I saw kind laughter in her eyes as she stared into mine. Her hands slowly rose up to her shoulders, gaining my immediate attention. A soft smile appeared on her lips, as she ever so slowly started to push down the top of her dress.

I felt a bead of sweat run down my brow. My eyes followed her hands, lazily moving over her shoulders, down towards her chest, reaching the top of her breasts.
The cloth continued it’s path downwards, seeming to push her hands rather than the other way around.

Her fingers trailed the soft curves of her breasts, momentarily leaving white lines in the skin. I felt my breath stop as the cloth strained and stretched, starting to slightly dig into the two wondrous gifts in front of me. Two dark circles appeared on the creamy skin, the garment’s path hampered as it got caught on two bumps in its downward path, refusing to reveal more.
Out of the corners of my eyes, I saw her tongue snake out. Enticingly it moved along her ruby, red lips. Soft hands gave a final tug on the infuriating cloth as she spoke…

“Happy Birthday!”
I awoke with a start as my parents burst through the door and shouted. The blankets around me seemed to come alive, binding me down as my limbs tried to free themselves. The grinning pair at the door just watched as the vicious blankets finally released my hands and head.

My mother came over and tousled my hair while giving me a kiss on the cheek.
“Mooom, stop treating me like a child.”
I sleepily tried to fend her off as I finally caught onto what was happening.
My birthday, it was finally my birthday!
The sun stung at my eyes through the open door, and my dad gave a soft chuckle from just inside.
“Yes dear, he is no longer a child. 18 years old, his first step into life as an adult.” His eyes gleamed with laughter as he looked me over.

If anything, my mother just hugged me closer, patting my hair in a vain attempt to make it look less like a birds nest. “For me he will always be my precious, cute little boy” At the end she was pinching my cheeks.
Letting go of my face, she grabbed the blankets which covered me, and yanked at them. “Well, up with you, breakfast is on the table.” At the last second, I clenched my hands around the blanket and held on for dear life.

My mother frowned at me as I held on, then her eyes drifted down. She gave off a soft yelp, and let go of the blanket. As she turned around I could barely hear her next words, “adult indeed.”
I looked down, and felt my cheeks flush as I saw the visible tent in the blankets around my private region. My dad just gave of another laugh as he also turned around to leave. “It’s a very natural thing, it’s nothing to be ashamed of” he said, closing the door.
Whether he spoke to me, or to my mother I am not sure, I was too busy burying my face in the blankets.

Waiting for my body to calm down, I sat listening to the noises outside. The blacksmith was awake and working, the sounds somehow carrying from the other side of the village. The creaking of the carts on the dirt road reminded me that today was market day. The farmers would be coming in and selling their produce, maybe I could ask my parents for some coins to buy a gift for Catherine.
That thought brought back the memory of my dream, and with it, my shame. My cheeks once again burning, I decided it was time to get dressed.

I carefully opened the door, staring out towards the kitchen area. My mom had her back towards me, slicing some bread. My dad was in the midst of drinking from a cup. I just saw his eyes above the cup, and I just knew he was hiding a smile as he started at me. I flinched, and was about to go back, when he lowered his cup and shouted towards me. “Theo! How nice of you to join us, come and sit down. Breakfast will get dry and moldy at the rate you are going.”
He kept smiling as I crept out of my room and towards the table.
“As I was saying to your mother, for MEN at your age, it is quite normal to wake up with…” his noble speech got cut off quite abruplty, as mom turned around and slapped the back of his head. “Stop that, are you trying to chase him out of the house? He is embarrassed enough as it is.” She had a slight red tinge to her cheeks, but seemed much more able to deal with the situation than me. If I could melt through the wooden bench, I would have done so by now. Didn’t stop me from wishing though.

She set down the sliced bread by the rest of the breakfast. My eyes widened, and I almost threw myself over the table as I noticed what was on it. My dad barely managed to move his cup out of the way as I channeled my inner glutton. “Cheese!”
“We must have really thrown him off his senses, it took him that long to notice,” he laughed. My mom just smiled, before tilting her head towards the door. Then she stood up and gathered another plate.

There was a soft tapping on the door, followed shortly by loud banging of knuckles on wood.
“Yes, yes, take it easy.” My mom was already halfway to the door, and managed to open it before whoever was on the other side punched a hole through it.
“What have I said about breaking my door Syl?” On the other side of the door, stood a thin girl, with short hair, arm raised, and an amused expression. “Sorry madam,” she said, giving a toothy grin. “I was making sure that Theo was awake. I see that was unnecessary.” She peeked past my mother. Looking at me with that familiar toothy grin, two of her front teeth sticking out between her lips.
“Well, I would invite you in for breakfast, but you seem to have been rolling through the fields on the way over.” My mom was quite strict about the cleanliness of her house.
Syl put on a shocked expression, then started brushing sticks and dust out of her short hair. She then moved on to the clothes, slapping her tunic with enough force to send billows of dust in all directions. He hands continued downwards to a patchy pair of pants. Once done, there were clumps of dirt on the doorstep, and a hazy cloud of dust hung in the air. “There, now I’m clean.” My mom just stared with a resigned look at the smiling girl. She sighed, opening the door further and allowing Syl to head inside. Mom started waving her arms towards the dust cloud, a desperate attempt to let as little of it as possible get inside, before slamming the door closed.

Syl almost ran towards the table, throwing herself next to me onto the bench. I gave her a beady stare, and closed my arms around my plate, hiding it from her sight. She raised an eyebrow and tried to peek at my plate. I let out a low growl at her, turning my glare up to double intensity. The toothy grin appeared again, as she threw herself towards my plate. “Cheese!”

——————————————

I stared forlornly at my plate, the few remaining crumbs which occupied it taunting me. To my right I heard a sudden belch, and looked up to see Syl. Slouched and with a pleased smile, she was slowly rubbing her stomach. “Ah, that was a good meal.”
Mom looked slightly amused. “So, Syl. How is your mother doing?”
Syl straightened slightly, and her smile broadened. “Oh, she’s doing well. She got to vent some anger today.” Mom raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. “Well, it seems that one of the seamstresses had forgotten a pin in one of the men’s underwear.” I saw dad flinch slightly at the other end of the table, and even I felt sympathetic pain for the poor man who had gotten that particular piece of luck.
“That must have caused some ruckus indeed,” the twinkle of mirth in mom’s eye reminded me, even she was only human in the end.
Syl let out a snorting laugh as she continued: “I’ll say. I haven’t seen mom that red in the face in years. I’m amazed you didn’t hear her shout even down here.”
I let out a gasp, “so THAT was why you were here so early. Now I know who to accost for more cheese.” I grumbled that last part, but everyone heard me.
“Now, now, dear Theo. It’s market day, there must be someone selling cheese out there.” I brightened a bit at that, I could go out and buy all the cheese I wanted… Or what I could afford at least.
“And then, you can even share some with your best friend in the whole, wide, world.” Syl finished, placing her arm around my shoulder.
In response, I dropped my head, and said in a mournful voice: “Alas my best friend in the whole world, I have no coin to buy cheese. Thus, we shall both go cheese…um-less this day.”
At the end of my, impressive if I say so myself, speech, we both looked towards my parents.

——————————————

“I’m still amazed that works.” Syl was almost bursting with energy as she walked alongside me… behind me…. In front of me… in, “Syl, calm down will you?” She jumped up in the air, and landed beside me, keeping pace as we continue to walk. “You know as well as me that our trick doesn’t work. They just let us get away with it now and then.” I felt the coins move in the purse as we continued towards the market. Syl just flashed me her usual smile, but didn’t say anything.

When we finally reached the market, we both made a straight line towards the nearest booth containing cheese. As cheese was seen as a delicacy, often restricted to the nobles, and those with money, there weren’t many who sold it. Even with the number of coins from my parent, we could just buy a small quantity of the cheaper variants. It did not stop us from enjoying our meal though, however I did get distracted as I saw a group of teenagers enter the market.

In their midst was a girl which I recognized quite well. “Catherine,” I whispered it, but the sound was enough for Syl to stuff the last piece of cheese into her mouth, and look around.
The group of teenagers walked along the market stalls, and reached the place where we sat, just in time for them to see Syl’s bulging cheeks, and bits of cheese sticking to her face.
“Why Syl, I admire the effort, but I think at this stage it is a bit late, don’t you?” Catherine walked to the front, and placed one of her arms under her breasts, lifting them up slightly. I was quite captivated, watching her dress visibly tighten and show some very interesting contours around the chest area.
Syl watched Catherine for a bit, noting her obvious stare at Syl’s chest region. Some of the other teens snickered at this, all of them glancing at Syl’s chest. Covered by a wrinkly tunic, and showing not even the slightest bulge which one might expect there.

After a bit, Syl just sighed, and poked me with her elbow. “Come on, let’s go somewhere else.”
I jumped slightly, looking around. Noticing the other staring at Syl, I asked: “What was that, Syl?”
At this, Catherine smirked slightly and turned in my direction. Her chest wobbled slightly, and she had my complete attention. “Hey Theo, we were going to head over to the Leon’s Inn. Some traders are there selling some interesting drinks. Would you like to join us?” Her red lips, almost like in my dream, curled up into a sweet smile. I was about to say yes, when I felt a slight tug at my sleeve. Syl was staring at me. Catherine glanced at Syl before saying “Syl, don’t you have some clothes to sew? I heard there were some men’s underwear which needed re-doing after this morning.” She smirked slightly, before turning back to me.
I frowned at Catherine, before turning towards Syl. “Sorry, but I and Syl have plans for today.” At that, Syl gave another one of her toothy smiles, and we turned to go.
“Ugh, those teeth. How does she stand the embarrassment of smiling with ‘those’ in her mouth. She looks like a rabbit.” Catherine muttered behind us, but Syl heard. I saw her eyes drop, and along with them, her smile. She looked sad… I didn’t like it.

I reached down into my pocket, and took out a small wrapped package. Unwrapping it to reveal a piece of cheese, one which I had planned to eat later today. I glanced over at Syl, and then handed the package over to her.
She looked up at me, surprised. “Take it, it’s a magical cheese, said to bring strength and bravery to whomever eats it.” I said, waggling my eyebrows up and down. The side of her mouth twitched upwards, and she took the package. She took the piece of cheese, broke it into two, and then handed the other piece back to me. “You desperately need a piece then,” she said.

——————————————

I was standing just outside market entrance, looking down the dirt street. There was a steady stream of people heading in towards the market. Torches were lit up and down alongside the buildings, casting wild shadows around the moving crowd.
The moon was halfway up into the sky, and Syl had yet to show up. I kicked a small rock and watched it skip along the road, out of sight.
I looked back up, just as someone walked up in front of me. I felt my eyes widen, as I watched who stood in front of me. Her hair was neat and tidy, slightly wafting in the slight wind. Above her right ear was a small ribbon, gathering the hair slightly into a stream below it. Her face was without a single spot of dirt, and her lips seemed to be a different shade.
She wore a flowing, white, sleeveless dress, hugging her thin body more tightly than any of her other usual clothes. The dress flared out slightly as it went past her hips.

I couldn’t help but stare at her, this was nothing like she usually wore. I could swear I saw her blush slightly as I gaped at her, but that quickly turned to a shy smile. At this point, my mouth decided that my brain was out of order, and took it upon itself to share some words of wisdom. “Huh, won’t that get dirty rather quickly?” I saw her shy smile slowly disappear, and she let out a soft sigh. “Not if I take care. Come, we should head in.” She turned and started walking towards the market square.
My mind was making some dangerous cracking noises as I tried thinking of something to say, something to fix this. As we were about to enter the throng of people, I just decided to go with the simple truth. I leaned in close to her. “That dress looks really great on you.” And there it was, her smile, in all it’s glory. She grabbed my hand, and then dragged med into the crowd.

——————————————

“See there, a spot. I knew that your dress would get dirty quickly.” She glanced down at the spot I indicated, and just shrugged. “I’ll just wash it tomorrow. I made it myself you know.” I turned again to look at her dress. “Well, you mother is a seamstress…” I said, the gathered wisdom of all young males, once again pouring out of me. This time she just shook her head, but kept her slight smile.
We were just done watching a puppet show that some peddler had setup. It was about Heroes and Demons, Kings and Queens. It was boring. We ended up just pointing out all the mistakes which were made, real and imagined.

It was truly dark outside now, the moon having reached it’s zenith. “You turned 18 today, right?” The question from Syl startled me. “Yeah? My parents barged into my room this morning while I was sleeping, congratulating me. Scared me half to death.” She let out a snort. “On my birthday, my mom gave me the gracious gift of allowing me half the day off from work.” I laughed with her, both of us remembering the trouble we got into in that day. Let’s just say, her mom won’t give Syl that much free time again any time soon.
She reached up to her face, wiping away imaginary tears. “Ah, I remember the day I was 18, such a long time ago. I was such a child.” At that, I couldn’t stop a snort myself. “Remember? Of course you remember. It was like… half a year ago?” She pouted, punching me in the arm. “Ow… Didn’t know a seamstress had such muscles.” She suddenly jumped to her feet and gave me what I could only call a predatory grin.

Slowly walking towards me, she formed her hands into fists. “Oh, so you want to see muscles do you? Well then, let me give you a little birthday surprise myself!” I backed away slowly, this did not bode well. It was not often she got violent, but when she did… “Syl, my best friend in the world, are you sure this is necessary?” I took more steps backwards, and she just followed me. We were backing into one of the storage house in the village. I was frantically looking for an escape, but soon got cornered.

“Don’t worry, this won’t hurt at all, you might even enjoy it.” Her smile had changed, now it looked… hopeful? “Um, Syl, what are you…” She grabbed my tunic and then kicked the feet out from under me. She slowed my fall, while also following me down to the ground. We were far enough away from the market that no one were around to see us, but the light were still lit, and I could see Syl blushing as she looked me in the eyes. “I hear that 18 is the age at which boys are considered men…” I could only gulp. Her hands moved down towards my pants, and slowly, still looking me in the eyes, she started removing them.

My mind was totally useless, it had entered an infinite loop of ‘Um…Um… Um…’ which I could not find a way out of.
With my pants off, she reached over to my underwear, and pulled it down, revealing my cock. My tiny, shrunken cock. I felt my face blaze into a fire which could match a dragon’s breath. I tried to pull up my leg, and use my hands to hide my shame. I blurted out “Um… Well, it does get bigger… sometimes.” Syl, for her part, burst into snorting laughter as I said this. “I know that. Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. Just, your expression…”

She managed to calm down her laughter, and continued: “I also know the secret to get a man’s tool standing straight and sure.” I just blushed more. “Shall I tell you the secret?” I just nodded silently. “A woman’s naked body.” She said this with confidence in her voice, but I noticed even through my own shame, her hands were shaking.
She slowly reached her hands up to the top of her dress, and I raised my head to follow her hands. She gave me a kind, but shaky smile, and pushed the straps over her shoulders.
I felt my body heating up, watching her hand slowly removing her clothing, I felt a twitch in my cock. Slight lightheadedness took me as I felt it raise, felt it harden.

The dress, it’s top so light as to almost defy gravity, slowly fell down without its upper support. Her shoulder were free, then I saw the smooth skin above her breasts, then I saw two dark circles, and then her stomach. The dress stopped falling there, it’s waist acting as an additional support.
However, as I looked at her chest, I saw only the dark circles on her light and freckled skin. The flesh beneath the circles were slightly raised, a bump really, which barely were different from the many male chests I had seen.

I had of course known, she didn’t have the full and ample chest which would fill out her clothes like the other girls had. I had heard other girls calling her ‘flat chest’ and ‘tomboy’, but I had never really thought about it.
The raising hardness stopped, and eventually slackened. I felt nothing while looking at her naked body. Her eyes drifted down, looked down at my cock, watched it deflate, and then looked into my eyes.
Then, the worst thing I have ever seen in my life. My whole body went cold. I felt a sharp pain in my chest as my eyes met hers. A single tear was rolling down her cheek, and I saw her smile.
A smile which only showed one thing: Self disgust.

My mind was blank. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t speak. Syl raised one hand across her chest, and reached for her dress with the other, raising it to cover herself. I could not get that look on her face from my mind. All my conscious mind could bring forth was all the times she had smiled for me in the time I had known her, my whole life really. My hand raised up towards her face, placing itself tenderly on her cheek. I brushed away that single tear, and she looked up into my eyes. I could see it, she was about to push me away, to leave.
Speak, I had do something… or I could lose her forever. The blood in my veins felt icy cold, and I had to force my mouth to open.
“There is something I have wanted to tell you for some time now. Something which I… well, I have been afraid to tell you. Afraid how it would change things between us.” I saw her flinch and look away again, but I forced my hand to tighten its hold slightly, not allowing her to turn away.
“I don’t know when it started. It’s something which has happened more and more as we have spent time together. Whether it be when you hammered your way through our door to join us for breakfast or dinner. Or when we just finished a run through the fields to chase the farmer’s animals.” I moved my hand from her cheek, and placed it on my chest, above my heart. “Every day you have spent with me. I have felt something building in my chest. I don’t know how to explain it. Some kind of pressure, something struggling to get out.” Her eyes had gotten wide, and she seemed to hold her breath as she stared into my eyes.
“I have many times thought on how to say this to you, afraid to use the wrong words and scare you away. So I’ll just say it. You are beautiful!” She blinked once, and I hurried on. “Every time I see your smudged and dusty face in the door. Every time you run, full of energy with the wind dancing around you. Every time you smile… I can’t help but wonder, how such an utterly beautiful girl could ever exist in this world.” She continued to stare at me with wide eyes. She took a single step forward, closing the distance between us as I continued my outburst. “Every morning as I wake, I feel excited for the day I can spend with you. I can’t stop thinking of silly ways to make you happy, just so I can see your beautiful smile. If my body can’t see what my mind sees, then I will just have to give my body a beating until it learns. I will…” Her lips touched mine, sealing them closed.

My eyes were wide open in shock, hers were closed. Her mouth crushed into mine, and she forced my slack jaw to open, my mouth following her lead. A tongue tentatively licked on my lips, before moving further in. On it’s own volition, my tongue rose to meet hers, and they intertwined and explored each other. I felt a blaze burn it’s way from my chest, enveloping my body. My frozen blood heated up, and decided that my face was the place to be. She slowly pulled back out and stepped away, leaving me gaping. Her eyes still seemed slightly moist, but on her face was the most glowing smile I had ever seen. Without thought, I put my one hand on her shoulder, one behind her head, and kissed her. It was clumsy, it was wet, and our noses bumped more than once. I loved every moment of it.
We were both breathing heavy as our second kiss ended. Our faces were red, visible even in the soft lighting of the street torches. She put a hand on my shoulder and chest, and pushed me backwards, making me stumble to the ground. I was expecting to land on the hard wooden floor, but found myself dropping onto layers of blankets. They were spread out, enough space for two people to lie comfortably. My brain, still working through the sudden influx of blood in my head, managed to throw out a thought: Did she plan this?

I look back up, just in time to see Syl sitting down and leaning towards me. Her eyes were half closed as she looked into mine. She moved in for another kiss, and as we softly explored each others mouths, I noticed my hand hitting something soft. I glanced down and saw that her dress had fallen open again, and my hand was placed on one of her breasts. Softly squeezing with my hand, I noticed that even if her chest did not look large, it still felt soft and round. The blood coloring my face apparently decided it was bored, for it decided to suddenly rush downwards, and I felt my cock slowly tightening and standing to attention.
Deciding to explore, my mouth first kissed Syl’s cheek, before moving down. I left kisses at her neck, her collarbone, the top of her chest, and then I reached the left breast. Softly, I placed my lips around the dark circle, and let my tongue explore the contours of her nipple. As my tongue slowly went up and down, the flesh hardened into a tight point. I heard Syl catch her breath, goosebumps flowing over the breast. I looked up into her eyes, and saw them half lidded in pleasure, a lazy smile adorned her face.

Our eyes locked, and my cock tightened to almost a painful degree. I moved over to her other breast, and started licking, while she moved her hand down towards my cock. Her small, calloused hand softly gripped around it’s base, and moved upwards. At this point, I had forgotten to breathe, let alone lick her breast. She noticed my lack of attention to hear breasts, and let go of my cock. Instead, she moved both her hands to the bottom of my tunic, and started lifting it up. I raised my hands, and let the tunic slide over my head. She threw the tunic to the side, then started exploring my chest with her hands. I flinched slightly as se brushed past my nipples, wondering a bit how it had felt for her when I licked them. She waggled her eyebrows and said, “It seems we both have a certain fascination with naked chests.” I laughed softly, feeling her hands press into me as my chest moved. “Well, you have actually seen me without a tunic before, many times actually now that I think about it.” She flashed me another smile. “Yup, and I have enjoyed every moment of it.”
She leaned towards me and whispered in my ear, “Now then, I seem to have more clothes on than you, do you maybe know a solution to that problem?” She tilted her head to the side, watching me with a sly look in her eyes. I tried my best to swallow past my dry throat, but moved my hands down towards her waist. Working at the cloth around her waist, I found that it could stretch and move over here hips. I was working my hands under the band, starting to pull it down, when I felt a sudden sensation at my cock. It seem that Syl had been distracted by my cock, and was in the process of pulling back the skin covering it. As she pulled free the head, a clear fluid slowly dribbled out of the point. She leaned her head closer, and gave it a quick lick. It jerked violently under her tongue, and she pulled back, smacking her lips. “Hm… salty.” She had an almost surprised expression.

She turned her head to look at the dress, which was still firmly in place around her hips where I had gotten them down to. “Haven’t you gotten it off yet.” She let out a sigh, and then helped me to pull it down. As we pulled the dress down, I saw a patch or hair which flowed down between her legs and around a mound between her legs. It distracted me enough that Syl had no help getting the dress off from her feet. She huffed slightly as she kicked it off, then moved her hands to cover her center. “Hey, mine is flying free in the wind, no hiding yours” I said, slightly miffed. She just grinned, and slowly opened her hands, like a delicate flower blooming. Between the hair on the mound, I could see a slightly round nub at the top of a slit. It looked slightly damp. Curiously, I moved my hand to it, and started slowly rubbing the nub at the top. It was slick with something which felt oily. It stuck to my fingers, and allowed them to easily slip down and into the slit.

She moaned slightly as my fingers spread open her vagina, revealing the pink flesh inside. Syl’s stomach was rising and lowering visibly while I explored. My searching fingers found a hole, and one of them tried to reach inside. It was slick and warm inside, and I started rubbing the flesh inside. Suddenly, her hips jerked, and I felt muscles closing down around my finger. Fearing I had done something wrong, I pulled it out and looked at her face. Seeing my startled face, she laughed, panting slightly as she leaned forward and placed her hands on my chest again. For the third time that night, her lips closed around mine, and our tongues danced as the pushed me onto my back. She followed me down, lying down on top of my chest while still maintaining the kiss.

As our mouths broke apart, I felt my firm length tightly lodged between us as we lay there. Slowly she started to move her hips upwards. I felt her lower lips flowing around the base of my cock as she moved up along its length, and then down again, never quite reaching the sensitive head. Slick fluids coated my cock as the moved up and down. Every time, my poor manhood would quiver, hoping that this time it would be able to enter the hidden warmth.
Then, just as I was expecting her to reverse her movement, she move up and over. I felt bliss, as the head of my cock was enfolded by her vagina. She moved her hand downwards, and grabbed it. Staring into my eyes, she guided my cock as she moved her hips again. The warm touch became a tight embrace, as I entered her.

My hips jerked at the sensations flowing from my throbbing manhood. I wanted to grab her hips and take control of this incredible sensation. My hands froze as Syl flinched. Her eyes were closed, and she was biting her lip, keeping completely still. Worried, I reached up to her face. Had I done something wrong? Was it hurting her?
She opened her eyes and smiled at me. “Just give me a minute, this is apparently normal when it’s my first time.” I placed my hand on her cheek and lightly rubbed my thumb up and down. Eventually, she started to move again, carefully raising and lowering herself on my rod. As the sensations doubled their intensity, I couldn’t help by raising my hip to meet hers as we built speed. Her hands reached around my neck, and she lowered her head to give me a deep kiss. We continued like this, neither of us speaking, just enjoying the pleasure of our coupling. As I got more used to the sensations, I noticed the pair of breasts above me. My mouth quickly locked onto one of her nipples, and the grip around my cock tightened almost to the point I could not move. The tightness and escalating sensations started to give way to a building pressure. Our movement speed up, and Syl’s grip around me tightened as she supported her head on my shoulder.
The pressure in me reached a peak. I felt my cock jerk and muscles tighten, as something was pushed out. The feeling was unlike anything I had ever experienced, and my head felt woozy. Beside my ear I heard Syl suddenly cry out, and her grip, both above and below, increased significantly.

We both sat still, our heavy breathing the only sound. Her deathly grip slowly loosened, and she leaned back to look into my eyes. One hand came up front, and she poked me in the cheek. There was a new glow to her smile.
“Happy Birthday!”

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