Page 96 of Devilry

“Elijah,” he says into my shoulder.

I run my hand down his back. “Yeah?”

“Did you see the constellation?”

“No, baby,” I say trying out the endearment out for the first time. “I saw heaven.”

* * *

“Are you ready?”A fully dressed Aiden pops his head into my room, just as I slip my arms through my jacket.

“I am now.”

“Perfect,” he responds excitedly. Stepping out of the doorway, he makes space for me to walk through to the common room. “Callie and I want to give you your present before we go out.”

“You guys didn’t have to get me a present.”

“We did,” Callie chimes in. “Come and sit down, so you can open it and we’re not late for our reservation.”

Under Callie’s and Aiden’s insistence, I finally succumbed to the idea of celebrating my birthday. Seeing as birthdays were never really a big deal growing up, it feels foreign to get dressed up, have people fuss over you, and to give you their undivided attention for a day.

After what happened with Alex, even a simple Happy Birthday seemed too much for my parents. Like acknowledging my existence might be the one thing to send them to hell.

I used to be more upset that my mother never made the effort. If there was ever one time I wanted her to act like the caring and maternal woman she should’ve been, it was my birthday. But as the hours rolled on by, I realized that was just silly kid’s stuff. Wishful thinking.

I didn’t need to think about her, or let her dampen my spirits when I now had the two best friends anybody could ask for.

And of course, Cole.

The man who spent hours moping because he “wanted to spoil his boyfriend rotten on his birthday.”

That’s right, he called me his boyfriend. He’d first said it when we were discussing what I was going to do for my birthday. It was casual. Felt like natural progression. I didn’t even bother correcting him or asking him for clarification.

I wanted nothing more than to be his boyfriend.

So, after reluctantly agreeing that not spending tonight with Aiden and Callie would set off huge alarm bells, he promised he’d make it up to me this weekend.

I tried to tell him there was nothing that needed to be made up. I didn’t need him to fuss. I didn’t need anything elaborate, expensive, or over the top.

I told him I only needed him, and he promised that was a given.

In a short amount of time, Cole has become a fixture in my everyday life. I’m addicted. Not just to him, but the man I am evolving into because of him.

I feel comfortable. I feel understood. I feel like me.

Making my way to the couch, I sit patiently waiting, more excited about how happy and content Callie and Aiden are with being in one another’s company than my actual present.

While my life had reached great heights after the last time the three of us had tried to hang out, theirs had been a little more awkward and stunted, to say the least.

“Okay, here it is,” Callie says, handing me a small rectangular shaped box. “Happy birthday.”

I look up at Aiden, and the smile on his face matches Callie’s squealing. Putting us all out of our misery, I carefully unwrap the box, peeling off the silver paper one layer at a time.

When I’m finally able to lift the lid off the box, I can’t help but laugh at the contents inside. “Are you guys serious?” I ask, looking up at them incredulously. “How did you even get this made?”

I pull out the plastic identification card that now has me listed as twenty-one-year-old Jason Deandra. “Did you guys use my student card photo?”

“It looks awesome right?” Aiden sits next to me on the couch, plucking the card out of my hands and getting a better look at it for himself. “I can't believe how real it looks.”

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