“What?” I gasp, grinning. “You actually remembered?”
“Of course I did,” he chuckles. “You wouldn’t shut the hell up about it for the past four months. It’s your twentieth birthday and I want to make it as special as possible.”
He places his fingers against the strings of his black guitar and I stare at him, grinning like a little girl with a brand new Barbie doll. He begins to sing “Happy Birthday” and I’ve never been more excited than now. I really didn’t think he would remember. November twenty-seventh is a day I’ve completely forgotten about and that’s mainly because so much has been going on that my birthday is the last thing to come to mind.
As soon as Nolan finishes his song, Dawson and Harper scream “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”
“Wow, guys. Thank you,” I say. “But no cake right now. It’s, like, seven in the morning.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Harper yawns. “He acted like he couldn’t wait a little later and wake you up with a simple “Happy birthday, Natalie”. Guys are so overrated.”
“Oh, are we, babe?” Dawson asks, taking the cake out of her hand and placing it on top of the dresser. She giggles as he picks her up in his arms and then makes his way out of the door. “Nolan we’ll pick your car up from the lake house when we go and get Harps,” Dawson says, his eyes hard on Harper.
“Happy birthday, Nat!” Harper squeals. “We’re going out for dinner later so be ready!” she calls before disappearing.
I laugh, listening as her bedroom door shuts and then I look at Nolan who’s placing his guitar in the corner. “I seriously can’t believe you remembered, Nolan. I didn’t expect you to.”
“I wouldn’t forget my Bunny’s birthday.” He climbs on top of the bed and steals a kiss. “She means too much to me.” He kisses me again and I kiss him back. This feels so right. We always feel right. Natural. I can’t believe I’ve been away from it for so long.
“I bet my parents have been calling me constantly,” I say as I pull away from him to get to my phone. Back when I lived with them, they would come up to my bedroom at six-twenty in the morning and scream “happy birthday” to me. Six-twenty AM is when I was born, twenty years ago. Sure enough, as I check it, there are a dozen missed calls from the both of them.
“Give me a sec,” I say to Nolan as I climb off the bed.
“Take your time, babe. I have until two today.”
“Why two?” I ask curiously.
“Some of us have jobs and bills to pay.” He winks, standing from the bed to stretch. He then stares at me, his smile fading. “Do you . . . do you remember last night at all?” he asks.
“What about it?”
“After you left from me you went with Tyler. He took you outside and later on you came from the trees scratched up and nearly unconscious.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I remember talking to Tyler, yeah, but I don’t remember the scratched-up-trees part.”
I gaze down at my stomach, remembering the Band-Aid. “Natalie, I’ve been trying to get you to remember but it seems like you can’t. Last night you kept saying his name and then you said something about denying him.” His eyes turn stern as he takes a step towards me. “I’m worried about you. I don’t want you hanging with him anymore.”
“Nolan, I’m fine,” I say through a dry laugh. “I swear. Tyler’s a sweet guy. I’m sure I just fell or something.”
“Oh yeah?” He frowns, taking another step forward. “Then why hasn’t he been answering his phone? I called him last night from your phone because I wanted to find him and beat his ass for leaving you out there but he didn’t pick up.”
I shrug, staring into his eyes. “Nolan . . . I don’t know. I’ll call him later and ask him about it.”
“I don’t want you to see him by yourself. If he asks you to meet him, you let me know and I’ll go with you.”
“Why is it such a big deal?”
“I don’t trust him and neither should you, Natalie. I find it strange that he isn’t answering his phone after something happened to you. After you passed-out randomly. You were fine while you were with me. That doesn’t bother you? It sure as hell bothers me. Unlike that idiot, I care.”
As I stare at Nolan, that’s when what Brittany said