Someone Fresh, HONEYDEW

10. Happy Birthday!

Eben's pov

Thwomp! Something wacked me in the face and woke me up.

"Happy Birthday sleepy head," A voice yelled in my ear.

I pushed this thing off my face (a pillow) opened one eye to identify my attacker (Corbyn) and groaned. Then I rolled over and closed my eyes again.

"Come on," Corbyn shook me gently. "It's 9.30, and people are arriving in an hour."

I groaned again.

"You know, it won't take me long to get a glass of water," Corbyn observed. "To, you know, pour on your head if you don't get up."

He turned to go. I sighed, and then forced myself to sit up. Corbyn does what he says, and I was not in the mood to hang my sheets out to dry.

"Oh, you're getting up," My attacker grinned. "You have ten minutes to get down stairs. Dressed."

I sighed again, and then scooted over to the edge of my bed, grabbing a t-shirt off the chair and pulling it over my head. And then I fully realised that I was having people over, and I couldn't just wear the same dirty t-shirt I'd been wearing for... let's just say a while.

I grabbed a fresh set of clothes from my wardrobe and then made my way down stairs.

"Nine minutes and 37 seconds," Corbyn greeted me.

"Why. Just why," I rolled my eyes. Corbyn grinned.

"Happy birthday," Jonah greeted, walking into the room. He handed me a much needed coffee.

As we were finishing getting things ready, the doorbell rang, and I went to open the door. It was Tate and Christina. The two of them were in LA for the week, and were sharing an air BnB not too far away. I barely had the chance to say hello and to be wished a happy birthday, before my two housemates had rushed past me to greet their respective girlfriends.

I imagined that there had probably been a similar scene at the airport the evening before when Jonah and Corbyn went to pick them up. To be fair, they barely saw each other in person, and it was cute.

I left the two couples and made my way back to the kitchen to keep getting food ready.

Over the next ten minutes, the rest of our guests arrived. Caspary arrived first, followed closely by Daniel and Christian.

Gabbie and Jack arrived spot on 10.30, with not so baby Lavender in the stroller. She's basically walking, and we're all freaking out at how fast she is growing. Anna (Daniel's sister) came with them too, as they live in the same apartment complex.

While I was cooing over Lavy and receiving birthday wishes from her parents, someone else rang the doorbell. I heard Jonah head to the door, then I heard Y/n's voice. I excused myself, and went to greet her.

"You must be Y/n," I heard Jonah say. "Eben's told us a lot about you."

I cringed. Why did he have to say that?

"I think he talks about his friends a lot," Y/n replied. "He's told me a lot about you too."

I couldn't help but grin. I caught her eye and nodded approvingly.

"Hey Eben," She waved. "Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks!" I gave her a quick hug, and then led her to the living room.

Y/n was warmly welcomed by my friends, especially Gabbie, the literal mother of the group, who took Y/n under her wing and very quickly made her feel comfortable. Like most people, Y/n almost immediately made a comment about how adorable Lavy is.

I remember when Jack first told me Gabbie was pregnant. It has really been a wild ride, with telling the management, being forced to keep it a secret from the world until a few weeks after she was born, to a mix of love and hate from the world and the fans... I'm surprised — and glad — they're still together with everything they've been through.

It was fortunate that Y/n was so quickly in a conversation, because I had to go open the door far Zach (who was late, as usual), and then I was called over to help set up an umbrella outside so that we could have shade next to the pool later.

When I came back inside, Y/n was deep in conversation with Gabbie, Tate and Anna, and Lavy was sitting on her lap.

"... I think there's an apartment for rent at our complex," Anna said.

"Yeah, upstairs from me," Gabbie affirmed.

"I will defs look into it," Y/n nodded. "How many bedrooms does it have?"

"Does what have?" I asked, aiming to join the conversation.

"Y/n's looking for a new place to live," Anna quickly filled me in. "It would be cool if you lived near us. We have a lot of fun, don't we, Gabs?"

"Yes, that would be awesome," Gabbie agreed. "Lavender already loves you. I think you're already qualified as a tia. Tia Y/n," She smiled.

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I want to be Lavy's tia so bad