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“I don’t think anyone has ever complimented my walking before.”
Jax chuckles beside me and I smile. The scents of fresh pizza and chocolate drift through the lodge and my stomach immediately betrays me with an enthusiastic rumble. After a few more careful steps, another door clicks shut behind me.
“Okay,” comes Ember’s voice. “You can take it off.”
I untie the silk, blinking until the room comes into focus. Ember smiles at me, pressing a glass of wine into my hand. “You should drink this.”
“I feel like I’m being managed.”
“You are.”
I laugh. “What is going on?”
Instead of answering, she nods towards the bed. My red dress has been laid neatly across the duvet alongside a pair of shoes and some jewellery.
“You’ve got ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes until what?”
“You’ll see.”
I look from the dress to the wine and back to her. “You people are exhausting,” I laugh, taking a sip of wine. “I hate how much I trust all of you.”
“No, you don’t. Now get dressed.” She laughs snatching the wine from my hand. “You can have this after.”
Ten minutes later I’m standing in front of the mirror while Ember pins the last section of my hair into place. “There.” She smiles at my reflection.
“So…”
“No questions,” she chides, and I groan as she links her arm through mine. “Ready?”
“I don’t think I have much choice.”
“Nope.” She leads me outside and the moment we step into the courtyard my jaw drops. Hundreds of tiny flickering flames line the stone paths in glass lanterns, whilst soft light from the additional fairy lights criss-cross overhead, casting everything in a warm glow. It’s like something out of a fairytale.
As we step through the patio doors of the lounge, I startle almost spilling my wine. “SURPRISE!”
“Jesus Christ!”
Laughter erupts around the room.
Standing beneath strings of fairy lights are Jax, Saint, Lennie, Luna and Enzo. Behind them hangs a banner. Happy Birthday, Bri! My name written on in black marker.
“What? How?” My brain completely forgets how words work. “You…” I look around the room at the decorations, the candles and flowers, the presents stacked neatly on one table. “How…” I whisper again.
Ember laughs beside me. “Jax realised you nearly let your birthday slip the other night.”
Our eyes lock and his smile widens. “I had a suspicion.” He shrugs. “And I knew you’d never admit it.”
“So I messaged Ava and Lottie,” Ember continues. “They confirmed it this afternoon.”
Tears well in my eyes. “You did all this for me?”
Saint gasps dramatically. “Oh no. We’ve broken her.”
“I…” My eyes sting. “Nobody’s ever…” I can’t get the sentence out.
Luna crosses the room wrapping me in a hug so tight I almost spill my wine again. “You deserve celebrating.”
