roommates

thirteen

"Clay you didn't tell Vanessa? What if she finds out? She'll flip," George whispered concerned. 

"She won't," Clay felt a little bad, lying to his girlfriend. But he knew that if he mentioned wanting to see Quinn on her birthday, Vanessa would have found a way to make it about her. 

"Aw, we miss you too Tiki," Nick spoke to the cat, who was rubbing her head against his palm.

Quinn stirred in her sleep, "Tiki?" she said with her eyes closed, noticing the absence of the cat.

"Meow," George said, imitating the cat who had sauntered over to Clay, begging to be held by her second favorite person in the world. 

"Hello?" Quinn opened her eyes, and she thought her heart stopped beating, "What the-"

"Happy birthday!" The boys yelled in unison. Quinn jumped out of bed, and practically jumped into Nick's arms, hugging him first.

"What the hell?" She said smiling. Quinn felt like she was gonna cry, in her head, she made a mental note to thank Ellie a thousand times over. When Nick put her down, she rushed into George's arms, who hugged her affectionately.

"Happy birthday Quinn," George said into her shoulder, there was something so strange about hugging George, seeing as they were the same height and Quinn felt like she overpowered him in their embrace.

When George released Quinn, she took a step back, eyeing Clay hastily, "Can I... hug you?" She didn't know what was too far.

"Come here," Clay opened his arms to Quinn, and she stepped into his hug. Something about the way he held her, said all the things Clay wished he had said. It was an unspoken understanding, and it made up for his absence. For Quinn, it felt like home, it was what she had been missing, for three months.

"Happy Birthday," He said to her, tucking his chin on top of her head, trying to contain the fact that his heart was pounding very loud. Clay hoped Quinn couldn't hear it. She could.

Listening to his heartbeat reminded Quinn of the conversation she had with Clay's sister, when she told Quinn that the timing wasn't right for them. Quinn had secretly held onto the hope that there was going to be a right time for them.

The hug ended before it got awkward, and Quinn smiled at her boys, "Thank you guys for being here, sorry I was asleep, my CRAZY ASS ROOMMATE woke me up at the crack of dawn." Quinn looked at the clothes she slept in, seeing how disheveled she probably looked.

"I love you too!" Ellie yelled from her room, which was adjacent to Quinns.

"Well, get dressed stupid, I wanna eat breakfast," Nick ruffled Quinn's hair affectionately, before leading the other guys out into the kitchen. Quinn swore that Clay turned around again and smiled at her before he left.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh," Quinn yelled silently after they had gone. It had hit her what just happened. Her boys were here. Quinn checked out her closet to see what she could wear, thinking about a lot at once.

Ever since she saw Clay at the farmer's market, she had slowly let herself forgive him. She knew that she was an adult, and that it wasn't right to hold everything over his head. That would just be childish. It was unfair to her, but he wouldn't have acted so strongly if he wasn't trying to chase away his own feelings for Quinn. So she quietly unblocked him, and just hoped that one day their paths would cross again. 

Once Quinn had gotten dressed, she went into the kitchen where the boys and Ellie were huddled around the counter, in conversation. Bruno sat at Nick's feet, as he glanced back and forth between his owner and the stranger, just hoping to get some attention.