Finding Laila: Some Changes Are Necessary Part 16

"We know you don't want to do the party thing," Braxton starts, but I cut him off.

"Really? No party?" I jump up and down excitedly.

"Hold up, no one said anything about that," he says. "But we are having a party for you right now, before everyone gets here."

My mom, dad, and Luka walk in holding a birthday cake with eighteen candles, and the other parents file in behind them. Everyone starts to sing a horrible rendition of "Happy Birthday" that has me laughing. This is exactly the type of party that I wanted: my friends and family-no fuss.

Haden places his hands on my shoulders and tells me to make a wish before I blow out the candles.

I wish I could be this happy forever.

"I love y'all so much." I smile widely at everyone after I've successfully blown out the candles on my cake.

"All right, Nixon," Cole smiles and hands me a box, "my present first."

I take the box and open it to find a concert T-s.h.i.+rt for Mumford and Sons and an envelope. I open it up and inside are tickets to their concert that's coming up next summer.

"Are you kidding me? Cole, I love you, this is awesome," I gush.

"You realize that I get one of those tickets, right?" he laughs.

"This show sold out-how did you get these?" I ask, finding six tickets inside.

"Don't ask," he says before giving me a hug and kissing my cheek. "Happy birthday, Lai."

"All right, I'm not sure I can top that, but here's mine," Joey says, handing me a heavy box.

I rip off the wrapping paper to reveal pristine copies of all seven hardcover Harry Potter books.

"Joey!" I set the box down and give him a hug. "I can't believe you remembered."

I have read the entire series twice and told Joey a while back that I was tired of checking them out from the library because they never had the copy I wanted.

"I'm glad you like it." He smiles.

Braxton hands me something large and flat that is wrapped in purple paper. It feels like a giant coloring book, but I'm certain that's not what it is. I tear the paper off and find a United States atlas inside. I'm not sure what to make of it and Braxton points to it. "There's a note inside." He grins at my unease.

Anywhere you want to go.

Love, Braxton "What?" I ask, bemused.

"Road trip," the guys yell, putting the pieces together for me.

"Are you serious?" I look around to see all of them nodding.

"We'll head out this summer, one last hurrah for all of us," he explains. "You in?"

I can't contain my smile and jump up and down like a kid. "Yes! Thank you all so much, I love everything," I almost sing.

"Does that mean you're going to stick around for the other party?"

I look at Haden, who shrugs his shoulders, leaving the decision up to me.

"I'm not going to stay long, but yeah, why not?"

The guys share triumphant high fives and move outside where I suppose things are set up for the party. Mrs. Jameson takes the cake to another part of the kitchen to cut it up, leaving me with my parents and Luka. They manage a smile, but both seem sad.

"Guys, I'm not going anywhere, and it's just a birthday. You're still stuck with me for at least another six months." I grab my mom and hug her.

"Happy birthday, Laila," she says while holding my face. "The day you came into my life, I knew G.o.d had a plan."

"You always say that," I counter with a crooked smile.

"And she means it," Dad interjects. "We have something for you, but we're going to give it to you tomorrow."

"Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, we need to get Luka in bed," Dad says while Luka begins to cry.

"I'm not tired yet," she argues.

"Hey, we'll hang out tomorrow, okay?" I try to get her to stop, but it only makes her angry.

"No, I want cake," she pouts.

"I'll bring some cake home and we can eat it for breakfast, right, Mom?" I nod, encouraging her to agree.

"It's Laila's day, so whatever she wants, she gets," she smiles. That seems to quiet Luka down and I watch them leave, looking as if something is weighing on them.

Haden walks back in and wraps his arms around my waist. I lean my head against his shoulder and relax my back into him.

"Do you really want to stick around?" he asks.

"No, but I told y'all I would."

"Well, I still haven't given you my present, but we have to go someplace for it."

I turn to face him, enjoying the mystery of the gift.

"When can we leave?" I ask excitedly.

"Just say when," he winks.

"One hour," I tell him, pulling his wrist so I can see his watch. "Everyone should be getting here any minute, we'll leave in one hour."

"Anything you say." He kisses me softly and walks outside to join the others.

I stare at the people outside chatting, but my attention keeps falling on Haden. I walk over to stand with them and he looks at me, causing my pulse to quicken. He glances at his watch and whispers "fifty-seven more minutes."

Anyone who says they love high school must be out of their d.a.m.n mind.

Over the last hour I've seen two almost fights, three people kicked out by Mr. Jameson for bringing drugs, and countless tears from different girls who either caught a boyfriend cheating or was dumped before getting here. All of this drama, and in six months we'll be over it. These will all be a distant memory. But right now, in the thick of it, it's life and death. At least for them.

"One hour," Haden announces, breaking me from my trance of people-watching.

"I'm ready, let's go." I jump off the counter and make a break for the exit. "I'll text the guys later."

"What about Bailey?" he asks.

"She's staying at my house. Mom and Dad are expecting her."

"Let's go, we won't be gone too long," Haden says as he threads his fingers through mine. We open the front door to leave and run into Kasey waiting on the other side.

"Ah, if it isn't the loser and the burnout," she sneers.

I look around and notice that she's alone.

"Um, Kasey, who invited you?" I ask, not at all kindly.

She's one of the popular girls, so I guess it stands to chance that she is automatically invited anywhere she wants to go. Still, I enjoy watching her mouth agape in shock.

"That's what I thought. I think you should go," I finish and hear the chuckle escape Haden.

"Braxton invited me," she defends.

"Oh, okay, hold on," I turn toward the kitchen and call for Braxton, who comes to the door and stands behind me. "Brax, Kasey said you invited her."

"Nope," he says quickly with a shake of his head.

"That's what I thought," I say, and look at Kasey, who is mortified.

"But Braxton, I thought you wanted me here," she says flirtatiously.

"No offense, Kasey, but this is Laila's birthday and we all know that you aren't her biggest fan. So no, I don't want you here," Brax says dryly.

She glares at me before storming off in a huff. The three of us watch her make her way down the street and disappear into the darkness.

"Sorry about that, Lai," he says before addressing Haden and me. "Y'all leaving?"

"We'll be back," I tell him before he rejoins the party.

Haden closes the door behind us and we make our way toward his car.

"So where are we going?" I ask, smiling at him.

"How do you do that?" he asks in awe.

"Do what?"

"Let it roll off."

"What am I supposed to do? Break? The way I see it, I'm going to graduate and leave this town. There's a huge world out there and I want my chance to make the most of it. I'm not going to let someone like Kasey ruin it for me."

He leans over and places a soft kiss to my lips. "You're amazing."

"Are you ever going to tell me where we're going?"

"It's a surprise."

Chapter 13 ~ Finding Courage.

We continue walking down the street and end up pa.s.sing his car as we go. I look back at it to question, but realize exactly where we're going.

"You're not very original, are you?" I tease.

"Who said I was trying to be?"

"The way you swept me out of there, I figured there was some top secret location all magical and stuff. Then again, we could sit in the garage all night and I'd be happy." I shrug, holding onto his hand tighter.

"Did you have fun?"

"I always have fun with you guys, you know that. But the party part, I think I was ready to leave when the first guest arrived."

"Yeah, I could see by the look on your face." He lets go of my hand and tucks me close to his side protectively. "We knew after the first day when word started spreading that the party wasn't a good idea. I think Bailey must have said something to Joey about it because he said we needed to do something with just us."

"I'm liking Bailey more and more," I say when I look up into his eyes.

We get to the edge of the woods, the same woods we've gone through thousands of times before, and make our way to the opening of the path we've created over the years. Haden walks ahead of me with his arm stretched behind him so he can hold my hand. It's a haunting quiet, neither of us saying a word, nor looking to fill it either. Haden's always been the silent one and I've never minded-I still don't.

Every once in a while I hear him mutter something or offer a simple, one-word warning about an object up ahead, and I find it adorable. The path to the quarry is easy to maneuver during the day, but at night we have to go by memory.

"I think we're almost there," he finally says over his shoulder.

"I hope so. Otherwise your sense of direction is way off." I smile, even though he can't see me.

"You're the one with terrible direction," he counters as we finally step through to the clearing. The moonlight reflects on the water and provides enough light that I know where our rocks are and I can see the shy smile on Haden's face.

"I've never had a problem finding this or anyplace else," I argue as I follow him to our usual spots, but he stops before we get there.