“See you tonight girls! Love you!” She had the widest smile I'd seen since we told her Chase was the father, and it was undeniably contagious.
We were almost to our first class and I did a double take to a chair sitting outside the door. I slowly walked up and grabbed the bouquet of orange lilies, tucked into the side was a note with my name on the envelope. I looked at Bree who was looking around confused, and I joined in with her. There were people I vaguely knew all over, but other than Bree and Mom, only two guys knew about these. And neither of them were around. I opened the note and a huge smile spread across my face when I read the masculine handwriting.
'Happy Birthday Princess'
I bit my lip and looked harder for a tall, tan, built, tatted up guy with shaggy blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a killer smile.
“Who are they from?” Bree grabbed the note out of my hands.
“Chase, do you see him?”
“No. That boy I swear, who knew he could be sweet?”
After another quick look, I reluctantly followed her into the classroom. No sooner had we sat down, than my phone chimed.
Chase - 'You look beautiful today.'
Me - 'Were you watching me?'
Chase - 'Maybe. I finally got to give you your lilies.'
Me - 'You already gave me my lilies a few months ago, remember?'
Chase - 'I couldn't forget that day even if I tried.'
Me - 'Well you could have given these to me yourself you know. I would have liked to see you.'
Chase - 'It was worth it to see that smile on your face'
Me - ':) Thank you for my flowers. I love them'
Chase - 'What are you doing for your Birthday?'
Me - 'Dinner with your fam tonight, movies at the house after. You're invited.'
Chase - 'I'll see what I can do.'
Once again, it wasn't exactly a no, but it wasn't a yes either and I tried to not let that disappoint me. Cryptic words were kind of his specialty.
“Gah, look at you Harper.” Bree whispered.
“What?”
“You already totally have that preggo glow, and now your face is lit up like the freaking sun after texting my brother.”
I looked at her confused, “How did you know I was talking to him?”
She narrowed her eyes at me, then raised her eyebrows. “Like I said, your face is lit up like the sun.” Nudging my knee, she turned to listen to the Professor.
I smiled at my flowers one more time, and tried to follow her lead. Class flew by and we went to lunch to meet up with everyone, Chase wasn't there, but a very shocked looking Brandon was. All the guys had given me big bear hugs, and after an uneasy hug from Brandon he froze and backed up slowly, his eyes trained to my stomach. It had finally been real for me at the first ultrasound, but I don't think it'd been real for Brandon until he saw the bump pushing out from my hips. My stomach churned and my heart ached thinking of the love I'd lost, but I knew I had to get over it. I was the one who had messed up, I needed to get over it so I could get on with my life too. None of the girls got to the table until we were already seated, and even with Brandon's wide eyes staring at where my stomach was hidden from the table, no one else saw the evidence. Since the restaurant was just down the street from campus, after lunch Bree and I went to a boba shop close to the school and did most of our homework before we had to leave for dinner.
We met Claire and Robert at the restaurant at six, and tried to have a great time sans Chase. Claire shared funny stories about her two pregnancies and hilarious things Breanna and Chase had done when they were little. We were all cracking up and wiping tears from our eyes by the time the waiter came with the bill. I checked my phone again and my shoulders dropped when there still wasn't anything from Chase. Claire talked to him today to invite him to dinner, and he'd flat out refused to come. I didn't understand. I thought after our few words yesterday that things were going to turn around, and then after the flowers today, I'd been positive they were. My heart sunk but I tried to keep a happy face for the people that loved me. Apparently I wasn't doing a good job, Claire reached over the table and grabbed my hand, her face sad.
“Sweetie don't worry about it, please. This will all work out, I'm sure of it.” But for once, no one looked like they believed it.
I nodded and flashed a smile, “Movie time?”