He hadn't said it was his birthday. But he knew she didn't remember. McKayla never remembered birthdays. She even preferred people not knowing her's either.

Johnny always remembered her's when it came around. But he never told her happy birthday in a celebratory manner that might make her embarrassed. He'd always just send a text in the morning, sometimes an emoticon of a smiley face at the end. But when he would meet her in person he would never utter the words "happy birthday".

This was strange to him because he saw her a lot on her birthday. It would often be them one on one. In the past Johnny wondered why she wouldn't have a get together with more people. She had quite a lot of friends and acquaintances. Johnny figured most of them would come had she thrown a dinner or a get-together at a bar or something.

Instead of these social events where friends would take turns buying rounds for McKayla, the two of them would meet at a place for coffee and a meal. He would offer to pick up the bill, but never mention the word birthday. She would always accept. Maybe she only accepted because he had never brought up the birthday. Why did she hate 

birthdays

so much he wondered.

Regardless of her attitude on birthdays, Johnny had fond memories of these quiet moments together. Sometimes his heart would trick him into thinking they were dates. But year after year, they would get together like this and they would never become anything more, no matter how heavy the feeling in his heart became.