𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 ✧ 𝐬𝐚𝐦 𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐲

7.

She ripped the box open once again, and gasped. "No way! You...you got me a record player!" Her smile widened at the thought of listening to her favorite songs on it. Mike beamed proudly, "I know you like music. So, I picked it out just for you!"

He enveloped her in a friendly hug, "Happy birthday, you're 19 now, aren't you? You old lady!" He teased, as she was the oldest out of all of them.

"Eric and I decided to give you one gift." Angela chimed in, holding a neatly wrapped box with purple wrapping paper and a blue ribbon sealing it all together.

Inside was an old, albeit clean polaroid and a lot of fresh rolls of film. "We know you like to keep things in pictures, so we decided to give you a little something! You can use it on whatever you like. Eric found the camera at the thrift store and i bought all the new film." She explained, a small grin on her face in reaction to Ivy's growing smile.

"I love everything you guys have given me! Seriously, you guys are great gift-givers. I wouldn't have ever thought of any of these. Thank you." Ivy truly, genuinely meant it.

The group smiled at her, only for it to falter a little and be replaced with slight confusion after noticing a few figures walk towards them. Ivy had her back to whoever was now making Bella Swan smile.

"What is it?" Ivy asked, once Bella's smile grew as she ran up towards somebody.

"Oh, great. It's the Cullens." Mike said to himself, only to be elbowed in the stomach by Eric.

"Happy birthday, Ives!" Alice squealed, rushing up to envelop the birthday girl in a surprisingly tight hug. Ivy wheezed. Jasper followed his girlfriend close behind.

"Alice, you're crushin' her darlin'" Jasper warned lightly, a black present box sat comfortably in his arm. He held it out for her.

"A gift. From Alice and..." Jasper pulled out another neatly wrapped box. "From me." He said, half-smirking. Ivy thanked him and accepted it. She opened it to see a beautiful, designer purse.

"I- No! This is too expensive. I can't believe you bought this for me!" Ivy exclaimed, holding up the vintage Vivienne Westwood bag.

"It's your birthday! There's no way I'd let you go without something to spice up your wardrobe." Alice replied, a playful demeanor on her mind. It was weird, they had just met a few days ago. Why were they buying expensive things for someone they barely knew? Maybe the Cullens really were that rich.

"We're not rich, just comfortable." Edward seemed to reply almost simultaneously. "If- uh...if you were wondering. We just get free stuff a lot."

"That's exactly what a rich person would say." Ivy laughed as she examined the bag once more. "Here's mine." He chimed in. It was a set of noise-cancelling headphones.

"Seriously, thank you so much. You really shouldn't have done all this just for my birthday."

Japser rolled his eyes playfully and nonchalantly shrugged. "Please, we're happy to do it." Alice squealed and hugged her. Bella could see everything that was happening, and noticed it, too. Perhaps more so than Ivy. The Cullens were known to be extremely quiet and didn't talk to anyone outside of their family, with the exception of Bella, of course, but they were warming up to Ivy way too fast. It was as if they wanted Ivy to get closer with them, which was working. Bella couldn't figure out why they wanted to get to know Ivy so much, but she wasn't necessarily jealous about it, either.

Edward showed nothing but innocent friendliness towards Ivy, who reciprocated his behaviour. Besides, Edward didn't seem like Ivy's type.

Ivy seemed to click with Jasper the most, maybe because they were both the same person. Their personalities were crazily similar. It was as if Alice could be dating Ivy instead of Jasper, and it wouldn't even make a slight difference.

Ivy had never spent her birthday with this many people before, and she was happy.

But something was missing.

She'd be lying if she didn't think about Sam. He probably didn't even know or remember it was her birthday. How could he? Ivy couldn't recall telling him. Maybe she did, maybe it simply slipped through her mind. But she was praying – begging that she didn't, because it hurt a little to think he had forgotten. Edward could hear her thoughts as he scowled.

She was indefinitely in love with a dirty werewolf.

༻✧༺

Ivy stumbled back to her car that was parked a little ways from her party as she sang, or more like mumbled out a few songs. She could feel the bile rising up to her throat as she frantically looked around to throw up. She settled for a flower pot.

"I'm...fine!" She said to no one but herself.

The party was over and everyone had gone home. Nobody had checked in on Ivy because they were either too drunk or already home by then. She also didn't like to admit she had a slight drinking problem, but only a little bit.

Ivy clung onto a tree, everything was spinning. The tree she was leaning on was suddenly so far as she slipped and landed on the dirt. "Shit." She cursed, forcing herself to get up and get in her car. Before she could start it, she heard a loud knock on her window. She jumped in her seat, the alcohol-induced fear set in.

"Ivy!"

It was Sam. He banged on her window again. She rolled it down, starstruck that it was really him. "Sam?" She asked, still not believing he was here and wondering if she really had drank that much.