Chapter 21

"Happy birthday, Heddy!" Leigh exclaimed as I walked into the living room.

Leigh and Emilia were in the kitchen cooking something. When the smell of muffins hit me, I couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you." I smiled as they gave me a group hug. "What did you do?"

"Typical, pig." Emilia pushed me away playfully.

"Always think of her stomach first." Leigh rolled her eyes.

"And we allow that." Austin walked into the house with a small bag in his hands. "Happy birthday, girl."

"Thank you." I grinned as he hugged me tightly.

"How old are you again?" He asked after pulling away. "Fifteen?"

"Sixteen now, get your facts straight." I joined his teasing and he put his hand up.

"Sorry, my bad." Austin smiled. "You know I've always been bad with numbers."

"Yes, I can still remember you almost failing right at the end of the year." I laughed and he frowned.

"That's not funny, I was terrified for my life that I had to repeat senior year." Austin lowered his tone.

"I would be too if I'd spend all my year crushing on the secretary instead of doing my homework." Leigh commented and Austin twisted his head at her.

Leigh blew a kiss for him but all Austin did was groan and roll his eyes.

"Why is she here again?" He asked and I felt a familiar buzz run through me.

The close but also teasing friendship between Perkyn and Cornell jumped into my mind after what Austin has just said.

I guess we all were similar to strangers we have never met in a way.

"Because Heddy and Emilia love me." Leigh lifted her jaw and started to play with her hair.

Austin got lost in his thoughts for a second.

"That's two against three."

"I don't even count?" Leigh asked.

"Since you are the subject then definitely no." Austin said and turned back to him.

"Jerk."

Austin ignored Leigh's remark and lifted his hand, showing me the bag in his hands that I'd already seen when he had walked into the house.

"Is it for me?"

He let his hand fall and gave me a glare.

"No, it's for the neighbor and I just want you to sign it."

"I never knew you could be kind to neighbors." I teased him and he let me take the bag from him.

There was a time last year when Austin had gotten into a fight with his neighbor who was a few years older than us. He hated everything and everyone that lived on their street.

As young as he was, he acted like a retired Karen. He always threatened Austin to call the cops whenever his dog was barking or they were making a BBQ party in the garden.

When he started to complain about Austin's trees' leaves falling into his yard, Austin has had enough and collected all of the fallen leaves in two bags and just threw them onto the man's entrance.

Needless to say that he was furious when he came home and saw that, even called the cops but they didn't do anything since Austin's cousin was an officer back then.

"I am kind to everyone who is not a piece of shit." Austin admitted his deepest secret and I hummed.

"Thoughts so."

I sat down on the couch and opened the bag. Firstly, I came across a paper that said:

Happy birthday to the only one who is allowed to insult my paintings

But you're still underage to be out at night

I laughed at his irony and put the paper beside me. Then I saw multiple envelopes lying on the bottom of the bag.

I furrowed my brows as I took one out and read the text on it.

'Open when you feel sad'

I glanced up at Austin who was standing behind me and watching me carefully, so he wouldn't miss a glimpse of my reaction to his gifts.

"Do I really have to wait until I'm sad to read it?" I asked with a pout and he nodded.

"That's what the instruction says, Heddy."

"But it's my birthday."

"I've noticed by the notification on Facebook, thank you very much."

I narrowed my eyes.

"I don't plan on being sad this summer."

Austin shrugged and took the envelope from my hands and flipped it.

"Then you'll never read it, simple as that." He answered and I huffed.

"You suck at giving gifts, Austin." I said and his eyes widened.

Emilia and Leigh behind him started to laugh while Austin looked completely crushed and startled by my sudden outburst.

"Is that so?" He asked and I nodded. "Very well. If you feel this way then don't bother reading the other cards."

"But…"

He reached out and took the bag from me while I was trying to push him off the couch as he leaned over the pillows.

I watched him helplessly take the bag from me while a frown took over my face.

I looked up at him with puppy eyes but he turned his head away before his heart could melt like butter. He knew that my puppy eyes were always impactful with him.

"Don't you try and dare look at me with your big puppy eyes."

"I'll look at you like this all day then." I said and he hissed.

"That's just donwright insulting."

"So are you." I fired back.

"Ruining someone else's, especially your friend's, birthday is pretty much a horrible thing, I give that to her." Casen walked out of the hallway while scanning us with his eyes.

My face immediately brighted up when I saw him because I knew that Austin wouldn't stand a chance if Casen was here.

Casen has always taken my side which was why he was my savior all the time.

"I should have known that you would come and save the day." Austin groaned as Casen stopped beside me.

"Happy birthday." Casen said and pressed a kiss to me forehead.

He was the only one who dared kiss me on my forehead or head.

Well, now that I thought about, Seeley has make it up to the list in a very fast way though.

But there was a difference between them, Casen would always look at me like an adopted little sister while Seeley looked at me in a whole other way.

"Thank you." I said and he pulled a bouquet out behind his back and I gasped.

It was full of roses and both white and orange lilies.

"I made it." Casen smiled proudly and I stood up.

Now that I looked at it more, I noticed a few piece of dirts at the roots of the flowers that somehow went unnoticed by me at first.

"But our garden doesn't even have roses." I said as I took the bouquet from him and he bit into his lower lip.

"So, off topic, but if the neighbor bangs on the door, just hide the flowers." He said suddenly and we all laughed.

"Don't tell me that you broke into her home just to cut the roses off." Austin buried his face into his free hand.

"I didn't break in!" Casen defended himself. "I got it from her front yard."

"Which is still her properly that equals trespassing." Austin said firmly.

Casen rubbed the back of neck with a grimace while thinking about the possible consequences of his actions.

"How much can you get for that?"

"Don't even think about that now." I interrupted them and gave Casen a side hug to thank but also calm him. "They are beautiful, thank you."

"Anything for my sister." He rubbed my arms as Emilia approached us.

"You're going to spoil that poor girl." Emilia joked with a smile.

"And?" Casen asked as he let go of me. "That's what we are here for."

"At least Seeley hasn't given her anything to consider this gifting spoiling." Austin murmured.

"Speaking of him, where is he?" I asked, turning around.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him since last night."

"He wasn't here by the time we came here." Emilia said. "And we started cooking early."

"Then he is at work?"

"He doesn't work on the weekends." Casen shook his head. "Even if he does, he always tells us or just leaves a message."

It was odd not having Seeley here while all of us were together. I tried to keep pushing his absence into the back of my mind but he always invaded my thoughts again and again.

Apparently, the girls made me chocolate and fruit muffins which were kind of tasteless.

I was so excited when I saw the perfectly shaped muffins on the table but their taste was a huge letdown. Emilia was joking about it so much that I even started to think that they made it this bad on purpose.

We were eating sweets all day and playing board games until it ruined our friendship.

Then we made a promise that we would never play Uno ever again.