It’s been a Walker family tradition that we go out to dinner on our birthdays. However, now that we are older, we have grown farther apart and only get to see each other every few years. It’s been four years since we last saw each other. I’m Ashley, the oldest of the three Walker kids. I am always the one to plan our dinners and be productive. Next is Jack, he is the one who has his whole life planned out. He is planning on being the school librarian and when he retires he is going to travel the world with his wife, Melanie. Lauren, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. She’s the baby of the three of us and is always late to everything and her life is a mess.

Tonight is our 25th birthday and I am the first one at 54th Street. We landed on this restaurant after hours of arguing. I am promptly seated in a booth and handed a menu.

Once I am settled, a waiter walks up, “Good evening. My name is Randall and I will be your server for the night. Will more people be joining you?” He is young with messy brown hair and nerdy glasses. Lauren will think he is cute.

“Good evening,” I smile, “and yes I have two more coming. We will just have waters to start with, please,” I respond and Randall walks away. Just as Randall is leaving, Jack walks in and toward the table.

“Why, happy birthday, brother,” I stand to embrace my little brother. He has gotten taller since I last saw him and his muscles are more defined now, “Dang, somebody has been working out!” I tease.

Jack blushes, “Well I’m not the only one. Look at you!” I laugh, “And look at your hair. It’s brown,” he touches my hair like it’s sticky. I was feeling spontaneous one day last week so I had decided to dye my hair brown. I think it looks more professional. We sit down and I told Jack about the kids in my class that I teach.

“I was going to wait until Lauren got here but I can’t wait any longer,” I held out my hand, which has a big sparkly rock on my finger. “Peter proposed!” Jack was ecstatic and congratulated me. We may or may not have made a scene.  He makes note to call Peter later. In the midst of their excitement, Randall returns with our drinks.

“Thank you,” we say.

“Um, uh, may I take your orders?” Randall stumbled over his words and refused to make eye contact with us as we were ordering.

“Did something seem off about Randall?”  I ask.

“No,” Jack responds, “He’s probably just stressed about work?”

“Or life.”

Jack updated me on his job as a librarian and that his favorite part was when the kids get so excited to check out another book they run in and grab it before anyone else can. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Randall watching our table while filling up drinks.

“So, how’s Melanie?” I ask bringing my attention back to the conversation.

“Well, I was going to wait until Lauren got here too,” he started, “but she’s pregnant!”

“What!” I yelled and stood up almost knocking my chair over in the process. I ran over to Jack to give him a hug with tears in my eyes. In the midst of the commotion, Lauren showed up, late, like usual.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she started to explain, “I’m working double shifts and the dog at the kennel got out and I had to chase him down, and--- why are you crying? Are you okay?” she stops short to ask me.

“Yes, I’m fine. No, I’m better than fine. I’m great!” I squeal. She looks to Jack for help.

“Melanie and I are expecting,” he explains.

Her face lights up with happiness but then something in her eyes faltered, “That’s great!” she said, only halfway convincingly.

“You okay?” I pry just as Randall returns, giving Lauren a weirdly knowing glance. He delivers my and Jack’s food and takes Lauren’s order. As Randall walks away, he looks directly at Lauren and I could’ve sworn he gave a slight nod. I look at Jack and his eyes are saying the same thing I’m thinking. Something is up.

“What was that?” It was Jack’s turn to pry.

“What was what?” she says innocently, blowing off the question.

“Whatever that was that happened between you and the waiter.”

“Oh, with Randall? Nothing. I’m sure he was just fixing his hair,” she replies and looks down, “Is that a ring? When did that happen?”

Off guard, I look down, “Oh, yeah. Just last month!”

“Oh that’s...” her eyes falter again as she sighs looking at my ring, “that’s great.” I look over to Jack. We are both completely confused. This is not the normal way to respond to an engagement announcement or a pregnancy announcement. Something has to be up. “Excuse me, please,” she dismisses herself. “Restroom.”

Not moments after she left, Randall stopped by, delivered Lauren’s food, and left without a word, but his face seemed full of determination. Lauren is still in the restroom when we are halfway done with our meal. Suddenly, all the lights in the building turned off. All the other customers screamed and got to the ground, but Jack and I stood up and looked for the danger. Seconds later, the lights turned back on and two masked figures dressed in all black were standing by the cash register, backs toward us, and pointing guns at the cashier. More customers screamed and took cover under tables and chairs. Oblivious, naive kids started to cry in their mothers' arms.

“Call 911,” we both say to each other as we charge at the criminals. I tackle the taller one and Jack gets the shorter one. As the criminals are falling to the ground, they drop their weapons, and we secure their hands behind their backs. “FBI, you have the right to remain silent,” we say in sync and look at each other astonished. I have been a part of the FBI for years, and I didn’t even know Jack was. Our amazement gets interrupted by the bystanders coming out of their hiding places and some applause.

I stood up strongly holding onto the criminal I had tackled. Jack does the same.

“Someone needs to call 911.”

“I just called the cops.”

Who are they?” the crowd started to chat and ask questions. The police charge in through the door, armed and yelling to stand back.

“Lauren Walker, FBI.” I hold up my badge.

“Jack Walker, FBI.” Jack holds up his badge.

The head cop nods and thanks us while another walks across the room to pick up the abandoned guns with gloved hands. “The guns are fake,” he declares as he put them in a bag.

The cop heads toward the masked criminals and pulls off their identity covers. Lauren’s blonde hair and Randall’s brown hair are visible before everyone. Jack and I stand there staring at Lauren. Too many things are going through my head to even ask what was going on.

All I can do was look at my little sister. I cannot fathom why Lauren thought she should do this. We used to share everything together, from dolls to gossip. I don’t know where we had gone wrong as siblings, but Jack was not about to let our questions go unanswered. Jack was the only one who had enough voice to ask what they were both thinking.

“Lauren, what is going on?”

“I needed some money,” she starts to cry, “I don’t have enough to pay off rent at my apartment so I found Randall to help me. We weren’t going to hurt anyone, just scare them enough to get what I need.” All I could see was how young and helpless Lauren was in that moment.

“You should have come to us.” Now I’m crying. I look over at Jack, and even he has watery eyes when he nods in agreement with me. There is nothing we can do to get Lauren off the hook, but the police let us say goodbye before she’s taken away. Jack and I agreed to get together enough money to bail her out before Jack had his son or daughter and before I got married. As for Randall, his mother would not be happy at all. I hope that kid learned his lesson and won’t do anything stupid like that again. After we got everyone situated back in the restaurant, and Lauren and Randall in the back of a police car, Jack made sure to mark this day as the most memorable birthday dinner that we’ve ever had.