t12. Accept it

       "Can I take my blindfold off yet?" I asked, my voice squeaking as my two friends continued to guide me along. They had insisted on picking me up right after I had finished work, and to take me out for my birthday. The gesture was sweet, and I appreciated it a whole lot, but there was one major problem: I wished that they had told me that they were going to blindfold me. I was clumsy enough with vision.
      "Okay, here's a step," I heard Monica say on my right. I gripped her hand tightly and stretched my leg out, flailing it around for the step. It had to be somewhere!
       "The step doesn't move," Emma said from behind me.
I turned around to face her, to tell her that I knew that, but in the process I pulled Monica down on top of me and we collided with the ground. Thankfully, I didn't feel any bodies on top of me.
     "Oww oww oww! I'm sorry!" I lifted up my blindfold over one eye to see how badly I had tangled us. Monica had landed closest to the step, her feet on top of the step I was trying to land on; she was lying on the ground next to me. She lifted herself up, rubbing her foot. Oh no, did she sprain it? That would be awful! Before I could ask her, she spoke.
      "Are you okay, Linnie?" I heard her ask me.
     I nodded. "Y-yeah. What about you, Mon? You didn't hurt your foot, did you?" I really really hoped she hadn't. The last thing we wanted was to start my birthday party with a trip to the hospital! (It's not like a hospital trip hasn't happened to me before on fun occasions.) But she didn't wince as she touched it, and told me that she was okay. I breathed a sigh of relief.
      Behind me, Emma said, "You should get up. You're blocking the entrance, Linnea." I turned around to see how she had ended up. She seemed to have dodged my tumble.
      "I told you guys I was clumsy." I really did, and they should have known that by now! But, they didn't listen to me, and insisted that they would guide me just fine. Now look at what had happened! It's a wonder that we made it from my workplace to here without any mishaps, wherever "here" was. Well, at least most of the travel was done by car, and I wasn't the one driving!
       Monica stood up, testing her weight and then helped me back up. "No one's hurt Linnie, so I think you should memorize where the step is, pull your blindfold back down, and let us guide you inside."
     I pouted. "B-but why can't I just walk in, since we're already here?"
     "Because your birthday surprise is inside, and we can't surprise you if you see it before you sit down!"
       That made sense. "Oh! Okay!" I took a moment to breathe and calm down. Okay step. You want to trip me, but my friends and I? We're not going to let you. I'm going to walk up you and have a wonderful birthday party and there's nothing you can do about it!
      "Okay, I'm ready!" I pulled my blindfold back down. Emma put her hand on my back to push me forward if I fell backwards, and Monica led me by hand. Somehow, we made it past the steps and into the mystery location without much more trouble than that. I didn't even bump into the doors! It's a good thing it wasn't a revolving door, either. It probably would have given away the location, too.
     My friends guided me into a seat. I felt the legs of the chair behind my legs and sat down. Not even the chairs would ruin this! I began to feel proud at how I made it through all of that and put my hand up to untie the blindfold while I heard Monica and Emma talk. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I could hear one of them walked away.
       I felt someone's hand on mine as I began to untie the blindfold, stopping me. "Not yet, Linnea," Monica told me. She sounded a little giddy. "We have to make sure everything's ready before you can take it off!"
      Oh poo. I felt around for the table and laid my hands there. It was weird, sitting there like that. I could hear everything, but I couldn't see what was going on. I heard someone settle into a nearby chair. I guess it was at a different table, because no one at my table seemed to speak. Monica then began to hum something. I think it was a viola piece she played, but I couldn't tell without the instrument. The waiting was starting to feel like forever. Eventually Emma rejoined us, as I heard Monica ask her if everything was good. I heard footsteps, which stopped to my side, and a small voice, clear as day, ask,
      "Is there anything I can get you ladies?"
      Oh no. They didn't! I don't know how, but I had a feeling that I knew where we were now. We were in the Straiton City gym, where my crush Cilan worked. And he was the one who was serving us! My face started to turn red and I stared down into where my lap would be, if I didn't have the blindfold on. Maybe if I was lucky, the blindfold was actually all over my face, and he couldn't see me blush! Yeah! Or… or… he couldn't recognize me because he didn't see my eyes. After all, how many young ladies in Unova have purple hair? …Right. Not that many.
      "I'll have a salad," Emma said. She was always so direct, regardless of whether or not she was speaking with a guy. I was kind of envious of her for that. I was too busy thinking about how she must not have any men troubles to have heard Monica order, because the next thing I knew, I was being address.
      "And for… Ms. Linnea?" He sounded confused. I bet he was! I mean, how often does someone sit in your restaurant with a blindfold on? And it's not like it was my first time in there, too! My face flushed even more.
     I stood up. "Y-yes!"
       Monica and Emma laughed. "You're not at work, Linnea," Monica told me.
       I knew that. I totally knew that. "C-can I take my blindfold off now, guys? Please?" I was afraid that if I tried to sit back down right now, I would have fallen, and then Cilan would have laughed, and he would have told his brothers, and they would have laughed, and then he would have thought I was such a klutz and didn't want to do anything with me.
      It didn't help ease my nerves when my friends suggested that Cilan untie the blindfold.
     "Hm? Oh, uh, sure." I heard something get set on the table. He lightly placed his hands on my shoulder so he could guide me as he turned me around and untie the blindfold, since I clearly had no idea where he was. I felt the blindfold fall away, and white light settle into the other colors. The light hurt at first, and I blinked away the bright spots. The colors of the restaurant in Straiton Gym settled. When my vision was restored to me, I looked around for my chair and fumbled my way into my seat, nearly falling down. My face felt as hot as a Tepig.
      "Th-thanks," I mumbled, staring at my lap. Yep. Nothing could let him know that I had feelings for him if I was staring at my lap!
      "It's nothing," he said, and I stole a glance at him. He was looking away, scratching the side of his face. He looked so cute like that that I quickly reverted my gaze back to my lap before I started blushing even more.
      "Is there anything else that you need?"
        I shook my head. Monica and Emma shook their heads, too. He walked away, and I looked up at my friends. Monica was looking away, as if she had no idea that this was going to happen, and Emma had her eyes into a weather book. They should have warned me that we were going here! I would have at least brought a change of clothes. But now wasn't the time to focus on what I was wearing.
     "Okay you two! I know that you were both in on this!" I told them in a hushed, but very not amused voice.
      Monica looked at me with a somewhat devious smile. "Linnea, I thought that you would enjoy eating here. Isn't this your favorite restaurant?"
      "You're always talking about it," added Emma.
      "Th-that's beside the point!" I huffed. "And… an-and that wasn't nice, to blindfold me and then have him untie it! Why couldn't either of you do it?!"
      "He was already standing," said Monica. Emma nodded.
        Unable to add anything else, I settled for trying my best to look angry with them. That didn't last long though. It was my birthday, after all, and I wanted to have a good time. All three of us began to talk about other things that my mind had completely forgotten about the embarrassing act from a few moments ago.
      As we chatted, I looked around the place. Like I said earlier, we were in the Gym's restaurant. Challengers were taken to the back. I remembered this because the last time I was here, I saw Cilan take up a challenge. He looked like such a determined and awesome battler, and even though he lost, he was very happy with his challenger, and happily gave them the badge. I also remember giggling a little at the show he and his brothers seemed to enjoy putting on when accepting challenges.
       While I was admiring the décor of the gym, the lights suddenly dimmed, and everyone began to talk in hushed whispers. No one knew what was happening or why. Some people asked if the lights went out, while others asked whether there was a special challenge about to happen. What was going on?, I wondered. I looked to my friends, who also were looking around. Emma was the first to situate her roaming eyes on where a spotlight had come on. It was at a kitchen door.
     "Ha~"
     "Py~"
     "Birth~"
     "Daaaaaaaaay~! To youuuuu!" The Striaton triplets appeared as they sang each syllable, first Cress, then Chili, and lastly Cilan. My face felt hot again, as it became obvious that they were singing a "Happy Birthday" song for me. I looked to my friends Monica and Emma. Monica gave me the thumbs up sign, while Emma smirked, watching both the routine and myself. Another spotlight turned on and shined on me. I turned my eyes back to the guys, trying hard not to blush.
      I couldn't describe the routine, even if I tried, but I could tell you that it must have been well-choreographed. They brought out three dishes, one each for my friends and I. Cress then pushed a silver cart towards our table. Cilan lifted the lid and Chili lit the candles.
    "We hope that you have a very wonderful birthday, Linnea!" all three of them chimed at the end of their song.
      I was stunned. I was unable to do anything but stare at the cake, until Chili leaned in and reminded me to blow out the candles. I nodded, made a wish and blew out the candles, and the entire restaurant cheered. The lights went back to normal, and conversations flared up, no doubt about this birthday treat and questions of who I was and my relationship with  the Gym Leaders.
     Cilan's brothers went back to working with their other customers, but Cilan lingered behind to serve us the cake. Although we still had our main courses to go through before it was desert, he stayed throughout, offering small bits of conversation every now and then. I don't know how I made it through my meal without a mishap, but I did. At last, it was time for cake.
      Cilan lifted up the box he had put over the cake, to protect it. "It's Strawberry shortcake," he told me. It was decorated with flowers all over, and a large blue rose on top. "Which slice would you like?"
     "The one with the blue rose!" I couldn't help it. I had a weakness for flowers. He laughed, carefully cutting me a slice, and then putting it on a plate to serve to me. The others got slices they asked for. I was too happy and embarrassed right then to have really said anything else.

      The rest of the evening passed by in a blur. We were leaving now, and all three brothers were at the door to see us off.
      "Thank you so very much!" I told them. "The cake was really really good, and I didn't expect that you guys would do something like that."
      Chili was the first to respond. "It was a piece of cake! It was a lot of fun to do!"
     "If you have any other occasions that may require our service, feel free to ask," Cress added.
      "It was nice to see you again, Linnea," Cilan told me. "It was also nice to see you not hiding under a table this evening," he added a little more quietly, and then he glanced away, as if he seemed embarrassed to have brought that up.
     I blushed and my friends gave me weird looks. I would explain to them later about that. "Mm-hmm!" I turned to walk out the door.
       "Wait, Linnea!" I heard Monica say. "Don't forget the--!"
       But it was too late. I fell down on my face. "Owww owww owww!"
       "---step." Behind me, Monica sighed. One of the brothers laughed, and I thought I heard Cilan ask if I was okay.
      "She's always like this."