Chapter 45: Chapter Forty-Four

I looked back down at the kitten on my lap, letting it brush its head against my hand. I looked up again to see the smile still present on Jonah's face, and I thought to myself, how the hell did I get lucky enough to have someone like him? What had I done in the past that made me deserve him?

I was definitely not a good enough person to deserve this miracle.

"How did you know?" I asked shyly.

Jonah shrugged. "We did twenty questions a while back." He tapped the side of his head. "I have a good memory."

I smiled and lightly held up the kitten. "Is it mine?"

"Yeah," he answered. He pushed himself off the doorframe and closed the door before walking toward my bed and sitting down near my feet. "Grace had kittens with the neighbor's cat a while ago, and we put her kittens up for adoption after they were old enough. I decided to adopt one back. I hope you like him."

"I love him," I corrected. "What's his name?" I asked, still admiring the lovely creature I had in my hands.

"He doesn't have a name yet. You're free to name him whatever you want."

"Okay, I'll think of a name."

Jonah nodded, and he slightly scooted closer to me. I pull up my legs to give him a wider place to sit. He was looking at me with seriousness in his eyes, and I was thinking of the worst until he quietly asked, "We're still together, right?"

"Yeah." I nodded vigorously. "Yeah. We are. I'm so sorry for yesterday—I didn't know what I was saying and I was mad and—"

"It's okay," he cut me off gently, reaching out to take one of my hands.

I held his hand and gave him a smile.

"Gina told me a bit of what happened back then with that guy," he murmured. "I can't believe he did that."

"I couldn't either," I said. "I guess he was confused and he needed to take his frustration on something, so why not dump it all out on a girl who broke up with him after catching him cheat on her with another guy?"

"And you let him do that?" he asked in complete disbelief. "Why would you let him do that?"

Our gazes were locked for a while until I broke it to stare at my unnamed kitten.

"Gina told me you lost your friends because of those edited photos. Aren't you mad at him for what he did?"

"I am. I was—they wouldn't stop whispering things behind my back and sending me disgusted stares and I just hated it, but Daniel was a popular guy and I was just one of his cover-up girlfriend he never really cared about to begin with and if I did tell everyone that he was gay as a revenge, it just wouldn't make me feel any better. It would just make me feel even shittier," I finally ranted out everything I'd been keeping inside. It felt almost as good as socking Daniel in the face. "He shouldn't even be ashamed by it in the first place. He shouldn't even have to fake his sexuality and mess with girls like me instead. What he's doing is just so pathetic and I feel sorry for him."

The kitten jumped out of my lap and placed himself against Jonah's leg. I smiled a little at the sight of Jonah petting his head softly as he meowed.

I continued quietly, "After a while, everything just didn't matter to me anymore. I ignored everything, I stopped trying to tell them that the photos were fake because they would rather believe him than me anyway—I just stopped giving a shit. I learned that it was better not to care anyway. Besides, I've still got Gina and some other people who gave even less shit than I did about high school gossips. They all moved onto the next scandal eventually."

Jonah stood up and moved to sit right next to me, and I put my head against his shoulder while his arms wrapped around me. "It must've been hard," he murmured. "I wish I was there for you."

"You're here now," I told him softly. "But things might get just as bad as it was before now that Daniel's spreading the porn star rumor again, and I want you to know that you're still free to walk away anytime now." Even though it would hurt me a lot if he did. "They can be ruthless sometimes. I just block them all out."

He shook his head. "You were the one who told me not to care about what people said about us," he said. "And I've lived my entire high school life being that freak loner who gets stares whenever he walks by. I think this will be a piece of cake for me."

My heart warmed and I chuckled. "Do you actually know why people stare at you wherever you go?"

I looked up to see the frown on his face. "Because I have a scary resting face? My sister always keeps saying that."

"That too," I said. "But mostly because you're," I paused, "you know. You're hot."

His lips slowly pulled into a smirk. "Is that your day three compliment?"

I smiled back and shrugged. "Maybe."

"Well, my day three compliment for you: you're a strong girl and you have a good heart, and also, you're amazing."

I blushed. "That's three, Jonah."

He shrugged. "Oops."

"Thank you," I said anyways.

He kissed the top of my head. "What I still don't understand is why you're letting him do this to you—why it seems like you're okay that he's basically using you as a punching bag."

"It's not exactly like that now," I said. "And, I don't know, I guess I just understood that he was just angry and..." I shrugged. "I don't know. I'd rather be the one he did that to than some other girl who wouldn't take it as well as I am. I'm a tough girl to break, like you said, and he's not getting anything from me now because I'm not giving him that satisfaction."

His arms tightened around me. "What the hell did I do to deserve someone like you?"

I laughed, because I was just thinking about the same thing. "I should be the one asking you that, Jonah."

He pulled away a little and leaned down to kiss me on the lips, but I instantly pulled back and covered my mouth with my hand before our lips met. He frowned, clearly feeling rejected. "What did I do?"

I pushed his chest. "Morning breath," I mumbled into my hand. "Terrible morning breath."

Jonah laughed and gave me a kiss on my temple instead. "Alright. I'll be waiting downstairs. Your dad let me off work today and we're gonna have one hell of a birthday date."

I grinned into my hand as Jonah stood up, scooping the kitten into his arms and walked out of the room after smiling widely at me.

[]

The first thing Jonah did when I walked into the living room was kiss me on the lips.

Cole instantly turned his nose up at us and busied himself with the kitten on his lap. I giggled and pushed myself away from Jonah before turning to my little brother. "Where's Mom and Dad?"

He shrugged, not looking away from the kitten. "They left a few minutes ago. I can play with your cat, too, right?"

"Of course you can, Cole. It's our cat now. You'll have to take care of him when I'm not home."

"Who's gonna keep an eye on him when no one's home?" he asked curiously.

Jonah spoke up, "He's not a very hyperactive kind of cat so he can stay inside his cage while you're away. He's litter box trained too." He then pointed at the corner of the living room. "It's the cage Grace used to live in when she was a baby cat. I also have some cat toys and I've already bought the food, so there's nothing much you need to worry about."

I stared disbelievingly at him. "You're too sweet." I jumped up and wrapped him in a hug. "Thank you so much. You don't know how long I've wanted to have a cat! Mom's always against me having a cat and—wait, what if she wants me to return the cat to the adoption center?"

Jonah ruffled my hair. "I've talked to her about the cat."

"What? And she agreed to let me have it?"

"Uh, yes?"

Slack-jawed, I asked, "How did you even manage to convince her?"

Jonah shrugged at me and smiled. "My charms?"

I slapped him on the chest. "Whatever, I'm glad that you did that because this is seriously the best present I've ever got." I picked up the kitten from Cole's lap—my brother kind of huffed in dismay—and put him against my shoulder. "He's so cute."

"He is," Jonah agreed. "But we're not having a date with him. Though, we do have to take Daisy with us."

"Ugh, can't we just leave her here?"

"Nope. Let's go to my car, she's probably already crying by now."

"Alright. I'll see you later, Cole. Take care of baby kitty for me."

"Sure, have a great time, Hannah!" My little brother grinned, "Oh, and I forgot to say happy birthday. Happy birthday!"

I laughed. "Thanks, buddy. Don't forget to lock the door and never open it for anyone!"

He waved at me as Jonah and I walked out of the house. I was surprised when Jonah actually hugged me from behind as we walked, resting his head on my shoulder and making me giggle.

"Stop it, it tickles," I said, trying to push his head away. "Jonah."

"What?" he murmured into my hair. "I'm feeling overly affectionate today. It might not happen again tomorrow, Birthday Girl."

I laughed. "Okay, okay, but seriously, it tickles." I turned around and pushed his chest away with my palms. He placed his hands on my waist and rested his forehead on mine, smiling at me at the same time. Both of the palms of my hands were still on his chest, but instead of keeping the distance between us, I started to grab two fists of the front of his shirt, slightly drawing him closer. "Hi."

"Hi," he whispered back.

"Why the sudden huggy-cuddly-kissy mood?" I asked with a smile.

He shrugged. "I missed you yesterday. I'm gonna make up all the kisses I didn't get to give you now." I let him kiss the tip of my nose. "Don't ever do that again."

"Mm," I murmured with a slow nod.

"I mean it," he said. "Do you know how hard it was for me when you ignored me in Herberg's class yesterday?"

"Sorry," I murmured. "I'm sorry for avoiding you."

"I know." He let me rest my forehead on his chest.

"I'm never doing that again," I promised before frowning and pulling my head back. "Did you hear that?"

He frowned back at me. "Hear what?"

A strange nose sparked my curiosity, and I turned my head around to search where it came from. "That."

Jonah and I kept looking around for a while until he finally sighed and walked up to his car in long strides, and then snatched the door wide open.

I followed him where the noise only got louder, and when I finally got to the source of the sound, I sighed along with my boyfriend. We looked at each other with matched irritated expression.

"Daisy."

[]

Jonah and I had basically driven all around the town aimlessly, loudly singing along to every song that played on the radio like we'd lost our minds, and he would only shrug at me when I asked where we were going. Slowly, I began to recognize the surroundings as the emptier part of the town, where most houses were old and uninhabited and there were a lot of spacious empty green grass fields, sometimes with untamed wild bushes all over them. The weird thing was that, even though the place was more or less dead, it didn't give much of an eerie or scary vibe. There was something rather calm and peaceful about the place, though I still struggled with the reason why because a part of me thought that it should be a scary place to me.

The place wasn't too dead, though, as there were still a few, rather old, people passing by the streets, so at least I knew Jonah wasn't bringing me here to slaughter me or something.

We finally pulled up at a wide space, about five-hundred yards away from the last inhabited house. I sent Jonah a wary glance, starting to doubt my "Jonah isn't really going to slaughter me here, right?" theory, but he only had a smile on his face—one that totally wasn't creepy or suspicious at all—so I got out of the car.

"Okay," I drawled out, following Jonah as he walked farther into the field with Daisy's stroller in his hands and a suspicious bag slung over his shoulders, while I was holding a picnic basket—okay, so he was taking me out on a picnic date, but I still needed a confirmation—he had handed me earlier. "Why are we here?"

He didn't answer, just calmly walking even farther with his long strides. Finally, I was met with a wall of tall, huge trees with beautiful yellowed leaves slowly falling onto the grass underneath, and I stopped to admire the landscape that was before me. Most of the leaves on the trees had fallen onto the ground, leaving the trees basically half-bald, ready for a more wintery mood.

There was a small river running along the trees, and Jonah picked a spot to lay a blanket he took from his bag on the grass right next to the rocks that sat as the barrier between the ground and the water. He then dropped the bag and gestured for me to hand him the basket I was holding, and I let him spread out some of the stuff he had brought inside that basket.

I wrapped the coat I was wearing tighter around my body and sat down on the blanket, watching as he took out a food container and a bottle of apple cider, along with two plastic cups shaped like wine glasses. I curiously peered over when he opened the container.

"Homemade granola bars," he told me as he handed me a bar. "A healthy brunch to start the long day."

I grinned at him. "Yum."  I took a bite, and as predicted, it was damn good no questions asked. "So, how did you find this place?"

He paused to look around for a while, munching on the granola bar at the same time. "Well, I used to drive aimlessly a lot, especially at night when I couldn't sleep, and one time I just found this place and decided that I loved hanging out here with my thoughts and the sound of the water in the river and whatnot."

"Isn't it dark at nighttime?" I asked. "There's no light around here."

He shrugged. "The sky's clear enough and the light from the moon and the stars up there kind of helps a bit."

"Do you ever get lost around here?" I wondered, because it was a really huge space and the drive to get here wasn't short either.

He smiled. "During the first few weeks, yes. But now I've known this place by heart, it's basically my second home." He took another bite. "My parents know that I go out here a lot at night because of my insomnia thing so they're pretty cool with me sneaking out after midnight. As long as I don't come home in the morning wasted, that is."

I chuckled. "Your parents seem pretty cool."

He scoffed. "Not really."

I leaned against the rock behind me. "How often do you go here?"

"Sometimes after I take you home from the diner, I go straight here until midnight or something. Probably four times a week or so. Sometimes when we're on the phone, I'm not actually home but here."

"Huh, that's why sometimes I feel like your phone's reception is bad."

He chuckled a bit. "Yeah. Not much signal here."

"Well, thank you for letting me come to your," I made a quotation mark with my fingers, "secret hideaway." I smiled. "It's lovely. I still think it'd be scary at night, though."

He shrugged. "It's a good place to scream out your thoughts, you know?"

"You scream your thoughts out loud a lot?"

He grinned a little and shrugged. "A lot of pent-up feelings here," he said, pointing at his chest. "Nah, kidding. Not really. But seriously, if you have anything to say out loud, say it out here. I tried it a few times and it felt good."

"Alright." I put down my half-eaten bar and stood up, facing the river. I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled as loud as I could, "Fuck you, Daniel Butcher!"

Jonah laughed loudly from where he was sitting. "That's a good start," he said once he managed to stop his laughter a few while later.

I sighed and sat back down to continue eating my breakfast. "You're right. It makes me feel a lot better than punching him in the face."

"Your hand still hurt?" he asked, glancing at my knuckles. "It was a pretty hard hit."

I shrugged. "Not much. It was swollen yesterday but now it's fine."

"You know, when I saw you throw the punch at him, I felt really proud of you," he told me. "I mean, I didn't know what was the problem with him, but man, that was cool to watch. Even better now that I know the reason why you punched him."

I just laughed. "I don't think it was hard enough to actually hurt him, but whatever.  It was my first punch ever, anyway."

He smiled. "At least I know you can take care of yourself. Other guys should be scared," he teased.

"Psh. I'm not a damsel in distress."

"I know you're not, and that's why I'm proud of you," he said. "Do you have a strong kick, too?"

I laughed through my blushing cheeks. "I don't know, I've never kicked someone before. Wanna be the first?"

He made a face. "I'd rather not."

"But in all seriousness, though," I said, "you've really got nothing to worry about. How many times have I told you that I'm a big girl?" He smiled at that. "So, yeah, don't worry about me."

He scooted closer to me and I leaned against him. "You can tell me a thousand times not to worry about you, Hannah, but I'll still do anyway," he said softly.

I shook my head. "Okay, okay. Whatever floats your boat, then."

"Don't be mad." He flicked my nose. "Boyfriend instinct, remember?"

I smiled. "You're doing a really good job at this boyfriend thing. You sure this is the first time you've ever had a girlfriend?" I teased.

He rolled his eyes at me, but let me snuggle into his body. "You think I'm a good boyfriend?"

I nodded. "And I'm one happy girlfriend, this girl right here."

He chuckled in relief. "I've never done all of this before, but I feel like a natural 'cause I'm doing it with you."

I sighed. "See?" I half-exclaimed in exasperation. "See? You say the sweetest words and do the sweetest things without even realizing them and that's why you're a damn good boyfriend. Where the hell have you been all my life, Jonah Gibbs?"

He laid his head on top of mine. "Should be the one asking you that; how the hell did I only find you now, Hannah Taylors?"

"Stop it," I half-groaned into my hands. "I'm slowly melting into a puddle and you're not helping me by making me want to swoon at you."

"Well I'm sorry," he drawled out lazily. "Won't happen again."

"One compliment a day, Jonah. One swoon-worthy action a day, too," I stated as he chuckled in amusement. "You've already exceeded your limit today."

"Does that mean I can't be sweet to you tomorrow?"

"No, you still can," I said. "I never said there's a punishment for it."

"Whatever floats your boat, Hannah," he replied, repeating what I'd said.

"Thank you for bringing me out here," I said softly. "I needed it."

"Anytime, Hannah," he replied. "How is it going with your parents?"

"Still strained, but better. I finally had dinner with them last night, instead of hiding away in my room.."

He was silent for a while. "What exactly was it that you were arguing with them about?"

I bit my lip and shook my head. "Just some family stuff."

"Personal?"

"Kinda," I said.

"You can tell me anytime, if it will help you feel better," he offered quietly. "There's no guarantee that I can help you fix whatever it is, but I'll listen."

"I know you will," I replied. "Thank you."

He sighed when he realized that I still wasn't gonna talk about it. "Yeah."

"Hey," I turned to him with a small smile. "It's not that I don't trust you—I do. I just need to deal with it by myself first."

He nodded, and his eyes slowly darted to the hidden scar under my bangs. "How are the nightmares?"

I shrugged. "Just the usual. I gave up on trying to avoid it, so I decided to just sleep and go through with it."

"And about the accident," he said quietly. "How are you dealing with it?" he asked. "You said that it happened around this time. Other than the nightmares, has it been bothering you?"

I gave him a wry smile. "Well, to be honest, everything's kind of reminding me about the accident right now, so yeah, that one I can't avoid either. But it's not so bad," I said, and lied through my teeth. "I mean, it wasn't really a traumatic event or anything."

He frowned. "It must be, if you're having these kinds of nightmares."

I shook my head. "I don't wanna think about it right now." He slipped his fingers through mine and began playing with them. "It's gonna be over soon, anyway."

"When did it really happen?"

"Just... around this time," I murmured quietly, vaguely. I felt his fingers pause, and I frowned. "It's fine, it's not a big deal."

I looked up at the faraway look on Jonah's face. "Okay," he said after a while. Suddenly, he looked up at the sky, his face scrunching up. "It's raining."

"Really?" I asked and tilted my head up as well, feeling a drop of water falling onto my forehead. I lifted my palm up and finally caught more raindrops on my hand, lightly falling from the sky. "I didn't even realize it was about to rain."

Jonah pulled me up and he started to put everything back into the basket, but before he could drag me out of the field, I stopped him. "What? We should go before the rain gets heavier."

I shook my head with a grin. "Do you ever watch romantic comedy movies?"

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Do I look like I do?" he deadpanned.

"No... but," I took everything he was holding and put it down near Daisy's stroller. "You did watch some of that with Clara, right?"

"Yes..."

The grin on my face got wider, and I lightly curtsied in front of him and began to sing, "Take my hand, take a breath." I grabbed his hand as he gave me a weird look. "Pull me close," I forced him to pull me closer, "and take one step—" I took a step backward and pulled him with me.

He tilted his head to the side. "Wait, I've heard this song before."

I ignored him—instead, I put a hand under his chin and tilted his head so our eyes met. "Keep your eyes locked on mine." I put his hands on my hips and wrapped my arms around the back of his neck. "And let the music be your guide."

Jonah sighed as the droplets of rain slid down his face. "I definitely have heard it a thousand times from right next door."

"Come on, that means you know what to sing next."

He snorted. "No, I don't."

"Alright, I'll sing your part for you." I lightly swung our bodies from left to right, attempting a slow dance even though ten years of not taking ballet classes had made my body practically stiff. "Won't you promise me; we'll keep dancing wherever we go next."

Jonah finally relented and he unexpectedly twirled my body around. It was a sloppy twirl and I ended up nearly falling on my face, but his quick reflexes caught me right in time. "Do we really have to?" he asked me, not very impressed, even though I saw that his lips were slowly pulling into a smile.

"Dancing in the rain is top five in my bucket list," I said with an overly sweet smile. "Better not let this moment go to waste."

He shook his head and began to let the smile on his face bloom.

"Besides," I gave him a puppy dog look, "it's my birthday."

"Alright, alright." He chuckled. "One dance."

I grinned. "Alright."

So we danced in the light rained with no music playing to guide us. We swung our bodies around without really knowing what a slow dance should be like, but it was the best kind of dance I could ever hope for. Halfway through the dance, a mischievous smile appeared on Jonah's face and his fingers suddenly tickled my sides, and I jumped apart in surprise, squealing and trying to get away from him. We played chase for a while, still under the rain that was starting to get heavier, laughing like we were a pair of children.

Jonah grabbed my waist from behind and I laughed as he lightly swung me around. I finally turned around and we continued the dance with a big smile on our faces.

He lightly wiped the water on my face and brushed a strand of wet hair behind my ear as we took small steps to the left and to the right with a light sway. He kissed me on the nose—the one thing that seemingly had become his favorite thing to do—and I closed my eyes for a while.

When I opened my eyes, a gentle smile had replaced the grin on his face. My whole body started to fill with warmth from my head to the tips of my toes, despite the chattering cold breeze, and my lips slowly parted as a particular sentence fought its way out of my throat, "I lo—"

Then like the cliché thing that always happened in the movie, aside from the dancing-in-the-rain moment we actually were doing right now, an interruption came in the form of Daisy's mommy-daddy-I'm-so-cold-please-take-care-of-me-before-I-give-you-a-bad-mark cry, ringing from the other side of the field. Jonah threw his head back in exasperation, but I was silent as my chest filled with disappointment and relief at the same time.

Did I really almost say it?

Oh my god. I did almost say it! How the hell did it happen?

"Come on, let's go back," he said, and I quietly agreed, my mind still reeling from the fact that I'd almost been careless enough to let that word slip through my teeth.

On the way to the car, Jonah managed to bump the stroller into a rock on the ground and break one of its wheels, so basically, we couldn't use it anymore until it was fixed. He sighed and carried the huge stroller while I held Daisy and the picnic bag. She was still crying until we got into the car—I immediately changed her out of her wet clothes. Once she was warm enough and was fed, she finally stopped crying.

"Okay," I said as we began to drive away. I took off my wet beanies and dried my hair with a towel Jonah gave me. "Where to next, Mr. Gibbs?"

"Let me take you on an actual movie date," he said with a smile.

"All wet from the rain like this?"

"Why not?" he hummed. "Since you got to pick the movie last time at my house, I get to pick now."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Okay."

"I say horror."

I groaned. "I hate watching horrors on a date! It's so cliché!"

"You sure it's not because you're just scared?" he teased.

I made a face. I actually hated horror movies, but I wasn't about to admit it to him. "No," I scoffed. "But okay. Whatever. Let's watch a horror movie."

"Good. I think there are still some good Halloween horror movies. I saw there was one with that guy from Harry Potter on it."

"Daniel Radcliffe?"

"What's-his-face," he waved off. "I think it's still showing in the cinema."

I shrugged. "Okay, whatever. But what if Daisy cries there?"

"Then just go to the restroom and shut her up," he said with a shrug. "We'll just make sure everything's taken care of first. We already changed her diaper, right?."

"Yep. I'll double check." I said with a nod, though a part of me was silently freaking out due to the fact that we were watching horror. Horror movies scared the living crap out of me, but I had too much pride to back out of this.

We finally arrived at the cinema, and once we were just a few yards away from the ticket booth, we argued for a while about who should pay for the tickets and the popcorn and blah blah blah. I told him that he'd done enough with the picnic date plus everything else he had done for me, but Jonah was starting to become a typical guy who wouldn't let a girl pay for him and it was starting to annoy me to no end. He finally gave in when I glared at him, though he wasn't really pleased by it.

"Chill, you can buy the popcorn if you want," I told him. "And some warm drink."

"Okay," he said sullenly.

"Quit moping, boy," I chided, before finally turning around to the ticket girl. I felt Jonah walking away to get the popcorn and the drinks. "Two tickets for, uh," I peered over the posters on the wall, finding the one with Daniel Radcliffe's face on it, "Horns, please."

The girl gave me a friendly smile. "And the baby?"

I blinked. "Uh..." What do I say? It's actually a fake baby that is bound to cry out at any time possible, but can we still take it inside without paying for its ticket because, uh, it's not a real human being?

"Don't worry," she smiled at me. "I'm not judging you or anything. You guys seem like a very adorable young parents."

"Heh." I gave her an awkward smile. "Right. Well," I decided not to comment on that, "she's uh, she's only a few months old?"

"Well, only two year-olds and older have to pay for the ticket, so you're free to bring her inside."

I gave her a smile that hopefully looked grateful. "Thanks."

As she was printing out the tickets, I took out my wallet from my pocket and gave her the cash. "Your boyfriend is pretty cute, by the way," she commented slyly.

I looked over my shoulder to see him struggling with the popcorns, drinks, and Daisy in his arms, and stifled a chuckle. I turned back to the girl and lifted my left hand, deciding to play along with it anyway. "Husband, actually." Her eyes widened. "Got married a few months ago, because, why not, right?" I grinned at her.

"Oh!" she said. "Well, that's really adorable," she said again in awe as she handed me the tickets. "Really, you two look like you're meant for each other. I could see it right when you guys walked into that door."

"Oh, stop it," I said bashfully. "But thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome," she said happily. "I hope you guys are having a great day."

"Thank you," I repeated just as Jonah appeared right behind me. I immediately took the drinks from his arms and he smiled gratefully at me. He glanced at the smiling girl who looked obviously awww-ed by the sight of us, and he sent her a small nod before turning to me.

"Everything okay?" he said and I nodded. I waved to the girl and walked with Jonah, still feeling overjoyed by the short conversation that just happened.

[]

After the movie, Jonah dropped me off in front of my house, and I thanked him the stars once again for the amazing birthday date. As for the movie itself, though, it was horrible. I mean, it was a good movie—I think—but to me, no it wasn't. Jonah had laughed at me when we got out of the movie because I was scared as crap and nearly shit my pants, and I was just glowering at him with my pale face, still shaking from the horror.

After that, we had continued the date by walking around the park like we always did every weekend with Daisy. It had stopped raining so we had a fun there, walking around aimlessly and climbing up to the treehouse. Then it was followed by a coffee date, and I'd raised my eyebrows at him but he'd only said, "Let's see if the coffee in this place compares to mine." It turned out that Jonah's coffees were still 1827302927 times better, but we had a great time anyways.

At the café, Jonah bought a few cupcakes for me and planted small candles on them, and I blew them all as I repeated the wish I had said earlier with Leann. He smiled at me and gave me a mind-blowing birthday kiss right where everyone in the café could see. We finally called it a day shortly after that.

I let out a sneeze as I walked through the front door, and I had a feeling that I would wake up with a cold, thanks to the rain. But the dance was damn worth it, though, so I didn't mind the cold all that much.

Mom, Dad and Cole were sitting on the living room, playing with the unnamed kitten Cole was harboring affection on, and I smiled a little as I joined in. "Hi, guys."

"Hannah!" Cole jumped up with the cat in his hands. "I wanted to name him but then I realized that he's yours. So please please please name him soon because I'm tired of calling him 'the cat'. Please!"

I laughed and ruffled his hair. "Okay, okay. I'll come up with a name tomorrow morning."

My parents got up from the couch and I let them kiss each side of my face. "Happy birthday, honey. Did you have a great time?" Mom asked softly. Like I'd told Jonah, it was still a bit strained between me and my parents, but we all tried our best to not make it worse.

"Yep, it was amazing," I said with a small smile.

"Sorry we weren't here when you wake up," Dad said. "But, uh, we have already got you birthday presents, and I put them all on your bed."

"Alright, thank you, Dad," I told him. "I'll go right upstairs."

"Okay, but don't forget to come down and have dinner, alright?"

"Yeah," I said with a nod, before taking the cat from Cole's hands and brought him with me to my room.

He meowed once I closed the door and put him down on the floor, and I smiled a little as he tried to acquaintance himself with my bedroom. He jumped and sniffed around a little, and I let him find his own space.

A box was placed on my bed, filled with different birthday presents. I smiled and began to take them out one by one.

The first one that I took was from Gina. She had called me earlier in the morning to wish me a happy birthday and said that she would drop by my house to give me the present. She gave me a scrapbook, like she'd always done every year on my birthday. This was our tradition—the scrapbook thing—and every year it was filled with different pictures and different stories.

And then there was one from Mom and Dad; a new laptop I'd been wanting to get for a few months now. I grinned and began to prepare myself to say goodbye to my old laptop, and then took out the next present from Cole. It was just a simple, do-it-yourself card, neat and clean, but the writing inside was childlike and messy, and I laughed at the drawing of "myself" inside. I found a rolled poster and then I rolled my own eyes once I unrolled it. It was a print-ad with my sister's face on it, the one she had modeled a few months ago.

I turned it around and saw a writing on the empty space; Jk. This is not my real present for you. See you on Thanksgiving! Love, L.

I frowned in confusion when I saw one more present, sitting at the bottom of the box. I slowly took it out—it was something square-shaped, wrapped with old newspaper, and then I began to unwrap it carefully.

I gasped when I saw what it really was, my heart jumping into different directions and my eyes slowly filling with tears. I turned it around in my shaky hands several times, making sure that I wasn't seeing things, but it felt so real when I touched it.

It was an old CD—Paramore's first studio album. I swallowed and opened the case, taking out the CD and lightly brushing my thumb over it. A piece of paper fell, so I took it after carefully placing the CD back into its place.

My heart stopped as I read what was written on the paper.

I remember Paramore was one of the bands you could actually tolerate enough to listen to. Sweet seventeen, Hannah.

I lifted the piece of paper and put it against my heart, and then I broke down crying.