When Mister and Mrs. Thomas had asked their daughter what she wanted to do to celebrate her birthday, she hadn't been able to give them an honest answer. Namely, she didn't really know what she wanted to do... at least, when it came to doing things under her own control.

A few friends had pinged her on Facebook (rather, they'd sent generic Happy Birthday messages on her page, thus avoiding actual conversation with her) and she'd received two cards from aunties in states over, both with obligatory crisp twenty dollar bills that she tucked away for future use (or on books, as she knew she'd inevitably spend them on).

Her parents had invited her back home for the afternoon and she'd accepted without a fuss. While her phone remained sadly quiet, she kept a simple smile on her face while her mother and father handed her a third envelope for the day, along with two small wrapped rectangles.

Neither present came as a surprise, her mother having been forced to ask her which books she needed to avoid overlapping in titles. She was grateful and thanked them for both books and the bookstore giftcard that had been tucked away in the envelope. Practical gifts for a practical girl, after all.

Dinner had consisted of burgers from the grill and salad from her mother's kitchen. It had only made sense for them to celebrate the national holiday alongside her birthday - a common practice she was used to, sharing her birthday - and Sophie enjoyed the meal as best she could, despite the stifling warmth of the afternoon air.

Dessert had been apple pie with vanilla ice cream, a scrumptious replacement instead of a birthday cake. Her mother had playfully nestled a lit candle on top of her scoop of ice cream, allowing Sophie her birthday wish to follow tradition with. Sophie had smiled, paused, and blown out the candle before digging in to the treat made especially for her.

The remainder of the evening had been spent outside, the Thomases watching the city's firework display from a distance. They had just enough of a view from their porch that they didn't have to walk to the celebration and shove elbows with the crowd to see it, which was another thing the young woman was grateful for. Still, she couldn't help but glance over towards the neighbor's house, the Lynches' porch suspiciously quiet.

Maybe they'd gone out to the festival this year, to celebrate.

She was just about to let out a sigh when an unlit sparkler was thrust in front of her. Startled, she looked up to see her father grinning down at her, shaking the sparkler to get her attention until she accepted it from his hand.

"Can't have a proper birthday for my favorite daughter without a few fireworks of our own, right?"

Her eyes rolled at his ongoing joke - she was his only daughter, after all - but she held out her sparkler for his lighter and spun it around dutifully once it was lit. The bright sizzle of the light was entrancing, keeping her just distracted enough from feeling sorry for herself. It lasted for a few minutes, the young woman twirling the stick until the spark finally fizzled out. By that point, her father had taken a seat alongside her on the porch, one large hand moving to pull his daughter in for a half-hug as he murmured, "Happy Birthday, Soph."

"Thanks, daddy."

The smile she offered him was genuine as they both turned to watch the finale of fireworks off in the distance.

Surely there were better ways to spend a twenty-first birthday... but maybe this hadn't been the worst of ways, either.