Chapter 22

When the heat wasn't so tormenting, we decided to go to the beach and swim until the sun would go down.

I was watching Austin and Casen trying to float which neither of them could do. Casen just kept laughing whenever the water splashed across his face while he was attempting to float.

Austin even let me climb up on his shoulders and jump into the water from him, using him as a springboard.

We could be in the water for hours until it started darkening. We were soaking wet as we hurried home. The wind just made us even colder which was why it was hard to leave the water in the first place.

I was hiding myself with my already wet towel that only made me colder.

"I feel smaller if you know what I'm talking about." Casen remarked and I laughed.

"Maybe we should have come out sooner?"

He gave me a glare.

"Hell no." He shook his head while hiding his face behind his Batman towel. "It was too hot in the afternon to even consider leaving the house."

"It's either too hot or too cold, make up your mind then." Austin said while sniffing, water dripping from his hair.

"Okay, grandma." Casen narrowed his eyes.

When we reached the house we found the lights turned on which made me think and even stop for a second.

"Did they break in?" Casen asked.

"Do you think that burglars would even take the risk to turn on the lights, letting us know that they are inside?" I asked and he shrugged.

"Listen, we've seen some really dumb criminals, so I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"It's probably Seeley." Austin said and made his way over to the balcony.

Casen turned around and saw that there were only girls surrounding him. He then let his arm drop while he started to pick out something from his teeth with his tongue.

"Huh." He hummed. "I didn't even notice that he wasn't here."

"You can't be serious." Leigh stepped forward, trying to dry her hair but it was a lost cause.

"What?" Casen asked.

"We didn't see him all day." Leigh enlighted him and Casen just waved her off.

"I can't pay attention to all the tiny details, Leigh."

Leigh gave me an exhausted look but I only shrugged in response.

"Seeley isn't even a tiny detail, Casen!" Leigh clenched her jaw in frustration.

"Well, I can't be as sharp as you." He put his hands up in defense.

Leigh rolled her eyes and walked to the entrance. We all followed her in silence while Austin waited for us before opening the door.

I needed a second to figure out what was going on because balloons fell into our necks as we walked into the house.

I watched the place with wide eyes that somehow turned into a colorful rainbow. There were balloons on the doors and a magnificent smell filled the room.

When I looked around, I saw Seeley moving around in the kitchen. He was wearing cargo shorts and a gray buttoned shirt.

Seeley turned around when he heard us. When his eyes found me, he stilled in his place and his face softened.

"I thought I might have to call the police because you were gone for hours."

"Oh, just the usual, you know." Casen stepped forward and put his towel around his neck. "We decided to kidnap Heddy for a while and almost drowned in the process but here we are now."

"Heddy tried to drown you?" Seeley asked while amusement was shining in his beautiful eyes.

"If I tried I would have succeed and they wouldn't stand here now." I smiled and gave Casen a side hug.

He tensed and slowly turned his head to my direction to look at me.

"I thought you loved me."

"I do… Sometimes."

"That wasn't very convincing."

"I thought I was." I said thinking.

"What about my present?" He asked softly. "You didn't like it and just lied to me, right?"

"Don't ask and I won't lie." I said through my forced smile while patting his shoulder. Needless to say he was much taller than me and my arm started to get tired from reaching up.

"I'll let it slide because it's your birthday but tomorrow you'll pay for this."

"What is the worst thing you can do?" I asked. "Taking the roses back to the neighbor and admitting the fact that you broke into her?"

He let out a groan and Austin started laughing.

"I thought we were past this!" Casen's eyes met the ceiling in frustration.

"We never were." I reassured him and kissed the side of his cheek. "We just put it to rest for a few hours."

"How long am I going to listen to this?" He asked. "She would have never used the roses anyway! It was just decoration."

"That is what usually flowers are for." I argued.

"Well, she did a pretty bad job anyway because the bush was as dry as the desert when I cut them off."

Seeley appeared next to us and crossed his arms while his wrinkles deepened on his forehead as he was listening to us.

"Woah, wait. What did you do?" Seeley turned to Casen. "You broke into the neighbor to get flowers?"

"Roses aren't just flowers, okay?" Casen asked. "And it wasn't like that."

"Invading someone's property is pretty much breaking in." Seeley nodded while trying to hide his grin.

"I didn't break in." Casen said with a determined face. "It was an emergency. And emergencies sometimes require illegal things like that."

"So, you just admit that you broke into the neighbor."

"No." Casen stepped aside and crossed his arms over his naked chest. "It was rescuing the roses from her garden."

"I don't think the roses wanted to be rescued." Seeley shook his head.

"How do you know?" Casen narrowed his eyes. "What are you? The whisperers of the roses?"

"I might be." Seeley said. "My grandmother loved roses and I always had to buy them whenever we were visiting her."

"How helpful and cheaper it would have been if you had a neighbor who just happened to have a bush of roses, right?" Casen asked with a half smile and we laughed.

Seeley shook his head then turned to me with a warm smile.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here in the morning to be the first to wish you a happy birthday." He apologized.

"It's okay."

"I happened to try and beg your forgiveness with these." He looked around, his eyes scanning the balloons around us and the confetti on the windows. "Happy birthday."

I didn't even have time to thank him and show him how much his affection meant to me because he stepped closer and hugged me so tight that I couldn't breathe.

It's been now seven months since he hugged me. I didn't even remember how warm and loving his hugs were until he became distant from me.

I closed my eyes and let his scent fill my nose while he smoothly rubbed my back.

When he stepped away, I saw that there were water stains all over his shirt.

"Crap, I'm sorry." I apologized and let out an embarrassed laugh.

Seeley looked down at his shirt and a smile formed on his lips.

"It's fine."

Seeley gave me a wink before walking to the kitchen.

"Oh, and I might happen to have another surprise for the birthday girl." Seeley said and leant into the hallway. "Guys!"

I tightened my towel around me while I heard footsteps moving then a door was opened. I narrowed my eyes as three shadows were moving around in the dark.

"Surprise, sandwich girl." Marina grinned as they hurried into the living room and I gasped.

All three of them were here, Marina, who looked like the happiest person on earth, and Zera, who just smiled and clapped with me and Perkyn.

When I saw Perkyn, I felt my eyes widen in shock. I kept looking back and forth between Seeley and Perkyn but both of them were watching me.

"Oh, my God." I said while hiding my face.

"If I would have known that you were swimming in the ocean like a dolphin, I would have gone to the beach to throw fish at you." Marina said and gave me a hug.

"Why do I feel like this is something that you would do for real?" Leigh murmured behind us.

Marina let go of me and looked into Leigh's eyes with a stern face.

"Because I would do it, for real."

I started to play with my wet hair as the tension started to grow between Leigh and Marina just in one second.

It made me feel bad because both of them were good friends of mine. I knew that Leigh has been my friend for years while I only met Marina a few weeks ago but I didn't want to get dragged into a situation where I've got to choose between them.

I may have overthought that for a second. I tried to erase that thought out of my mind and hide my frown.

"I hope it's not a problem that we are here." Perkyn said breaking the tension. He must have felt the change in the air too.

I gave him a thankful smile.

"Of course, it's not." I said. "I'm happy that we are on good terms enough that you considered coming here."

"Girl, are you serious?" Marina asked sharply but in a teasing tone. "You are the only one who gets my annoyance with people wearing shoes on bed. I might even say that we are soulmates. I wouldn't miss your birthday for nothing."

I chuckled and wiped my face with my towel.

"That's good to hear."

"Why don't we let the new guests get themselves ready first?" Seeley asked. "We would get the cake ready."

"Sure." Perkyn nodded and followed Seeley into the kitchen.

I still couldn't believe my eyes.

Out of all people who could have gone behind my back and invited my co-workers, and new friends, to my birthday as a gift, it was Seeley who made the most effort.

I would have thought that after their first encounter and him showing his dislike toward Perkyn the other day that he would never speak a word to him ever again.

By the look on Emilia's face, she was probably thinking the same thing as I was.

"Okay, ten minutes." I promised and started to make my way to the bedroom.

"Ten minutes in Heddy's time means around an hour, so you have time." Casen called after Seeley and Perkyn who laughed at my annoyed expression.

When I turned back, all Casen did was blow a kiss for me and hurried into the bathroom.

I rolled my eyes and went to my bedroom to gather my clothes. When Leigh came into the room, she stormed past me and opened the wardrobe.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion.

"Everything is all right?" I asked while her back was facing me.

"Yeah, everything is just fine." She forced the words through her clenched jaw.

"You know that I can tell if something is off with you, right?" I asked carefully. I didn't know what angered her and I didn't want to push her even more before I found out the reason behind her irritation.

"This girl… What was her name again because she didn't even bother to introduce herself?" She asked sharply.

"You must be talking about Marina." I said, getting a feeling where this conversation would go.

"Yes, Marina, you guys are really friends or you just forbear with her?"

I had to laugh at her jeaousy. She could get really over-protective over our friendship. Which made sense, considering that her last best friend before me practically stabbed her in the back after many years.

"I forbear with her as much as I do it with you." I smiled but her face didn't soften.

"I'm serious, Heddy."

"Yes, she is my friend." I let out a sigh and grabbed my clothes. "And she is cool, believe me."

"Her speech about throwing fish at you like you were some dolphin wasn't that cool."

"Her humor is kind of like that." I shrugged. "You don't need to take her that seriously."

Leigh sighed and dropped herself down on her bed.

"Okay, I believe you." She smiled and the knot that my stomach has turned into disappeared right away.

"I'm very happy to hear that."

"But that doesn't mean I won't watch her all night." She narrowed her eyes and stared at the wall.

"I'm pretty sure you will." I said opening the door. "Just be careful, don't stare at her too much."

She turned her head back to me.

"Why?" She asked. "Because she won't like it? I don't give a damn about that, she is a stranger to me and I have every right to watch her carefully."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that." I said after stepping out of the room. "She might think that you'd be into something else with having you staring at her."

Leigh's eyes slowly widened as she understood what I was talking about and I laughed at her startled expression and closed the door behind me.

Just to prove Casen wrong, I took a shower and washed my hair as fast as I could. I didn't want to make them wait, so as soon as the soap became foamy on my skin, I already washed it off.

I dried my hair a little then brushed them to make the brands stay in their place.

I chose to wear a blue hollow short dress and put on the black bracelet that Leigh had given to me this year for Christmas. It was a chain and a sun hung on it. She knew that those months were hard and wanted to help me find the light in my life again.

And as a symbol, she chose a sun bracelet for that manner.

Walking out of the bathroom, I noticed Casen talking with Emilia and Leigh in our room. When I stepped in, they turned to me and their voice were silenced.

"That dress is magnificent." Casen said and winked at me.

"You look beautiful." Emilia smiled and I threw my things down on my bed.

"Thank you." I said and turned to Casen who was still in his swim shorts and didn't even bother to grab a shirt until they were waiting in line for the bathroom. "Were you counting?"

Casen looked at the non-existent watch on his wrist and popped his tongue out of his mouth.

"It was only fifty-nine minutes." He teased with a laugh. "That's definitely an improvement right there, Heddy. I'm impressed."

"I hate you." I laughed as I smacked a pillow into his face.

Until everyone got themselves ready, we lined up in the kitchen where a two-layered caramel cake was waiting for us. There were four marzipan roses on the layers.

"Make a wish." Casen said after Seeley lightened the candles for me.

"I don't really do wishes." I said, chewing on the inside of my cheek.

"Come on, just for once." Emilia nudged my arm.

"We promise that this is the first and the last." Perkyn gave me a reassuring smile while Seeley glanced up at him.

I fidgeted with my fingers for a second before chosing my wish which would never come true and blew the candles on my cake.

As the kitchen turned into darkness, the only thing I could hear was the claps and the whistles from my friends as someone's hand found its way to my waist.