The Things I Can't Take Back [Michael Afton x F! Reader]

Chapter 20 ~ Happy Birthday

WARNING: mentions of blood and gore

...

     It was exactly two weeks after the Fourth of July. July 18, 1983; Evan Afton's eighth birthday.

You let out a deep sigh, leaning back in your desk chair as you stretched your arms out over your head. You had been working tirelessly the last few days, trying to come up with the perfect designs for matching friendship bracelets.

The longer you spent working on the bracelets, the more worried you felt; you were growing increasingly afraid that Evan would be upset that you didn't get him a 'real' present. You knew that no matter what you gave him, he would respond with a polite smile and tell you that he loved it. But you would know the truth of his feelings; you had grown so close to the child recently, you were able to distinguish exactly how he was feeling just from looking into his eyes.

You would be able to tell whether or not he really loved your gift.

It had gotten to the point where you had been working so long, the tips of your fingers were beginning to blister. You would've put bandaids on them, but that would've just made it harder to thread the strings through the tiny beads. And so, you worked through the pain.

     After countless failed attempts, trying out different color combinations, and deciding what they should say; you finally finished the bracelets. You had decided to go with a yellow and purple theme to match the colors of his beloved teddy bear, along with a little bear charm dangling from each one. One bracelet displayed the word "friends," and the other "forever."

     It was incredibly simple, but you couldn't help but feel proud of your hard work. Even if it wasn't necessarily anything extravagant, one could still tell that a lot of thought and love was put into making them.

     "Finally done..." you sighed out in relief, carefully gathering up the two bracelets and tucking them inside the mini present bag you had gotten, before tucking a few pieces of colorful paper over so you couldn't peek inside, "let's just hope he actually likes them..."

     You grabbed a pen so you could write on the tag on the side of the bag; stating that the present was for Evan, and from you with love. Now you could finally get those bandaids for your blistered fingertips.

     You couldn't believe that you had really waited until the day of the birthday party to finish Evan's gift. In your defense, it was difficult to find time to work on them during the week; you were also juggling having a job, and having time to hang out with your friends and boyfriend. Michael was always so needy about hanging out with you at every free moment you had, and you just didn't have the heart to turn him down. So you were left scrambling to finish your present just days before the party.

Michael had told you that the birthday party wasn't supposed to start until three o'clock. It was going to be a small party, since Evan didn't really have any other friends his age; the only people that were supposed to be coming were you, Michael, Elizabeth, Charlie, and Henry and Clara. However, the restaurant would still be open to the public, so it wouldn't be completely empty.

You spent the rest of the day getting ready for the party; you took a shower and did you hair, and then you got to work on picking out an outfit. You had stolen another one of Michael's t-shirts from one of the nights he had "slept" over at your house. It was an Aerosmith shirt, which you paired with your acid-washed cut-off shorts and black converse. You decided to keep the outfit casual today, since there weren't going to be a lot of people attending the party.

When the clock finally reached around two o'clock, you grabbed your present for Evan and left your house. You began making your way towards the diner, taking your time since you knew you'd probably end up getting there a bit early.