It was my friend Aliyah's birthday. Some friends and I went over to her house for a small celebration. Debbie and I were in charge of getting the cake, and I was chosen because I had a friend in school who was very good at making cakes.
The birthday was on the 14th, and I paid my friend to make the cake on the 5th. I prepared early because I didn’t want to deal with any issues when the birthday came. Even though I made the payment early, I asked my friend on the 10th if she had already made the cake. She said she hadn’t because she had a lot of orders but promised she would deliver it early on the morning of my friend's birthday. I felt relieved and assumed everything would go smoothly from there, not thinking anything could go wrong.
The morning of the birthday, we were busy preparing the house, and I didn’t notice the time passing. When everything was set and the party was starting, I suddenly realized—the cake still hadn’t arrived.
I went into one of the rooms and called my friend, who was supposed to deliver the cake earlier in the morning, but she wasn’t answering her phone.
“Oh my God, what am I going to do?” I sat on the bed, frustrated.
“Bhale,” Debbie called as she entered the room, “There’s no sign of the cake,” she stated the obvious.
“It’ll be here. I’m sure she’s on her way,” I said confidently, but my stomach churned with doubt.
“If the cake doesn’t arrive, you—” Debbie didn’t finish her sentence before my friend finally answered my call.
“I’ve been calling you like forever!” I nearly shouted over the phone. I was tired, frustrated, and angry.
“I’m sorry, I was supposed to deliver it this morning, but an accident happened,” she said.
“What happened?” I stood up, my heart pounding. I was so confident that nothing was going to go wrong, but now I started panicking.
“I had just finished packaging the cake when my mom accidentally knocked it over. I had to start again, but I don’t think I can deliver it on time anymore,” she explained.
“When will you be able to deliver it?” I asked, hoping for a quick fix.
“I’m sorry, but it will take hours, and I can’t make any promises.”
I lowered the phone from my ear as my eyes welled up.
“I was sure the cake would be here and nothing could possibly go wrong,” I said, feeling down. “I guess I shouldn’t have counted my chickens before they hatched.”
Debbie smiled, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Good thing I thought ahead. Like I was about to say, I had a feeling something could go wrong, so I got an extra cake, just in case.”
When I heard her say she had a backup cake, I felt so relieved. The party went on, and we used the backup cake.
Later, while we were eating, I whispered to Debbie, “What if the other cake still arrives?”
“Well, then we’ll just have more cake to eat,” she replied, and we both looked at each other and burst into laughter.
