Chapter Thirteen
KAMILA
“Happy Birthday Kami. You’re no longer a teen. Welcome to the club.” Em’s tight hug makes the bag on my shoulder drop with a loud thunk.
“Thank you, Ems.” She lets me go and grabs my face.
“Did you drink last night? I thought you said you weren’t going out with your sister so you could save up all that partying energy.” She pouts.
“No, I didn’t go out with Ana, but we watched movies till almost four in the morning, and my mom woke me up with her music at nine.”
The quiet noises of upstate New York turned me into a light sleeper. It was also difficult to control my nerves and guilt over my kiss with Cameron in front of Ana. She insisted on talking about my love life, so I kept deflecting. Luckily, she was so caught up in telling me about her own that she didn’t notice me not talking about mine.
“Did you at least enjoy your birthday dinner?”
“Oh yeah, it was great.” My mom and Rafael concocted a spread of Venezuelan and Colombian foods. All of our favorites, like arepas and tequeños. It was the perfect, quiet birthday Iwanted with them. “Mom packed you some leftovers.” Emma pries the container out of my hands.
“I’m going to devour all of this in a matter of minutes.” She claps while jumping to our coffee table. “Have I mentioned how much I love that woman?”
“Once or twice,” I laugh.
She suddenly goes into her hostess mode. “Okay, here’s the deal. It is four o’clock. You can take a nap if you want. Nobody is coming till around eight, and I can wake you up around five-thirty.”
I huff out a breath. “Why not at six?”
She taps her watch. “Because we both know how long it takes for you to get ready.”
“I hate how well you know me.”
“Love you too,” she says while walking to the couch and opening the container of leftovers.
Em wakesme up at exactly five-thirty, as promised. She had to spank my butt and tackle me, yet somehow managed to get me into the shower. I’m thankful for her persistence because I did take an hour in the bathroom.
The picture of Cameron’s boner kept infiltrating my head while in the shower, and it reminded me of how hard he was during our kiss.
Even though I laughed at him in class because it was nice to make fun of him for once, it was tough hiding my surprise that just by looking at me, he got hard.
Flicking those thoughts away, I step out of the bathroom and into my robe to discover the small living room in our suite filled with balloons, long streamers, and aHappy Birthdaybanner. Em is still the only one here, dressed up in a designer see-through cream-colored shirt with a low neckline, and black jeans withsome silver Jimmy Choo stilettos. She looks elegant yet casual. She has a timeless look to her, like all of the Haywood’s do.
Em’s lining up the shot glasses and slicing up some limes when she notices my presence in the room and turns to see my reaction. With blurry eyes, I sprint to Em, thanking her for everything. She beams, pushing me away, and tells me to go get ready because my shower took forever, and it’s already six-thirty.
Hair straightened, check. Dark eye makeup, check. Nude lip, check. Still on time, check. All I have left to do is get dressed. Even though we decided to stay in, knowing my friends, we’ll end up going out at the very last minute. I put on a dark red long-sleeved short dress with a V-neck that shows an appropriate amount of cleavage. Throwing on a pair of strappy black heels, I do one last check in the mirror and feel satisfied with the look.
Once I leave my room, Levi, Will, and Zoey are in the living area, drinks in hand. I’m content when I see no boxes or gift bags. I gave my friends a strict no present policy since most of us are on a budget, and I don’t need anything other than them.
“Hello beautiful, happy birthday.” Levi twirls me around and whistles. “You look amazing as always.” He kisses my cheek and sneaks a card into my hand. “I know you said no presents, but don’t worry, the card was only five bucks, and in it, I wrote the chorus from one of my songs.” Levi never lets anyone read his lyrics. He barely admitted to us that he wrote them in the first place. “Just promise me you won’t show it to anyone.”
My heart tightens at his trust in me. “This is the best present anybody could’ve given me. I won’t show it or even mention it to anyone,” I whisper back. We intertwine our pinkies before he lets go.
I greet everyone else before putting Levi’s present into a drawer on my nightstand. Around eight-thirty, everyone else has shown up, and by everyone, I mean Rachel, Luna, Jake, and his date Michelle, who he insisted was just a girl he was talking to. Jake gave me a gift card with way too much money on it. Ipushed the envelope back into his hand, but the man kept running away. Now I’m three hundred bucks richer and can restock my fridge with actual food.
There’s music streaming from our sound system that Emma’s father bought us. He insisted on having decent speakers and a flat screen that could fit in our suite’s living room. Can’t say that I objected. Paul not only spoils Em but me as well.
Taking a break from helping Emma with the drinks, I sit next to Zo, who’s cuddling with Will while he talks to Levi about their favorite rock bands. Everyone else is on the floor playing different board games, drinking, chatting, and laughing.
“How is the birthday girl doing?”
I turn to Zo. “I’m doing great. I love it when all my friends get together like this.”
