A Beautiful Dark

thick, sweatery tights and snow boots that were ubiquitous in Colorado during the winter. Dan was in his navy blue hoodie, the one he never took off. His straight brown hair flopped in his eyes, and he pushed it back. I just couldn’t stay mad at them. They’d been my best friends since kindergarten, and we were still as tight a unit as ever.
    “Okay, I admit it,” I said. “You guys are amazing. This place looks incredible.”
    “Aw, she likes it!” Dan nudged Cassie. “Don’t get all mushy on us now, Skye.”
    “It better look effing incredible.” Cassie sighed. “It took me like two hours to finish making the paper icicles and untangle those little twinkle lights.”
    “You are a craft goddess,” I assured her.
    “Speaking of crafty,” Dan said, pointing to the present on the couch behind him, “you probably don’t want to hear this”—his voice dropped to a stage whisper—“but we got you something .” He mock-ducked, as if I was going to hit him.
    “Hilarious,” I said. “Did you practice that?”
    The present was wrapped in wrinkled silver tinfoil with gold glitter glue looping out the words Happy Birthday, Skye .
    “The present was totally my idea,” Cassie said.
    “But I was in charge of wrapping it,” Dan said, jumping in.
    “As if she couldn’t tell.” Cassie rolled her eyes at me. “But don’t open it now; it might be too much for your surprise-averse heart. Do us all a favor and open it later when we don’t have to painfully wait for your reaction. Okay?”
    “Okay.” I laughed. “Plus, I don’t want to ruin this gorgeous wrapping job.”
    “It’s harder than it looks,” Dan insisted.
    “I’d like to propose a toast. I know I don’t usually like surprises, but . . .” They looked at me expectantly. “This one is pretty cool. Thanks.”
    Cassie lifted her mug. “We like doing this stuff. It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy. And we know birthdays are hard for you.” I gave her a pointed look, which she pretended not to notice.
    “To always having each other’s backs.” Dan raised his own mug.
    “To seventeen,” Cassie added. “The year it all falls into place.”
    Our mugs clinked together, echoing through the noisy coffeehouse as if it were only the three of us.
    The twinkle lights cast a fuzzy glow over everything, and the music blasted full-volume out of the coffee shop speakers. More than one person had Cassie’s idea to stash a flask on them. Maggie Meltzer, the captain of the girls’ ski team, fed me shots of Jägermeister from her pink aluminum water bottle as the rest of the team started a dance party around us. Someone else pushed one of Dan’s track friends up against me and then we were dancing, too. From somewhere I couldn’t quite pinpoint, I heard Cassie’s voice float up: “For someone who isn’t crazy about surprises, she’s really taken to this one.”
    Eventually I started to feel a little dizzy, like when you swim too far from shore and suddenly realize that you can’t touch the bottom anymore. Pausing for breath, I tipsily made my way back to our couches, using my arms to propel myself off the furniture, swimming against the tide. Cassie was sitting next to Dan, their heads tilted toward each other, their knees almost touching as they talked.
    “Hey, Skye!” I turned around to see Ian smiling and wielding a tray of multicolored cupcakes. Cassie and I liked to call him Dan’s best “XY” friend. He had clean-cut sandy hair and a treasure map of freckles scattered across his face. Seeing Ian always made me happy. Not as happy as I often felt he wanted me to be, but still.
    “See, we can stick to at least one part of the original plan.” Ian offered me first choice. “On the house.”
    “How are you not already fired?” I asked as I picked out a pink-frosted vanilla cupcake with rainbow sprinkles.
    “This place would fall apart without me. I’m the sexy handyman.”
    I pushed him lightly. “Shut up.”
    “Really.” He nudged his shoulder against mine. “Anyway, I’d get fired for you.” He set the tray on the low table in front of the couch where Cassie and Dan sat. Cassie jumped up immediately. “Oooh, sugar,” she crowed, grabbing a chocolate cupcake with yellow frosting.
    Ian dropped down beside me. “I’ve got a fifteen-minute break,” he said. “So, were you surprised?”
    “You mean even though you all went against my explicit instructions to not surprise me? Just like you did last