𝐎𝐁𝐒𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 | 𝒥.𝒢

Birthday

You handed off the paper bag to your brother, he carefully lifted the book and did not spend much time scanning it before you could see his eyes light up in excitement.

"No way! How did you know I wanted this?!" He beamed jumping from his chair, you smiled at his genuine reaction. "Just a good guess..." You replied, nervously scratching your arm.

"Did mom or dad write to me this year...?" His eyes eyes glossed while asking this. "As a matter of fact..." You paused, pulling out two hand written letters... that you wrote while he was asleep. "They did!" You grinned placing them on the table.

 Truthfully, you ran away from home when you were 15 and took your younger brother with you to escape from your drug addicted parents. Ever since then you've been taking care of him on your own and just recently landed an apartment in NYC. It was quite costly but the two of you were happy here.

 Your mind flickered over to the man you met in the bookstore. It was quite intriguing how he knew exactly what book your brother would like when he'd never met him.

 Nonetheless, after seeing how happy your brother was you knew you'd have to meet him again. You snapped back into reality when you heard your brother tearing open the letters.

 His dark brown hair fell just above his lashes while his pale blue eyes scanned the letter. "Do you think I can see them again?" His attention turned from the letter to you. "Well... Beau... I'll have to see what I can do." You sighed, knowing this could not end well.

 He nodded his head with hopefulness and turned back to his birthday cake, watching you light the candles one by one. "Make a wish!" You clasped your hands together. He closed his eyes blowing out the candles.

 "Alright Beau, it's getting late. Cmon, lets head to bed." You slid an arm around his shoulder, he stood up and hugged you tightly. "Thank you (Y/N)..." He whispered with teary eyes.

 "Beau, lets not cry on your birthday." You replied, swiping the wet tears from his cheeks. He hung his head low and went into his bedroom.

 You could tell he missed your parents, he didn't bother trying to hide his impatience anymore. You waited until he'd fallen asleep before sneaking out to visit the bookstore.

It was already quite late and you were on a time limit before the bookstore would close, street-lights had already fallen.

 It was silent besides the sound of leaves scraping against the pavement. You took light steps, trying your best to rush in hopes you'd make it in time. It didn't take long before you had reached the bookstore, as you went to reach for the handle someone had already beat you to it and opened it.

 Backing up, you noticed it had been Joe. To your luck. "Joe! I just wanted to say thank you, he loved the book." You smiled and bit your bottom lip. "I'm glad to hear that, but if you're here for something we just closed." He replied.

Your eyes followed his hands as he dug them into the pockets of his dark jeans. "Actually... I was here to see you." Batting your eyes, you saw his breath hitch. "I'd really like to spend more time with you but I have somewhere to be. Would you like for me to drive you home?" Joe replied. His rejection left you confused, had you misread his signals? Maybe it was in your head?

 "That's alright I live pretty close, thanks anyways." Your smile dropped fairly quickly. Before he could reply you had already begun to walk away.