"Did you get everything?" I asked Andreas as we walked out of the hotel to the bus.
"Yes, I got everything mom." He exaggerated, rolling his eyes. Ever since we got up, I've been badgering him on packing everything. He ended up forgetting his toothbrush and socks before we even walked out the doors.
"Are you sure?" I asked again, stopping on the side of the bus where other guys are putting up their bags.
He turns around, "Yes, Elizabeth, I got everything." To show me he did, he sits down his suitcase and starts checking his pockets. "I got my phone, my lip balm, keys to my car, and- and", he starts to panic when he realizes something is missing.
I pop my hip, "And what? Finish that sentence." My lips turn into an evil smile.
"Don't fucking look at me like that Elizabeth, you just love being right, don't you? Fine, I can't find my wallet, just wait here while I go back up to the room and get it." When he walks past me, I grab onto his arm, holding him there. "What?" He looks down at me. I take his wallet out of my back pocket and waved it around in my hand. "You had it this whole time?"
"I knew you would forget it, and you did, so I grabbed it on my way out the room and pestered you until you thought about it." He tries to take it from my hand, but I move it away.
He sighs, "Aren't you going to give me it."
I think about it, "Maybe." I stand on my toes and kiss him on the lips, and while doing that, I slip the wallet into his back pocket. I whisper against his lips, "You be good, I don't want your coach telling me you were bad."
He chuckles against my lips, sending shivers down my spine, "And if I'm not good?" He asked, teasing me with his finger on my hip.
I grab him forcefully by the jeans, "Oh, you don't want to see." I look behind him to see his teammates staring at us, some cheer while others just look. "Turns out we have an audience." He turns to see his team all looking at us, he mouths something to them and they all turn around. "What did you say?" I asked.
He yanks me by the waist, "Nothing your pretty head needs to know." He gives me one last kiss and gets on the bus. I stand and wave as the bus drives away.
"You two are so fucking dramatic, it makes me sick to my stomach." I turn to see Cross leaning up against his car, arms crossed and rolling his eyes. Connie is in the passenger seat, typing away on her phone.
"Don't be jealous of my love for Andreas." I push his shoulder, playing around. He tugs me to his chest, whispering in my ear, "Happy Birthday!"
"I never told you it was my birthday."
"You didn't have to, Andreas posted it online." He pulls out his phone and shows me the Instagram post. It's me, sitting in the bed with a piece of bacon in my mouth and me wearing his shirt. "I'm sure you guys fucked since you got his shirt on."
I blush, "What we did that night is none of your business, and thank you for wishing me happy birthday, you better have got me something. I know you have money." I tug his shirt, wrinkling it on purpose.
"I may get you something, depending on how I feel." At that time, Connie rolls down the window.
"He got you a 100-dollar gift card." She said nonchalantly.
Cross gives her a death glare, "Why the hell would you tell her that! It was supposed to be a surprise."
She shrugs her shoulders, "You made me angry yesterday, I wanted to get back at you. Also, we need to leave now if we're going to make Elizabeth's surprise birthday party."
He leans his head back, cursing to the gods, "She's so lucky I like her, I swear. . ."
I laugh, "Come on, let's go."
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Andreas is supposed to meet us at the house, but his bus hasn't come in yet. He told me they were stuck in traffic, some car accident on the highway. I groaned, I wanted him to be here. Cross pulls his car into the driveway, turning off the engine. We all get out and walk towards the door.
Cross tells me, "Act shocked and not like someone told you you would have a surprise birthday today." He said all this while cutting his eyes at Connie.
She looks at him with suspicion, "As an empath, I'm sensing you're mad at me."
"I am." He pulls her to this side, brushing a kiss over her eyebrow. "You're lucky I like you, a lot."
I open the door and walk in before they start making out. The house is dark, they closed all the curtains and windows. The only light comes from the front door. My feet tread lightly through the house, not wanting to accidentally step on anyone's fingers.
I miraculously find my footing in the kitchen and that's when everyone burst out screaming, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I nearly have a heart attack, leaning myself up against the wall so I don't collapse. My hand holds my chest.
Standing around the kitchen is Bridget, Teddy, Jace, Monica, Carlee, Doug, Daniel, Mary, Jill, Connie, Cross, and the love of my life, Andreas. He walks into the room, a large cake with 19 candles stuck in them. Everyone watches as he comes in, the candles glowing across his face.
I purse my lips together, not wanting to cry. Everyone I care about is here, except for my family of course, but this is nice. He comes right in front of me, and everyone around us is singing happy birthday.
"... happy birthday dear Elizabeth, happy birthday to you!" Then, everyone becomes quiet, waiting for me to blow out the candles.
"Make a wish, baby," Andreas whispers.
I look at him, tears filling my eyes, "I already got my wish.... you." I say so quietly that he's the only person that can hear.
He clears his throat, "Don't say stuff like that right now, you'll make me cry." I chuckle, then I blow out the candles. Everyone claps and cheers. The lights come back on and Andreas sits the cake on the counter.
Before he could hug me, Bridget came over and wrapped me in her arms, "Happy Birthday, baby sister."
"Thank you, Bridge. And I love the cake, by the way, you didn't have to put all this together." I tell her, clutching her waist.
She leans back, "Yes, I did, no one else was going to." She pinches my cheek, kissing it gently. "Also, say hi to the video, mom and dad wanted me to record it.
"HI!" I say brightly.
All the others come over and wish me happy birthday, handing me gifts and kissing my cheek with hugs. Once I get through everyone, they start grabbing a slice of cake and mingling with each other.
Andreas comes over to me, "Do you like the cake? I got chocolate because everyone loves chocolate."
I kiss his cheek, "You did good, I love it. You told me your bus was stuck in traffic."
"I had to tell you that, Bridget needed me to pick up the cake and I wanted to see your face when we all jumped out yelling happy birthday. God, I would love to see that face again." His thumb lingered on my cheek.
"You may tonight," I smirk, moving over to my friends.
Jill and Mary were sitting in the living room, eating cake on the couch, talking to each other. When they see me coming, Jill yanks me down next to them. "Happy Birthday, slut!" She says in my ear. Mary chokes on her cake.
"Why a slut?" She asked.
Jill looks me in the eye, "Oh, she knows." I let out an exasperated sigh.
"We missed you after the game," said Mary. "We all ended up going to an after-party and I made out with a random guy."
I look to Jill to confirm, she was serious. "Tongue and everything, Eliza. I thought he may swallow her mouth. Our Mary is turning dirty."
Mary blushes, "It was only one time."
I look around for our other friend, "Where the hell is Tana?"
Mary says, "Parker is back from the game and she wanted to spend some time with him. She texted me saying she'll be at the dinner."
My frows burrow, "The dinner?"
"Yeah." Jill bites her lip. "Daniel and I are going to sing you a song at Mervin's Mary tonight. Make sure you wear a nice dress and look pretty."
"What are you guys going to sing?"
She puts a finger over her lips, "It's a secret. But I'll give you a hint, it has your name in it." She gets up from the couch and goes into the kitchen for something to drink.
All through the celebrations, all I could think about was the song they were going to sing to me. And how everyone is going to react when they find out Jill and Daniel are a singing duo.