"Okay, I'm done waiting for you. WAKE UP AND SMELL THE BIRTHDAY CANDLES BITCH!" Syd yells as my bedroom door swings open.
"It's too early for this," I groan, covering my face with a pillow.
"Too early? It's twelve p.m! I got here at ten! Your mom baked and decorated a whole cake in the time your lazy ass was snoozing halfway through your birthday," I feel my mattress sink under her weight as Syd sits on the corner of my bed, "And now because you missed breakfast you won't get to taste it until tonight. Spoiler alert, it's really good."
"Did she give you a piece?" I ask, sitting up.
"Better," she says, "She let me lick the batter off her whisk."
My expression twists into one of disgust, "There's a sexual innuendo in there somewhere."
"With me, there always is," she shrugs, standing up and walking towards my closet, "Now get up and get dressed, I'm taking you out for lunch," she says, tossing me a white corset top and a pair of loose, light-wash jeans. I put the outfit on, pairing it with white sneakers, and rake my fingers through my hair to detangle it, ready to head out the door.
We take Sydney's car and drive to Frenchy's, because of course I can't have a birthday lunch without those delicious burgers. We enter the establishment and sit at what we've deemed our table, the booth on the far corner next to the window.
Raven, the black-haired waitress that always seems to be on duty when we decide to stop by, takes our usual order and brings us a cherry coke and a vanilla milkshake to enjoy while we wait for our food to arrive.
"So, eighteen huh?" Syd asks, taking a sip of her drink, "How does it feel?"
"Exactly the same as seventeen, plus a dash of existential dread that tells me I'm no longer a kid, but an adult with no life plan," I reply, stirring my milkshake with the paper straw.
"Ever the optimist," Syd rolls her eyes, "My offer still stands, you know? You can still come with me and spare me the pain of missing you."
"I wish I could, but you know I made my choice. I'm already enrolled here at Belleview." I inform her, "Besides, I can't move out of this town. My whole family is here, and I can't leave them yet."
"You're going to have to at some point. Might as well do it now and get it over with," she shrugs, "We both know that's not the real reason why you're staying here, though. It's because you're scared of taking a risk and failing. But I get it, and I don't judge. It just sucks, Cali won't be the same without you."
"And this town won't be the same without you," I say, looking across the table at my best friend, wondering how I will ever make it through without her by my side.
"Don't get all sappy on me now," she says, wiping a tear away but still managing to keep her mascara intact, "We still have one last summer together before I move, and I promise we'll make it count. My goodbye present to you will be the best summer of your life."
"I'm going to hold you to that promise," I warn.
"You better," she replies and we both smile.
"Where's your third wheel?" Raven asks as she sets our food in front of us, "Haven't seen him around here in a while," she points out.
"Tyler? He's...uhm been a little busy," Syd replies, her tone being more of a question than an answer "I'm sorry, I can't find an actual excuse," she admits, folding her arms on the table.
Raven laughs, "What a shame, we don't get eye candy like him around here often," she states, "Well, if you see him, tell him I said hi, and that I'm still waiting for his call," she says, before walking away from our table.
"Will do!" Syd sings after Raven with a smile, dropping it as she looks back at me, "Here I was thinking I might still have a chance with her," she sighs. I laugh, rolling my eyes and biting down on a fry.
"Speaking of the silver boy," Syd says, making me perk up, "He made me his messenger and gave me a little something for you. It's in the car," she gestures with her head at her beetle sitting in the parking lot. I stare at the seat beside me, the one Tyler usually occupies, and I place my hand on the leather, my only birthday wish being that he could be here to spend it with me.
"You know, I have a hole in my belly, begging to be filled with a cold, sweet, creamy dessert," Syd says, throwing subtlety out the window as we step out of Frenchy's after finishing our lunch.
I chuckle as I drape one arm over her shoulders, "Come on, you bought lunch, ice cream is on me," I state as we walk together towards her car.
Sydney unlocks the vehicle and pops open the trunk, reaching inside it to pull a large, pink and white striped bag out of it, "Here," she says, a smile on her face as she hands me it.
Curiously, I take it from her. I peer inside and under several layers of pink tissue paper, I find Tyler' gift, which brings tears to my eyes. "Fucking unbelievable," I sigh, as I take Ty's letterman jacket out of the gift bag. There's a small piece of tape attaching a little yellow note to the fabric:
'Happy Birthday Maddie. I hope eighteen treats you with kindness,
Love, Ty.
P.s: Don't even try to return it, you always needed it more than I did.'
***
I say goodbye to Syd as she drops me off at home late in the afternoon, the sun painting the sky a mix of dark orange and cotton candy pink as it sets. I step inside my home and lock the door behind me, tossing my keys into the ceramic bowl at the entrance. Taking off my shoes and holding them with two fingers in my hand, I make my way up the stairs and towards my room.
As I open the door, I drop my shoes on the floor. The air becomes dense as I enter my room and I'm hit by a wave of heat, which I notice is spawning from an insane amount of lit candles, placed carefully all around the room. I'm so focused on the potential fire hazard that I don't even notice the dashing young man standing in front of me, until I do a double take.
Noah stands in the middle of the room, at the end of a trail of little red candles, fully suited up and holding a bouquet of baby pink roses. "Happy birthday, Maddie," he says with a smile as I step towards him.
"I-How did you?-I just," I stutter a string of incoherent words, flabbergasted as I look around the room at the display he prepared for me. He laughs, grabbing my hand and bringing me closer towards him.
"Okay, I see you're struggling to find your words so, if you don't mind I'll speak first," he says and I nod. He digs into the inside of his jacket and pulls out a purple, folded up piece of paper, "I wrote it all down, in case I forgot anything," he chuckles awkwardly as he unfolds the paper and I can't help but smile at this adorable scene.
"Maddie," he reads, pausing to look up at me and take a deep breath, "The first time I kissed you, I never imagined it would turn out to be a head-first dive into a sinking spiral of insanity. That kiss made me lose my mind, but it also told me that I couldn't stop until I made you mine."
"I think love is meant to be enjoyed madly, and Maddison, I'm completely out of my mind for you. I've known I was in love with you ever since our first date, and I know that's a day I'll look back to for the rest of my life, because it was the beginning to the beautiful story you and I get to write every day."
"First of all, I want to thank you for a few things: for giving me a chance and giving yourself to me without caring what anyone thinks, for loving me exactly the way I am, for being the first person I've ever been able to confide in, for not judging my family, for reaching the deepest parts of my heart, and for being the best surprise life has thrown my way. But most of all, I'm thankful to you for allowing me to leave my past behind, letting me live out my present with you, and working with me towards building our future together. There's always going to be hardships, but I believe that together we are stronger. I know I'd risk it all just to see you smile."
"Maddison, I love you with everything I am. I love making you laugh, hearing you laugh, I love the way you look at me. I'm fascinated by you. You walked into my life and changed it forever, you filled my soul with happiness, and for that, you deserve the world."
"You made me a promise, so now it's my turn to return the favor," he says, pulling a ring out of his pocket, and I gasp when I notice that it's not just any ring, but the one I'd seen on the strip in Brazil when I bought our bracelets.
"How did you even-?" I ask incredulously, not being able to finish the question.
"I have my ways," he winks at me devilishly and I laugh, as tears start clouding up my vision.
"I don't have much," he returns to his speech with the ring in hand, "But I can offer you three things: My soul, to be forever kindred with yours. My heart, to love you with every single bit of it. And my life, for us to live it out together. I want you to have this ring as a symbol of the promise I make to you to give you all of me, every day, for the rest of my life, or at least for as long as you'll let me be in yours. I want you to wear it until the day that we are both ready for me to give you a different one. Do you accept it?" he asks, and I'm surprised he even feels the need to.
I wish I could turn back time and record his words, put them on a record, and play them in an infinite loop till the day I die to keep this indescribable feeling of overflowing love alive. Because I never want to live without it, and I never want to live without him.
The love I have for Noah is profound. His gestures, his words, his touch, everything about him makes me fall more deeply in love with him every day. He's my other half, and I hope he'll always be mine because I know deep down I'll always be his.
"Yes."