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"Surprise!"
I had opened my eyes to see Cami, Cooper, Danny, and Mila sitting around a circular table. We were standing in a courtyard area. We were surrounded by the building, but we were in the open air. Twinkling lights were hung between the trees. The table was beautiful and precisely crafted with nice table settings.
"What are you guys doing here?" I asked happily.
"We are here to celebrate your birthday!" Cooper said as Josh and I walked over to them, hand in hand.
"Aww," I said. "You guys are so sweet." Josh and I sat down at the table, I sat beside Cami with Josh on my other side.
"You didn't think that I would let you celebrate your birthday without me did you?" she asked.
I laughed. "I should have known better."
"Did you know that Danny had a daughter?" she whispered to me.
"Yeah," I whispered back.
"And you didn't tell me?" she whispered back.
"I'm sorry he asked me not to," I said.
"What did I always tell you girls about whispering at the table?" a voice asked. My head snapped up and my eyes immediately started well with tears.
"Dad," I identified. I stood up and he engulfed me in a hug. "What are you doing here?"
"I didn't want to miss my only daughter's 22nd birthday," he told me.
I wiped away the tears that were forming in my eyes. I hadn't realized how much I had missed him. I knew that the guys here had their parents who lived relatively close, but my family lived so far away, it was hard to see them.
"I missed you," I told him.
"I missed you too," he told me.
He looked to my left, "Never go anywhere without Cami, do you?"
"Like she would ever want to," Cami responded before I could.
My dad laughed. "It's nice to see you, Cami."
"You too Mr D," she said. My dad took a seat beside Josh. He always had a knack for knowing who to intimidate. There were still too many chairs at this table.
"Hey Lili," Cooper said, gaining my attention. "Did you know that Noah Dawson from the Cowboys, Jessie McRoy and her husband all wished you happy birthday on social media?"
"That's crazy," Danny said.
"Not really-" dad started to say.
"Yeah," I interrupted him. "I meet a lot of people while modeling."
I heard a dramatic scoff from behind me. "Are you embarrassed of me baby sister?"
I turned around in a flash and saw Jessie and Alex walking toward me. I gasped, "what are you guys doing here?" I asked them.
I hugged both of them, I had missed them so much. "We would look like bad family members if we let your dad do all of the celebrating with you," Jessie told me.
I laughed.
"Is that Jessie McRoy?" Cooper asked none too quietly.
"Yessir," Jessie answered as she rounded the table and took the seat beside Cooper who seemed completely starstruck.
"I'm a huge fan," he told her.
"That's sweet of you," she said.
"Did I hear you call me Jessie McRoy's husband, before?" Alex asked Cooper as he went to take a seat beside his wife.
"Yeah," Cooper said. Clearly not knowing his mistake.
"I'm Alex Dawson, a successful comedian," he told Cooper.
"Oh," Cooper said as though he finally recognized Alex. "You're the comedian my grandma likes."
Alex huffs, clearly not happy with how this exchange was going. I giggled. Sometimes it was a good thing that Alex's ego was being kicked down a few notches.
"Don't tell me that you've started having fun without me," I heard a voice to my left say.
I shot out of my chair, "Noah!" I ran into his open arms. He picked me up and spun me around. I hadn't gotten to see Noah this summer, he was at NFL bootcamp. The last time that I had seen him was probably last Christmas and that was far too long ago. He was my closest family member. He was younger than Alex so he was at home more than Alex was when I was a kid. If I hadn't mentioned it already, I missed him like crazy.
"Lilipads," he cooed. "I missed you."
"I missed you too," I said. I started to cry. I'm a very emotional person.
"Don't cry," he begged as he set me back onto the ground.
"Happy tear, I promise," I told him. "You didn't have to come all the way out here for my birthday."
"Oh come on," he said as he walked back to the table with his arm around my shoulder. "You know that I'm always at Cami's beckon call. Speak of the devil," he said. "Hey Cam."
"Hey Noah," she said. She stood up to greet him. He kissed her on the cheek. I saw Cooper's eyes narrow in my peripheral vision.
I glanced past my brother and my best friend to look at Josh. Any past guy that I had hung out with had been immediately intimidated by my family. My dad was muscular and had a no nonsense attitude when it came to people who weren't his favorite child *me*. Alexander would destroy your reputation rather than your limbs, but he looked like he could hold his own in a fight. Noah was probably the most intimidating out of all of them. He was the most protective and the biggest. He was also the least afraid to get into a fist fight.
Josh's face was impassive, but his eyes shone with subdued panic. I took my original seat and Josh took the last empty seat next to Mila and Alex. Danny was staring at Noah with such admiration, it was what Cooper looked at Jessie with. The one key difference being that Danny wasn't falling over himself to talk to my brother.
"Why don't you introduce us to your friends?" my father asked. It wasn't a request, but my dad always phrased his orders like that when he was in front of company.
"Sure," I said, not wanting to be rude. I started with Cami. "You all know Cami," there was a general agreeing sound. "Next to her is my friend Danny, next to Danny is his daughter Mila,"
"Hi!" she said to the table. Everyone laughed.
"Next to Mila, is my brother Noah, next to Noah is my other brother Alex, next to Alex is my sister-in-law Jessie, next to Jessie is my friend Cooper, next to Cooper is my dad John-"
"But you-" my dad interrupted me.
"Can call him Mr Dawson," Cami finished. My dad and Cami shared an air high five because they were too far apart to touch. I laughed.
"And who is this young man?" my dad asked, narrowing in on Josh.
"My name is Josh Miller, sir. I'm your daughter's boyfriend," Josh answered. I knew that my dad would appreciate Josh introducing himself. I felt Noah and Alex square their shoulders and raise their posture immediately. Those two were too over protective.
"Hmm," my dad hummed. "So you're the Josh," he observed.
"Well I do hope so," Josh answered. It was clear to me that Josh was way more nervous about meeting my dad than about anything else I had ever seen him do.
There was a brief pause with silence, before my dad burst out laughing, "I like him."
I felt my posture slump a little bit with relief. My dad's approval didn't mean everything to me, but he was a great judge of character and it definitely mattered to me that he liked my boyfriend.
