Part 179
The five girls decided to split up since Sarah had a million things to do. Becca and Sonja went with her and they went in search of Howie’s birthday presents. Sarah knew exactly what she wanted for him, it was just a matter of finding it. She was also looking for ideas for things to get for Becca for the baby while they searched for maternity clothes for her. The final stop before going to get Jesse was for the cake.
Arriving at the studio after having stopped to get Jesse, Sarah was trying really hard to hold it together. She wasn’t feeling well and it had nothing to do with the pregnancy. She started searching the crowd for Howie but was met by Kevin and Alex.
"Hey, baby! Did you get what you were looking for?" asked Kevin as he gave Sarah a kiss on the cheek. He was doing his best to get an idea of what kind of mood Sarah was in before letting her see Howie.
"Yeah," she said handing Alex the bag of gifts she had. "Where’s D?"
"I think he’s still in his dressing room," said Alex. "We got him to go there so you could get in with the cake and surprise him."
Sarah shrugged her shoulders, "No need. A certain little girl already gave away the surprise. Where’s his dressing room?"
Kevin and Alex looked at each other and Alex stuttered, "Uh…umm…it’s….uh…."
"What? Where is Howie’s dressing room, Alex? Stop stalling."
"It’s over there," said Kevin pointing towards Howie’s dressing room. "Why don’t you let Brian go get him and we’ll sing happy birthday to him as he comes out?"
"Whatever," shrugged Sarah as she went to light the candles on Howie’s cake.
Becca had gone off to find Nick and the whole group was gathering around the table where Raoul had set the cake.
The whole gang blocked Howie and Sarah’s view of each other until he reached the table with the cake. When her eyes fell upon him, Sarah’s jaw literally dropped and she was speechless. Seeing Howie with his haircut was a complete shock and she didn’t know what to say. She liked it but she hated it.
"Angel, please,…say something.," said Howie.
Vanessa whispered to Kevin, "I take it she didn’t know he was gonna do this."
Kevin shook his head ‘no’.
"Sarah…say something," nudged Becca.
Sarah looked at Becca dazed and then back at Howie. Finding her voice, she blurted, "HOWARD DWAINE DOROUGH! WHAT IN THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?"
Here was the explosion Kevin had predicted and they all started to back away. None of them wanted to be in the middle of this argument.
Seeing that Sarah was mad, Becca grabbed Jesse’s hand and led her away.
"Sarah…." Started Howie as he reached for her hand.
"NO!" she cried pulling back. She felt the tears starting and the nausea hit her. She bolted for Howie’s dressing room which Kevin had pointed out earlier.
Kevin started, "Howie, I warn…."
"DON’T, KEVIN! Just shut up," growled Howie.
Ali asked, "Want me to go talk to her?"
"No," he sighed.
Howie followed Sarah to his dressing room leaving everyone wondering if the birthday party would be a bust.
Kevin said softly, "He REALLY should have told her what he was planning."
Jesse tugged at Becca’s hand, "Auntie Becca, is Mommy mad at Daddy?"
Nick said, "I would say so, yeah. Come on, Jess. Let’s go play some video games in my dressing room."
"I want some cake," whined Jesse.
"We’ll get some cake as soon as Mommy and Daddy come back," said Becca.
"Don’t be long," said Kevin. "We’ve GOT to get started on this video so we can get out of here."
"Yeah, right!" snorted Alex. "With those two arguing….it’ll be a damn miracle if we get ANYTHING done on it today."
"Sarah’s NEVER blown up at Howie in public," said Becca.
Kevin looked towards Howie’s dressing room and sighed. "You’re probably right."