𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅

🎶𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈: 𝑨𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒚 𝑻𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒕🎶

Olivia POV:

"Shhh.." I hear someone say in the kitchen as I walk down the stairs. I try to peek but it's dark in there and the blinds are closed.

"Someone there?" I say, but no one responds.

I grab the broom that is leaning against the wall, even though it probably wouldn't do anything if there was an actual intruder in the house, and slowly walk towards the kitchen.

"I have a weapon," I say, slowly.

Shit, what if they have a weapon?

I hear a creak in the kitchen and then someone shushing them again. Then I hear a glass fall on the ground and a gasp.

I take a couple more steps into the kitchen and place the broom in front of me.

"Stay back," I say, pretending like I'm some wrestler that can take these people down.

"I will fight if I have to,"

Suddenly I hear a lighter and then something being lit up.

A birthday candle.

And then they light another candle. And another.

Suddenly, as every candle is being lit, I slowly start to see Conrad's face start to appear in the darkness. Once he is done lighting them up, he looks up at me with a smile on his face. The one that makes me want to throw myself onto my bed and smile about it for hours.

"Surprise!" I hear a bunch of people holler, which startles me. The light is finally turned on and there's a bunch of people huddled around the kitchen wearing party hats. A bunch of friends I made during my time here, some other random people, and Conrad Fisher.

"Wow, I don't even know what to say! How did you all even know?"

Elina, who is standing next to Conrad, grins and discreetly points at Conrad. I walk towards Conrad and place my hands on the counter while leaning forward, just like he is.

"How'd you know," I ask while giving him a smile and raising my eyebrows.

"I may or may not have seen it on your calendar when I was in your room," he says while looking towards the window.

Why is he acting so shy? I've never seen Conrad nervous like this before.

"Well, thanks"

He looks over to me with a grin and caresses my finger with his.

"Alright, let's sing to the birthday girl!!!" Elina hollers while huddling everyone around the counter.

Conrad then places a plastic crown on my head and fixes my hair.

"Really?" I say while laughing.

"Yes, of course. It's crucial. It's your birthday and you shall wear this birthday crown that was, for some reason, ten dollars at target,"

"Ten do-" before I even get to finish my sentence, everyone starts singing happy birthday. I look around the room and see all the pretty decorations in my favorite color, red. A bunch of different shades of red to be exact. And I don't even remember when I told him my favorite color was red, but yet he still remembered it.

I look over at Conrad, who isn't singing, but just staring at me with a smile on his face. He's giving me the eyes he gave me the other day, when we went to the bookstore. The soft eyes and the smile. And I can't seem to take my eyes away from them. Since the way he sometimes looks at me seems to be too addicting. I could look at them for years and never get bored of them.

I start to hear people chanting to blow and make a wish, I snap out of it.

Damn, he needs to stop looking at me like that.

Once I finally blow, everyone starts to cheer and go their separate ways.

"Happy Birthday," I hear Tae say as he walks towards me. He is handing me some flowers and leaning over for a hug. I hug him and take the flowers.

"Thank you so much, they are pretty," I say and take a peak towards the other side of the counter. There is Conrad Fisher leaning against the counter and talking to someone else.

"Happy Birthday girl!!!" Elina hollers while giving me a smile.

I thank her and place the flowers onto the counter. Elina looks over at COnrad and then grabs her brother.

"Let's go. Got to show you something," she says, while walking away and giving Conrad a wink. I look over at Conrad and he gives her a smile.

What in the world are they planning?

Conrad then looks over to me and walks towards me. He then places a gift bag in front of me and sits on the counter.

"You got me a present," I say while looking into the bag. As I peek, I see a lot of books in it. When I mean a lot, I mean a shit ton.

I look up at Conrad and widened my eyes.

"Did you rob the bookstore?" I say while placing the books out onto the counter.

"I may have,"

As I place each book out, I see a familiarity in each one I pick out. Each and every one of these are the ones I saw when we went to the bookstore. Each and every one of them with its pretty little cover, that called out to me when I was at the store.

"Are these-"

"Yes," he says before I can even finish my sentence.

Did he really just go out and buy every single book I grabbed at the bookstore? Is this man insane? Is this man alright? But most of all, is he real?

"I know. I know. It's technically "cheating" since I didn't buy you a present myself but-"

"No no, shut up. This is the literal best present I have ever been given. This is so fucking incredible that I could kiss you," i say while appreciating every book I take out and wanting to place them all on my beautiful bookcase.

"Go for it then," he says, while looking down at me with a grin.

I laugh, not knowing what to say, since I know that if he was not joking around with me right now, I would definitely go for it. Right there and then.

Before I get the chance to say anything, my phone starts to ring loudly.

"Hello," I say once I pick up the phone. Suddenly, I hear my grandmother start to sing happy birthday to me in spanish. I can't help but smile since she is just too adorable for me to handle.

"¡Te estas poniendo vieja!!" (you are getting old) she says once she ends the song. I hear people in the background cheering and I laugh.

"Gracias abu,"

"Le voy a pasar el teléfono a tu mamá para que te felicite," (I am going to pass the phone to your mom so she can congratulate you.) she says quickly and then starts talking to my mom.

My heart skips a beat as soon as I hear her mention my mother.

I am not ready for this. But at the same time, the person I don't want to talk to is also the same person I want to speak to the most. Since, in some sick and twisted way, I still miss her, even if she is the one that made things this way.

"Háblale" (talk to her) I hear my grandmother say.

"I'm not in the mood to talk to her right now," I hear my mom say in the background.

"Cómo puedes decir eso? Ella es tu hija. Es su cumpleaños." (how can you say that, she's your daughter. It's her birthday.)

"Ella es la que no quiere hablar conmigo y la que hizo cosas como esta."(She is the one that doesn't want to talk to me and that made things like this. )

"Déjame en paz. Lo muy cansada que estoy para que tu me estes molestando con esta mierda." (Leave me alone. I am way too tired for you to be bothering me with this shit right now.)

"Just talk to her. She is your daughter," my grandmother says to my mom.

"Bullshit. She knows damn well I don't want to hear from her,"

I hung up the phone, because I don't think I can hear much more without breaking down crying in front of everyone. I take a deep breath in as I feel some tears try to come out.

Not right now. Not today. Don't let her ruin today.

But it's so fucking hard to go on and try to pretend like everything is normal and okay. Because my own mother doesn't want to speak to me, and I don't know how to feel about that. I want to scream and fight with her and tell her all the reasons why she is wrong.But at the same time, I want to cry and tell her how much I want her to be better. Since that is truly everything I have ever wanted.

Someone suddenly grabs my hand and starts to pull me towards a room. I can't see who it is through my teary eyes at first, but once I wipe and they close the door, I see them.

It's Conrad Fisher.

I wipe my eyes and look away.

"I'm sorry, I-" I start to say, but then he walks towards me and wraps his arms around me.

"It's alright. Don't be sorry," he says, as he places my head on his shoulder. I try not to cry, because once I start I know there won't be an end to it.

And I don't for a while. Until he places his hand on my head and says, "Don't listen to her, she doesn't deserve you," he lets go of the hug and then places his hands on my cheeks.

The tears that have been stinging my eyes for the last couple of minutes are finally released. I try to look away but Conrad places my head towards him again.

"It'll be alright,"

He places his arms around me, but this time it feels more like a tight hug. I know it's all in my head, but it feels like he could truly take away all my sadness with this singular hug. I want to stay in it forever, since it seems safe and comfortable. But at the same time I want to run away from it, since I feel like he can see right through me. It feels like he has seen right through me all this time and just never noticed.

"You'll be okay," is the last thing he says as I cry on his shoulder, wishing that the misery will all go away.

____

𝑯𝒊𝒊. 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒚.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒗𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅!!! 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 <3