"Promposal," I ask him in excitement.
"Tracy is distracting Tarry while we set up the surprise. The crew is helping out with it, that's why I didn't want you to call them because I don't want Tarry to find out. I wasn't here for homecoming, so I want to make sure prom is perfect."
"Oh, this is going to be wonderful," I tell him and he has to cover my mouth because I was being too loud.
"You have to help me out. This is what I want you to do." He starts whispering his plan in my ear and I almost explode with excitement.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Anne, do you know where Gio is? I keep losing him," Tarry asks. He's starting to get annoyed with his sister because she keeps pulling him away to do stuff, so that Gio can sneak off.
"Don't worry. You'll find him soon," I tell him, wanting to just spill all of the secrecy.
All of a sudden, the school loses power and everything goes dark, but I'm not surprised unlike Tarry. I pull out my phone and turn on the flash just like everyone else in the gym.
"How are we supposed to decorate now," one of the girls ask, but they're just playing along with the plan. We could hear commotion from outside the gym. A crowd of people were gathering.
"We should go see what everyone's doing outside," Tarry says and I almost scream in joy that he's falling in line with the plan.
When we walk out of the gym, there are crowds of people in the halls, but they leave a path between them. They all have their flashlights on and they flash it to the middle of the path that leads down to the unknown.
Well, I know what's down there, but Tarry doesn't.
"Lets try finding Gio. I remember he said he was going the the office," Tracy says. That's what the path leads to and we encourage Tarry to walk down first.
Everyone in school watches as we walk down the path, already knowing what's at the end of it.
This is so cute. I wish I had someone to do this for me. To love and adore me the way Gio does Tarry. He wants to show the world that Tarry is his and how much he loves him. I'm fighting between feeling sadness because I will never be capable of this kind of love and feeling happiness for my friends because they were able to find this love.
The hallway is dark and the spotlight is on Tarry. I can't wait to see his face when he sees his surprise.
When we reach the end of the hall, Tarry surprises me by turning to me and pushing me in front of him. Before I can react the lights turn on and everyone shouts happy birthday.
Wait... What?!
Gio, Chris, Hanna, Jaisely, Alaric, and Don all stand in front of me and pop confetti cannons in my face. I see a big banner above them that says Happy Birthday Anne in gold, black, and purple.
I'm still standing in shock when my uncle Christian walks up to me with a cake.
"I thought this was a promposal," I say out loud and everyone laughs. I take out my phone to check the date and it is indeed April 13.
How did I forget my own birthday?! I was so stressed and focused on all the things going on in my life that I totally forgot my own birthday.
My dad and Petra came too and my dad hugged me to his side as everyone sung me happy birthday.
Before, I hadn't realized that I had so many people who cared about me until I saw them all standing in front of me and singing me happy birthday. I almost feel selfish for believing that I never had a support system.
Petra meets my eyes as if she knows what I'm think and I know the words she wants to tell me.
This is the support I'll have if I keep the baby.
"Make a wish, Princess," my dad tells me, the happiest smile across his face.
I close my eyes and wish to always have the people here today by my side.
I blow out the candles and Christian smashes the cake right into my face.
Happy 18th birthday to me.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"I can't believe Christian smashed the cake in your face. I bought that cake and I would've been glad to eat it," Hanna whines. I laugh and give her a hug.
We were back at the pack house now. The people closest and dearest to me were enjoying themselves. There was music, laughter, food, and dancing. This is the best birthday I could asked for.
I was surprised that Tarry was allowed to be here, but we stayed in one section of the pack house, so Tarry didn't see anything unexpected. He left early with Gio. He had to babysit his little sister.
"Thank you guys for remembering my birthday for me and doing all of this," I tell the girls.
"Your welcome, but we can't take all of the credit. Alaric planned the surprise," Chris says.
I look around the room to see that Alaric is nowhere to be seen.
"I don't know what happened between the two of you and I know Jane is just an obstacle between the two of you, but I can see you love each other," Jaisley says. It's one of the most emotional things I've heard her say.
"Go talk to him." I jump in my seat from shock when I hear Don come out of nowhere.
"Since when do you join girl talk," I ask Don, but it's really just stalling.
"Just go," they all yell at me.
"Okay fine," I say and Don tells me he's on the front porch. Petra sends me a wink and I roll my eyes at her, but laugh.
When I step outside, Alaric is indeed sitting on the porch. He seemed to be deep in thought because he didn't notice me until I was sitting right next to him.
"Hey," I whisper in a soft voice.
"Hey," he answers back and looks over at me. I look up at the open sky surrounding us and enjoy the silence.
"I wanted to say thank you for everything you did today."
"You don't have to. It's the least I can do and I can't even come close to making up for what I've done."
"Alaric I don't want you to feel guilty about having a baby with Jane and I'm sorry if I did. Babies are supposed to bring joy and I really hope that's what you get. Jane is your wife and you have duties to her. I can't expect you to be with me when in reality, yours and Jane's marriage has been planned from the beginning and I'm the one that is getting in the way of it, not the other way around."
Tears were spilling down my face, but I felt that this was the right thing to say, even if it hurts.
"I want us to start over and I want us to do it right this time. I can't bear being away from you like I thought I could, but I also know we can't be together," I tell him.
"I'll do whatever you want. Tell me to leave Jane and I will," he says and I could see that he was telling the truth from his light, brown eyes. His eyes were watering over, but he was preventing the tears from falling out.
"I can't make you do that," I tell him, shaking my head. "Alaric, I want us to be friends. I want you to be there for me and I want to do the same for you."
"So, I'm just supposed to ignore that there's this connection between us. You can't deny that you feel it too. Do you feel the sparks?" Alaric grabs my hand and I feel this energy rush up my arm. It's so powerful that a gasp leaves my mouth.
He trails his hand up my arm and it sends tingles through my body. His hand stops on the mark he left on the skin between my neck and shoulder. My body heats up as if I've been thrown in fire, but it's a pleasant flame.
"You feel that," he asks me, almost urgently and his eyes glow hazel. When he removes his hand from my neck, I almost growl for him to put it back where it was, wanting to feel that heat again. I just wanted that contact. I needed it.
He satisfies my hunger for his touch by placing his hand on my heart. My heart that's beating fast from being set on fire. He takes my hand and places it on his own heart.
"My heart beats for you, Anne." I stare at him with my mouth gaped in shock. When he doesn't get an answer from me, he pulls me close by my neck and smashes his lips onto mine.
I'm enveloped in sparks like never before. My lips are burning in passion and I feel like I won't be able to breathe again without my lips connected to his.
No matter how long we kissed, it didn't feel like enough and I didn't feel close enough to him. There weren't any gaps the we left open between us.
We had to break apart at some point and that's when I found my courage.
"Alaric, I have to tell you something." He waits for my answer, trying to catch his breath.
"I'm-." I'm cut off by some growling in the distance. We both turn to see where the sound is coming from in the forest and what's the source of it, but I see nothing.
Based on the expression that I see Alaric make, I know he knows whats coming and it's nothing, but trouble.
"Oh no."