My contribution to the deadlinesforwriters short story challenge July 2025. The prompt was „Loyal“ and the required word count was 750. Photo by Will Echols on Unsplash
It’s Not About Stella At All
As a kid, Tom used to like birthdays. He remembered paper hats and chocolate sponge sandwich cakes, his mum organising games and surprises each year, and his friends always going home well entertained as well as a little jealous. The one thing his parents hadn’t been able to provide was a little sibling. On the other hand, he had appreciated having their attention all to himself.
His last party had been the wedding. Stella had looked amazing, her purple dress bringing out her brown curls and hazel eyes. To this day he couldn’t believe his luck. His mates also enjoyed pointing out how they had never expected him to nab a girlfriend like her, much less marry her, and how he must have struck a deal with one of the extra special demons.
The outside observer might believe Tom and Stella to be quite different from each other. She worked at a company for environmental education and spent many Saturday afternoons in the pedestrian zone advocating for animal rights or for saving refugees from drowning.
He had changed a lot since meeting her at Paul’s house-warming party. She had accepted him as he was at his core and at the same time inspired him to align himself more with his own values. He never went along to her protests and still ate meat occasionally. But for their wedding party, they had found a vegan caterer to supply the cakes and the buffet. Paul and the others had thought this hilarious at first. Later they told him in private how impressed they were. With the cake and with him.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t had an influence on her. He had taught her to live a little and to not take everything personally. Stella kept telling him how happy she was to have him in her life, especially since she had lost her parents early, so he was her family now.
Today was his twenty-ninth and he had decided to have just his parents around, plus Paul and his current girlfriend. Stella had gone out of her way and baked a chocolate sandwich cake with a slightly wonky number 29 piped on top. Considering that the kitchen was usually his domain, the cake looked quite yummy, and he couldn’t wait to taste it.
While Tom was waiting for Paul to ring the doorbell, he thought back to their wedding. One scene in particular was still playing at the back of his mind. By chance, he had seen Stella and his parents standing close together, her hunched over a bit and fiddling with her dress, them leaning forwards and speaking urgently. When they had noticed him watching, his parents had hurried away towards the dance floor, and Stella had thrown him a crooked smile and a little wave.
Tom had never asked what this had been about. Stella had never offered to tell. Eventually, he had decided to hope for the best and believe it was nothing. After all, his parents never talked to him about Stella either. Which, on the other hand still, he wished they would. But for the moment, he tried to pull his mind out of the past and get the bubbly from the fridge.
He frowned when he noticed Stella’s cake standing in the kitchen. He was sure she had put it on the dining table. What was even stranger was that it was tilted, as if someone had set it down on the kitchen counter hard and the layers had slid apart.
He started shouting, “Stella? What happened to…?”
She rushed into the kitchen to tell him that Paul had called. He would be late, and they should start without him. Before Tom could question why she looked so unusually pale, she pulled him towards the living room.
The first thing he noticed was the fancy gateau with elaborate buttercream decorations displayed in the middle of the table.
Tom’s mum beamed at him and said, “I improved on my recipe! The butter is from our neighbours’ cows, you’ll love it!”
“Mum, you know Stella is not going to eat this. And we didn’t ask for you to bring food anyway, so I don’t get why-”
Tom’s dad interrupted, “You can’t expect us to adjust our lives to this woman’s approval. Maybe it’s time for you to make a choice.”
“You’re right. It is time.”
And with those words, Tom grabbed the cake and went to the kitchen to switch them back and set things right.
Like my contribution to the story challenge Juny 2025? You can find more of my stories here!
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