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"Happiest birthday honey."
I give my dad one of my biggest smiles, wrapping my arms tight around him. He wraps me in a hug, squeezing me hard before letting me go. "Thank you dad."
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYDIAA!" I hear Em's voice yelling from behind, before she jumps on me from behind, wrapping herself around me like she's having a piggy back ride. I laugh along with her, wiggling a little so she let's go. She jumps down, tacking me in a hug. "It's your birthday baby! You are finally an adult! And I've already said that like a thousand times since midnight."
"I am!" I chuckle at her enthusiasm, squeezing her as tight as possible. Tanner jumps out of nowhere, caging us both in his arms, making us laugh.
"It's my favorite person's birthday today!" He whoops, placing a kiss on my head affectionately. I hear Whiskey barking, which causes us to entangle ourselves from each other. he jumps up and down, grabbing the bottom of my jeans by his teeth, pulling me towards the living room. He is a little too eager to get me out of the house today.
"Patience boy. I'm coming." I chuckle, running towards the direction he's taking me, Tanner and Em following behind. I see my dad standing at the entrance of the house, arms crosses, tapping his foot on the floor, waiting patiently. "You asked him to call me dad?"
he lifts his head up, laughing as Whiskey runs to my dad, standing by his feet like the good boy he is. "I did. I have a surprise for you."
"Surprise?" I arch an eyebrow. He nods, then gestures us to follow him outside. Whis is the first one to run outside.
A soon as I step outside, my eyes fall on a masterpiece standing in the middle of the pathway. Brand new Harley Street 750, sleek black, waiting for me. It's the model I've been begging my dad to get me from the past few months. I really didn't think that dad would actually get me something but now that it's right in front of me, I cannot believe my eyes. It's like a dream come true. I launch myself at dad, smiling through the tears. "Thank you so much dad. Thank you so much for this. I love this so much."
He kisses the crown of my head, he chuckles. "You're welcome. And since you're 18 now, you can ride the deathtrap. But only after enough practice and tests."
I squeal loudly. "I love you so much! You are the best."
"I know." He chuckles.
"Did you guys see this?!" I turn my attention towards Em and Tanner who are looking at me with amusement.
Tanner snickers. "We helped dad in choosing the model and the color babygirl."
Em nods, a bright smile on her face. How did I get so lucky? I have such a caring family! I pull them in a hug, hoping that I don't need words to convey how much they mean to me.
"Our gift is still left! Wait." Em pulls away, running into the house hastily, making us laugh out loud. She comes out a minute later, holding two gifts wrapped up in black sparkly wrapping paper. "One from me and one from this dumbass who doesn't know how to wrap a gift!"
I roll my eyes as Tanner sticks his tongue out at her and grab one gift from her hand, tearing open the packaging. Inside there's a small handmade scrapbook with a lot of pictures and our adventures together, right from the day we met. The story behind each picture, silly quotes. There are some pictures in the end of our whole group.
"Oh my god. Thi- this is unbelievable. Did you make this?"I ask her, astound to the core.
"All on my own." She exclaims proudly. "I know you prefer handmade gifts over materialistic things so I made you a Memory book which has all of our pictures."
"See my gift now." Tanner interrupts.
"Okay." I nod, laughing. I hand Em the book for the time being and open Tanner's gift. It's my favorite pair of Skullcandy headphone. The one that he broke when he stepped on it.
I snicker, giving him a hug. "Thank you so much for this."
"I felt guilty for destroying yours so I got you the same ones." He remarks.
"What would I even do without you guys?" I exclaim, wiping away a fake tear from my cheek.
"Die, probably." Em quips, and we all laugh because that statement's a hundred percent true.
âââ
A hand grabs mine from behind, whirling me around causing me to crash against a body. A soft, familiar pair of lips slant on mine making me realize that it's just Ridge and not some random stranger. I sigh against his lips, kissing him back.
"Happy birthday sweetheart." He whispers, a smile grazing his lips.
I wrap my arms around his neck, a bright smile on my face. "Thank you."
"I have a surprise for you after school." he murmurs against my lips, kissing the crown of my head. The ringing of the bell breaks our moment, making me step out of his hold and groan.
"I don't wanna study anymore." I whine, earning a chuckle from him.
"But I have to. I have Physics right now so I'm gonna go. Bye baby." He kisses me one last time and then walks away from me, disappearing through the bunch of students running for their classes. Since I have art class right now, I can go a little late because the teacher arrives ten to fifteen minutes after the class starts.
I walk towards my locker, and punch in the combination. I open the locker and pick out my sketch book and other essentials for the class. A small black colored envelope falls from my locker just as I'm picking up the books . Confused, I pick it up and frown, looking at it in wonder. Opening the envelope, I look inside a small note addressed to me.
Curious, and a little flattered that someone wrote me a letter, I tear open the seam and see a small paper with something scribbled on it in a messy handwriting. Ridge, I realize with a smile.
I like you because you are gorgeous and have an amazing personality.
A giggle bubbles out of my lips. Folding the note carefully, I put it back in the envelope and keep in safely back in the locker. How did he even put this in my locker? No one except for Em - wait, Em! She must've given him the combination of my locker. Biting my lip to stop myself from smiling like a creep, I skip to my art class happily, entering the room to find the teacher missing.
"It's my best friend's birthday today!" Bruce's cheerful voice greets me as soon as I enter the roo, followed by multiple pairs of arms caging me in a tight embrace. I chuckle at their enthusiasm, and hug them back.
"Happy birthday babe." Erica exclaims, hugging me once more once Bruce and Trish leave my side. Then comes Trish, hugging me just as hard, wishing me.
They don't let me speak, Trish grabs my hand and drags me towards the back of the room, where Bruce's canvas stand lies, covered by a large cloth material.
"This is a little something from us, for you birthday." Erica mutters, worrying her bottom lip.
"Here comes the masterpiece. Beware humans, for you are about to be blown by the beauty." Bruce announces, earning looks of confusion and annoyance from others in the room.
He pulls away the cloth, revealing a portrait of - me?! Holy motherfucking shizballs. Oh my god. I see in front on me, a painting of me laughing freely, hair flying in all directions. I remember this picture! Ridge took this picture when we were in Bali. But, how did they do this? How?
I observe the picture silently and seeing myself laughing like this, so carelessly, without a care in the world makes me feel happy on the inside.
I bring my hand to my mouth as a strangled voice leaves my lips. This is so overwhelmingly sweet to comprehend.
"Oh my god, you don't like this?" Erica gasps, eyes wide.
I shake my head, a tear rolling down my eye. "I love this. So much."
"How can you not like this? After all I made this for you." Bruce remarks, throwing his arm around my shoulder. I give him a big, hearty smile.
"We have another surprise for you. After school." Trish reveals, cuddling next to Bruce. "Also, Erica has something for you now."
Erica perks up, nodding excitedly. She rummages through her bag to produce another black envelope, handing it to me. I take it from her hands, opening it hurriedly.
It's another note from Ridge.
I like you because you are crazy, but in good way.
A laugh escapes my lips, making me shake my head at his silly yet heart warming notes.
"I won't ask you what's written on this because it's private but judging by the smile on your face I can comprehend that it's something cute." Erica comments, smiling at me in a teasing manner.
I give her a smile, nodding my head.
"Okay class. Sorry for being late. I got stuck in the teacher's meeting. But let's get started now." The teacher enters the room, silencing all of us.
After the class is done, we leave the room, laughing, my precious gift in Bruce's hold because he doesn't trust me with it yet. Since it's Bruce, I didn't say anything. We walk towards our next class that is English, which we all have together. All of a sudden I hear loud noises from behind, someone calling out my name, as if someone's running towards us in full speed. We turn around to see Ash, Eric, Kiara and Neil walking to us, big smiles on their faces.
"Happy birthday Lydia!"Kiara yells, tackling me in a bone crushing hug as soon as they are right in front of me. I giggle, hugging her back.
"Thank you honey." I pull away. She gives me a bright smile, handing me a wrapped gift. "Here, a little something for you."
"You didn't have to get me anything you know." But I still tear open the wrapper to see a photo frame of us girls laughing at the camera. It's a picture we took in Bali, when we were at the beach.
"This is perfect." I whisper, giving her a broad grin. I notice a small envelope a the back of the frame. Raising an eyebrow at her, I open it to see yet another note from Ridge.
"This is for you." Kiara tells me.
I like you because you like just reading as much as I do.
I press my lips together to stop the urge of squealing out loud because of happiness but I suppress my emotions putting the note in my bag, turning towards my friends. Eric, Ashton and Neil are the next one to greet me, promising to give me their gifts later in the evening, when they have a surprise planned for me. We walk towards our class, laughing and talking loudly. We enter the room, to see Tanner, Ridge and Em already seated at the back, waiting patiently for us to come.
I take a seat next to Ridge who's smiling at me. I take out all the notes I've been getting from him all day, waving it in front of his face, a cheeky smile on my face. He lets out a hearty laugh, turning in his seat to get his bag. Rummaging through it, he takes out another note, giving it to me.
"How many more are there?" I chuckle, taking it from him.
"How many do you want?" He whispers, giving me a charming wink. I feel my body warming up at his silly yet sweet gestures. shaking my head, I open the envelope and read the note.
I like you because you are the weirdest person I know ;)
I gape at him, wide eyed. "You are the weirdest person I know!" I accuse, pursing my lips.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night." He murmurs, blowing me a kiss.
I open my mouth to say that would be you, but the teacher decides to interrupt us at that very moment by entering the class. I huff, then pick my bag from the floor to take out my notebook and a pen. Inside I find another note.
Carefully, I take it out and bring my hands under the table so that the teacher doesn't catch me or the note. This note is more important to me that this stupid language I speak everyday. Cautiously, I open the note.
I like you because you make me smile even when I don't want to.
I crane my neck to my side, looking at Ridge. He is looking at the front, toying with a pen in hand, concentrating on what the teacher is talking about but there's a small smile on his face. A smile that makes him look ten times more beautiful. A smile forms on my lips.
And that's the moment the teacher decides to call out my name, asking me a question about what she's been teaching.
And I have no clue about what she said. Kill me now.
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This is how Corona Virus pandemic has affected our lives lmao -
Also, if you know what show this scene is from, I LOVE YOU!
Anyways, hope you guys liked this chapter! This is the first part of the chapter! The next part will be posted after this.
Till then,
Stay Safe and Stay Happy! <3