April 9th, both Rachel's and Emma's birthday. That's one thing that they both loved about each other. They shared the same day, so they always spent it together ever since they were kids. Rachel wanted to enjoy her day, especially since her little sister wasn't there to celebrate with her. She wanted to throw a huge party because her mom went away to go visit family in Miami.
"I wish I could have gone to Miami" Rachel sat up from her bed and opened her phone. She saw a lot of text messages from a lot of different people. The first thing she did was call Emma. She pressed on her contact name and listened to the phone ring.
"Happy birthday Emma," Rachel said into the phone.
"Happy birthday to you too Rachel" They talked for a couple more minutes until Emma had to go get ready. Rachel placed her phone onto her bedside dresser and got out of her bed and down the stairs. She was awaiting Manny to knock on the door as he said the night before he would be there in the morning. Rachel and Manny began dating and everything was perfect. She finally felt happy again and things were finally starting to look up for her. As she was taking a sip from a water bottle she heard the door knock. She put the cap back on and placed the bottle on the table. Rachel ran towards the door and opened it to see Manny standing there with a gift bag. Rachel smiled.
"Happy birthday baby" He kissed her cheek and gave her a long nice hug. He handed her the gift bag.
"Thank you so much" They walked up the stairs and went into her bedroom. Manny sat down and watched the girl of his dreams get ready. He was mesmerized by her figure, personality, face, everything about her he fell in love with. She changed into a yellow crop top and a pair of blue skinny jeans, paired with her white converse. Her lipstick was bright and red.
"You look beautiful," Manny said with a smile as he snapped a picture of her.
"Aww thank you" She smiled and spun around. She felt happy and free. Rachel grabbed her bag, phone, and her boyfriend's hand and walked down the stairs. They sat down on the couch because she still had time before they had to go.
"Open the card" Manny put his hand on her leg and started to shake it.
"Okay fine" She opened the pink card and read it slowly aloud.
"Dear Rachel,
Happy birthday. I am so glad to be able to call you my girlfriend. You're smart, beautiful and so caring and I'm quite obsessed with you. By the way, I think that you should know that on the night we played truth or dare, I never had a girlfriend. I wanted it to be you and I already had the plans in my head for us. Have a good day baby, I can't wait to spend it with you. Love, Manny"
She was in love. She felt so great knowing that she finally found someone who would stay.
She kissed him passionately until it was time to go.
"The black box you have to open at the party" Manny said as he walked towards the door with her hand in his.
"Alright," She said. She didn't care because she got to spend her day with him.
They walked down the road hand in hand. Emma and Tommy were walking ahead of them, also hand in hand. Rachel looked in shock.
"Why didn't they tell us they were together?" Rachel looked at Manny with confusion. He shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know," He said. Rachel and Manny walked a bit faster catching up to them.
"Birthday girl" Rachel said with a smile. They jumped, splitting their hands apart.
"Oh my gosh guys you scared us" Rachel mentioned nothing about it.
"Happy birthday Rachel" Tommy hugged her tightly and handed her a card.
"Thank you Tommy." She hugged him back. Emma and Rachel did their handshake as they ironically were wearing practically the same thing. All 4 of them walked into the school and to Rachel's locker. Rachel kissed Manny goodbye as he heard the bell ring. Tommy, Emma and Rachel walked into class with bright smiles. Everyone wished them a happy birthday. Rachel felt loved. As the teacher lectured the class Rachel pulled out Tommy's card.
"Dear Rachel,
Happy Birthday. I know I haven't known you for so long but you are an amazing person and I love being around you. I wanted to tell you that I am dating Emma, she doesn't want you to know. Please don't tell her. I love you. Have a great day Ray. -Love Tommy"
Rachel smiled at the card but her head filled with confusion. She turned her head and smiled at Tommy.
"Thank you Toms" She refused to ask questions. Emma looked at Rachel as she was trying to doodle in her notebook.
"What was that?" Emma asked. Rachel picked her head up and looked back at her.
"Card," She said. Emma nodded and went back to doing her work. As Rachel reached down into her bag to grab a few more colored pencils, Emma grabbed the card and scanned it, reading every word quickly. She was infuriated but chose to keep it to herself. She placed the card down on Rachel's desk and started to do her work once again. Rachel knew something was off with Emma, but she knew she shouldn't say a word. The bell rang and they once again packed their things and went down to the lunchroom. Rachel greeted Manny with a hug and kiss on the cheek. She sat down next to him and held his hand tightly. Rachel enjoyed her lunch and waited for the bell to ring. Once it did, they all went up to English class. Rachel couldn't wait to the end of the school day. English class was a blur that day, so was the rest of the day. Rachel met up with Manny, Tommy and Emma at the end of the school day. Manny walked up to her and picked her up carrying her off of the stairs. Rachel screamed with excitement. He put her down and kissed her cheek. She felt her cheeks get warm, the usual thing whenever she's around him.
They all walked to Rachel's house for the party. Emma was acting weird around Rachel, but Rachel refused to say anything, she kept her promise to Tommy like she was supposed too. Rachel always wanted to throw a pool party, but Andrea always said no because she never felt like opening up the pool. Rachel finally decided to do what she always desired.
"Alright can you guys help me with my pool please?" Rachel asked as they stood in front of the long inground pool. They all laughed and began to help take off the covering. It took an entire half an hour to get the pool ready.
"I don't even have a bathing suit," Emma said with a grin. Rachel grabbed her hand and brought her inside and up the stairs to her bedroom.
"Take one" Rachel said as she opened her closet. She had a lot of bathing suits, bikinis, one pieces, etc. Emma thanked her and grabbed a pink bikini from the collection. Emma changed in the bathroom and Rachel changed in her bedroom, putting on a blue bikini. She looked in the mirror and smiled, she felt confident for once in her life. She hasn't been swimming since her brother had died 4 years ago. Without thinking twice, she went downstairs and back outside to see that the pool was done.
"You look stunning," Manny said with a bright smile as he walked towards her and hugged her.
"Thank you baby," She said as she hugged him tighter than ever. Emma and Tommy set up the music as Rachel and Manny danced as the sun began to set. Rachel brought Manny over towards the pool and looked down into it. He looked at her and within a second he pushed her in, jumping right after.
"HEY!" Rachel yelled with laughter as she wiped the water from her nose. Manny apologized and splashed her with water, watching her smile. Tommy and Rachel jumped in the pool after them and began to just try and drown each other. They just sat in the pool, playing games, conversing, and overall having so much fun. Finally, it was around 7:15 pm and everyone has pruney fingers. Rachel got up using the ladder and walked to her porch. Manny followed right after her.
"Gift time?" He asked her as she sat down on one of the chairs and wrapped herself into a towel. Manny sat down next to her, making sure her towel was warming her body. Tommy and Emma were still in the pool
"Think so," Rachel said.
"Gift time guys!" Manny yelled as they watched Tommy and Emma play around in the pool. Rachel could hear them sigh as they got out of the pool and walked towards the porch. Manny wanted Rachel to open his gift first, so he got up and went inside to get it. Once he came back out, he handed it to her and sat beside her, watching her light up.
"Open the box babe" He wrapped his arms around her, Emma and Tommy watched. Rachel slowly opened the box to see a ring, a beautiful light blue ring.
"Read the small note" He mumbled as she stared in utter shock. The note read.
"You are my girl in Blue. This is a promise ring and by wearing this ring you are promising me that no matter what happens, you will stick by my side. Always and Forever..will I love you"
Her eyes began to water. She slipped on the ring and kissed his lips.
"I love you" She whispered. Rachel never said I love you to anyone other than Emma and her family. For the first time in her life, she felt something. A feeling indescribable. Love.
Tommy gave her a bracelet with all of their names on it and Emma gave her a necklace with a heart and inside it was a picture of the two of them. Rachel cried, she was emotional about everything as everything, every memory seemed to come to her but she still handed Emma her gift as she watched herself crumble.
"Here Ems" Rachel wiped her eyes and watched Emma open her present. She gasped as she saw a pair of earrings with hearts and beautiful diamonds.
"Thank you so much Rachel" Emma ran towards her and hugged her so very tightly. In this moment, Rachel seemed to forget the fact that her best friend was hiding her relationship from her.
The party had ended and they all went up to Rachel's room to just hang out and relax after hours of swimming. Rachel took out the card from her bag and placed it onto her dresser.
"What's that Rachel?" Emma asked, looking at the card. She knew exactly what it was.
"Birthday card, I told you already," Rachel said with a sigh. Tommy and Manny looked at eachother, there was a tension that both of them began to feel. Emma stood up from the bed and walked towards the dresser, grabbing the card.
"What are you doing?" Rachel asked with curiosity.
"Why did you say that Tommy?" Emma asked as she looked him dead in the eyes. He froze, not knowing what to say or do.
"You read the card," Rachel said as she snatched the card from Emma's hands.
"You exposed the secret Tommy, so I guess I'll tell you another one"