20 Chapter 19

His eyes roam over my now flushed body and back to my eyes. I recognize the look on his face because it’s the same as mine. He’s having the same realizations dawn on him that I am. We had been so used to seeing each other on a daily basis that any changes just passed by our notice but was now slapping us in our faces. He drops back down to hover back over me, his lips almost brushing against mine. My own lips part slightly, letting out a short, shallow breath.

He brushes my hair away from my face and brings his lips back to my own, kissing me even more fervently than before. His tongue traces against the seam of my lips and I open my mouth to meet him. It all feels so familiar but so different that it makes my heart ache because deep down I know it’s different in so many ways, and it always will be now because we are. His hand moves down from my face to my neck and then skims down my body to my waist, his fingers gripping the bare skin where my tank top has ridden up.

My phone starts to ring but I silence it without looking or breaking away from Colton. For right now, I can at least try to pretend that things were normal and had never not been that way, that he was still my best friend and my person. I’m not letting one phone call take that away from me. Especially when I don’t even have anyone to call me. A second later, my ringtone for my text messages goes off. He breaks our kiss and starts trailing kisses along my jaw to my neck and my ear. I close my eyes and tilt my head to give him better access.

“It could be your mom, you need to check it,” he says into my ear before continuing his kisses. I sigh and grab my phone to see a missed call and message from a number I don’t know. I open the messages, my curiosity now peaked.

Just wanted to be the first to tell my girl Happy Birthday. Hope you’re sleeping well.

-Riley

Riley? How and when did he get my number? And is it really already midnight? I glance at the time on my phone and see that it’s a few minutes past midnight. He had called and texted at midnight on the dot.

“His girl? You’re his girl now?” I hear Colton ask, just now realizing that his kisses had stopped, his voice coming out accusing and hurt.

He gets up and sits on the side of my bed, facing the wall, and runs a hand through his hair before shaking his head and standing up, grabbing his shirt off of the floor.

“Colton, I’m not-” I start to say, standing up and reaching for his hand, desperate to keep him here and hold on to what little we had managed to grasp a hold of in the last few hours.

“He has your number, Natalie. He knows it’s your birthday,” he snaps but doesn‘t pull his hand out of mine. I can see him warring with himself in his eyes.

“He knows it’s my birthday because he heard you talking about it, Colton.”

“And he heard me talking about your number too?” he asks, raising a skeptical eyebrow at me.

“I don’t know how he got that,” I answer, trying to contain my own temper from flaring up.

He lets out a breath and nods, pulling his shirt on. “Your mom will probably be here soon. Probably shouldn’t be caught with me in your room right now.”

I can’t do anything but nod in agreement, realizing he’s right. I watch as he grabs his things and walks past me to my door. He opens the door but turns back to me instead of leaving. He looks up at the ceiling then back to me before walking back toward me and wrapping me in his arms. He presses a kiss into my hair and lingers for another second. “Happy birthday, Nat.”

“Thanks,” I say, my throat tight with emotion that I immediately start working to shut off.

He leaves my room, shutting my door behind him. I throw myself onto my bed with a sigh and a million thoughts and questions running through my mind. Before I hear his car door shut, I hear the baby start crying and am thankful that I won’t have to deal with that all night. I grab my phone and read Riley’s message one more time and am filled with the need to be near him, to feel the peace that comes with his presence. I plug my phone up to charge and start trying to shut my mind off.

Flashback

“Happy birthday!” I excitedly yell, throwing myself into Colton’s arms and wrapping my own around his neck when he opens his bedroom door. I feel his chest rumble with laughter as I start smothering his face with kisses. I release him and step back, smiling up at him. But my smile falters when I see that he’s trying to mask the fact that something has him upset. I frown up at him and wait for him to give it up and tell me what’s wrong. He sees my expression and knows he’s lost the battle.

“My mom is gone for the weekend on business. I don’t even know if she remembered today. She didn’t mention it at all,” he says, sighing and averting his gaze from mine.

“What about your dad?” I ask, trying to keep my tone optimistic and happy.

“He’s too busy with the girlfriend that could be my older sister,” he answers, rolling his eyes.

“Well, that’s fine. We’re going to make the best of this,” I tell him with conviction.

He smiles down at me and throws an arm over my shoulders. I reach up and hold the hand that’s dangling from my shoulder and squeeze it.

“All I need or want today is you, Nat. As long as I’ve got you, today will be perfect.”

“Damn right.”

I give him a once over with my eyes. He’s in nothing but his boxers and still sporting his bed head. I shake my head at him before going to his dresser and tossing him a pair of blue jeans and one of his white t-shirts. As he pulled his shirt on, I threw him his swimming trunks as well. He put them on then his blue jeans without questioning me and gave me one of his adorable smirks that showed less and less of the dimples he had when I met him the older he became. I always thought that I’d be sad to see them gone but he just looked more handsome and kept growing more into himself.

He walks up to me and tugs on the collar of my shirt, pulling it aside enough to see my bikini strap underneath. I shrug and give him my best innocent smile. He might have figured out the beach but that wasn’t the only thing that I had planned for his day. I grab his hand and lead him downstairs, out the front door, and to the car that his parents bought for him months ago in preparation for today. Ever since their divorce, they have been thrusting money and lavish gift after lavish gift onto him. They didn’t need to feel guilty about splitting up. If they knew him better then they’d know he had wanted that to happen longer than they did. What they needed to be sorry for is basically dipping out of his life when they left each other's. I toss him his keys and throw our beach bag in his back seat.

“We can stop and get breakfast at IHOP if you want,” I offer since it’s his favorite.

“I’m okay,” he tells me, giving me a small smile.

“Okay, well the beach isn’t the only thing I planned. So, follow my directions and don’t ask any questions.”

He narrows his eyes at me and gives me a skeptical look but chuckles at me and does as he’s told. I begin giving him directions and tell him to park a short walking distance away. He parks and we get out. I go around to his side and cover his eyes before leading him the rest of the way.