Song of the chapter: Say It by Maggie Rogers

Immediately after cutting my cake, Jess insists it is time for photos, thrusting her phone into someone's hands so she can take a photo with me. Lexi is soon to follow, as well as one or two little group photos, before Jess is whisking away the cake to cut and serve.

As the slices of cake are handed out soon after, so are the drinks as we unwind on our Friday night. Hours pass as the conversations do, and before I know it the time has come for my guests to slowly start saying goodnight and head out. Lexi and Mason are the first, for which Lexi apologies profusely, but it's completely understandable as the morning sickness continues to wreak havoc for her.

Others begin leaving soon after, with the noise have to die down anyways due to the late hour. I try and make sure to say goodbye to everyone properly and thank them for coming tonight. Chloe and Damon are one of the last ones to leave. When it comes to the time for Damon to leave I thank him again for his present and for coming over, promising to catch up soon, before I head back into the apartment.

I look around and it appears that everyone has left, with Theo seemingly having left without saying goodbye, so I begin to collect any rubbish which is lying around and make my way to the kitchen to discard of it.

When I reach the kitchen, much to my surprise, I find Jess but also Theo seemingly helping with the cleaning efforts.

"Oh, I didn't know you were still here." I remark, not hiding that I am taken aback.

"Yeah, I hope that's okay. I thought I'd just help you guys clean up quickly." he tells me, as he looks up from the dishwasher where he is standing with his sleeves rolled up loading up the dishes that Jess is passing to him.

"No, that's more than okay," I reply with a smile, "Thank you. You shouldn't have."

He smiles back at me before returning his attention to grab the next plate from Jess. 

Having settled that, I make my way to the bin to deposit my latest collection of trash. As I turn to go and collect more I am interrupted by Theo.

"You should go relax. It's your birthday. We're not going to make you clean up." he tells me.

I turn to look at both him and Jess to observe them. I know I should be the considerate hostess and turn down the offer to continue cleaning up but it sounds so good to do something other than clean this massive mess.

"I mean, sure. I guess we'll just go ahead and be nice people Theo." Jess teases, giving me a wink.

"Are you guys sure? There's so much to do." I check, so badly wanting them not to change their mind.

"A hundred percent." Jess confirms, with Theo nodding along.

I bite my lip as I assess their body language and such once more before I give into my birthday girl selfishness and agree.

"Okay, but I'll just be a minute. I just need to put some things away in my room and take care of a few things." I tell them.

They both assure me that I should take as long as I need before I scurry off to my bedroom with Charlie by my side. I should probably worry about what Jess could get around to talking about with Theo, but I'm too tired to think about it. Once in my room, I reply to a few last minute birthday messages and get around to opening the rest of my presents I've been spoiled with and am admittedly very excited about opening. During this time of the year I am truly spoiled with two Christmases and my birthday in only a matter of weeks, which proved to be quite disappointing as a child when I would have to look forward to the events for a lengthy part of the rest of the year.

Some time passes before I put away all my presents and clean up all the gift wrapping. When I make my way out of my bedroom it is relatively silent within the apartment, with the dishwasher running in the background, the light on in Jess' bedroom and someone washing their hands in the bathroom.

With no one around, I decide to escape the stuffiness of the apartment from having all the people crammed into all night for the cool winter air outside. It'll be freezing but it's meant to start snowing tonight so I'll go out to the fire escape to wait for a short time for any sight of the snow under the light of the fairy lights we had wrapped around the bars for tonight.

A couple minutes into enjoying the peace outside on the balcony with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders and breathing in the heavy smell of impeding snow, I hear footsteps within the apartment. The sound comes closer until I hear a tap on the window. Turning around, I find Theo leaning down against the window pane.

"Hey, sorry to disrupt you." Theo says, ducking his head under the window to speak to me as I sit huddled up in the corner of the fire escape on an ottoman we had put out tonight.

"Oh no, you're not. It's fine. I was just getting some fresh air." I assure him, "You're more than welcome to join." I tell him, outstretching my arm to offer the chair across from me on the fire escape to him. It's not the comfort of his luxurious balcony but it's better than nothing.

He nods, saying "sure" as he lifts the window higher and smoothly crawls through. Once he takes a seat on the seat across from me, I notice him pull his coat, which he has put back on, closer over himself.

"I just thought I should let you know that we finished cleaning up so I should probably be heading off." he says as he rubs his hands together to keep them warm. Considering that he's collectively lived in England, Scotland and New York City for his life whole, all places which aren't exactly known for their warm weather, you'd think he'd last longer than me before he started to do this.

"Oh, no problem," I reply, "Thank you again for coming and for helping out."

"It was my pleasure," he tells me bashfully, "So, how was your birthday?"

"It was pretty good. I can't complain. I had nearly everyone that was important to me with me to celebrate and it can't get much better than that." I answer, with him nodding response.

"Any elusive birthday wishes or goals made for your all important twenty-third year on this earth?" he asks.

"Ah, yes. The wishes and everything. Possibly." I answer, with as little information as possible.

"That sounds like a yes to me," he jokes, with that enchanting twinkle appearing in his eyes like it always seems to do when he is curious or interested , "So what are the big plans?"

"Uhh..." I begin, stalling as much as possible as I try and decide whether to get into this, "I mean, I think I'm supposed to keep it myself or something but just this once I'll let you in on the big secret." I tell him, noting that the curiosity in his eyes will doubtfully be going away anytime soon from what I know of him.

"I guess I just want to do more. See more. Do more. I know this will sound absurd for me, but I even maybe want to relax a bit more," I answer, "Somehow I'll have to squeeze this in with my work life and trying to progress with it, though I guess this applies to work opportunities too. I'm not going to sacrifice my passion for my job but I think maybe I just need to use the free time I do have a bit better."

I know that I've just shared something with him that's meant to be all deep and secretive but I actually feel comfortable having told him. I feel like from what I know of him he would understand where I'm coming from with my goals for this coming year. He seems to be in the same shoes when it comes to his personal and work life balance, albeit far more successful and important in his role.

"Sounds like a good year to come then." he says, I think confirming what I had assumed.

"Anyway, how'd your meeting go?" I ask, changing the subject so I wouldn't have to go deeper into explaining whatever these new goals were because it can get a little overwhelming thinking about it all.

"Oh that. It went fine. Ran later than I would've liked but at least everything that was urgent got sorted," he informs me, "By the way, I forgot to give you this earlier." he says, pulling something out from his inside coat pocket. 

It makes me wish I had pockets like that in my coats like guys do to store little things away in. All I get are these annoying fake pockets on the outside of a lot of my jackets, because god forbid a woman has useable pockets.

"Oh, you shouldn't have." I say, looking down and blushing. I never know what to say when someone gets me a gift. I always just get so overwhelmed with gratitude and shock that someone had thought of me.

I take the second small gift box of the night, having received one from Damon earlier, from his hands and begin to undo the white ribbon.

"Theo, it's beautiful." I say, looking up at him to smile once the box is open and I can see the the dainty silver bracelet which sits in it.

I lift the bracelet out of the box and twist it around in my fingers to get a closer look at the few small charms which hang off of it. First, I notice a snowflake, with a small silver stone embedded in the middle. Next, there is a single rose in plain silver. Finally, a high heel.

A snowflake, rose and a high heel? A high heel? Why a shoe?

That's when I put it all together.

A snow flake, a rose, and... a glass slipper?

A glass slipper.

"Theo, this looks just like-"

"The bracelet your mum got you when you were little." he finishes.

I stare back at him with wonder, my mouth gaping slightly as I take in what he has just said. He's observing me intently but I can't refrain from the shock. 

"How did you remember that?" I ask with complete awe.

"I have a good memory." he simply answers with a shrug.

Still caught by surprise, I twist the upgraded version of my childhood bracelet between my fingers and stare at it with admiration. It may seem cheesy for a grown woman to be so excited about a bracelet that is essentially Disney themed and which was originally put together on the basis of what my name was partly inspired by— Cinderella and Belle. But this was something that had meant the world to me once in my life and which I had never forgotten about, as Theo apparently hadn't either since learning about it.

"Thank you so much Theo. You have no idea how much this means to me." I tell him, with awe still very much in my tone as I hold my hands and the small bracelet in them close to my heart.

"It's my pleasure. It's just something little." he says bashfully, trying to dismiss it all or something with a wave of his hand.

"This is definitely more than something little to me," I assure him, as he looks up from his lap to me. "Can you give me a hand?" I ask, outstretching my arm out to him along with the bracelet in my grip so he can help me put it on after my own failure to do so.

He looks at me silently for a moment, as if taken aback, before nodding and taking the bracelet from my hand. I move forward to make it easier for the both of us as he unclasps the bracelets. He then takes my wrist in his hand, the cool of his skin against mine sending goosebumps rising along my arm, wrapping the silver around my wrist and clasping it rather quickly.

We both look up from my wrist at the same time to look at one another once again.

"It's perfect." I tell him with admiration. 

He's relatively quiet but I soon realise I am too as he stares back into my eyes so intently as though he is searching for something in them. As I look back at him, a soft gust of wind comes by as nature prepares for more snow to arrive pushing a stray hair of mine across my face and into my eyes. I ignore it, hoping the wind will push it back away but I don't even need to wait for that as I find Theo's hand lifting itself to my face to push the hair away. However, his touch lingers oh so slowly, the pad of his thumb softly brushing down the side of my face.

I notice the movement of his adam's apple as he swallows just as I do too. I find myself moving closer to him, my face leaning into the palm of his hand. I have a feeling of what is coming, or at least what I want to finally be happening, as his eyes move back and forth from my lips to my eyes. I've been in this position before only weeks ago and I had thought, yet again, that I could just forget this crazy attraction I feel for Theo; forget him. Yet here we are again with me leaving myself completely open and vulnerable this time.

I take a slight breath in as the moment comes closer, just as his body and mine do to one another. As he limits the gap between us I close my eyes, giving in. I feel his nose brush against mine as the coolness of his breath brushes against my skin. Then it finally happens. Any space between our lips is diminished as his touch against mine. His hand is still resting against the side of my face as I move more forward to rest my hand against his thigh, for balance or something- I don't even know why. 

All the air seems to disappear within me, yet as our lips part all I want is for those cushiony lips to return to mine. And they do, with Theo's hands moving further back to hold my neck as he pulls me closer. I don't object, the intense warmth which is touching me intoxicating me despite the freezing weather of outside. He tastes like decadent chocolate as I breath him in, my cake from earlier clearly still leaving traces in his mouth, and I'm definitely not complaining. I'm nearly close enough to him now that I'll likely wind up on his lap in a second when he suddenly pulls his lips away from mine.

The sudden loss of the feeling of his tender lips against mine, injecting me with his heat and a tingling feeling rushing through my veins, disappoints me. But the way he keeps his face close to mine, resting his forehead against mine, distracts me from the disappointment. We both seem to attempt to subtly take a deep breath in, obviously both out of breath now, and slightly chuckle when we catch one another doing so.

This moment is idyllic. I'm freezing my ass off as the wind seems to pick up and I can feel a fresh batch of snow coming in the air. But I don't really care because the feeling of being in Theo's arms for those short moments and with his lips against mine, breathing one another in, is enough to ignite a fire within me for some time I predict.

"Ella!", Jess' voice suddenly calls out, making us both jump a little in our seats. 

I had honestly forgotten that Jess was only metres away. We both look towards the window to check if she is nearby. It would appear not, as we hear her voice travel from somewhere within the apartment. "Ella? Are you out on the fire escape? I just need a hand with something."

"Just a second!" I shout back. Once I say this Theo moves backwards, his touch leaving me, though the heat still lingers on my skin.

"I guess I should get going then." he tells me. I know this makes sense since he first came out here to say goodbye and surely nothing else would happen tonight, but a part of me is still disappointed.

"Right," I reply, fiddling around with the bracelet not resting around my wrist as I'm unsure how to behave, "Thank you for everything." I tell him.

Literally one second later is when I realise that I'm saying thank you right after kissing him and I don't exactly want it to sound like I'm thanking him for the kiss. Not that it wasn't good or anything but- oh god I'm overthinking.

"You know for coming and helping out and the present." I elaborate.

"It was my pleasure." he replies, with a slight smirk on his face. He knows by now how to trigger my awkward nature and he is certainly enjoying it.

We just stand there for a second almost frozen in place observing one another when Jess shouts out "Ella, are you coming?" from inside.

"I better get going. Wouldn't want you to keep Jess waiting." he says.

"Right."

I move aside so he can make his way through the window back into the apartment but he gestures that I go through first. I was kind of hoping that he would go first because I'm incredibly awkward and will probably stack it making my way in, and I also don't want to really shove my behind in his face accidentally when I make my way through the window. Nevertheless, I don't want to reject his gesture and it kind of makes sense that I go in first since I'm the closest to the window.

Once I make my way through the window as gracefully as I can, I look back to find Theo coming through so nimbly, even with his longer limbs, just as I hear Jess' footsteps coming our way. I look towards where the sound is coming from only to find Jess coming from the kitchen already dressed in her pyjamas.

"Oh, Theo. I didn't realise you were still here." she says with surprise evident in her tone, especially when she seems to look down at her outfit of baggy plaid pyjamas with no bra on that she wouldn't be caught dead wearing in front of anyone but me. 

"Oh, yeah. I was just saying goodnight to Ella," he replies from where he stands beside me now, "Thank you both for having me." he says as he looks from me to Jess.

"Oh, no problem. Thanks for coming past and helping out." she says, with him nodding in return.

"So I guess I should head off then." he says, beginning to make his way to the front door with me following behind to be a gracious host and open the door for him.

"Goodnight Jess. It was great to finally meet you." he calls out, as he stops in the doorway, to where Jess now sits on the couch.

"You too Theo! Goodnight." she replies before turning back to the tv and giving us our privacy.

"Goodnight Ella and happy birthday one last time." he says to me in a husky lower tone, turning to look at me as he leans against the doorway.

"Goodnight Theo, and thank you for the present again."

I feel like I should be saying more after everything that happened tonight but I find myself still very much at a loss for words.

Theo softly nods his head as if to acknowledge me one last time before he pushes himself off the doorframe and begins to walk off. I'm disappointed that he also didn't find something else to say because I don't want the night to end. But, just as I'm about to turn back into the apartment and he is about to walk down the stairwell, he turns around and says "I'll see you around Adams."

"See you around Harrington." I tell him back. 

With an in between of a devilish smirk and boyish grin on his face he turns back around and begins his trip down the stairs. First confirming that he has truly left this time, I make my back into the apartment, closing the door and leaning back against it with a sigh.

God, 'I'll see you around Adams'. What does that even mean? Especially when you've just kissed a guy that you had so badly tried to write off as forbidden territory, but now can't get the taste and feeling of his lips on yours out of your mind?

"What's the deal with you, 'Adams'?" Jess asks, turning around to look at me from her spot on the couch.

"I kissed Theo."

"You what?!" she exclaims, jumping up so that she is now turned and on her