No More Cheap Birthday Cupcakes

Summary

On my birthday, my boyfriend bought me a cheap pack of grocery-store cupcakes and a single wax candle.

He told me birthday cakes were nothing but a capitalist marketing trap, a distraction from our real goal: saving every penny for a down payment on a house.

I was hurt, but I swallowed my disappointment and agreed.

Then, on the evening of my birthday, my best friend breezed through our front door. She bypassed the empty chair and squeezed herself right onto the sofa between us, wrapping her arms around mine and preening.