My Prompt Stories - 4. Chapter 4 Best Birthday Ever

Prompt 343

It was my birthday and I didn’t think anyone at work knew it. No one said anything different to me when I entered the building that morning and the day proceeded normally. I didn’t expect anyone to know it was my birthday, since I’m a very private person and hadn’t shared any personal information about my life to anyone I work with. I’ve learned to keep my head down and stay focused on my work and do the best I could.

That approach has always endeared me to management and earned me much higher than average raises every year when I was given my annual review, which have always been excellent. I’m hoping for better reception after work, though, because my boyfriend said he wanted to take me out for dinner tonight to celebrate, so my special day wouldn’t go completely ignored. Therefore, I did as always and focused entirely on the various tasks I was suppose to perform throughout the morning, and I didn’t even bother to look around until I realized it was time for lunch.

I always ate in the corporate cafeteria on the lowest level of the building, so I headed down there for my midday meal. After, making my way through the line and paying for the selections I made, I entered the dining area with multiple tables spread about, I looked for a place to sit down. To my amazement, I was greeted by a chorus of “Happy Birthday”, although slightly off-key, but its the thought that counts.

After giving a few of the women that came up to me a hug and shaking the hands of my male coworkers, I was finally ushered to a table so I could set down my tray. On the table next to the one I was sitting at was a cake, which someone had hurriedly lit a couple of candles that announced my numerical age.
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|“Blow out the candles,” I was urged from several different directions, with one lone voice adding, “so they can cut the cake and pass it out.”

I quickly picked up the first numbered candle, turned away from the cake, and blew it out, since no one wants spittle on their icing. Then I did the same with the other candle, and then one on the women cut the cake for me and placed the slices on dessert plates.

“I didn’t know that anyone knew it was my birthday,” I professed to one of the women.

“Audrey from HR made a list of all birthdays from our employment records and she orders a cake and picks it up on her way to work. She told a few of us yesterday that today was your birthday and we quietly passed the information along to others that we encountered.”

“Does she do this with everyone’s birthday? I mean, I know there has been a cake like this for other birthdays, but I never knew it was anyone’s birthday before, at least until I arrived at the cafeteria to have lunch.”

“Since Audrey just started her job several months ago, she took over the job of making sure everyone’s birthday was recognized. If you didn’t notice, there’s also a birthday card for you beside the cake. Before Audrey was hired to work in HR, the task of recognizing birthdays was left up to anyone who knew it was someone’s birthday. They would order a cake, bring it into work, and also purchase a birthday card and pass it around to get it signed. They’d then turn in the receipts for the cake and card to HR for reimbursement. You were probably never told about that before, because you hardly ever come out of your office and hear the gossip and other news that’s going around.”

“Yes, I guess I’ve made a few sacrifices so I could focus solely on my job when I’m here, instead of socializing.”

“You may not have a lot of casual friends and acquaintances by doing that, but you are definitely well known and well respected by all of your fellow employees. In fact, your success at handling the company’s investment portfolio is almost legendary. The name Terry Horner is hailed for making a lot of money for the company, even during bear markets, and the reason that the company has never had to eliminate any jobs, layoff anyone, or cancel or reduce the raises given out.”

“Wow, I never knew anyone else even realized what my job was, except for my boss and those above him on the food chain.”

“Trust me. Your name has been mentioned to every new hire orientation since you’ve held your current position and we were told that working for the company is probably the most secure job we could have. as long as we do our jobs. And the reason the company is so secure and there have been no layoffs or job losses in the past several years is due to your investment wizardry and shrewd market savvy.”

Whoa! This has indeed turned into a very surprising and wonderful birthday for me and I left work riding on a high that afternoon, as I went to meet up with my boyfriend, Jerrod Pulisic.

“Damn, if you don’t look like the cat that swallowed the canary!” Jerrod stated as I approached him. “You must have had a great day at work.”

“Yes, I had an excellent day!” and then I went on to tell him all about it.

“That’s wonderful. Even though you’ve always received excellent evaluations and raises from management, it’s about time that you received some acknowledgment from your coworkers.”

“Yes, it was a very rewarding and satisfying day.”

“Then I’ll have to see if I can make it even better for you.”

After we enjoyed a wonderful meal, along with several glasses of wine, we headed out of the restaurant and were about to walk the several blocks to our apartment, since it was such a lovely night. Unfortunately, as we left the restauraant, we encountered a person that I’d much rather have avoided. It was Henry McKennie, the homophobic bully we’ve encountered many times before, and it all began shortly after I first moved here.

A week after I moved here and started my new job, I joined the city’s recreation department’s volleyball program so I could meet others, since I knew I couldn’t take time to do that at work. It’s where I met my boyfriend, Jerrod, and the troglodyte I learned was named Henry. As soon as he found out that Jerrod and I were dating, he came up with nicknames for each of us. I became “Fairy Terry” and he called Jerrod “Fairy Jerry”, although Jerrod has never used the name Jerry. That didn’t stop Henry, though, and that’s how he greeted us tonight.

“And if it isn’t homophobic Henry,” I countered, Since I vowed to never back down when dealing with a bully.

“Yeah, I ain’t no damn queer, if that’s what you mean!” he snarled.

“You don’t know what you’re missing then,” I countered as I wrapped an arm around Jerrod’s waist and nudged him to walk away from that asshole, but it didn’t stop good ol’ boy Henry from continuing.

“Where are you ass fuckers going?” he demanded.

“That’s none of you fucking business,” I called out over my shoulder as we continued moving down the street.

I was half expecting Henry to chase us down and continue his asinine antics, but he didn’t. I counted it as another birthday present and squeezed Jerrod a little tighter in relief.

“Henry must have had a hot date, because he left us alone,” I whispered to Jerrod. “God only knows who in their right mind would ever date a cretin like him.

When we arrived at our apartment, Jerrod removed a gift wrapped jewelry box out of his jacket pocket and handed it to me. I carefully unwrapped it and discovered a lovely silver chair with two circular disks attached. One disk had my name engraved on it, along with my birthstone shimmering below my name. The other disk had Jerrod’s name engraved on it and his birthstone was shining below his name. After I thanked him for this marvelous gift and gave him several kisses, he looked at me and smirked.

“That’s just the prelude and you’ll get the rest of your present in the bedroom.”

This turned out to be the best birthday I’ve ever had, even with the glitch of encountering Henry as we left the restaurant, and we made love as long as we could and still get up in time to go to work the next morning.