Chapter Twelve: Keeping Friends

Phoenix apologized to Sadie in class on Monday for Paulie's rude behavior and she accepted. She also accepted when Phoenix invited her over to his house after school. They got along well without Paulie to interfere, and the two soon became good friends.

Phoenix remained friends with Paulie, too, for better or worse. He simply made sure he kept the two well apart, spending time with each friend individually.

And so it was that Phoenix lived through his childhood with two best friends that had nothing to do with each other.

Rachel, always busy with work, was completely oblivious to her son's dilemma. She had finally made her way into forensics as a wiretap technician, but reaching this goal didn't mean that she was ready to slow down.

In fact, she began taking up a new hobby that she thought would help her advance even further in her career.

At the same time, she still kept up with her rigorous training at the gym.

And there were, of course, always plenty of lab reports to type up. Bringing her work home was made much easier now, with the new laptop that she had acquired along with her promotion.

She bought a new desk to accompany it, and gave the old desk and computer to Phoenix to keep in his room.

Phoenix appreciated having a computer all his own, but he would have preferred more time with his mother instead.

As it was, the only time they really spent together was during breakfast in the mornings before work and school. Rachel usually stayed late at the gym after work, so Phoenix was often stuck with leftovers for dinner.

Today would be different, though.

"So, are you inviting anyone other than Sadie and Paulie to your party today?" asked Rachel.

"No... and Paulie can't make it. He just started working at the spa after school and can't get any time off."

"Well, that's a shame," Rachel said.

Phoenix was relieved. He couldn't have invited only one of his best friends to his birthday party, but he had been worried about how it would go with both of them there. Paulie's new part-time job had made everything much easier.

As they finished eating and Rachel started clearing the dishes, she glanced over at her son, amazed at how old he was getting.

"You know, your hair's getting awfully long, I should take you to get it cut soon," she ruffled his hair playfully.

"Mo-om!" Phoenix complained before dashing off to get dressed.

Rachel left work a little early that afternoon to set up for the party. Their new back porch had just recently been completed, and she was excited to have a chance to put it to use.

When Phoenix got home from school a little while later, he found that Sadie had beaten him there.

"What do you think of my new haircut?" she asked, grinning and stiking a goofy pose. Sadie was just barely older than Phoenix and had already had her birthday.

"It's great!" Phoenix applauded dramatically.

Rachel called from the back yard and Phoenix raced over. He was eager for his chance to grow up, too, and found that he couldn't get them image of Sadie's new look out of his head.

At least not until he was distracted by the colorful balloons and a shiny new stereo his mom had set up in the back yard.

He quickly remembered the purpose of the decorations, however, and took his position in front of the cake.

Rachel and Sadie cheered as he blew out his candles, while the pizza delivery guy stuck around just long enough to make everyone slightly comfortable.

Phoenix was now officially a teenager. Sadie marked the occasion by turning on the stereo.

Rachel served the pizza and the teens chowed down ravenously as the music played. As soon as Phoenix swallowed his last bite, Sadie was grabbing his hands and dragging him away from the table.

"Let's dance!"

"Er, I don't really know how to," Phoenix felt awkward all of a sudden.

"Oh, come on, I'm your best friend, remember? You don't have to be embarrassed in front of me."

"Okay, how's this?"

"Hmm... maybe you should be a little embarrassed," Sadie teased.

While Sadie tried to contructively direct Phoenix's flailing limbs, Rachel started carrying the left over food inside. Finding himself now alone with Sadie, Phoenix suddenly felt very glad that he was dancing. For some reason he felt that if he had to talk to her he wouldn't know what to say. It didn't make any sense, they had been friends for years, why was he getting so flustered now?

Luckily, Rachel came to the rescue to give him his birthday present, which was, in fact, the new stereo they had been dancing to.

It was getting late, so after that Sadie politely said goodnight before making her way home.

Phoenix went inside to put his new gift in his room and Rachel was left alone to clean up the rest of the decorations. She didn't mind, though. Taking a moment to gaze up at the stars that peeked through the branches of the large tree that arched over the yard, she felt content. She was raising a fine young man, was finally employed in the field of her dreams, and everything seemed right with the world.

Then she heard the alarm.

---

Cliffhangered!!

Rachel got through her mid-life crisis well enough, thanks mostly to wants to plan new outfits. I especially like the new formal wear I've given her, so hopefully she'll get to wear it in the story sometime soon. Now that she's finally joined the forensics branch, she's pretty much done with all of her challenge goals. All she has to do now is keep fulfilling opportunities for the Opportunist goal, which I definitely don't mind as the extra money she gets is definitely handy - right now they've got a half-finished garage with only three walls.

Now, I kind of skimmed past the latter half of Phoenix's childhood, so I thought I'd throw in a few bonus picutres that didn't make it into the story:

Sleepover with Sadie.

"Bravo, mom! Way to simultaneously burn dinner and dirty the stove while we have a guest over." Paulie is shocked.

Playing with the mirror right after getting his new clothes.

Catching butterflies for a school project.

Playing in the sand.

And here are some house shots, as I'm rather pleased with how it's starting to fill in: