Growing Up - Pete Wentz Fanfic

Chapter 31 - Pete's POV

I was sure that she thought I had forgotten about it. But I hadn't, she had told me once and I had remembered. She was cute when she was sleeping, I couldn't help but smile at just the sight of her. She had obviously been determined not to remind me during the last few days but I still knew. I carefully pulled my arm out of our hug, trying not to wake her up. I slid into my boxers and went downstairs. I started to make breakfast, I knew what she liked so I filled the tray with lots of coffee, colored cereal, waffles, pancakes a little piece of cake with candles. Then I took a lighter that I knew she had in her bag and lit the candles, putting the lighter back. She didn't smoke a lot anymore, I knew that but sometimes I caught her.

I made my way back upstairs and saw that she had woken up already. I smiled at her and she rolled her eyes when she saw the cake. My heart beat faster by just looking at her. "Happy birthday, beautiful" I said and sat down next to her, handing her the tray as she sat up. "You are insane" she grinned. "You thought I forgot, right?" I teased. She laughed. "I hoped you had forgotten about it" she said. "I know but why?" "Because I don't want this kind of attention." "Don't be mad." She smiled softly. "I'm not mad, this is the cutest thing anyone's ever done for me on my birthday. Normally people know that I don't like birthdays very much and just listen to me when I tell them to not make a big deal out of it." "What exactly is your beef with birthdays?" I asked. She took a deep breath. "It's a long story." "I've got time and you know you can tell me anything." I was surprised because I hadn't even known that there was a deeper meaning behind this, I had just assumed that she didn't like birthdays because the attention made her feel uncomfortable.

She took my hand and sipped on her coffee. "Blow the candles out first" I said and she smiled, closing her eyes as she blew out the candles. "Why do I get 2 candles only?" she asked with a fake pout. I laughed. "Well, I couldn't fit 29 candles on this little thing and I know that 2 is your lucky number so I thought that'd work too." "You just remember all that stuff and I never realise how good you actually know me" she said, she actually seemed surprised. I smiled. "Now tell me why you don't like your birthday."

She took a deep breath. "Well, when I was younger, I never got to celebrate my birthday like properly because my parents ... they were never like that. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my parents but they raised me just like ... you don't achieve anything when you're turning a year older. So it makes more sense to celebrate something like graduation or getting into university. Getting a job, that's what really matters." "That's a weird way to look at birthdays." "It's not my philosophy but I kind of got used to it and I actually like how my parents thought about it because I don't like that kind of attention anyway." "That's crazy." She was actually serious about it. It was fucked up in my eyes because her childhood had been like that and yet, she had no problem with her family really, simply because she was so strong. "Well, I will celebrate your birthday with you because you actually did achieve something" I said and kissed her neck to distract her from thinking about her past. "Which is? I lost my job and my apartment" she said and looked at me with big eyes. "You made me happy." "You're so cheesy!" she laughed and nudged my shoulder. "So, what do you wanna do today? You can choose whatever you want." "I don't want to do anything" shereplied. "Fine, we'll just stay in bed then." "Alright" she agreed seriously and started eating the breakfast I had made her.

When she put the tray next to the bed again and turned to me, she put her hand into the back of my neck and pulled my face down to hers. I returned the kiss harder and then carefully turned her underneath me. She smiled on my lips and I was just so happy that she was feeling good. Lately, that had been all I cared about. "I love you" I whispered on her lips.

Suddenly, she put her hand on my chest and slowly pushed me up. Fuck, I had scared her. I shouldn't have just told her that out of the blue. I didn't even know how she felt about relationships and saying 'I love you'. "What?" she asked, her voice was higher than usual. How could I have been so stupid? She was so classy and she was so independent that there was absolutely no reason for her to tell me she loved me too, especially so soon. Why would she love me? She probably hadn't even thought about that, it probably hadn't even crossed her mind and here I was, fucking everything up. That's what I was best at, I should've just kept appreciating the fact that she was even looking at me.

"Sorry ... I'm just..." I stuttered but I didn't know what to say so I just closed my eyes to avoid the confused look on her face, judging me for what I had just said. Maybe she wasn't going to take it seriously, guys said that to girls in bed all the time. "Are you serious?" she asked. Of course she didn't believe me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to rush that at you because it's obvious that ... I mean ... but it's true. I love you, Charlie." Because I was holding her so closely, I could feel her heart beating fast aaginst her chest. "I've never said this to anyone so early..." she said, her voice was only a hint. "You don't have to say it back, I'm sorry that I scared you, babe." "It's alright, it's just ... when I was younger I had a bad experience with saying it too early and after that, I think I might've said it twice in my life only, both times not really meaning it." "Well, I'm okay with that, I at least know that it has nothing to do with me." "I really can't manage to say it now but that's because I haven't said it ever when I meant it." "But that's a good thing, you don't get attached too fast and you don't just fall for anyone before you're sure." "I swore to myself that I would never say it to anybody again if I didn't mean it and you just ... confuse me so much, making me think about like ... crazy." "I love you for being so ... like yourself. There's no one I could compare to you." She smiled, she actually took that compliment and that made me happy. "Thank you. Seriously, I appreciate all that stuff you did for me, like letting me move in without expecting anything and just being with me through all that shit." "Hey, I care about you more than anything so it's not a big deal." She ran her fingers through my hair and made me look at her. She locked my eyes and bit her lip. She was just so sexy, lying underneath me, looking all messed up. She always looked beautiful, she was perfect. She breathed deeply, making me look at her chest moving up and down. Then she locked my eyes again.

"I love you" she suddenly said. My heartbeat suddenly sped up too and I pressed my lips together. "Did you actually just say that?" I asked, breathing heavily. She nodded, confused about herself too. "Yes. And it's the first time I mean it, ever, I think." "You didn't with your ex that showed up here?" "I always wish I'd mean it but never really did." "You have no idea how happy you've just made me, like ... I mean you're like so perfect and I never even would've expected you'd even be with me. And then you just tell me that ... you love me and it's the first time you mean it? I can't believe this."

My heart was beating so fast. Could this actually turn out to be something special? Could it actually work out with Charlie? She made me so happy and I was just afraid that one day, she'd change her mind. She placed her hands at the back of my neck and pulled me down again. I could feel she was uncomfortable talking about love and wanted to stop talking about. I kissed her deeply, making sure not to hurt her while I was on top of her.

After a little while, I pulled away and got up. "What are you doing?" she asked as I stood up and took something from the drawer next to the bed. "I'm giving you your birthday present." "Oh, you didn't need to! I'll just take you as my present" she said with a smirk and sat up, kissing me again. It was so hard to resist her, especially when she was so determined herself, wearing nothing but lingerie but I somehow managed to move her away carefully. "You really didn't need to buy me a present, you're letting me live with you!" "Just take it" I said and handed her the little box. She unwrapped it and opened the box. It looked like she stopped breathing for a second. "Oh my god, no..." she stuttered and got out the necklace. "Pete, I..." "Don't you like it?" "No, I mean ... I love it but ... you're not supposed to buy me expensive jewelry, what's wrong with you?" I smiled. "I'm really bad with presents but I thought that you deserve something like ... expensive..." I said, trying to explain what I was thinking. "It's so beautiful" she said. She handed it to me and turned around so I could put it on her. I placed it around her neck and closed it at the back, then I kissed her neck from the side until she turned around to me and our lips met again.