Hey everyone! Here's another update, I hope you like it. :) 

The video on the side is of Brad and Sage's performance at the town festival. I don't own it I got it off youtube! And the kiss in the middle of it doesn't happen in the story alright? :)

I hope you all like this! Comment or vote PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE. :) 

Chapter twenty-five

“Sage!” My dad yelled after opening my door. I groaned and rolled over while pulling my blanket over my head. “It may be your birthday but you still have to go to school.”

“It’s Friday you should just let me skip.”

“You already skipped school once, you’re not skipping again.”

I groaned before rolling out of bed and walked to the shower.

After showering I put on a white tank top and I put a short blue pencil skirt with a floral pattern on it. Then after opening my window and feeling that the March air was a little cold I threw on a bright yellow cardigan that went to the end of my skirt but I left the front unbuttoned.

All week I’d been worried about Zoe. When we’d gotten back from our road trip and Aaron had taken Zoe to her doctor’s appointment he had come back saying that she wasn’t getting better. In fact she had gotten worse.

I’d spent all week worrying about her getting better that I had completely forgotten my birthday was this week. I flipped my Paris calendar to the month of March because I’d even forgotten to do that. I had even put a star on March 9th, my birthday.

I never dreamed that I’d forget my eighteenth birthday.

I wasn’t even excited that Brad and I were preforming a dance at the town’s small festival this upcoming Sunday. Brad and I had been asked if we wanted to preform by a very nice very orange woman named Ms. Bryan. She said that having the duet team that won the cheer championship would be a great ‘show’ for any audience that showed up.

Aaron texted me saying that he had to retake a test in the morning so he couldn’t give me a ride.

I bounded down the stairs where my dad was.

“Hey dad.” I said smiling before grabbing an apple.

“Happy birthday Sage.” He said before pulling me in for a hug.

I gave him a hesitant hug back. Even though we fight I know I love him. Sometimes it’s just harder to figure that out.

“Thanks dad. I’ll see you later.” I said before heading out the door and driving to school.

“Hey!” Kalina said beaming and nearly jumping into my arms when I walked in the front doors of our school.

“Hi.” I laughed.

“Feliz cumpleaños!” She yelled in my ear before pulling back. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

“Here.” She said while handing me a bag.

“Oh my god, Kalina this is adorable!” It was a black shoulder bag with silver studs on the sides.

“Look inside!” She said jumping up and down and clapping her hands.

I unzipped the purse and pulled out a box. I opened it to see a small golden Eiffel tower charm on a gold chain. “I love it!” I shrieked before unclipping the chain and putting it on. “You rock!” I said before hugging her again.  

“I’m glad you like it.” She said smiling.

“They’re amazing.”

Brad walked up and put his arm around Kalina’s shoulders before tossing me a small box. “Happy birthday.” He said grinning. On the top was a CD and underneath that was a twenty-five dollar gift card to Starbucks. “The CD has all the songs we’ve danced to and the one we’re going to dance to at the town festival on Sunday.”

“That’s awesome, thanks Brad.” I said before giving him a quick hug.

“No problem.” He said as Kalina and he held each other’s hands while they walked with me to my locker.

My locker which had been decked out in party supplies.

There were three balloons attached to it and streamers taped across it with rhinestone magnets that spelled out ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ in the middle of my locker.

“You guys didn’t.”

“Oh but we did.” Kalina said laughing. “But it’s nothing compared to what Aaron did.”

“What did-“

“Happy birthday day to you.” I spun around at the sound of people singing. Aaron was standing in front of the school choir. “Happy birthday to you.” I covered my face laughing as it no doubt turned tomato red. “Happy birthday dear Sage, happy birthday to you.”

Everyone clapped, and I mean everyone. Brad, Kalina, Aaron, the choir, and random kids in the hallway who had stopped to watch.

“Happy birthday Sage.” Aaron said walking up to me.

“You got the choir to sing to me?” I asked as my face hopefully turned back to a normal color.

“Well they work for cheap.” He said shrugging. I’d noticed that more kids were around us and they were all holding random items.

“Aaron…” I said looking around before he put a ‘birthday princess’ sash over my head. “Oh god.” I mumbled before he put the matching tiara on my head. He also handed me a bouquet of white roses and a huge pink teddy bear. It was half the size of me. “I don’t know if I should hate you or love you.” I said half glaring at him and half laughing.

“You’ll just love all the attention you get from all of this.” He said before laughing and quickly kissing me.

***********

“So why are we going to lunch?” I asked after I had dropped my car off at my house and gotten in Aaron’s truck.

“Because it’s your birthday.”

“It’s not that special.” I laughed.

“Of course it is.” He said before quickly kissing my cheek.

“Well where are we going?”

“How about Red Robin?”

“Yum.” I said before winking.

Aaron ended up eating a burger and fries while I had chicken strips and sweet potato fries.

“See this is a quality lunch right here.”

“It totally is. I don’t know why I don’t do this every year.” I said laughing.

Aaron told someone that works there that it was my birthday so they brought me and ice cream sundae and they sang to me.

“See isn’t this great?” He asked while we both shared the dessert.

“I get way to much attention on my birthday.” I said while shaking my head. “I think I have enough embarrassment for one year.” It was nearly four hours later when we stopped at Kalina’s house. “Ok one; tell me why you took the long way home? And two…why aren’t we home?”

“Kalina wanted to give you something before I took you home.” He said as we walked to her front door.

“How would you know?”

“Because she told me.” He said as he opened the door.

“But how-“

“SURPRISE!” I jumped back as people popped out of hiding places. I looked around and saw balloons more party decorations and food and a huge cake.

“Oh my gosh guys.” I said covering my mouth. “Awww! Thank you so much!” I said giving both Aaron and Kalina a hug. “You have no idea how much you rock.”

“Oh I think we do.” Aaron said laughing.

“Don’t let it go to your head.” I said before sticking my tongue out at him.

“I would never do that.” He scoffed.

After a ton of ‘happy birthdays’, dancing and blowing out the candles on the cake, Aaron and I were sitting outside in Kalina’s backyard.

“Are you having a good birthday?” He asked.

“Ya…it’s probably one of the best birthdays I’ve had in a while.”

“That’s good.” He said before leaning closer and putting his hand on the side of my face so he could kiss me. I felt him lift up the Eiffel tower charm and I opened my eyes to see him inspecting it. “Paris?”

“Ya…I’ve wanted to go there for as long as I can remember basically.”

“Why Paris?”

“I don’t know…cuz it’s the City of Lights? Or just how pretty it is, or just because it’s a place to run away to.”

“Those are good reasons.” He said nodding before kissing me.

A flash went off making me pull away from Aaron. Taylor from the cheerleading team was holding a Polaroid camera. “Here you go.” She said handing me the picture. “It’ll develop in a few seconds.”

“Thanks.” I said as I slowly watched the image appear.

“Aaron do you want one?” She asked waving the camera.

“Sure.” He said before pulling me closer.

The light flashed and she handed Aaron the picture before walking away.

I groaned as I looked at my phone. It was already 11pm. “I hate to say this but…”

“You have to go home?”

“Yeah.”I said sighing as he helped me to my feet.

“Well, I’ll drive you home.”

“Good I didn’t want to have to walk.” I laughed.

***********

“So wait…you don’t want to do anything today?” I asked my dad after we’d finished breakfast.

“I already promised someone else that they could enjoy your company.” He said while putting dishes in the dishwasher. “But here are your gifts. This is from me, and that’s from your grandmother.” He said while setting two boxes on the table in front of me.

“Who did you say could hang out with me?” I asked while opening the box from my grandmother.

“One of your friends.” He said grinning.

I let his smile slide and continued opening the present.

My grandmother had given me a hundred dollar gift card to Forever21, a rhinestone bracelet; which I’m pretty sure is fake, and a high wasted black skirt.

I’ll have to call her later and thank her.

I reached across the table and grabbed my dad’s gift. In it was a pair of black Gucci sun glasses, a Tiffany’s charm bracelet, and Coach Purse.

“Dad you didn’t have to spend this much money on me.” I said while looking at everything as it was laid across the table.

“It’s your eighteenth birthday.” He said smiling. “Do you not like them?”

“No! I love them, I just feel bad for all the money I cost you.”

“Sage, I really don’t mind. I know we haven’t been getting along well but I wanted to do this for you.” He said before hugging me. “Plus you’ll probably need those sunglasses.”

“Huh?” I asked as the doorbell rang. “Dad, what did you do?” I yelled to him as I opened the door.

“Hey.” Nate said smiling with his hands in his pockets. “You up for some fun in the sun?”

“Only if you don’t use anymore corny lines like that.”

“Done deal. Do you wanna change or go in your pajamas?”

“I’ll change.” I said before letting him inside to talk to my dad while I ran upstairs to my room to change.

I changed into black jean shorts, and an off the shoulder grey t-shirt. Before running out the door with Nate I grabbed my new sunglasses and my black ankle boots.

My dad didn’t say anything about my choice in clothing but that was probably for Nate’s benefit.

“So where are we going?” I asked for the tenth time nearly an hour later.

“We’re almost there.” He said laughing at me for the ninth time.

“That’s what you’ve said every time I’ve asked.”

“Well this time I’m not lying. I promise.”

Sure enough ten minutes later he parked in front of a huge dock with about twenty boats floating along it.

“What are we doing here?” I asked following him to the end of the dock to a decent sized boat.

“We’re riding horses. What do you think we’re doing?”

“No need to be mean.” I laughed as he stepped onto the boat before helping me onto it as well.

“I’m sorry. It is your birthday after all.”

“Actually my birthday was yesterday.”

“We can pretend like it’s today.” He said as I followed him to the two seats by the steering wheel. After flying across the water for about half an hour he finally stopped the boat and turned it off so we were just floating. “Tada.” He said gesturing around.

“You brought me to the ocean.” I said nodding while looking around at the nothingness around us. “This is starting to seem like a sketchy horror movie.”

“Come on.” He said while shaking his head and walking down to the front of the boat. “Are you hungry at all?” He asked sitting down by two boxes.

“Sure.”  I said sitting down across from him. He pulled out a takeout box and opened it to reveal dinosaur chicken. “No way!” I exclaimed while grabbing a t-rex.

He laughed before taking out two Dr. Peppers, a huge bag of salt and vinegar chips and chocolate chip cookies. “It’s all kind of random but I hope its ok.”

“This is great.” I said taking a bite of a chocolate chip cookie.

“I’m glad.” He said smiling at me. After a few minutes of just listening to the water, Nate spoke up again. “Do you want your presents now? Or later?”

“Well who can say no to presents?” I said while wiping my hands on my shorts.

“Alright.” He said before handing me something wrapped in tissue paper from the second box.

I bit my lip before unwrapping it. I held up a piece of fabric covered in silver coins. “Is this a belly dancing skirt?” I asked while trying not to laugh.

“It is.” He said nodding.

“Why?” I said unable to not laugh.

“I thought it’d be funny.” He said shrugging.

I stood up before wrapping it around my waist and shaking my hips in a ridiculous motion. “I think I have a new career in mind.”

“Oh totally.” He said nodding. “But I have a more serious gift.” He said as I took off the skirt and sat back down.

“You didn’t have to.” I said as he handed me a manila envelope.

“I wanted to.” That seems to be the theme of the day.

I opened it to see a certificate…that said I now owned my own star. “You got me a star?” I asked astonished.

“I know it’s corny but…I hope you like. It’s even named after you.” He said smiling at me.

“That is amazing!” I shouted before throwing myself at him and wrapping my arms around his neck.

“I have one more thing.” He said laughing before I pulled back.

“No! You’re gonna make me feel bad.”

“It’s your birthday you should never feel bad.”

“My birthday was yesterday.” I said as he handed me a small box.

“Shut up, Sage.” He laughed while shaking his head.

I opened the box to find out it was a gold infinity bracelet.

“Nate.” I breathed. “It’s beautiful.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” He grinned.

After we had finished eating I was leaning against the railing of the boat looking out at the clear blue water. “Do you think it’s cold?” I asked as he leaned next to me.

“I’m not sure…why?”

“Because Oregon water is cold. I went on a road trip there last weekend. My friends and I went bungee jumping and night swimming and it was cold.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun.” He said before we fell back into more comfortable silence. “We could always find out how cold it is.” He said while kicking off his shoes and stripping off his t-shirt.

“No swim suits.” I pointed out.

“It’s warm outside. We’ll dry.” He said before lifting himself over the railing and jumping into the water.

“The boats not anchored.” I said as came back above the surface.

“I don’t think it’ll go very far.”

I sighed before kicking off my own shoes and jumping in. “Ok, it’s not cold.” I said while floating on my back. “It’s pretty warm actually.”

After a little while of swimming and messing around we climbed back in the boat and were dry in about an hour, right as the sun was setting.

“This might sound lame.” He said as we laid on the deck watching the sun set. “But I like sunsets.”

“That’s not lame…I always imagined that everyone liked sunsets, even if they didn’t want to admit it.”

“That’s probably true.” He chuckled.

“In my perfect world there would be a sunset all the time.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know…because it’s pretty and I like it. And it’s my world.” I said making us both laugh.

“What else would happen in your ‘perfect world’?”

“I would probably be married with at least three kids…and be a professional dancer.”

“That sounds nice.” He said while smiling at me.

“What about your perfect world? What would that be like?”

“My perfect world would be…being with you.”

“Nate…” I sighed.

“I know, I know. Don’t bring it up.”

“Then why did you?” I snapped mad that we were ending the evening with this.

“I don’t know. You asked what my perfect world would be like and I told you.”

The rest of the night was filled with quiet talk as I tried to forget about his comment. Eventually we turned the boat around and he took me back home.

**************

“Are you ready for this?” Brad asked as we waited behind the stage curtains.

“I guess.” I said rubbing my hands together.

“It’s just like any other time we’ve danced.”

“Ya except this time everyone from town was invited.”

“Not everyone’s gonna be there.” He pointed out. “Plus the championship was on TV.”

It was Sunday which made it the last day before the official first day of Spring Break. I guess we could’ve counted the weekend as well but the school didn’t count it, so why should I?

Now the town was having its Spring Festival and it was almost seven which means it was almost time for Brad and I to dance.

We were dancing to Love Story by Taylor Swift and I was wearing my simple black dancing dress while Brad was in loose black pants and a white button up. The stage had a small staircase built on it for us to use, and we were also using a long piece of fabric that reminded me of an oversized cape.

I walked up the staircase and grabbed a hold of the fabric. “Let’s do this.” I breathed right as the curtains opened and the music started.

After we finished we got a lot of compliments from our peers, and adults and even little kids.

I wasn’t expecting that reaction.

I didn’t think people would care too much about it.

And of course Aaron was there and he filmed the whole thing. He also sat on the edge of the stage with me while the crowd was clearing away.

“Wonderful as always, Sage.” Nate said waving and turning to leave.

“Thanks!” I called after him.

“I take it you’re not just sitting here for kicks?” Aaron asked when almost everyone was gone.

“I was hoping my dad would’ve shown up to this one…since it was a town festival and all. But I guess not.”

“Maybe he was here and you just didn’t see him?” Aaron suggested rather hopefully.

“He’s never going to watch any of the dances I’ve preformed.”

“He’s seen the ones you’ve done at his work.” Aaron said while rubbing my back with his hand as he tried to make me feel better.

“Those don’t count! He’s too pissed off to pay attention and they don’t mean anything. My competitions, my performances at school and here especially! I mean this was huge for me…and he didn’t even show up and pretend that he was proud of me or anything. I always thought he was just mad at me when he said he didn’t care but he truly doesn’t care.”

“Those dances you do at his work do mean something, because you worked hard on them. And if he doesn’t pay attention or doesn’t show up then it’s his loss because you’re an amazing dancer. I have so much fun watching you, and I’m proud enough for both me and your dad. I sit out in the crowd videotaping you so the memory can never be lost and I turn to the person next to me and say ‘that’s my girlfriend’…of course sometimes they ask if I’m dating Brad, but that doesn’t matter.” That caused me to laugh and lean into him more. “The point is your dad is missing something amazing by not watching you perform. And I think if you want to keep doing your little flash mob dances to get his attention, then you should. And I’ll always be there, supporting you and recording it. Someday he’ll see how amazing you are; and when he comes to that realization, you’ll have the videos to show him.”

“Thank you,