Page 28

It takes less than five minutes for me to reach my house, pulling my little Honda hatchback into the driveway. Shutting off the engine, I grab my celebration supplies from the passenger seat of the car and shove them into a small gift bag I had picked up in the city.
Grinning from ear to ear, I swing open the driver’s side door and hop out. Closing the door behind me, I lock up and jog over to Spencer’s house. Holding the straps of the bag between my teeth, I climb the wooden trellis, and pull myself up onto the roof. Crawling across the shingles, I scramble over to her window.
Sitting down for a moment, I pull the cupcake container out, place the single candle in the icing, and light the wick. The gift bag laced between my fingers, and the cupcake in one hand, I slide her window open and climb inside.
Spencer is laying in her bed, the room is dark, but she’s still awake.
“Happy birthday to you….”
“Trav?” she flings her blankets to the side and sits up.
“Happy birthday to you….”
A huge smile crosses her face and she pulls her hands up around her mouth, trying to conceal it as her eyes shimmer with unshed tears.
“Happy birthday dear love of my liiiiiife,” I belt out in an ungodly terrible tone that could probably make the dead roll over in their graves.
“Shhh!” she jumps up from the bed giggling, and throws herself into my arms. Turning her head she blows out the candle and puts one hand over my mouth, “Be quiet, I don’t want to wake him.”
“Fuck him. Happy birthday babygirl,” I murmur, against her palm.
Removing her hand from my mouth, she smiles, chewing on her bottom lip. I take the opportunity to press my lips to hers, kissing her slowly. Savoring the way she tastes.
Wrapping her arms around the back of my neck, she pulls me toward her as she backs up until she hits the bed. Never breaking our kiss, I set the cupcake on the nightstand and she falls back, pulling me down on top of her.
“You remembered,” she whispers against my lips. “Thank you Travis.”
“That’s not all,” I whisper.
“No?”
“Nope, don’t think I forgot about the other part.”
She looks at me with a puzzled expression.
“Close your eyes.”
Giving me a skeptical look, she smirks and closes her eyes. Leaning back on my knees, I stick my hand into the gift bag and pull out the pad of sticky notes. One by one, I take a note, scribbled with a reason that I love her, and stick it to myself. My arms, my chest, my forehead. Her mom always hid these around the house, but well, I’m working on borrowed time here and I don’t plan on letting her leave my sight.
Once I’m done, I push off of the bed completely and stand.
“Alright, open up.”
She opens her eyes, pushing up on both elbows and she bursts into a laugh and a sob all at the same time.
“Travis!”
Grinning ear to ear, I take a step toward her.
“I can’t believe you…”
“Each one written with something I love about you Spence.”
Climbing off the bed, she holds one hand against her mouth as her eyes well up with tears. With the other she slowly pulls the sticky notes off of me, reading them out loud one at a time.
“Your emerald eyes. The way you snort when you laugh. The way you twirl your hair around your finger when you’re nervous. How you always smell like cotton candy.”
She continues reading them aloud until all that’s left is the one on my chest. Plucking it off, she reads it out loud, “The way you make me the happiest guy in existence.”