake just for her. It was the celebration of her seventeenth birthday too, after all. Harley was laying faced down in her bed, with the covers wrapped around her body for warmth. She had gone to sleep the night before, cuddled up with Ashton, but he left before her parents went to her room. He didn't want her getting in any trouble with her mother who could actually see him. 

She was startled awake by their yelling, as well as the birthday music practically blaring into her ears from an old black boombox Cindy was holding up over her head. It was the happy-yet-creepy voice of a clown who sang children's music, and he had been her favorite growing up. Sprinkles was his name, and according to his background story, he had been a dentist who started painting his face so that the children wouldn't be afraid of him as he worked on their teeth. Now the memories of her actually liking the ridiculous music were rather embarrassing to her because her parents made it a point to play her favorite birthday song from when she was five years old every single year without fail. Her parents were rather modern people, they were younger than most when they had Billy and Harley. But they were as embarrassing as some old fashion parents when it came to birthdays.

As her parents, and Cindy Hemmings, yelled "Happy Birthday!" at her from the top of their lungs, she stirred in her bed a little too roughly and ended up falling to the floor with a thud. Her blanket fell right along with her, covering her from sight.

Her dad quickly set the cake down on her bed and went to help her up, while Cindy and Harleen just watched her with worry.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Aaron asked his daughter. He had been the one to pull the blanket off her and grabbed her by the arm steadily to help her up. 

She nodded her head, with still sleepy, half closed blue eyes. "Yeah, dad. Thanks."

One would have thought that Harley Quinn would be used to this sort of wake up call on the twenty fifth of January by now. But she wasn't, and there were accidents like these almost every year.

"Oh!" Cindy rushed to her after placing the boombox down on the ground and pulled her in for a tight hug. "Happy birthday Harley! You're one step closer to becoming an adult. Luke wanted so badly to be here, but I warned him I'd pull his lip ring out if he did. He sends his love and best wishes though." The blonde explained, rubbing Harley's back in her tight hug that didn't allow the other to breathe. Harley couldn't understand how Cindy Hemmings could be sweet and scary at the same time.

"Thanks Cindy." Harley managed to get out with the limited air she was getting into her lungs.

When Harley recovered from her early morning scare, Harleen asked Aaron to leave Harley's cake on the dining room table, and get Billy's. They were going to do the same to him now and Cindy would be there to watch.

Waking up Billy was a better experience than the one Harley had. He was definitely used to his parents doing that on his birthday. They barged into his room where he was sleeping soundly, the same way they had done with Harley, and yelled "Happy Birthday!" to him as well. Billy took it rather well. For one, he didn't fall out of his bed. And for another, he seemed genuinely happy and thankful that his family was doing this for him.

Harley almost felt bad for not being thankful enough.

But she wasn't much of a party person. And she also had other things to do that day that were more important, and she couldn't let her parents know about it.

Within minutes, Billy got out of bed in his pajamas and followed the family down the stairs to the dining room where they had set up a special birthday breakfast for them. 

The best part of that morning, for Harley, was when they got to cut the cake. She and her brother got sung happy birthday, took some pictures (much to Harley's disapproval), and finally Harley was to cut her cake first and then Billy. Hers was a white cake with red and black designs on it and her name in big letters. It also had cheerleader decorations on it and she rolled her eyes slightly at it. Her mother was very happy with Harley being on the cheer squad.

Each year, her parents wanted to take pictures of them pretending to bite their cake, and each time the other would smash their sibling's face into the cake. Harley knew it was coming when she was asked by her parents to pose for the picture.

She inched her face just centimeters from the cake without touching it and she immediately felt a hand on the back of her head, pushing her down into the red, black and white frosting.

When she pulled back, her older brother Billy was laughing hysterically. 

It hadn't been him to push her, it was Cindy.

"Cindy!" Harley gasped, looking at her wide eyed.

She explained innocently. "Billy told me its a tradition you guys have."

And when it came time for him to pose next to his cake, the other one had designs of basketballs and the various sports he played, Cindy did it to him as well.

This time Harley was the one laughing, and when Billy pulled back, he pouted at her, "You're not supposed to do it to me, Cin."

Cindy shrugged her shoulders, once again in an innocent manner. "Sorry, babe." But the smile on her face said she was all but sorry. 

Harley brought her hand to her face to wipe some of the frosting off. Without warning, she reached over and wiped her hand off on Cindy's face. The three teenagers then laughed together. Harleen had the three of them pose together, with their faces smeared with cake frosting. Cindy was having a great time. This was something she had never done with her own family. The only ones who celebrated her and her brother's birthday were themselves and their closest servants. It was lonely at the top for Luke and Cindy Hemmings.

The last part of their celebration involved opening their birthday presents. Then they would spend some time together as a family for the rest of the day.

Cindy was very excited for Harley to open her first present. It was a white envelope with a card inside from Cindy Hemmings herself. Harley got the card out of its envelop and opened it. Inside was a gift card for several stores at the mall, and a note that was written in her neat handwriting with a bright pink pen.

Dear Harley, Happy Birthday! I am very thankful for having your genuine friendship in my life even though I know you weren't too keen on me in the beginning. You and your brother are two very important people in my life and I hope our friendship can last forever. <3 Much love and kisses, Cindy. 

Harley was touched at Cindy's letter, especially at how honest Cindy was. And she was slightly embarrassed that Cindy knew she didn't like her too much in the beginning.

But it was different now. She and Cindy were friends and there were no hard feelings.

Harley looked up from the note and Cindy smiled at her, "The card is so we can go shopping together! Isn't that exciting? Billy says you need to wear something other than black. I think pink suits you very well."

"You didn't get me anything Cin?" Billy asked her, faking a frown on his face.

"Your present is a surprise for later." She winked at him. 

It was in that instant that the lovely moment she was having with Cindy as a good friend was completely ruined. She didn't need to know much about couples to know what she meant. Harley brought a hand to her face and facepalmed herself. "Oh God. Please guys, I'm feeling the second hand embarrassment."

Billy dropped a hand on her shoulder which felt as heavy as an anchor, saying, "Come on Harley. When you get a boyfriend, you'll be worse than us. Just watch."

Harley doubted it.

She and Ashton were almost officially a couple and she knew he would never be comfortable sharing intimate things between them in front of other people, not with the way he was raised and the time period in which he was raised. Times were different back then, and talking about being with someone was looked down upon. She remembered that Ashton once nearly fainted when she jokingly mentioned vaginas to him. The blood rushed to his ever so slightly green tinted appearance as though he were really alive, as though he really had blood running through his veins.

"Now its time to open our present!" Harleen gushed with excitement.

Her mother reached onto the table where there were two small boxes; one was blue and the other was pink. Harley hoped the blue one was for her, but she knew otherwise.

Harleen handed each of them their present and Billy opened his first, a bit too quickly, followed seconds later by his sister. Harley didn't think it would anything too impressive, until she really saw what was inside. It was a key to a car, with the Fiat logo on it. She glanced over at Billy's box to see there was a key as well, but his had the Dodge logo on it. As they were opening their present from their parents, Aaron explained to them, "I got a big promotion this Christmas, and since you two are at the age where you'll want to be more independent, your mother and I thought we would get you started."

Billy got the key out of its gift box and held it in his hand. "Mom, dad...You didn't." He shook his head in disbelief.

Aaron gestured to the front door with a smile. "Go look in the driveway."

Her brother hurried to the front door and opened it. From where Harley stood, she could see out into the driveway. There were two new cars there waiting for them. One of them was a blue Dodge Challenger, which was without a doubt for her brother. The other was a small pink car that was clearly for her.

Harleen saw the look on her daughter's face, and her smile dropped. "You don't like it." She stated.

Harley quickly shook her head. "No...I love it. But...its pink."

"I helped her pick it out." Cindy informed with a proud grin.

It figured Cindy had something to do with the selection of the car's color. Perhaps she would pretend to like it and then ask her dad to get the color changed to blue. Blue was Harley's favorite color; pink was Harleen and Cindy's.

Just then, her dad said what she was thinking. "You can get the color changed to whatever you want. And we're going to get you started on driving lessons as soon as possible so that you can get your permit."

At that, Harley smiled.

"Thanks mom and dad." She thanked them, adding, "You too Cindy. Thank you for coming."

Getting a car for her birthday wasn't all that bad, even if she didn't know how to drive yet. She would be needing it if she was going to join the others in the search for Calum. Perhaps Ashton could teach her, if he still remembered the way to drive a car. But she knew just watching him behind the wheel of a car would be pretty interesting.

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another filler chapter for you all. but i wanted to post it now because im going to an amusement park called castle park since my best friend will be going away for her military training on monday. and i told her she needed some fun before entering the serious world of military life. i suggested disneyland, but tickets are expensive af and she said she was on a budget. castle park is fifteen dollars for a ticked. thus, we decided to go there.

question of the day: i have already asked this question once before, but it was so long ago that results may vary now. lol. which other stories of mine have you read? if none, that is fine too ^.^ i just want to know out of curiousity. and also, do you recommend any stories by another author (recommend them to me)? i'll be going on winter break soon and i need a good reading list.

thank you all for your love and support. i care about you all so much. we have practically all grown up together on this journey of the MITM series. thank you friends<3

blessings for this thanksgiving. and if you're not american i exclude you from this. lol jk. even then, have a wonderful week!

-clary xx