Constant Repeat

Part 8.3

The second she opened the door, she saw them throw their arms up and yell "Happy birthday!" She laughed, seeing them wearing little cone birthday hats. There was a happy birthday banner hanging on the wall next to the UK flag, and some balloons in the corner of the room.

She couldn't even continue taking it all in because she was quickly overwhelmed by them all giving her a hug at the same time. She felt tiny in between them all, it made her laugh hard.

"Guys, I'm suffocating in here." Her voice struggled to come out because they had been squishing her a whole minute.

They let go and Nick was the first one to give her a proper hug, "Happy birthday Ellie." He left a loud wet kiss on her cheek which had her beaming.

She didn't even have time to say thank you because Matt all but crashed into her with a hug, "Happy birthday cowgirl." And that's when she felt a cowboy hat being placed on her head.

She laughed as she returned the hug, "Thank you Matthew."

"Right, enough." Jamie complained behind Matt. "My turn." He pushed the drummer away from Ella and moved to hug her. "Happy birthday Ella." The guitarist made them sway in the hug, it had her heart burst from happiness.

"Thank you Cookie." She left a kiss on his cheek before letting go.

Alex had been waiting for everyone to go, recording the whole moment with his phone. He pocketed the device quickly when he saw Jamie leaving Ella, steps fast to approach the girl.

His arms came around her in no time and they melted into each other. "Happy birthday, darling." He congratulated and pressed a bunch of kisses on her cheek.

She hummed and giggled, "Thank you, Al."

Matt had captured the moment with his camera, Ella only noticing when she managed to peel her eyes open as they had fallen closed at Alex's embrace. They smiled at each other before she let go of Alex and looked at him.

"Y'all are sneaky. Is this why you had me come in late?"

Alex nodded, "Yes. And I know it is very underwhelming considering we had you come four hours late but..." He trailed off as he went to retrieve something for the coffee table. "This took us the greatest amount of our time." He showed her a plain white envelope, signed with just a Ella x in the front. "We hope you like your present more."

She narrowed her eyes, "I told you guys to not get me anything."

Nick sighed a couple of feet behind Alex, "We know but we couldn't not get you something..."

Ella looked around the room, her gaze falling on every single one of them and they were all looking back at her with excited grins on their faces. Alex softly pushed the envelope towards her and she begrudgingly took it from him.

She hadn't known what to expect but when she opened it and found a folded printed page with plane tickets to Tennessee, she bursted out in happy tears.

"Oh my god!" Ella exclaimed as the tears fell down her cheeks. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She threw herself at Alex in gratitude.

"Don't cry darling," The singer cooed, rubbing her back up and down.

She chuckled, tears still falling from her eyes. "They're happy tears. I promise."

She let go of Alex to look back at the folded paper and when she found it looking the same, not being a figment of her imagination, she covered her mouth as she continued to cry.

"I love you guys so much." She stated before running to hug them all.

She had so many questions and after she was done hugging the lads, they all poured out of her. "How? Wait, when? Did you buy them today? How did you even get my information?"