happy birthday

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When my alarm goes off at six in the morning, I'm up immediately. My excitement is enough to hide the sleepiness. The two boys are less eager to crawl out of their warm sheets, but eventually I coax them into the kitchen with promises of food.

With George sleeping in the living room, we have to be especially quiet while making breakfast. Since all of us absolutely suck at cooking, we settle for an easy pancake recipe. Nick and Clay argue the entire time I mix up the batter about whether we should use blueberries or chocolate chips.

They don't even notice me starting to pour out the round cakes on a sizzling skillet. I make twelve in total, hoping it's enough for the four of us. I fill three of them with blueberries for Nick seeing as he's very enthusiastic about the idea. I use chocolate chips in the next six because that's what Clay and I want, but I don't know what to do for George.

"Hey, idiots. What should I put in George's?" They both look up, confused. 

"You made them?!" Clay almost shouts. I shush him and nod. "I dunno. Maybe one chocolate chip, one blueberry, and one plain?"

"Yeah, alright," I agree. Nick pours the orange juice and Clay starts slicing up some apples. By the time I've finished the last of the pancakes, the two boys have gotten everything else ready. All that's left is plating and I've reserved that job for myself. It's not that I don't trust them to do it well. I just like making food look fancy. I have to be fast so that the pancakes don't go cold, but I'm pretty proud once I'm done.

I put a light drizzle of syrup on the plate itself then place each stack of pancakes in the top left corner. Then, I arrange the apple slices into a neat row surrounding the outer edge of the pancakes. Finally, I fill the left over space with extra toppings and a couple dollops of whipped cream. Together, we're able to carry everything out at once.

We set up a nice display before shaking George awake. "Happy Birthday!!!" we all shout at the same time. George winces at our voices, but his smile gives him away. 

"Thank you, thank you. Wait, did you guys make that?" he asks, glancing over at the waiting piles of breakfast. I nod in response and grab his plate. For a while, we sit in silence, each of us enjoying the food. Eventually, Nick finishes and asks if he can make coffee since he's already struggling to stay awake.

George offers to help him make it, but we all insist he can't do any work on his birthday. The rest of the morning is filled with laughter and games. George finds some old board games he forgot he had and we play each one. However, after a while we're all yearning to leave the house and do something more fun. 

Since none of us know the area, George has to find some place to go. At least he'll be able to choose something he likes. After a few minutes of scrolling through his phone, George suggests we go to a bar about a mile away. Clay questions this, arguing that Nick isn't old enough, but George insists it's alright.

All it takes is an approval from me for Clay to be on board. I'm the only one to shower this time so I make sure to finish quickly. I change into jeans and a sweatshirt, but when I join the others in the living room, they're all wearing shorts and t-shirts. "Wha-?" I start.

"It's thirty two degrees. You're gonna roast in that," George says, looking me up and down. Clay and Nick burst out laughing at my confusion. "Oh, that's celsius by the way," George adds sheepishly, chuckling under his breath a little.

"I- uh how warm is that?"

"It's like 90 fahrenheit," Nick giggles.

"Oh, god. It was so cold yesterday with the rain... I'm- uh- gonna change. I'll be right back." My face is red with embarrassment as I leave the room leaving their laughter behind. From my suitcase I grab another outfit, this one more appropriate.

 From my suitcase I grab another outfit, this one more appropriate

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As I enter the living room once again, they all shut up. Finally. Nick is the first to speak saying, "Will you take me shopping or something??"

"Uh, sure." I have no idea how to choose clothing for boys, but I doubt we'll really go shopping anyway. He's probably just trying to break the silence. George and Clay start walking toward the door, speaking in a low whisper. I raise an eyebrow at Clay, but he just shakes his head and shrugs. 

We walk toward the bar very slowly, taking our time to enjoy the weather. When we're about five minutes away, George randomly changes course. "Where are we going? I thought it was over there?" I ask. Instead of answering, George starts running. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" I yell, watching all three boys sprint from me.

I don't bother run after them. They'll stop if they get too far away. Instead, I walk slowly, still enjoying the sun shining on my skin. Eventually, I catch up to them when they stop to catch their breath. When I look around I see we're in a beautiful park surrounded by adorable little shops. 

"You like it?" Clay asks, already recovered from their run. 

"It's beautiful."

"Aww man. There's a lake?! Why didn't you tell us? We could have gone swimming!" Nick complains, looking longingly over at the cool water. 

"I have a pool, Sapnap. We can go swimming later. Beside, lakes are weird." Nick rolls his eyes and sprawls out over the freshly cut grass. I giggle and join him on the ground. Clay and George lay down with us and we all sit in silence, staring up at the gorgeous blue sky. 

"This is where I do yoga," George interrupts the silence with his random observation.

The other two boys sit up with a jerk and stare at George. "You do yoga?" they ask in unison. George laughs and nods.

"Wanna try some?" he asks, sitting up as well. We spread out a little bit on the patch of grass to have enough room and George begins running through some basic stretches. We don't even make it to the actual yoga before Nick begins complaining.

"Gogy, I'm not flexible. Give me a break." Clay seems to be enjoying the calmness, but definitely isn't very flexible either. "C'mon. I wanna swim!"

"Ugh. Fine, we can go home," George groans, starting to get up.

"Wait, no! It's your birthday, Gogy. Besides, yoga is fun," I interrupt, grabbing his arm to keep him from getting up.

"It's fine, y/n. If they don't want to, we can go home and swim." His words are reassuring, but I can tell from his voice that he doesn't mean them.

"Why don't you two stay here and do your yoga shit and Clay and I will start making lunch," Nick proposes, looking to Clay for approval.

"Fine," Clay grunts, standing up from the grass. 

"Are you guys sure you don't want to do it? You don't have to stretch that much... It's just peaceful..." George smiles at my comment then looks back up at his friends.

"Yeah... nope. I'm good, thanks. Beside, people were staring," Nick whispers. I glance around, but there are only two other people near us and they're an old couple feeding ducks.

"Fine, see you in a little bit then," I say, giving in. They were complaining too much anyway. Both boys let out a sigh of relief, say goodbye, and leave. 

"Idiots," George mumbles.

To be continued...

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