The year was 2008. It was the first year where I wasn't living with my parents, and I had just spent an evening with them for my birthday. I got to take home the leftovers of a far too big cake that was still almost fully intact and definitely too big for what was a party of three. I had just turned 20 and wisely opted that rather than eat almost an entire cake by myself, that I would share it with some friends.
Unrelated to the birthday, one friend, J, had invited myself and another mutual friend, C, to spend a few days at his new place. This wasn't a local affair. We had gone to high school together and went to the same local college campus for our freshman year. For our second year, J's major meant that he had transferred to the university's main campus in order to take most of his required classes. So the plan was for me and C to take a two hour road trip and spend a few days seeing what iconic college life was like.
I told said friends I'd bring the leftovers and we could have a good dessert while we were there.
C showed up to my place the next morning as I was finishing packing all the essentials of 2008 into a small suitcase. Clothes, a flip-phone charger, a netbook laptop, and a DS Lite with a flash cart in case somebody wanted to throw down in Mario Kart. While I was packing I asked C to get the cake for me. Once packed, we set off.
We stopped for gas at around the halfway point to stretch our legs.
It was then I realized the cake wasn't there.
I asked C why he didn't put it in the car like I asked. He in turn said that I didn't ask him to pack it, but to just get it out. Meaning he just set it on the kitchen table expecting me to grab it myself. 15 years later, his explanation does not seem any less bizarre.
But this story isn't about C. What matters is that it was far too late to turn around.
Frustrated, we resumed the drive, knowing now that it was going to sit on a kitchen table for a few days and be inedible when we got back. The whole thing was going to be wasted.
When we arrived, I had to explain to J why our dessert plans were now ruined. He politely listened to the whole story, then looked me dead in the eye and said:
"So you're telling me the cake is a lie."
