6 Birthday Plans

Jenna was glad she took Killian's advice because her coworkers were a riot. How had she never noticed that before? Josh and Del were constantly egging each other on and it frequently led to disaster.

It was a miracle Britney hadn't fired them yet but she didn't spend much time out on the floor. She was usually in her office doing administrative work for the franchise owner and they were always on their best behavior when she came out.

Although Josh had gotten chewed out after the smoothie exploded on him for not securing the blender lid properly. Jenna knew the truth; Del had been messing with him to see what happened. It hadn't been his fault at all.

She couldn't remember the last time she laughed that much. It was probably with Jonas before she left home since he was better at cracking her up than anyone else she knew.

The comedic duo of Josh and Del were gaining ground though. She genuinely enjoyed coming to work most days because of those two now that they were friendly. It was easy getting along with them by using the mindset that most old coworkers didn't stay in contact after changing jobs anyway. Leaving them behind would be perfectly normal.

As hilarious as the exploded smoothie was, Jenna was completely mortified that the customer that came in right after it happened saw her in such a state. Especially since he kept coming back every single day for the next two months.

It was strange. She had never seen that guy before but based on his suit he probably worked in the big office building less than a block away. He came around the same time every day too so he was most likely getting off work.

He was a shy one, hardly speaking more than two words in front of her but he had a nice smile. He was handsome too, tall with hair such a dark brown it was nearly black and deep green eyes.

After about a week Jenna finally remembered his name and started being a bit friendlier with him as a regular but he remained quiet until the day he randomly asked if she was okay after noticing she had cried.

She wasn't okay at all. It was the day before her birthday and Killian had called to let her know that she wouldn't be able to do that video call with Jonas after all. Or even be able to talk to her family on the phone since everyone with access to the secure line was too busy.

That had been devastating news and she cried herself to sleep, leaving her with terribly puffy eyes for the entirety of the next day. She cried again after getting home because she wasn't supposed to be celebrating her birthday alone.

Jenna couldn't even celebrate it with Josh or Del because he had a concert and she was sick. She wouldn't be able to celebrate for real anyway because, according to her fake birth certificate, today wasn't Tessa O'Brien's birthday but she had hoped to at least be able to spend time with SOMEONE.

So when Bryce showed up on her birthday with flowers she realized that he had probably only been coming to Juice Jubilee every day to see her. She didn't mind since giving a virtual stranger flowers to cheer her up was an incredibly nice thing to do. But then he tried to leave without doing anything else!

She had been rather confused since that was totally a romantic gesture and she truly didn't want to spend her birthday alone. An opportunity had fallen right into her lap; how could she let it walk away?

That was how she found herself frantically trying to rush back to her one-bedroom apartment to clean herself up after closing up shop at 7:25. Her work might be a bit far from school but it was a ten-minute walk from her apartment complex.

Jenna touched up her makeup, swapped out her ponytail for a crown braid with wisps hanging down near her ears, and put on a pair of silver dangly earrings. Her outfit would make Alison proud since it consisted of a baby pink polka dotted dress with a blue cardigan, gray tights, and black ankle booties.

She never would have worn something like this at home but had been wearing a lot of dresses since moving here because they helped her be Tessa O'Brien rather than Jenna Mitchell. Jonas would laugh if he could see her now.

No. She wasn't allowed to think about him and the fact that he was spending his birthday without his twin for the first time in his life too.

Focusing on the fact that she had plans on her birthday was what was important. She wasn't drinking alone and she needed to be in a decent mood at the very least to thank Bryce properly for the flowers.

His liking her would never go anywhere but she wanted to be a good date this one time. Killian had told her to go out and date casually so that was exactly what she was doing after someone showed interest in her. There was nothing wrong with that!

Jenna barely made it out the door in time for her Uber to get her to the bar. She was two minutes late but Bryce didn't seem to mind. He had a relieved smile on his face when he waved her over to the seat next to him at the bar. Did he think she was going to stand him up or something?

He was wearing a maroon sweater with dark wash jeans and looked undeniably good. She was determined to enjoy herself tonight even if it was a one-time deal.

"Hey!" she greeted cheerfully. "Thanks for agreeing to drink with me."

Bryce laughed. "It must be pretty important to want to do it on a Wednesday. This might come back to bite you in the morning so be prepared."

"Eh, I'll skip class if I have to. But it is important and I really didn't want to do it by myself so I appreciate your cooperation. There's something incredibly depressing about drinking alone."

More so when it was on your birthday and you were supposed to be doing it with all the people that loved you. Jenna really didn't know what she would have done if Bryce hadn't agreed to come out with her tonight. This probably hadn't been his first choice of where to go on a date.

"You're not wrong. So what are you having?" he asked.

She frowned as she looked at the menu. "I…don't know. I've never been to a bar before."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I wanted to shake things up today. What do you recommend?"

Bryce laughed again. "Sorry, it's not that funny, but I feel like our roles have been reversed. Since you recommended the Banana-Rama to me when we met."

Jenna couldn't help but smile in response. She had nearly forgotten about that. "I guess so. What do you normally order here? Since you obviously come here a lot based on what you said earlier."

"Well, I normally get beers on tap but I'm not sure if you like beer."

"I've never had it so I wouldn't know."

He blinked at her in disbelief. "Never? Are you more of a wine person then?"

"I've never had alcohol at all," Jenna confessed. "I…I was supposed to go drinking with my best friend when we turned twenty-one but that didn't happen."

Ha. She made it sound like that had happened months ago but it was supposed to be today. Tessa O'Brien's birthday was in May not October so the only person out here who knew it was today was Killian, who rather generously had a bakery deliver her a small cake this morning before she left for school. She had birthday cake for breakfast.

"Why?" Bryce asked curiously.

"Geographical differences," she said wryly. That was the understatement of the century.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm honored to be the first person you ever drink with but, geez, that's a lot of pressure. If you drink the wrong thing, you might hate alcohol for life! I need to make sure I don't steer you astray…"

A look of fierce concentration appeared on his face and she found herself grinning. He was going all out for her.

A few minutes later he clapped his hands together. "Alright, I've got it. An appletini. It tastes good and doesn't have a high alcohol volume."

"Alright then."