“How long until we find out the sex?” Patricia asks.
“Umm… a couple of months,” Layla says.
“I can’t wait to go shopping!” Mom adds.
“I hope it’s a boy,” Felix says. “Then he can play Sonic with me.”
“If it’s a girl, she can play too,” Layla tells him.
He looks at her like she’s crazy and shakes his head. “Is it time for birthday cake yet?”
“We have to eat dinner first,” Layla says, ruffling his hair.
“We could eat cake for dinner.” Felix shrugs.
“You know what?” Layla says. “That actually sounds like a really good idea.”
Felix’s face lights up. “Really?”
“Yeah, why not? It’s my birthday, and cake sounds good.”
“Yes!” He runs straight into the kitchen and jumps on a chair to check out the cake we bought for Layla’s birthday. We're barbecuing outside since it’s actually on the warmer side, and we’ve picked up a bounce house/water slide for Felix to play on.
I light the candles, and everyone sings “Happy Birthday,” then Layla makes a wish, blowing them out. My mom cuts slices and dishes them out to everyone.
“Here, Mom.” Felix scoops his chocolate cake onto her plate while Layla does the same with her vanilla. I watch them, feeling so damn blessed.
“Mom,” Felix says, shoveling his cake into his mouth. “Is the baby in your belly?”
Layla smiles and nods. “Yep. That’s where you were too when I was pregnant with you.”
Felix’s eyes go wide. “When I was in your belly, did you eat cake?”
Layla laughs. “A lot of cake. All chocolate.”
Felix cringes. “That’s not nice. You know I don’t like chocolate cake.”
Everyone listening to them laughs.
“Wait, Mom. Stop!” Felix drops his hand over hers before she can take another bite. “If the baby is in your belly, and you’re eating cake…” He takes his finger and drags it from her throat down to her belly button. “Does the cake fall on the baby’s head?”
Layla stifles her laughter when she sees he’s dead serious. “It’s a different part of my belly,” she explains. “The baby is here…” She points at one area. “And the food goes here.” She points at another area.
Felix nods. “Like when I’m full, and my belly still has room for dessert?”
“Yeah,” Layla says with a laugh. “Just like that.”
After eating the cake, Felix insists we give Layla her birthday present because apparently, we’re not doing anything in order. So we pile into the living room since Bailey helped me turn it into a video. I went on to her social media accounts and saved a bunch of photos and videos of her and Felix over the years, and we made it into a digital collage of sorts.
“I made it for you because I love you,” Felix says proudly.
The second the song starts and Felix comes on the screen, with his headphones on and grinning as he sings the lyrics he wrote himself, Layla’s eyes water. I have to admit, with the Auto-Tune shit we did to the song, it doesn’t sound half bad. Okay, I’m lying. The sound is cringeworthy, but it’s still cute as hell. As the song continues, it switches from Felix to the various photos and videos of them. Layla starts to sob, and I notice her mom also tears up.
When it’s done, Layla scoops her son into her arms and peppers kisses all over his face. “Best present ever,” she tells him as he squirms and laughs, begging her to stop.
“Thank you,” she says to me once she’s set him down. “I love it.”
“And I love you.” I give her a hard and long kiss, not giving a shit that we have an audience. It might be Layla’s birthday, but she’s given me so damn much.
“And… that’s a wrap,” Layla says, beaming at us as the film crew starts shuffling about, getting everything organized and cleaned up. For the past two days, we’ve been shooting a music video that Layla's producing. When she pitched it to us, we all agreed it was perfect. The song is called “Ghosted,” and it was written by Declan. It’s about unrequited love and will be the single we release as a teaser to our album. The video is about a guy following a woman around. He appears like a ghost to emphasize the fact that she doesn’t return his feelings. She’s going about her day and feels him around but can’t actually see him. In the end, he vanishes into thin air, and she’s left feeling unsettled as if his presence alone was enough to make her feel safe. It’s sad as fuck, and our fans are going to eat it up. I can’t help but wonder if it’s about my sister, but I’m not going there.
“How soon can we have it finalized?” Dad asks Layla. “I’d like to get it released in the next couple of weeks.
“I think I can have it done by this weekend.” She glances at her phone. “Shoot. I need to grab Felix and get him to Beatrice.” She’s referring to the social worker who takes Felix to meet with his dad.