The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 20.5: Ben's Birthday

Part 1/2

“Happy birthday!” Ben’s friends had all exclaimed as Ben walked through the living room door.

“Woah! What the-”

“Surprise!” Ben’s friend, Carlos yelled, while holding up a poorly constructed cheesecake. His white apron was covered in cream cheese stains and his hands were covered in white flour. The cheesecake looked droopy, and had red frosting that made a smiley face on it. Plus, there were a few strawberries on it too, which were always a novelty.

“Woah, nice cake, dude,” Ben lied, looking at it skeptically. Ian, one of Ben’s best friends, noticed his unease and patted him on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Ben. We know Carlos is a terrible chef,”

“Hey!”

“So we ordered a cake just in case something like this happened!”

Carlos scoffed, a pouty look on his face as he furrowed his brow at Ian. His curls moved as he jolted his head to the side.

“I was doing all the work. Maybe if you and the others helped me bake that cake it wouldn’t turn out that way!”

Paul, the optimistic, cheerful dude as he always was, walked up to Carlos with a grin. He was wearing his iconic bright red shirt with a white zipped up jacket with short sleeves covering it.

“Don’t worry friend!” Paul said with a goofy grin, “You tried your best!”

Ian signaled to John.

“If you will get the cake from the fridge.”

John saluted him. He was wearing a pink shirt that said, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” He was also wearing a straw hat for some reason.

“Aye aye Ian,” John said. He walked up to the fridge, opened it up, and pulled out another cheesecake! John set it atop the dining table, put five candles on it, and lit it with a lighter.

“Okay, let’s sing happy birthday!” Paul blurted with a surprising enthusiasm.

For the next minute or two, they all sang happy birthday, and Ben couldn’t help but smile. Life was great. Things were going well, and the friends he had been with for a while were on his side, as always.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Ben thought as the sing-song voices of his friends came to a halt.

“Make a wish now, Ben, and blow out the candles!” Carlos said.

“I think you should wish for Carlos to get better at cooking,” Ian whispered into Ben’s ear.

“I heard that!” Carlos shouted while waving his fist in the air.

“Nah, don’t worry Carlos I won’t make that wish,” Ben reassured him with a grin. He leaned forward, his wish ready. With a soft blow, only one flame of the candle was extinguished. He blew it again with all of his might, and at last they were extinguished. His four friends cheered, clapping as Ben grinned one last time.

“Thanks everyone, thanks,” Ben said with a smile.

“Hey, what was your wish?” Paul asked curiously, and with raised eyebrows.

“He can’t tell you, otherwise the wish can’t come true!” Ian warned him.

“Oh…” Paul said with a frown.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing important,” Ben reassured Paul with a soft smile.

“Well that’s good to hear! I hope your wish comes true!” Paul beamed with a bright smile. Everyone began to laugh, and with that, Carlos carved the cheesecake up into pieces for everyone to eat…