That ride home was one of the most awkward moments of her life. She had just quickly grabbed her things, the orderlies in the center had administered her ready to go, so with that, they left. Benji didn't look at her once, not since she opened the door when he had first arrived. Benji called Joel and told him that he had picked up Annie and they were on their way back to the bus, so Joel turned around to go back to the bus to hopefully get back before they did.
Annie sat in the passenger's seat on the 45 minute drive, silently looking out the window, listening to The Clash's London Calling blare from the radio when she felt Benji's hand gently rub her leg, she looked up to him, and smiled, he smiled back, faintly, and then went back to giving 100% of his attention to his driving... He wanted to say something, but everything he tried, something made him stop, he was at a loss for words, but he figured he could at least give her a friendly gesture, after all, he hadn't even spoken to her in 3 weeks.
After Benji looked away, Annie went back to looking out the window. She was happy. She knew that tonight would be the night he found out, that she found out, if everything went according to how she had thought it would, the rest of her life was going to be perfect. She wasn't sure at first, because Benji hadn't said anything, and he had no enthusiasm at all, for someone who hadn't seen or even heard from one of their supposed best friends in 3 weeks, but after what he had just done, she knew everything was okay.
The drove the rest of the way in silence, and when they pulled up to the hotel at which they were staying, she felt really sick, and she went to walk towards the doors when she started to get dizzy and she passed out. Luckily, Benji was walknig right behind her, and he caught her. He picked her up, and put her back in the car as he called Joel to tell him what had happened and that he was bringing her to the hospital.
Annie woke up in the hotel room, alone, she didn't know what was going on, the last thing she remembered was Benj's voice saying that she would be okay, but even that was foggy and she didn't remember when or where it happened. She looked over at the side table beside her bed, there was note. She read it:
Annie, if you wake up and I'm not here, don't worry I'll be back soon, B
She had a terrible headache, and she went to the bathroom to maybe take a shower, and get dressed, but she heard the door open. She wasn't sure if it was him or not so she shut the bathroom door and turned on the shower, she got in, washed her hair, and she noticed that someone had opened the door and was standing in the bathroom, obviously brushing his teeth. She grabbed her towel and looked over to see a very tired looking Joel. She quietly walked out of the shower, because apparently he hadn't noticed that she was there. She put on her robe, and jumped out and hugged him.
"Oh my god Annie don't ever do that again", he said and smiled and he hugged her back. "I've missed you alot. More than you know, and you know, someone else has been missing you alot too...", he smiled and pushed her out the door to see a fancied-up Benji in the room, she laughed at the sight of Benji in a tux,but when she looked down and noticed he was still wearing his chucks, she walked over and hugged him.
"What's the occasion, buddy boy?", she asked as she walked over to her bags and picked out some jeans and a Minor Threat t-shirt.
"Haha like you don't know..", he smiled and picked up her t-shirt and jeans and threw them back in the bag. "Come on, I know you don't have anything... well you know, in that little bag of yours so let's go downstairs, I've got an early birthday present for you."
Annie couldn't believe it. She'd been out for 2 days, today was the day before her birthday, and her and Benji always celebrated her birthday at midnight, the first minute of her birthday was always spent with Benji, and when they were younger, they promised each other that no matter where they were, they would always be together for their birthdays, you see, Benj and Joel's birthdays were only 2 days after hers, so sometimes they threw a party together for all their friends, but even when they did that, they always spent the day together, it was like tradition.
"But Benj... I don't know...", she smiled. "I.. um... well i'm in my robe... i just got outta the shower... you sure you don't mind walkin down the hallways with me, you know without me bein all beauty-fied?", she laughed at her own joke, and Benji just smiled and grabbed her hand.
"I'm sure, but if we don't leave in 2 minutes, then no, because we won't have enough time", he said and he pulled her out the door.
They walked down the hallway together and then he asked her to wait in the lobby as he pulled up the car to take her to her suprise, she waited, and then she pulled up and they went to go find out whatever her suprise would be.
"Okay okay we're getting close, so close your eyes!", Benji said as they turned and continued to drive. Annie closed her eyes and laughed as Benji parked and helped her out of the car. They walked through a door, and Benji explained her suprise, since it was her birthday, he decided that he wanted to take her somewhere nice, so since she didn't have a dress, he took her to a nice dress shoppe called Sandra's and he told her to pick out whichever she wanted and that he would be back in about 2 hours. She sighed and looked at the 3 saleswomen ready to ask her what she was looking for, she gave in and asked to see their selection of short, black dresses. She decided that if he was willing to go the extra effort for her to feel nice and pretty on her birthday, she was going to blow him away.
After being poked and prodded by makeup artists and hairstylists, and trying on about 27 dresses, she was ready. She had picked a strapless black sweetheart dress that was probably too short for own good, and a pair of strappy black high heels that she was planning on wearing with some fishnets, her usually long straight hair had been layered, and slightly permed so that it had a wavy look to it. The stylists had decided that they didn't want to add too much makeup, because she was naturally very pretty, so they added a small amount of black eyeliner, some black glitter to her lids, and finished with a touch of ruby red lipstick and gloss.
She looked at the clock. She had finished just in time. Benji would be there in about 5 minutes, she sat down on a chair, and picked up a magazine to look at while she waited. Not long after, she noticed him walk in. He looked around, noticed her, and was literally speechless. She walked over, smiled, and told him not to get used to it, that she only did it for him, for this night. He smiled, took her hand and led her to the car.
"Gah, Annie, you look, wow. You really clean up, thats for sure," He said, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. She simply smiled as they pulled up to the 5 star restaurant she has always dreamed of going to. She leaned over, and gave him a light kiss, then she let herself out of the car. Tonight was definitely the night she thought, as she remembered the letter. Tonight was the night.