19... The Peak of Femininity

She had planned it meticulously. Lily looked at her list with a big smile, check-in everything again to make sure no item was left out. Satisfied, she sent it to her best friend Ash.
"What is this?" Ash typed, with an emoji showcasing shock and laughter.
"It's my birthday list of course." Lily replied back, scrolling and looking for a sticker to help accentuate her point.
The stickers on the Whatsapp messaging app, was a favorite of hers as they showcased way more emotion than an emoji ever could. She was quite proud of her collection, but with them becoming more numerous, it was getting harder to find the perfect sticker for the perfect instance in a conversation.
At least she found one, the man looking on with a scowl, meant to say 'What do you mean by What is this?
"It's your birthday list... All these." Ash replied.
"What do you mean by 'All these?'" Lily typed back, anger bubbling at how insensitive her supposed best friend could be at times.
"It's just nineteen items... For my nineteenth birthday!!" Lily typed.
"A car... Lily, you can't drive." Ash replied laughing.
"I'll learn." She replied back.
"An iPhone 15, Three Hundred Thousand, A new show, Chocolate... Lily how... Lily why..."
The more he kept on scrutinizing the list, Lily felt her initial excitement grow smaller and smaller.
"I hate you!!" She replied Ash. Now typing and sending a stream of texts...
"You don't know how important the Nineteenth birthday of a girl is. It's a year to celebrate one's femininity.."
"How does an iPhone 15 celebrate your femininity?" He asks, replying himself with a laughing emoji.
"Please get off my phone." Lily simply typed and went offline.

---

"Not one time he ever agrees with me...Not one!!" Lily cries about Ash to her boyfriend Peter.
Lamenting about the chat tirade that happened earlier.
Peter, the ever understanding boyfriend, listened intently as they drove to the restaurant for their afternoon date.
"And when I showed him my birthday list... Can you imagine what he did? Can you just imagine?" She asked, screaming.
"What did he do babe?" Peter asked back, now an expert at when he's meant to talk after multiple long hours of hearing her rant about her friends, her day at school, bad day at work or at home.
He was such an expert that he could listen to her ranting about the most meaningless things and still look as interested as he should be.
This topic though was one which did interest him.
She almost never argued with Ash, and yet here she was, as angry as a volcano, because of her best friend.
"How could he say that, just imagine, always trying to burst my bubble!" Lily ranted on, oblivious to the fact that Peter was lost.
"Maybe he was just having a bad day or he didn't mean it like that." Peter proceeded to give vague reasons for Ash's actions despite not knowing what he had actually done.
He was good in the guessing game though, so even without knowing the offense, he still could administer advice to his girl to help cover her worries and help hold that feminine urge to jump into conclusions.
"Maybe he doesn't want to be my friend anymore, to be honest, I'll let him go, I don't need him." Lily said suddenly.
Peter looked at her to see if she was serious.
"You want to cut ties with Ash, your best friend since your sophomore year?" He asked, looking at her intently even when driving over sixty.
"Okay, maybe I won't. But I won't call him either, he should apologize to me first." She said, now a little relaxed.
"That's my girl." Peter said, smiling while squeezing her laps.

---

Ash glanced at the phone, it was eight pm in the night. It was around this time that Lilly would call, all hyper over something Peter had done or said and he'd have to reciprocate her enthusiasm or there was an issue.
He really didn't care much about Peter but he did care about her so he had to care about Peter too. It was a tiresome role to play, yet it's the price of being the male best friend.
Regardless the call didn't come, he instead received a message, from none other than Peter.

Lily is apparently mad over something you did, I didn't get the details but she's been ranting about it all through our drive in the afternoon.
You probably should give her a call.

He looked at the message, first wondering how Peter got his number.

She gave me your number though.

He sent again, as though he heard his own thoughts.
Ash replied thanks and went on to Lily's chat.
"Hey" He typed, the message going through and showing a double tick. Read but no reply.
"You mad?" He asked again, the same reaction, read but no answer.

Ash couldn't help but laugh at such childish behavior by a soon-to-be nineteen year old.
She expected an apology clearly, yet there was nothing for him to apologize for.
About to state his belief, he remembered a quote from his elder brother, who has had far more experience with women.

If you and a girl fight, the girl wins. When the girl wins, you apologize. If you win, you apologize. If the fight ends in a draw, you apologize. If you're at fault, you apologize, if she's at fault, you apologize.
For the only time a man doesn't lose a fight with a female, is when he's asking for forgiveness.

After Peter had advised him to apologize, and now he remembered that quote, he typed a simple apology.
Immediately, she replied with a "Your welcome." and then proceeded to forward a bunch of dresses.
"Choose which one is more pretty."
Ash was flabbergasted at the request, should this be made by him.
"Which one do you prefer?" He asked her back.
"I'm asking you to pick." She insisted.
After looking through, he picked a sleeveless emerald gown with frills and a bow at the back.
"I love this one too", she replied before going offline again.
A few minutes later, he received a text from Peter.

I heard you apologized, thanks.

---

The dreaded day finally came, his phone's ringtone woke him up.
Bleary eyed, he looked at the time, just a few minutes after seven and he already had seventeen missed calls, all from Lily.
The next one came in a few minutes after and he picked it.
"Good Morning" he managed to say between yawns.
"Good morning too, guess what day it is?" She asked, the excitement as clear as day in her voice.
"It's a Saturday?" He asked, forming ignorance simply to spite her.
"No you idiot, it's my birthday. I'll be in your house in five minutes." Just like that the line was dead.
Ash looked at it in shock, amusement and dismay.
Who receives visitors before eight in the morning on a Saturday.
Regardless, she knocked on the door thirty minutes later and Ash was already fully awake.

"You look good." He replied, sipping orange juice and looking at his Best friend who was sporting her gown and make up with heels.
"You dressed up just to come see me? I'm honored." Ash said prostrating with a fake bow.
Lily laughed at the gesture and explained her plan for the day.
It all started with him taking her for a photoshoot that was due in the next ten minutes.
Ash hadn't had his bath nor brushed, yet he listened to the plan fully.
As he entered the bathroom to use and shower and brush. He was out in five minutes and then they were in the car.
With a few bursts of speed above the limit, and some meant to be illegal turns, Ash managed to get her into the studio just as it was time for her reservation.
He stood back and watched his best friend pose for the camera, a clear image of femininity.
After a few clicks, the photos were taken and then formed for them to choose the best.
Of course, Lily saw some things wrong and pointed out faults that Ash couldn't pinpoint, it was then his role to reassure her that those faults weren't visible and no one else would see or notice it.
So she went to pay while he looked on at the pictures.
They still had a long trip ahead, ending with a big birthday party, a party Ash had once dreaded, now he looked forward to it as he saw his best friend slay in the emerald dress he picked.
Femininity had never looked better.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/seki1/23tvCzxsb3vrYR1QFMDkogw1TQ1Jz9mtwdduRqwbaCpfSjo9dQVTXAAjwSYMGkumLAgBC.webp

• _{This is my entry to the Scholar and Scribes Invitational hosted by @grocko.
  @kemmyb has been tagging me for a while now😂😂, it's only right to respond and tag her back.}
• _{Image was gotten from Pixabay}

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