Tethered (Book Two of The Invisible String Series)

Forever With You: Part One

I shrug, walking backwards and pointing over my shoulder towards the bedroom door. "Well if you're not celebrating today, I have better things to do."

I can't help but laugh as the brunette hurries out of bed and crosses the room to me in the span of just a few seconds, locking her arms around my waist as she presses her face into the crook of my neck. "You're being purposefully mean to me, and on my birthday no less."

I let my own limbs wrap around her, giving her a squeeze as I sway us back and forth. "Well if the birthday girl wasn't such a grump about her age, which is just a number by the way, I wouldn't have to be so mean."

When Lizzie doesn't respond I give her one more squeeze before having to pry her arms off of me, and let out a sigh as I lead her back to the bed. This is now how I imagined this morning going, but I should have known better. Lizzie's always been a little sensitive about her age, and more specifically worried about the age-gap between us and I should have prepared myself for this. So I gently shove her down onto the bed before kneeling down in front of her and taking her face in my hands.

"Lizzie, baby, I love you so much. You know that, right?," I wait for the small nod of confirmation that I'm given before I lean forward to place a kiss on the tip of her nose, hating the self-conscious look in her eyes. I let my thumbs run across her cheekbones for a few seconds as I try to formulate my words. "You are absolutely breathtakingly beautiful, and you get even more beautiful with every day that I get the pleasure of waking up next to you. And I don't care if you're thirty, thirty-one, or one hundred, you will always be beautifully perfect in my eyes. I wish that you could see yourself how I see you, because then you'd realize how amazing you are. So please, don't ever think that just because you were born a few years before me that I don't see you as the sexy and gorgeous woman that you are. Because it's quite literally unfair how fucking good you look, babe. And I will gladly spend the rest of today, tomorrow, the day after that, and every single day of the rest of our lives reminding you."

I let my hands fall from her face, but not before wiping at the few tears that have somehow managed to escape, and gather her hands up in my own to hold against my chest. "No more tears today, okay? Today I want to celebrate the day that my best friend and the love of my life was brought into this world."

Rather than responding, Lizzie just pulls me into her, and I wrap my arms around her back since I'm still kneeling, placing a series of kisses against the side of her head as she holds onto me for dear life, letting out a few sniffles every now and then.

After a few minutes she finally releases me and I place one final kiss to her head before I stand and grab the tray of food that I'd momentarily forgotten about and motion for the brunette to move. "Scoot back against your pillows. Your birthday celebration begins with breakfast in bed."

I take up residence on the opposite side of the tray as she eats, sprawled out on my side and watch her smile as she smiles down at the waffles I'd made, which just so happen to be in the shape of different sized hearts with various cut up pieces of fruit surrounding them. She reaches across the tray and brushes her fingers across my cheek before gently grabbing a hold of my chin. "Thank you, baby. I love them."

Feeling quite proud of myself that I'd managed to turn this morning around, I let her eat in peace, taking the offered berry every now and then without arguing. Whatever Lizzie wants today, Lizzie is gonna get. Eventually the food is long gone and I inform my girlfriend of the rest of the day's plans, which are technically just plans to get her out of the house so that I and the others can get started on decorating the backyard.

"...and then you all are gonna head back here for your birthday dinner with all our friends and family, where you get to sit and listen about how much we all love you and how amazing you are and how our lives just wouldn't be the same if Lizzie wasn't in them."